NBA Draft Preview: What’s the best spot for LaMelo Ball and the rest?
The Boston Celtics (and others) are looking to use strategy and choose the right pick to upgrade
There are the top players, the top picks, and then, there are the top teams. The teams outside of the lottery are interesting in this draft, such as the Celtics, Bucks, Nets, Heat, and OKC.
Each of these teams are coming off of successful seasons and made playoff runs, but they also were missing pieces and are in need of upgrades. New draft picks could be useful.
Boston Celtics:
The Celtics, for example, have been running with a Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown experiment as their whole squad without any real solid foundation. Tatum was the last lottery pick in 2017 and Walker was brought in as a starting point guard. Smart still plays shooting guard and Brown is a talented small forward who can be relied on.
When looking at this, it looks as if the Celtics are in need of a backup point guard. Any number of the guards mentioned in the previous slide can be used for this, and with two first-round picks in the draft (14 and 30 ), I would try to draft two of the four – either Bane and Anthony or Quickley and Maxey – if all four of them haven’t been taken off the board by then. The Celtics probably wish they could.
Milwaukee Bucks:
The Milwaukee Bucks. Oh, the Milwaukee Bucks, who are in desperate need of a drastic roster change can start with the draft. The Bucks need a wing immediately. Preferably a scoring wing or defending wing and/or both. Khris Middleton is an archetype for this, but he’s the Bucks All-Star and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s right-hand man. Also, to fill the void that Marvin Williams left before retiring by drafting a player like him who has good size and strength and scoring ability is something the Bucks should consider.
Miami Heat:
The Miami Heat could use an upgrade, and I imagine they’re going to put their best foot forward and use it. Although the Heat’s success shined above all this past season, it’s unlikely the roster will continue to look to Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, and Duncan Robinson and that same cast for the next few years. If there is room for improvement, the Heat should go for it. They do need someone to assist Bam Adebayo and another piece in general either off the bench or as a starter to show the league who’s really boss and that they mean business long-term.
OKC Thunder:
The OKC Thunder’s pick is important. OKC still has a host of guards, even after trading their beloved Chris Paul to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Ricky Rubio, Kelly Oubre Jr., Ty Jerome, and Jalen Lecque and Dennis Schroder to the Lakers in exchange for Danny Green. The Thunder have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort, Terrance Ferguson, and Hamidou Diallo.
The young roster can only add to this, and they have needs to fill in order to continue moving forward without Paul, and I see a forward/big helping with that. With mainstay Steven Adams doing all of the work down below, perhaps, OKC should consider this when using their draft pick.
Brooklyn Nets:
The Brooklyn Nets just need to use a pick, so I would go ahead and draft a potential star. While Brooklyn is full of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving business, they still need to look for some pieces, especially as they are making offseason changes before the season starts back. The Nets could be smart and bring in a Big 3 to fit into their already-talented and growing roster.
These are simply suggestions for some of these big teams. If I were the Celtics, Bucks, OKC, or the Nets, I would use my draft pick to build and build, and my already-superstars like Giannis, Kyrie, Jayson, and Shai will serve as great teammates/mentors.