What Do I Expect to Happen Tonight?

(Photo courtesy of Steve Neimand)

By: Greg Payne

Nothing!

But please, feel free to continue reading, because I do have more than that. Yes, draft night is upon us - a night where in recent years the Celtics have focused more on trading players than drafting them (Raef Lafrentz, Dan Dickau and the sixth overall pick for Sebastian Telfair and Theo Ratliff in 2006 and Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak and the rights to Jeff Green for Ray Allen and the 35th pick (Glen Davis) in 2007).

With that said, I feel like everything will stay in tact tonight, specifically the core of this basketball team. Our starting five next season will be Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins. There is no feasible scenario that Danny Ainge can stumble upon that will magically make us better now and in the future, specifically because in our starting five we have top five (possibly top 3) players at each position. Which means, you're only going to potentially get better when you trade for other top five talent and such a scenario would be borderline impossible tonight (or even next week, for that matter).

Sure, if Ainge tried to swing a deal to replace the aging Ray Allen, Paul Pierce or Kevin Garnett, we MIGHT be better off three years from now, but there will be such a significant dropoff next season that such a move would truly jeopardize our championship aspirations.

The Celtics do need to be careful tonight, because other teams are obviously on the hunt to better themselves and some have already done so. The biggest threat to the Celtics has to be Shaquille O'Neal moving to Cleveland to team with LeBron James but we've also seen Richard Jefferson, Jamal Crawford, Mike Miller and the fifth overall pick switch zipcodes. And don't be shocked if the Timberwolves make another substantial move before the day is over.

Some teams might be able to better themselves through trading on draft day because of weaknesses at certain positions in their starting rotations (Cleveland at center), but the right way for the Celtics to better their team is through free agency. Unless by some divine miracle the expiring contracts of Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrine are miraculously coveted by every single team with an intangible player the Celtics could use, nothing interesting will happen with our team tonight.

Because after all, when Washington made its recent deal to take on Miller and Randy Foye in exchange for three no names (Darius Songalia, Etan Thomas and Oleksiy Pecherov) along with the fifth overall pick, the pick itself was the main incentive of that deal. The Timberwolves now actually hold some leverage with the fifth and sixth overall selections tonight.

But seeing as how the Celtics would be unable to trade the 58th overall selection for Mickael Pietrus or Jason Terry or anyone else worth mentioning, they are much better off leaving it alone to face free agency and inevitably the luxury tax.

Oh, and don't be shocked if Tracy McGrady switches teams, either.

But no, the core of the Boston Celtics today will in fact be the core of the Boston Celtics tomorrow. Remember back when this team was 27-2 to start last season? Even with a pretty weak bench, last year's team was ridiculous. As long as we bolster our bench in the coming months, there's no reason to believe we can't see numbers like that again to start next season.

Danny Ainge, I wish you a very boring, unexciting, uninteresting, humdrum, lifeless and vapid day.

Stay Tuned.