Through much of the latter part of last season, fans and the media debated over the best approach for seeing the Boston Celtics return to prominence in the NBA. The fans were excited to see the team sneak into the playoffs, scoring some post-season experience for their young team—despite a sweep by Cleveland. Other fans would have preferred that the Celtics miss the playoffs, enter the lottery and get a better draft position to increase the odds of selecting a better prospect.
This season, Celtics fans have no qualms over what the green and white should be doing. Boston is able to try and win every game without repercussions due to the fact that this season they own the Brooklyn Nets unprotected first round pick for the upcoming 2016 NBA Draft.
The Celtics and Ben Simmons
Brooklyn currently has the third worst record in the entire league behind only the Los Angeles Lakers and the train wreck that is the Philadelphia 76ers. The struggling Nets give the Celtics and their fans the hope of the number one overall pick which will undoubtedly be LSU diaper dandy Ben Simmons. However, with sports comes debate and talk has ramped up about the Celtics potentially trading the Nets pick and other pieces for a player such as the Kings Demarcus Cousins.
If the Sixers and Lakers were not essentially dumpster fires, the Celtics would be a slam dunk for the first overall selection, but without having the most ping pong balls, many are afraid the Celtics will miss out on Simmons much like they previously missed out on Tim Duncan. Even if the Nets remain the third worst team in the Association, with Simmons off the board many draft experts don’t see another franchise changing player available even just two spots lower on the board. Simply put, many see the Celtics options as Simmons or Cousins.
Everyone that is even a casual basketball fan knows what Cousins brings to the table, more talent than he knows what to do with but a somewhat checkered past that could give the Celtics some pause. At 6’10” and 225 lbs., Simmons is one of the most heralded prospects in recent years, perhaps only rivaled by Anthony Davis and Andrew Wiggins in terms of can’t miss talent. Simmons is averaging 20 points, 15 rebounds, and six assists per game early on in the season and has already had a 43 point, 14 rebound game. Possessing an all-around game similar to Lebron James, the only slight knock on Simmons’ game is his shooting stroke. Simmons has only shot two threes this season, although not settling for jump shots is a good thing, when a team dares Simmons to shoot he needs to show he has the ability to consistently hurt them. Still, he possesses great athleticism, can pass, rebound, defend multiple positions, and can score in a variety of ways whether it be on power forwards who are not athletic enough to stay in front of small forwards who are too small to matchup. The outside shooting will come, and if not, he is still far and away the best prospect in the upcoming class. Simmons will change the fortune of whatever team is lucky enough to select him.
Danny Ainge has quite a dilemma on his hands. Hold out and hope to get Simmons, or try and trade for Cousins, who is a top ten player with some red flags which could derail a team on the rise. Given Ainge’s history a trade is probably in order, but even the hope of Simmons might be too much to part with. Either way, the Celtics, who are seventh in the East, but only two games behind the first place Cavaliers, have a bright future. With the combination of talent already on the roster, more than enough grit and toughness, top-notch coaching, and future assets, all that is missing is that one superstar player. How they get that player is the question.
