There’s only one player the Boston Celtics should try to trade for this summer, and that’s New Orleans Pelicans big man Anthony Davis. Gary Tanguay of CSN New England recently wrote an article explaining why Celtics general manager Danny Ainge should exhaust all possible options to get the service of the perennial All-Star and All-NBA forward/center.
Gunning for The Brow
Tanguay opined the Celtics certainly have the assets in the forms of draft picks and promising young players to make a competitive offer for New Orleans in case they are interested in shopping their best player.
The CSN writer also took a reference on Kevin O’Connor’s article about why elite talents like Davis rarely stay with bad teams. After all, Davis is just the 12th player in NBA history to average 27 points and 10 rebounds on a below .500 team.
While it’s very unlikely for the Pelicans to trade away their best player just months after acquiring his co-star in DeMarcus Cousins, Tanguay predicts the Unibrow-Boogie experiment to fail because of Cousins’ combustible attitude. Should this happen, he expects Ainge to grab the opportunity by the horn.
Anything can still happen at draft night
Washington point guard Markelle Fultz is still the favorite to come out as the no.1 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, but not any more a lock for that spot.
According to ESPN’s draft expert Chad Ford, the Celtics are also taking a closer look at other prospects such as Lonzo Ball of UCLA, Josh Jackson of Kansas and De’Aaron Fox of Kentucky.
Ford believes anyone from these prospects can make a case for themselves as the worthy no.1 pick with a strong performance in workouts and interview.
Although Ball already made a decision not to hold a private workout for the Celtics, general manager Danny Ainge is still putting the UCLA alum on his short-list of prospects.
Jackson, on the other hand, is viewed by many NBA pundits and scouts as the second-best prospect in the 2017 Draft class just behind Fultz. Rob Dauster of NBC Sports agreed to this after carefully breaking down Jackson’s strengths (length, athleticism, and motor) and weaknesses (poor jump shooting and defensive lapses).
The analyst added the gap that separates Jackson and Fultz is very small compared to the gap in talent between him and Ball.
Fox has been shooting up on the draft board after getting positive feedbacks from multiple teams. The speedy Wildcats playmaker even drew compliments from Kentucky alum John Wall, who sees his athletic and fast younger self in Fox. However, Ford believes the likelihood of Fox being selected no.1 overall is very slim since he’s rated as the third best point guard behind Fultz and Ball.
