Once again, the Boston Celtics are holding out hope for the future.
Despite rumors and speculation they would trade their No. 3 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft in a deal for an established veteran, the Celtics held onto their selection Thursday night, taking California forward Jaylen Brown as the third player off the board.
Brown has plenty of upside in Boston, but the Celtics acquiring another very young prospect — Brown won’t turn 20 until October — likely isn’t the big splash C’s fans had in mind.
So, how close did the Celtics come to making a deal for the No. 3 pick? Team co-owner Wyc Grousbeck insisted in a press conference Thursday they “weren’t even close” to swinging a trade, but president of basketball operations Danny Ainge sang a bit of a different tune hours later in his own press conference.
“There was a lot of discussion and no deals,” Ainge said. “It was just that simple. We pulled away from some, they pulled away from some. I don’t think it was a lack of value (in the No. 3 pick), but to find trade partners in those kind of deals, it has to be good for both teams. We just didn’t find one.”
Boston appeared to be in the thick of things as the draft approached. The C’s reportedly were in talks with the Chicago Bulls about a trade for Jimmy Butler and in last-minute discussions with the Philadelphia 76ers about a deal involving Nerlens Noel and other assets. At one point, The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted the Celtics were “controlling the top of the draft.”
None of those deals came to fruition, of course, and Celtics fans will find little solace in the fact that Boston “almost” landed Jimmy Butler. But Ainge admitted he didn’t want to overreach just for the sake of making a trade and seemed quite content with landing Brown at No. 3.
“There was a lot of discussion over the last couple of months with the No. 3 pick, and a lot of study and hard work by my staff,” Ainge said. “We had some, like I said, a lot of discussion and even trading that pick and trading down in the draft, and trading for future picks, and so forth. Ultimately, there wasn’t anything to our liking.
“We grew very fond of Jaylen. He’s a great kid; 19 years old who has a man’s body, great athleticism. Sort of a vogue new type of player in the NBA, of the versatile player, the versatile wings, can play multiple positions, defensively. We think he has a lot of upside, but we think he’s a 19-year-old kid that can get on the court and play with the big boys right out of the gate.”
Thumbnail photo via Jerry Lai/USA TODAY Sports Images
