Gresh & Zolak On Celtics Draft Lottery Disappointment: 'Longer Road' Than We All Thought
BOSTON (CBS) - We know how you're feeling today, Celtics fans.
Another draft lottery goes by and another disappointing outcome has supporters of the team feeling jilted leading up to next month's draft.
98.5 The Sports Hub's Gresh & Zolak began their show on Wednesday reacting to the Celtics getting the no. 6 overall pick in the NBA draft.
President of basketball operations Danny Ainge appeared on Toucher & Rich prior to Gresh & Zo coming on air. Ainge still feels like the future is bright for his team and he conveyed a very optimistic tone to all that were listening.
Gresh feels like Ainge is just putting on a face, and deep down he knows the ping pong balls once again made it harder for him this offseason. Zolak agrees.
"Last night was supposed to be a monumental night for the Celtics. Did you see [co-owner] Steve Paglicua's face? So much for the lucky rooster! It was Tommy Heinsohn in 2007 all over again," said Zo.
Gresh feels like the Celtics could still make an enticing offer to Minnesota for Kevin Love, but does the All Star power forward really want to come here? Because if he doesn't then the Celtics could have landed the no. 1 overall pick and it still wouldn't matter.
All in all it was a disappointing lottery night for Celtics fans once again, and Gresh believes the road is that much harder now for Ainge and the C's going forward.
"You basically whizzed away a year. You tried to lose as much as you could within reason for hope. Last night hope was dashed and reality set in. I sit here today thinking it's going to be a longer road than we all thought for the Celtics to get good again.
"Ainge has a ton of assets. But unless somebody is willing to look at all those assets and find them appealing, for an organization that stinks and has a player to move (a la Kevin Love and Minnesota), I don't know how Danny Ainge pulls the rabbit out of his hat on this one. I don't know how they get good quick."
It's tough to build through the draft in the modern NBA. Some teams have done it recently (Indiana, Oklahoma City), but the fruits of their labor have yet to result in an NBA championship. Not only that, but it takes years upon years to build that way.
Furthermore Rajon Rondo, the best player currently on the Celtics roster, is in Gresh's mind NOT a franchise player.
"Rondo is an enigma. Given the gaggle of picks the Celtics have, you can't definitively say we're going to build this whole thing around Rondo -- that's how far behind the Celtics are in my mind. You do not have the guy where you can say he is the piece you can revolve everything around," said Gresh.
The best player, Rondo, is also entering the final year of his deal and could very well sign with another team next summer -- another sobering thought if you're a C's fan.
Listen below for the full discussion:
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