After their season came to a crushing end last week, the Boston Celtics have to quickly turn their attention to the NBA draft.
The Celtics won’t have to make a decision right away on Thursday with Boston not holding a first-round pick for the second consecutive year. The Celtics, who traded their first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs as part of the trade for Derrick White, won’t be on the clock until the second round with the No. 53 overall selection.
The Celtics could go in several different routes with that pick, including taking a player they can stash overseas like they did a year ago, but Yahoo! Sports’ Krysten Peek revealed who she thinks Boston will select at that spot in her latest mock draft.
Peek has the Celtics landing Villanova senior guard Collin Gillespie, who led the Wildcats to the Final Four this past season. Here’s the analysis Peek provided on why Gillespie going to Boston makes sense:
NBA teams love players who come from Jay Wright’s program. There’s a great track record with Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, Donte DiVincenzo and most recently, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl. Gillespie is a true floor general who consistently shot well from deep, averaging 15.6 points and 3.2 assists per game.
Gillespie, who will turn 23 years-old just two days after the draft, is older than most prospects — for comparison, Jayson Tatum is 24 and just finished his fifth NBA season — but could fill a couple of needs for the Celtics.
For those Celtics fans clamoring for a true point guard after the team’s offensive struggles in the NBA Finals, the 6-foot-3, 195-pound guard can facilitate the offense, but Gillespie’s shooting ability from beyond the arc is an even greater asset. Gillespie was a career 38.7% 3-point shooter at Villanova, including knocking down 41.5% of his 3-point attempts during his fifth and final collegiate season.
Gillespie’s shooting stroke could provide the Celtics with scoring off the bench and be insurance in case Payton Pritchard’s trajectory takes a nose dive.
What the Celtics ultimately do obviously remains to be seen with the NBA draft commencing on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
