It’s always dangerous to judge a draft on expectations and emotional acceptance. There is an old trope about sports decision-makers who try to make decisions that appease their fans ending up sitting with them, instead of in a seat of power.
But there is no doubt that many Parishioners of the Parquet found Thursday’s NBA Draft to be like a basketball striking a dead spot on the old Garden planks — it fell flat. There was no move into the top 10. There was no packaging of picks for an established NBA star. There was no great leap forward for the Green and the pursuit of Banner 18, only a continued plodding down the road of rebuilding with guards Terry Rozier of Louisville, taken with the 16th pick, and Georgia State sharp-shooter R.J. Hunter, selected with the 28th pick.
Celtics fans wanted deliverance; instead they got a call to exercise patience. They were let down again as the team’s surfeit of draft picks didn’t add up to a slam-dunk move. Even Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck looked forlorn addressing the crowd at the Seaport Hotel. He told Comcast SportsNet New England the team had “unbelievable offers” rejected.
This was yet another harsh hoops reality check for those Celtics fans convinced that the team’s plethora of draft picks positioned them to hit fast-forward on the climb back to championship contention. A few Boston sports truths have become self-evident: The Red Sox have an inflated farm system and the Celtics have overrated draft picks. The Celtics’ raft of picks will pay off some day, but Thursday was not that day.
“We tried [to move up]. It just didn’t happen,” said Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. “We like the guys we have, and I think our fans are going to enjoy them. The fans feed into what is being said and written, too. I did say that we would try to move up. The price was way too high. But there are so many rumors out there. There are so many things that are being said and written that aren’t even close to being true. People get caught up in these rumors and the expectations grow even higher.”
The night began with the anticipation — and sorry, Danny, expectation — that Danny the Dealer would bamboozle some hapless counterpart. Ainge had said that he didn’t want to use all four of the team’s picks, two in the first round and two in the second, but that’s exactly what he did.
There was buzz earlier in the evening that the Celtics could move up to No. 9 to try to snag sliding Duke small forward Justise Winslow. It conjured up visions of Paul Pierce slipping to the Celtics with the 10th pick in 1998. A hard-nosed small forward with 3-point range would have been a perfect fit for the Celtics, and a Michael Jordan-led team would be the ideal sucker, er, partner for Ainge.
But someone — probably Charlotte general manager Rich Cho — must have talked some sense into His Airness and explained that the 16th and 28th pick didn’t add up to a spot in the top 10. The Hornets elected to keep the ninth pick and use it on Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky. Winslow went to Miami with the next selection.
Forced to stand pat at not-so-sweet 16, the Celtics passed on Wisconsin small forward Sam Dekker and Arkansas big man Bobby Portis and tabbed Rozier, an athletic but undersized combo guard who needs to improve his outside shot.
The fatalistic and sardonic Celtics fan would say that former Boston coach and Red Auerbach usurper Rick Pitino, the head coach at Louisville, was still finding a way to ruin the Celtics.
The Celtics covet athletic combo guards who play shrink-wrap defense, but have shaky and/or streaky shots — Avery Bradley, Marcus Smart, and now Rozier.
It was the second year in a row the Celtics took a pair of guard-types in the first round. Last year, they selected Smart and James Young.
Ainge now has to find a way to turn this guard-heavy melange into an actual contender.
“We have a lot of guards,” said Ainge. “We’ll figure it out. I like them all. We have some tough choices.”
How does that playoff appearance look now, Celtics fans?
The Celtics were 16-30 after a Super Bowl Sunday loss to the Miami Heat on Feb. 1. The Green went 24-12, a .667 winning percentage, the rest of the way to make the playoffs as the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.
It turns out there is a difference between having the 16th and, say, the 12th pick. But getting turned to sawdust by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in a four-game sweep was worth it.
Perhaps the Celtics can hang a banner that says Eastern Conference Quarterfinalists, channeling the Indianapolis Colts.
It’s time to hope that free agent Kevin Love is planning another summertime sojourn to Boston. Isaiah Thomas can meet up with him at a Red Sox game. Wunderkind coach Brad Stevens can sell him on the virtues of his system. Imagine Stevens turning to Love and saying, “If I can make Jonas Jerebko the Swedish Larry Bird, imagine what I can do for you?”
Next year’s draft is the time for the Celtics and Ainge to capitalize on their draft capital.
They own Brooklyn’s first-round pick, their own first-rounder, and could have the first-rounder of the Dallas Mavericks from the Rajon Rondo trade. That Dallas pick is top-seven protected until 2021. They could also get another first-round pick from Minnesota if it falls outside the top 12.
The Green also have the right to swap first-round picks with the Nets in 2017 and own Brooklyn’s 2018 first-rounder and a future Memphis first-rounder.
The Celtics in the draft have become like that big-budget summer movie you are dying to see. The trailer seduces you to go see it and then you’re let down.
The Celtics are still selling coming attractions.
Christopher L. Gasper can be reached at cgasper@globe.com.