The 2019 NBA Draft is still about a half-year away, but that shouldn't prevent Boston Celtics fans from getting to know the top prospects in this year's class.
The Celtics, as of Tuesday's NBA standings, have four first-round picks in the 2019 draft. Those picks include Boston's own selection, the Sacrament Kings' pick, the Memphis Grizzlies' pick and the Los Angeles Clippers' pick.
ESPN draft expert Jonathan Givony released his latest 2019 NBA mock draft on Monday, and his projections for Boston's first-round picks are listed below. Keep in mind, the draft order ESPN used came from their Basketball Power Index, which predicts Boston to have three, not four first-round picks in 2019.
--No. 9 (via Sacrament): Keldon Johnson, SF, Kentucky
--No. 18 (via L.A. Clippers): PJ Washington, PF, Kentucky
--No. 27: Luka Samanic, PF, Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia)
It certainly wouldn't be the worst thing for the Celtics to target Kentucky players. Wildcats head coach John Calipari does a great job preparing players for the pro game, and seven of his players have been drafted over the last two seasons. Here's a list of those guys:
--De'Aaron Fox, No. 5, 2017
--Malik Monk, No. 11, 2017
--Bam Adebayo, No. 14, 2017
--Kevin Knox, No. 9, 2018
--Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, No. 11, 2018
--Jarred Vanderbilt, No. 41, 2018
--Hamidou Diallo, No. 45, 2018
The Celtics hit on a Kentucky star in the 1996 draft when they took Antoine Walker. Boston's last two Kentucky draft picks, Ron Mercer in 1997 and James Young in 2014, were busts.
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It'll be interesting to see what the C's do with all of their 2019 draft picks. They already have a loaded roster with pretty much no minutes to spare. It's a good problem to have, though, because this abundance of first rounders gives Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge plenty of ammo in the trade market.
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