Author Archives: @bossportsextra

The NHL’s Boston Bruins Contract Signing Rumors

Leave a reply

While the offseason is finally here, there seems to have been some recent developments regarding the future of Charlie McAvoy signing with the Boston Bruins. While there were rumours back in February allowing supporters to make the assumption that he wouldn’t stay on, at least not with the right contract offer, after a recent revelation was made, it would appear to be true and that the ice hockey super hero is planning to stay on with the Bruins. So how will this affect NHL betting lines at 888sportsbook?

The star player turned down a long term contract the last offseason which made international headlines. The move came as a shock to most Boston Bruins fans as there are a number of reasons why supporters think McAvoy made a bad move as the team is famed and destined for upcoming winning seasons.

What seemed to have impacted Charlie McAvoy’s decision was upon learning that defenseman, Aaron Ekblad, had just then signed a long term deal which sent him to the Florida Panthers for a period of 8 years and put his estimated worth at $7.5 million on an annual basis. This move made Ekblad one of the highest paid defenseman in the history of the NHL.

Being young, confident and just as talented as Aaron Ekblad, McAvoy felt he was worth more than the offer made by Boston Bruins. With the two players having similar numbers, it would make sense the player felt he should have been paid more.

Now, with the offseason here, there is always talk and new rumours regarding signings. With Charlie McAvoy’s kind of talent, there are many who would see the ice hockey player take a lucrative deal as he has more than proved his worth in the past season. Recently, it was from Charlie McAvoy himself, who told reporters that he would like to stay in Boston ‘forever’, a pretty strong hint at remaining with the Boston Bruins and a ray of hope for McAvoy supporters.

So What Are The Chances?

If you look at the gameplay history of McAvoy, although worth millions, the Bruins might dig their heels in regarding the player’s health. Having missed 27 games this season, due to a lower body injury and having suffered a concussion, this may affect the signing offer. As stated, these are all rumours and only time will tell whether or not McAvoy will remain in Boston as he so desires. The NHL is under heavy observation, the Bruins being as popular as the Boston Red Sox.

The Stats

One thing which will help supporters determine whether or not the Bruins and McAvoy will strike up a mutually beneficial deal is looking at the facts and they are as follows:

·         McAvoy has been playing for 2 years

·         He has managed to accumulate 60 points in these 2 years

·         Played 117 regular season games

·         He has accumulated 16 points in just 41 games played

These statistics proves the thriving potential of the player and leads fans and supporters to believe this is only the beginning of a long time agreement with Boston, another reason to love this American state.

Showtime in La-La – Bedtime in Boston

Leave a reply

There was a seismic shift in the NBA landscape last week and unless you were vacationing in the Antarctic, then you know LA made New Orleans a godfather offer, to wit Anthony Davis to the Lakers for a king’s ransom down on the bayou. The blockbuster deal reverberated all the way to Sin City and beyond, as the betting odds there and at all of the best online sportsbooks, which can be seen over at Sportsbook Review, currently show the Lakers as the favorites to claim the NBA championship next season. LeBron now has AD as the Robin to his Batman but the roster shakeup in LA is still not necessarily done shaking as the Lakers’ brass is on the hunt to woo a coveted free agent to join their dynamic duo.

This is the way things go in today’s NBA because the players have a big say in their destination of choice. All-Star teams are no longer relegated to a random Sunday in February but rather an 82-game slate where they routinely thump most of the league and contend against only a handful of teams that also assembled their own collection of superstars. If the Lakers can convince Kawhi Leonard that Toronto is a nice place to visit but LA is the place to call home then, barring injuries, any other team would be considered a longshot to win the title next June.

Of course, anything can happen, which is why they play the games, but Golden State is bearing a striking resemblance to a team in decline, even if Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson do return. Both suffered serious injuries at the end of this past season and both will be in their 30’s when the playoffs roll around next April. The best a professional athlete can hope for when they move out of their 20’s is to maintain their conditioning and performance because improvements are the province of youth. Lebron James has been able to fend off the adverse effects of time, even at the ripe old age of 34, but assuming he was to experience a slight dip in production, he’s got a young fire breathing dragon in Anthony Davis in the frontcourt and could very well enjoy another Godzilla on the roster as well, if Kawhi Leonard or Kemba Walker join the LA Mercenaries.

