I’m not Buying the Josh Jackson to the Celtics Rumors
According to Chad Ford, Josh Jackson is in play for the Celtics as the first overall pick. Ford’s source is “an anonymous NBA GM.” I’m not buying it AT ALL. Everything about this just seems odd. Whenever there’s a report that says “an anonymous GM said…” I’m just not buying it. I feel like this is just Danny Ainge trying to stir the pot and get inside the head of any GM who was planning on taking Jackson in the draft. That way, somebody could panic and offer Ainge some sort of godfather offer for the number one pick. But I don’t think that will happen. Besides, it was just announced the other day that Jackson canceled his pre-draft workout with the C’s. And that was just a day or two after his Lakers workout, so… come on. If anything it’s just a smoke screen for what Ainge is really going to do, draft Fultz.
It would make sense for them to take Jackson over Fultz given the Celtics’ current point guard situation, but there are aspects where it doesn’t really make sense. They just drafted Jaylen Brown last season and Jae Crowder is still under contract for the next couple years, so why take another SF? All it would do is clog up the position for the next couple years and possibly slow down either Jaylen or Jackson’s progression. Or it would force Ainge’s hand to trade one of them down the line. You could say signing Hayward would do the same thing, but Hayward is already a proven talent in this league. He doesn’t need to fight for minutes to prove himself as an NBA ready player because he already is one. To me, there’s a difference between drafting a teenager to be “the guy” in the future and signing an NBA vet who’s already proven for right now who both happen to play the same position.
We’ll see what happens in less than a week, but for now, I’m confident in saying there’s no way the Celtics take Josh Jackson with the first overall pick. He hasn’t and won’t work out with them, and Fultz makes too much sense to pass up on.
Written By: Nick Cherico (@NickCherico2)