Robb: Despite Owning No. 16 Pick, Celtics Not A Popular Workout Spot For Top Talent
BOSTON (CBS) – The Celtics are riding a positive wave of momentum following their surprise postseason appearance this spring, but the feel-good story does not come without a drawback: a lower first-round draft pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. Instead of drafting in the lottery, something Danny Ainge has only done three times during his Celtics tenure (two lottery picks were traded away), Boston is left with the No. 16 selection on a team already with a surplus of young players and a boatload of needs.
There is still talent in the middle of the first-round, which Ainge has proven by nabbing guys like Al Jefferson and Rajon Rondo with picks in the teens and early 20s in the past decade. However, in order to get a closer look at players with elite upside in the draft, the Celtics need to be positioned higher. Out of the 50 players the team has hosted in Boston for group workouts, a mere seven are projected first-round picks according to Draftexpress.com.
Bobby Portis is the biggest name out of that group (projected in the mid-teens), but other notable players (Justin Anderson, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Montrezl Harrell) are expected to be picked in the late teens or 20s.
The lack of star college power visiting Boston is not a worry for Celtics director of player personnel Austin Ainge to this point though.
"When you add up the number of guys in the teens in all the mock drafts," Ainge explained. "We're only talking about eight guys, or 10 guys, just by definition. We've had a few in, we'll have a few more in, and that's about all of them. There's only a couple guys that I kind of disagree with the agents that I think they should work out for us, that we haven't been able to get in. But we're getting most of the guys that we think are in our range."
The team will host two more draft workouts next week, and there will also be individual workouts, that aren't open to the media, in which certain players will audition for the team.
"I think we've got the guys that we'll get in on the calendar," Ainge said of premier prospects still scheduled to work out. "Maybe one guy changes his mind at the last minute and has a date open up, and comes in to see us. But the workouts are nice, and we really like to have the guys in to get to know them a little better, but we've certainly drafted guys before that we haven't had in for workouts. And we're not scared to do so."
Seeing that the Celtics have the ammunition to make a move up in the draft, why would a player want to limit their exposure for a team like Boston though that could conceivably make a major trade up?
"[Agents] have to pick [where to go], and they don't want to have guys work out unnecessarily," Ainge said. "So I say, 'Well, what's the percentage that they're there at 16?' And if they think it's zero, they don't send him. I usually think it's higher."
Ainge continued: "Probably 20 or 30 [prospects believe they are top 15 players in the draft], depending on who you're asking. None of us really know, so it's hard for me to tell them for sure they're wrong or right. It's just very hard to know. I think this draft is hard – I think every draft is hard…outside the top."
For now, the Celtics will continue to do their due diligence, knowing very well they may be aiming for a stronger crop of players than they have seen so far. However, trade possibilities won't be discussed in greater depth until June 25th gets closer.
"Nobody is messing with that right now," Ainge said of trade chatter. "Draft day, if anything. We're preparing to draft our picks. We're always ready to make moves if an opportunity to get better arises.
"I don't think it's any secret that we have four picks, and it probably wouldn't be great for us to have four rookies on our team next year, so we are exploring options for guys who would play in the D-League, play in Europe, trades… all of these things are possible with the number of picks we have."
After one of the busiest trade seasons in franchise history over the past calendar year, look for that trend to continue as the Boston brass attempt to convince top tier talent that a visit to Boston is worth their while.
Brian Robb covers the Celtics for CBS Boston and contributes to NBA.com, among other media outlets. You can follow him on Twitter @CelticsHub.
