Fansided

NBA Lottery 2016: 5 reasons Celtics deserve to win No. 1 pick

By John Buhler

WALTHAM, MA - JULY 5: New Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens (R) is introduced to the media as Team President Rich Gotham, Co-Owner Steve Pagliuca, and President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge look on July 5, 2013 in Waltham, Massachusetts. Stevens was hired away from Butler University where he led the Bulldogs to two back to back national championship game appearances in 2010, and 2011. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images)
WALTHAM, MA - JULY 5: New Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens (R) is introduced to the media as Team President Rich Gotham, Co-Owner Steve Pagliuca, and President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge look on July 5, 2013 in Waltham, Massachusetts. Stevens was hired away from Butler University where he led the Bulldogs to two back to back national championship game appearances in 2010, and 2011. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 6
Next
WALTHAM, MA - JULY 5: New Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens (R) is introduced to the media as Team President Rich Gotham, Co-Owner Steve Pagliuca, and President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge look on July 5, 2013 in Waltham, Massachusetts. Stevens was hired away from Butler University where he led the Bulldogs to two back to back national championship game appearances in 2010, and 2011. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images)
WALTHAM, MA – JULY 5: New Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens (R) is introduced to the media as Team President Rich Gotham, Co-Owner Steve Pagliuca, and President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge look on July 5, 2013 in Waltham, Massachusetts. Stevens was hired away from Butler University where he led the Bulldogs to two back to back national championship game appearances in 2010, and 2011. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images) /

The Boston Celtics will make the most of their first round draft picks, but they also deserves to win the 2016 NBA Draft Lottery.

The 2015-16 Boston Celtics had themselves a fine season, going 48-34, earning the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs, and taking a superior Atlanta Hawks team to six games in their first round series.

However, the most interesting part of the Celtics’ season had nothing to do with their play on the court; it had everything to do with how poorly their Atlantic Division rival in the Brooklyn Nets performed.

The Nets had run themselves into the ground with some high-risk, high-reward type of deals to field a competitive team in the short-term while sacrificing their long-term growth. The future is now with the Nets and they stumbled to a terrible 21-61 record in 2015-16, the third worst mark in the NBA.

Because of the Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett trade with the Nets a few years back, the Celtics own the rights to swapping first round picks with the Nets in the 2016 NBA Draft, meaning that Boston now has the third best odds to win the 2016 NBA Draft Lottery.

Of all the teams that have a realistic chance of winning the NBA Draft Lottery on May 17th, here are five reasons that the Celtics are the most deserving franchise to get that precious No. 1 overall pick in this summer’s draft.

Next: 5. Improves star quality in the Eastern Conference.

Home/Boston Celtics