The novel format of the end of the 2019-20 NBA season and subsequent playoffs are unlike anything that has come before in the history of the league, a necessary response to the pandemic that upended the basketball status quo.
And with that novel format has come a number of creative ideas on how that plan could be further tweaked to deliver maximum entertainment appeal in a moment of extreme duress.
To that end, The Athletic’s staff put together a ‘mock expansion draft’ that would see 22 teams who made the so-called ‘Orlando bubble’ cut-off be allowed to ‘draft’ one player from the eight teams whose season ended.
What if the NBA allowed the 22 bubble teams to pluck one player each from the other eight teams? Completely absurd … I know.
But … @ChrisKirschner, @MikeVorkunov
and I had an expansion draft to see who would go where.(Free sub trial inside)https://t.co/NCqCNEftWb
— James Edwards III (@JLEdwardsIII) June 8, 2020
While there are a host of reasons why this would never happen in real life, it’s still an appealing thought experiment. But the Athletic staff — for whatever reason — decided Boston ought to draft now-Atlanta Hawks big man Clint Capela.
As the Celtics Wire has discussed more than once on why Capela’s game is far from an ideal fit in Boston’s style of play, nor does he provide a skill the team has much need for.
So who would be a better option, then?