Almost every general manager in every sport asks themselves: "Do I draft the player that best plugs up our holes or simply take the guy with the most talent, blindly hoping it all works out later?"
Ainge is no doubt grappling with this question right now. His answer will determine what the Celtics do with their No. 19 overall pick on Thursday night.
On paper, it looks like the Celtics' greatest need is for another big man.
Kendrick Perkins has two torn knee ligaments and is doubtful to start the season. Rasheed Wallace is considering retirement and has one foot out the door. Kevin Garnett is still going strong, but he's becoming more of a perimeter presence and less of a traditional big man every year. Glen Davis has played well, but he's undersized and runs into matchup problems when opposing bigs are too tall or too long.
Put it all together, and that spells "draft a center," right? It just so happens that there could be two good ones available to the Celtics by the time their name is called at 19.
Solomon Alabi is a 7-foot-1 center out of Florida State. He's a Nigerian import with arms and legs longer than the Nile River. He's only a sophomore and still raw, but he's got the tools to be a great player at the NBA level. Think Perk plus athleticism — he can man the painted area, disrupt shots and passing lanes, and protect the rim with the best of them. The Celtics might be positioned a little early in the draft to reach for a big man with a limited offensive game, but they've got plenty of offense already.
Hassan Whiteside is another 7-footer, a freshman big man out of Marshall. He has a similar body to Alabi, but a more diverse offensive game — he'd look good next to Big Baby, forming a one-two punch of guys that crash the offensive boards and score from anywhere. Whiteside is still young and his numbers aren't yet dazzling, but there's tons of upside there. Where he goes Thursday night is very much up for debate — some have him taking the stage as a lottery pick, and others don't see him in the top 20. The Celtics might be in the mix at 19.
But what if the Celtics don't decide they need a big man, at least not desperately enough to take a gamble on one? What if they just want to jump on the most talented player they can find, the biggest name with the biggest numbers that can produce right away?
They've got some options there, too.
James Anderson is the name everyone keeps linking to the Celtics. A 6-foot-6, 195-pound small forward out of Oklahoma State, he's the best Paul Pierce clone to come out of the Big 12 since Pierce himself. He can create room, score from anywhere on the floor and can operate in the pick-and-roll. With 22.9 points per game last season, he was the nation's third-leading scorer in Div. I college basketball.
The other big-name scorer out there is Luke Babbitt, a 6-foot-7 wing guy out of Nevada. Babbitt is also a versatile scorer from anywhere on the floor, and he spent a lot of time at Nevada making plays in isolation situations, fending for himself. He did it well, finishing 11th in the nation with 21.7 points a night. If the Celtics can't get Anderson, look for them to take a flyer on Babbitt instead.
If none of these four end up wearing a green hat on Thursday night, you shouldn't be surprised. That's the beauty of the Celtics — they find great players in places that no one expects, and that's what makes the Ainge regime both so good and so unpredictable.
