With the date for the 2020 NBA Draft set, we begin our look at each team in the lottery relative to LaMelo Ball. What’s the outlook of the team, how does Ball fit into their roster and plans and what’s the likelihood of him landing with the franchise? We start our profiles with the Boston Celtics.
Team – Boston Celtics
Pick – 14th overall
PGs on roster for 2020-21 season – Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart, Brad Wanamaker, Carsen Edwards
The Team
After years of shrewd deals, the Celtics find themselves both in the Eastern Conference Finals and the draft lottery, a position they’ve also grown familiar with. But for all the shrewd dealings, the Celtics don’t have a particularly consistent track record with draft picks.
The result is a roster crowded with young players across all positions. When looking at future draft picks, it makes the path to playing time more complicated. But it allows the Celtics plenty of assets to potentially move up in the draft should they find a prospect that they like.
Enter LaMelo Ball.
Danny Ainge’s desire to aim big makes a prospect like Ball all the more enticing. Even if Ball wasn’t actually in Boston for a draft workout last week as was initially reported, he and Boston are a pairing that could make sense.
The Fit
For all the guards Boston has, none of them are quite like Ball. Pick and roll was the most common play type for the Celtics this season and they ranked sixth in the league in frequency, per Synergy. While each of Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart ranked in the 85th percentile or higher, none of them have the passing ability of Ball.
In fact, no one on the Celtics can replicate Ball’s playing style. Few teams will have a player who can pass like Ball but many teams will have a playmaking guard. Ball’s pass-first mentality and playstyle is unique enough to the Celtics’ roster that he wouldn’t be competing with fellow prospects for playing time.
At least in the backcourt, Ball would fit well with Boston. Both Smart and Jaylen Brown are plus defenders that could cover some of Ball’s deficiencies on that end of the court.
The Likelihood
For all the positives listed about why Ball and Boston would be good fits, he’s still a project with plenty of areas he needs to improve upon. He’s still a liability defensively, still can’t consistently score from range and still goes for the flashy play over the simple one at times.
Those traits will exist for other teams, but nearly every other team in the lottery isn’t competing at a high level like the Celtics. Can they afford the growing pains that come along with Ball when they’re competing for top playoff seeds?
Everything in this piece prefaces the fact that, in order to even draft Ball, Boston would have to jump well up in the draft. Their mix of incoming draft picks from Memphis and Milwaukee and a dearth of young players would make a trade possible, but still likely highly improbable.
Chances of Ball in Boston: 5%
[lawrence-related id=26144,26057,26046]