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NBA Mock Draft 2016: ESPN’s Chad Ford and Kevin Pelton’s Latest Top-10 Scenario
- Updated: May 9, 2016
The Brooklyn Nets aren’t recovering from their acquisition of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett anytime soon. They won’t own their own first-round pick until 2019, as the Celtics have pick-swap rights next season and get Brooklyn’s unprotected selection again in 2018.
After a 21-61 mess of a season, the Nets are facing their absolute worst-case scenario: giving the Celtics the No. 1 overall pick and a chance at a superstar. The Celtics have a 15.6 percent chance of winning next Tuesday’s pingpong drawing, and they’ll fall no lower than the sixth overall selection.
Historically, the difference between the No. 1 pick and No. 6 pick is about 14 win shares over a player’s first five seasons, according to a Reddit user’s NBA draft trade value chart. In this draft, it may be more. Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram are the only true surefire potential stars in the 2016 class, which is understandably a little shallow after the historically great 2015 group. The difference here between No. 1 and No. 6 could be the difference between a multi-time All-Star and a seventh man.
Heading into the draft lottery, ESPN.com’s Kevin Pelton and Chad Ford are examining the ramifications of each team winning the first overall pick. Here’s a look at Boston’s best-case—and Brooklyn’s worst-case—scenario.
1. Boston Celtics – Ben Simmons, SF/PF, LSU
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Simmons is the best prospect in this class. You won’t hear anything different from me during this entire process. He’s also a strong fit for Boston, where he could alleviate some of Isaiah Thomas’ disturbing duties and play for one of the half-dozen best coaches in basketball in Brad Stevens.
The Celtics helped turn Jae Crowder into a decent three-point shooter and made Evan Turner a basketball player—imagine what they’d do with Simmons.
Still, this is one team spot where considering Ingram would make sense. Lessening the burden on Thomas feels like a good thing on paper, but we saw what happened when he played more off the ball in Phoenix. Thomas’ size becomes a real detriment, and he lacks focus at times when he’s not the primary …
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