So where does this leave our beloved Boston Celtics? Danny Ainge assembled his own three-headed monster a decade ago when he teamed Paul Pierce with Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. A generation before that triumvirate, we saw Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish wreak havoc and garner championships. But the other franchises have caught on and are upping the ante in a game that is strictly for GM’s who never heard the words, “too rich for my blood”.

Does it really even matter whether Kyrie Irving is coming back to Boston? Boston’s Big Three last season – Irving, Hayward, and Tatum – pale in comparison to the generational talents rolled out on a nightly basis by others. Irving is a legitimate wingman on any team but he proved last season he is far from a leading man. Gordon Hayward will most likely never be the dominating player he was in Utah after his grotesque injury sidelined him for an entire season. And Jayson Tatum, the burgeoning superstar we all believed he would be after his rookie campaign, could very well have reached his ceiling. Okay, so that might be a bit harsh, after all, he is still only 21-years-old and has the potential to be a truly elite player in this league. But right now, he’s more of a T. J. Warren than a Paul George. And to quote a phrase, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” but to win a title in this era, a guy like Tatum is a fabulous sixth man, not the game-changing superstar needed to complete a Big Three.

The Celtics will be competitive next season but visions of banners dancing in our collective heads are the realm of sugarplum fairies, not reality. Unless Ainge has made a Faustian deal in the offseason to sell his soul for a championship, the 2019-2020 iteration of the Boston Celtics will be gritty, and perhaps, a lot more loveable than the whining bunch we saw this past season. But an NBA title will have to wait. The question is, how long?

Winner Takes All on Wednesday Night

Leave a reply

The Boston Bruins have played 105 games between the beginning of October and the middle of
June, but everything they have worked for comes down to a Wednesday night showdown on
Causeway Street against a franchise they vanquished nearly 50 years ago in the Stanley Cup
Finals. If you’re a betting man or woman, then head on over and read a BetOnline review and
you will see for yourself that not only is BetOnline one of the most well-respected online
sportsbooks in the industry, but right now they are dealing the Bruins as substantial favorites to
hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup aloft when the final buzzer sounds.

Had it not been for a dominating effort by the Bruins, and a sensational performance by Tuukka
Rask on Sunday night, then the St. Louis Blues would be planning a parade on Market Street as
we speak. However, we now know the destination of the celebration because the St. Louis
Dispatch inadvertently published a letter on its digital site from Blues’ owner Tom Stillman
stating, “Winning the Stanley Cup was a dream come true for so many of you. All of us will
remember where we were, what we did and how we felt when the Blues brought the Cup
home. We are so very proud of our players, our organization and our fans. And now, together,
we can finally say ‘We won the Cup for St. Louis.’ We look forward to celebrating with you as
we parade the Cup down Market Street.”

Well, that’s awkward. The Dispatch has since deleted the letter from its website but the fact
remains that the Blues were convinced Game 6 would be the final punctuation mark on a
season whose story was seemingly fated for a disappointing ending back in early January when
they were ranked dead last among the 31 NHL teams. In addition, not only did the owner take
an early victory lap but the team had already reserved the entire top floor of a downtown bar
on Sunday night in anticipation of a rowdy postseason gathering. If you believe in jinxes then
Boston looks like a good bet to get it done on Wednesday night.

Much has been made of the officiating in this series with St. Louis coach, Craig Berube, casting
the first stone after Game 3, in which the Blues fell 7-2, when he complained about his team
getting an unfair share of the whistles. Fast forward to Game 5 when a staggeringly blatant
tripping penalty by Blues’ forward Tyler Bozak on Boston’s Noel Acciari went uncalled, resulting
in a St. Louis goal at the other end only moments later with Acciari still flattened on the ice.
Berube’s rant had clearly hit its mark and Bruins’ coach Bruce Cassidy took Berube’s blueprint

and excoriated the non-call, as well as the officiating in general, in a postgame presser after his
team’s 2-1 loss. We surmised that Cassidy’s righteous indignation would resonate with the
officials in Game 6, as it was stated in this article over at Sportsbook Review, and lo and behold,
the refs called them as they saw them with St. Louis bearing the brunt of the whistles due to
their overtly physical style of play.

