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While it’s never too early to think about the future, it might be a little bit early to start projecting the 2020 NBA Draft.
That hasn’t stopped at least ten intrepid attempts to divine just what NCAA and international prospects will end up come summer, even considering the fact many have hardly played more than a handful of games at their current level and a few none at all.
With as many as three possible first-round selections at their disposal in a deep if not especially eye-popping draft class, where are these analysts projecting the Boston Celtics to have interest?
CelticsWire assembled ten different early projections of the coming NBA Draft to try and answer that question despite the many months between this moment and the actual night of the event.
Drawing on the mock drafts of The Athletic, Bleacher Report, ESPN, Forbes, NBA Draft.net, Rookie Wire, Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, Stadium and Tankathon, we’ve assembled a composite overview to help you get an idea of some of the prospects to keep an eye on as their respective seasons unfold.
Controlling the Memphis Grizzlies’ first-round selection should it fall outside of the top-six protection it has this season (it will become entirely unprotected next season should it not convey this year), the Milwaukee Bucks’ unprotected first-rounder, as well as their own selection, Boston could add even more young talent to help fill out an increasingly expensive roster.
The Celtics could also package the picks to move into the low lottery to snatch up a high-value player.
It’s important to note that each of these individual projections were recently produced at different times with different methodologies, so their interpretations should be taken with a grain of salt given just how much things can change between now and when players actually hear their names called.
The bad news for fans of Boston is nearly all analysts noted in this article assume the Memphis pick will not convey, meaning moving up for a low lottery pick is likely off the table for the Celtics.
The good news is that the combination of recently-flattened NBA Draft Lottery odds, and lack of actual performance to base both draft prospects and team order on means the range of possible outcomes is still about as wide as things like draft protection and realistic outcomes can allow.
That being said, the range of players projected to be taken with picks under Boston’s control varies considerably as one might expect this early in the basketball year, but there are a few interesting overlaps worth a closer look.