Bulpett: With assets aplenty, Ainge faces numbers crunch entering NBA draft – Boston Herald
Given the present situation, the Celtics have a problem with the upcoming draft. And it really has nothing to do with basketball.
With eight picks at their disposal, math is the Celts’ most obvious enemy when it comes to June 23.
The numbers simply don’t add up, which is why the first four words of this column are “given the present situation.” Danny Ainge will be trying extremely hard to consolidate his assets between now and then.
The roster maximum is 15, and, as it stands, he has nine players under contract for next season — Avery Bradley, Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Marcus Smart, Kelly Olynyk, Terry Rozier, James Young, Jordan Mickey and R.J. Hunter.
That’s leaving out unrestricted free agent Evan Turner, Jonas Jerebko and Amir Johnson, who are under team options for the coming season, and Jared Sullinger and Tyler Zeller, who would be restricted free agents if the Celts give them their qualifying offers and unrestricted if they don’t.
All five of those players averaged more than 10 minutes a game; Sullinger and Johnson were starters.
And we haven’t even gotten to the Shamrock hope of adding a key free agent or two.
In other words, the Celtics ain’t adding eight rookies to their 2016-17 roster. They almost surely wouldn’t even if they had the roster space, but certainly not now.
(I’ll pause here while you say, “Duh.”)
There may be players available in the draft who really intrigue the brain trust, but even failing to make a splash with trades and the like, the Celts clearly do not want to take a backward step in their on-court progression. Taking last year’s club forward, they still won’t be a serious threat to the Eastern Conference title, but it’s important to project themselves as a team on the rise, as they were so seen this year until getting knocked around by Atlanta.
That will make it very interesting when they have to decide how much they’re willing to pay Turner, a key and versatile component of the rotation, when he gets what will undoubtedly be very strong offers in a rising salary cap market. And do you give Johnson $12 million or Jerebko a very reasonable $5 million? And what about your incumbent starting center, Sullinger?
There are 200 pieces in a 150-piece jigsaw puzzle.
So while it may correctly appear Ainge has an upper hand with so many assets and so much flexibility, it is true, as well, that he is under some pressure to make a move or three to alleviate the numerical crunch.
The Celts would certainly feel comfortable making the third overall pick and adding a very promising player to the fold, but they will do more than simply field calls from other clubs looking to move up to that position. They will be initiating calls.
And if they have any chance of prying away Jimmy Butler from Chicago or Jahlil Okafor from Philadelphia, the third pick will most definitely be part of the package leaving Boston.
Nos. 16 and 23 could also be appealing to others if, on draft night, a player of their liking slides down. (You’ll recall how hard the Celts went after Justise Winslow when he slipped down to No. 10 last year.)
If the Celtics make all three of their first-round picks, those guys get guaranteed contracts. The same is not necessarily true for the second-rounders, though Mickey got two guaranteed years at better money than first-round pick Hunter. But there is more flexibility with picks in the latter round, options the C’s will need with their five choices.
Picks 31 and 35 overall could have some very good value, both to the Celts and in the marketplace, but it’s a bit different for picks 45, 51 and 58.
If they cannot move them, the C’s will obviously be looking at players who are either overseas and looking to stay there a little while longer or are willing to begin their season on foreign soil, as was the case with the club’s No. 45 pick last June, Marcus Thornton.
But that’s a matter for the player and his representation. It would seem a bit counterproductive to select a player who can’t make the team and won’t allow himself to be stashed to thus allow the C’s to retain his rights.
Before then, however, Ainge hopes he can make the kind of productive moves that will avoid a numerical nightmare.