Ironically, the Bruins’ franchise has long epitomized the prototypical lunch pail gang whose
success was predicated on intimidation and physicality. But this year’s edition is more finesse
and hustle as opposed to power and muscle. Regardless of how they got here, it’s a nice place
to be and on Wednesday night, in front of nearly 20,000 rabid supporters donning the black
and gold, chances are all of those St. Louis fans yearning for a parade, will have to come to
Boston to get one!

Boston Bruins

St. Louis Giving the Bruins the Blues

Leave a reply

The Bruins haven’t had a real tough time of it since their opening series round against the hard-hitting Maple Leafs in which they battled to a Game 7 victory. Of course, we can look back at their second-round opponents, the Columbus Blue Jackets, and recall a time in which our hometown heroes were down 2-1 in the series before they went on to win the next three games and clinch the series. That was a particularly anxious moment for Bruins’ fans as the first three games were decided by just a goal, including two overtimes, but once the B’s rolled to a 4-1 victory in hostile territory to even the series, the momentum took a palpable turn. Boston outscored the Jackets 11-4 over the final three games and that was that.

Carolina came calling for the Eastern Conference Finals but that was a team that had had the good fortune of meeting a tired Islanders squad in the previous round and were unprepared for the thrashing that awaited them in Boston. The Bruins breezed to a 4-0 series sweep and their Stanley Cup opponents, the St. Louis Blues, seemed like a more muscular version of the Hurricanes but nothing to keep them awake at night. Even the oddsmakers at some of the best online sportsbooks found over at Sportsbook Review, chief among them Heritage Sports, made St. Louis a slight favorite in Game 4 which seemed preposterous to those who had just witnessed Boston eviscerate the Blues two nights prior. But that’s why top online sportsbooks like Heritage make the lines and fans don’t.

Ah, but here we are, the series knotted at two apiece after St. Louis responded with a gritty 4-2 Game 4 victory on Monday night after getting torched 7-2 in the previous game. And thus, right now, at this moment in time, we all know that St. Louis is much more like Toronto and nothing like Carolina. Although one could pause and reflect that the B’s are in the same place they were after Game 4 against another physical team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, it should be noted that the boys from Boston were coming off of a 4-1 road win, not a 4-2 road loss heading back to Beantown.

The Bruins are getting perilously short on defense, with the injury to Matt Grzelcyk placing him on the sidelines after sustaining a possible, more likely probable, concussion in Game 2 and now captain Zdeno Chara still smarting from a puck to the face in Monday’s loss. Head coach Bruce Cassidy publicly called out his forwards to pick up the slack and finish plays in the offensive zone.

Cassidy had this to say in his postgame presser Monday night, “We’ve talked a lot about the defense here. Personally, I think our forwards have got to do a way better job with our [defense] out. The onus has to go on them. They’ve got to pull their weight in terms of puck support and helping out the [defense], finishing some plays.”

The Bruins coach then specifically addressed his thinning defense, “They’re young. You’ve got Clifton, you’ve got McAvoy, you’ve got Carlo, these kids are young. Torey [Krug’s] been around, and [John] Moore, but they’re not old, grizzled veterans, so we have to coach them up. That’s our challenge going into Game 5. We have to do a better job with them as a staff.”

Cassidy knows the right things to say and has done a sensational job inspiring the less lauded players on his roster. Boston has been able to continually roll out four effective scoring lines, which is no small task, but watching his team get outworked in Game 4 is an ominous sign for a team that normally forces the play, relentlessly forechecks, and isn’t afraid of sacrificing their bodies in front of a screaming slapshot. The venue shifts to Causeway Street on Thursday and then we’ll see if the Bruins will bare their claws or go into hibernation.

HOW SPORTS BETTING CAN BE MADE SAFER FOR YOUNG SUPPORTERS

Leave a reply

50,000 children between the ages of 11 and 16 have a gambling problem, and that’s just in the UK. Across the globe, young supporters are getting increasing access to gambling sites that allow them to bet on their favorite sports teams. This puts them at risk of developing addictive behaviors that could cause them real pain. In this article, we look at what steps can be taken to help keep young supporters safe.

Recommended reading: SPORTS BETTING AND HORSE RACE BETTING: HOW DO THEY DIFFER?

