Their victory made it three straight years the team with the best odds has won the lottery, after going the previous decade without a victory.
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That bold move paid off on Tuesday as the Celtics earned the top spot in the draft, giving them their first first pick since the introduction of the lottery in 1985.
The Celtics were going to be in prime position no matter how the Ping-Pong balls bounced in a hotel ballroom Tuesday. There is a strong feeling around the basketball world that the Celtics will take Fultz with the first pick and the Lakers will take Ball and his $500 Kobe-ripoffs.er.
Bleacher Report’s post-lottery mock draft has Allen heading to Portland, where he would be the lone Longhorn on Portland’s roster and the first Longhorn drafted by the Trailblazers since LaMarcus Aldridge went No. 2 in 2006. The Celtics didn’t know where the pick would land at the time, but since it has been unveiled, will Boston reopen discussions with Indiana?
Now, General Manager Danny Ainge and company have a good problem on their hands.
“I think there’s been a lot of discussion about that”, said Colangelo at the team’s training facility.
Taking full advantage of the payout stemming from Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett’s move from Boston to the Nets, the Celtics find themselves with yet another draft-day conundrum: keep the pick or package it for a proven star. A team hasn’t been this good and owned the No. 1 pick since the Los Angeles Lakers in 1982, when they won it all after a 57-win regular season and then selected James Worthy out of North Carolina.
The Celtics not only open the Eastern Conference Finals tonight at home, but also hold the top pick in the draft.
“It’s busy”, Grousbeck said.
Fox had his best game of the season against Ball’s UCLA team in the NCAA Tournament, recording 39 points and four assists in their Sweet 16 matchup. And now we squeeze in the lottery and win the pick. They had a 25 percent chance, the best of any team, to receive the No. 1 pick.
Phil Jackson appears comfortable with the New York Knicks even having a first-round draft pick in 2017.
“And look what I leave behind for the Celts on my way out #1 pick”, the now-retired Paul Pierce tweeted.
The top three picks came down to the Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers.
The second overall pick is never a bad runner-up prize, and the Lakers will use that pick to grab the best available dynamic guard in either Markelle Fultz or Lonzo Ball.
“I’m glad we didn’t trade it, you can write it down”, Boston managing partner Wyc Grousbeck said.
The Suns will pick fourth in the NBA Draft for the fifth time in team history.
In Brown’s world, solid defense like that leads to points in transition and when you have young players that like to play the transition game, adding a young player like Jackson who likes to play defense could make the 76ers more fun to watch. Bring him in before the max salaries kick in years later.
Indeed, there is a lot to break down when it comes to the sixth pick and the directions the Magic might head with this pick.
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‘Sometimes you need to be patient.
