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Why Celtics are Favourite To Win 2024 NBA Draft tittle

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5 months ago

June 19, 2024

The Celtics are just hours away from their championship celebration after beating the Mavericks in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. The partying continued deep into the night as the C’s finally got back to the mountaintop by winning their 18th championship.

But the NBA schedule is relentless. While the Celtics organization will be busy celebrating this week, including the championship parade Friday, those in the front office are already locked into their next steps. That includes the NBA Draft next week, which will be a two-day event for the first time. The first round is set for June 26 while the second round will be the next day from Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

According to NBA insider Adam Zagoria, the Celtics already hosted several prospects for workouts last weekend. The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach also reported a sleepless front office hosted more players. Expect more names to start trickling out the days leading up to the draft as the C’s have some decisions to make soon. They currently hold the No. 30 and No. 54 overall picks in the draft. The C’s will naturally pick in the latter stages of the draft considering their success from this past season.

Interestingly, if the Celtics don’t make any deals, this will be the first time Boston president Brad Stevens will make a first-round pick in his tenure. Over the past three drafts, he’s elected to trade away those picks in order to bolster the roster, bringing in guys like Al Horford and Derrick White. That’s been an intentional decision as the Celtics are in win-now mode. They also only have so much playing time to go around for young players who are still developing behind the scenes.

So it remains to be seen if the Celtics do end up making a pick at 30th overall. In the meantime, the front office will continue evaluating prospects who will fit their roster. Even though the Celtics will be another year older in 2024-25, they still retain all of their core players. That means playing time will again be hard to come by, which could factor into the front office’s decision for any player they pick in the draft.

But the Celtics will need to find cheap production to keep this current roster chugging along in title contention. Think along the lines of guys like Sam Hauser (undrafted in 2021) and Payton Pritchard (26th overall in 2020). By developing those guys and getting rotation minutes on cheap deals, the Celtics can strengthen other parts of their roster despite playing top-dollar for their best players.

Notably, in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, it introduced a new rule in the second-round pick exception. It allows teams to sign their second-round picks without dipping into cap space or using mid-level exception. The Celtics signed rookie Jordan Walsh to such a contract last season as last year’s 38th overall pick spent a bulk of the season training up in the G League.

So expect the Celtics to get savvy — like they have been — when it comes to the salary cap and rookies. The C’s already have the hard part done in having two established stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown who can lead a team to a championship. Considering those guys are locked down or will be inked to a long-term deal, it’s about surrounding them with talent. That starts with the draft as the front office will look to keep the roster competitive going forward with an eye on Banner No. 19 now.