NBA Draft Rumors: Boston Celtics unlikely to trade picks
By Bryan Rose
The Boston Celtics currently own the No. 6 and No. 17 picks in the upcoming 2014 NBA Draft and for weeks we’ve heard that they were likely to make a move with at least one, many believing it would be the sixth pick which was traded away.
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It was an understandable sentiment considering the Celtics were likely attempting to acquire a veteran talent in effort to expedite a return to the postseason, however, soon as noise leaked suggesting that the Boston Celtics were open to moving the pick the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings essentially echoed such a sentiment.
Normally that might not be bad but given the Lakers own the No. 7 pick and the Kings No. 8, it severely softened the market for the Celtics who according to Danny Ainge are likely to keep both draft picks moving forward (even if drafting Joel Embiid would be a ‘gamble’).
#celtics president Danny Ainge said it's "the most likely scenario" that the team keeps both of its draft picks.
— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) June 21, 2014
Of course, Ainge isn’t exactly the most trustful of guys when it comes to NBA rumors so it’s completely within the realm of possibility that he’s simply setting up smoke screens as there is no reason for him to give a full-on commitment to keeping the picks or potentially trading them away at this point.
For what it’s worth, the Celtics have been working out a handful of players expected to be draft in the top ten and today a handful of rumored favorites were announced, so they appear to be falling in line with Ainge’s statement though it seems difficult to believe the Boston Celtics wouldn’t trade one (or both) of their picks if a talented, All-Star player (possibly from Minnesota) suddenly became available in trade.