50,000 children between the ages of 11 and 16 have a gambling problem, and that’s just in the UK. Across the globe, young supporters are getting increasing access to gambling sites that allow them to bet on their favorite sports teams. This puts them at risk of developing addictive behaviors that could cause them real pain. In this article, we look at what steps can be taken to help keep young supporters safe. Recommended reading: SPORTS BETTING AND HORSE RACE BETTING: HOW DO THEY DIFFER?

Clearly define what sports betting & gambling activity is
One of the most important parts of making sports betting safe for young supporters is to be
very clear about what constitutes gambling activity – without this clarity, how can we be sure
that any steps we take are going in the right direction?
Newsround is a youth magazine operated by UK publication the BBC that’s geared towards
making important topics digestible for young people. In 2018, Newsround published an
article that responds to research by the Gambling Commission, which stated thousands of
youths have a problem with gambling. Newsround argued that “not everybody agrees on
what exactly counts as a gambling activity for children.” This is a real problem.
The solution is that we need to be clear that any activity where people stake “something of
value in the hope of winning something else” is gambling. This means that even if young
supporters wager game currency on the outcome of sporting activity, we must treat this as
gambling. Taking this approach will allow us to properly educate youths about gambling.
Educate children about the serious side of sports betting
Of course, there’s a lot of fun to be had in sports betting – if you’re watching a sports game
with friends and you all place different bets, there’s a sense of healthy competition in seeing
which one of you wins. What’s important to remember is that while wagers among friends
are fun, there is a serious side to sports betting – educating young supporters about this will
help keep them safe.
Tony O’Reilly is a former Post Office manager from the Republic of Ireland. Tony’s a big
sports fan and enjoyed to place a bet, beginning with one on the outcome of a soccer match
in 1998 – all normal stuff. But Tony’s sports betting wasn’t normal. He placed bet after bet
after bet and he began funding it by stealing from his work, taking €1.75m and losing all of it
on sports bets. Eventually, Tony was caught and spent 18 months in prison.
Tony’s tale shows the serious side of sports betting, but that’s not where his story ends. In
2018 he published his biography, Tony 10: The Astonishing Story of the Postman who
Gambled €10,000,000 … and Lost it All. Tony 10… explains what he lost in great detail and
people have asked that it be taught in schools, as a lesson to demonstrate just how serious
sports betting is. This would be a great step and more initiatives like it should be taken, so
that young supporters understand that gambling isn’t all fun.
More responsible sports betting tools & campaigns
We’re some way off the world’s education systems making sports betting a part of their
syllabuses. However, a development in attitudes among gambling companies is seeing them
release more adverts that ask people to bet responsibly. This is crucial in helping to make
sports betting safer for young supporters.
Betway is one casino that really takes the issue of responsible betting seriously:

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/JcvydU-uvR8″
frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-
picture” allowfullscreen></iframe>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcvydU-uvR8
Its message is simple, direct, and easy for young viewers to understand – there comes a
point when sports betting stops being fun and this is the time when you need to give it a rest.
Bet365 takes a different approach. This online casino built a serious of tools to help people
stay in control of their betting, allowing people to set notifications and gambling blackouts to
make sure they stay safe. Being responsible is just one of the reasons Bet365 is a great
sports betting casino, but it’s the most important when we’re talking about keeping young
supporters safe. If you want to make sure casinos and betting companies are doing the most
they can to help young sports fans, only show your support to the ones that take efforts to
keep gambling responsible.
Sports betting is a lot of fun, so long as it’s done in the right way and people are kept
safe. There’s one theme that runs through this article: to protect young supporters
you need to improve how you educate them, without doing this the only way they will
find out about the serious side of gambling is by experiencing it themselves – and
that’s not very safe.

What The Patriots Have Invested At Quarterback Entering 2019

Leave a reply

The New England Patriots’ quarterback room nears the summer break with two locks.

One of those locks is coming off his sixth Super Bowl victory and is scheduled to carry a cap number of $27 million into the final year of his contract with a base salary of $14 million. As for the other lock? That’d be the 11th QB New England has selected since Bill Belichick returned to the war room as head coach in 2000.

Tom Brady and Jarrett Stidham are eras apart. Now they find themselves in the same one.

Both will celebrate birthdays this August, with the former turning 42 and the latter turning 23. Both will be on the active roster this September, with Brady entering his 20th NFL season and Stidham entering his first. But for every commonality there is a contrast. Be it pre-star or five-star recruit. Be it Michigan or Auburn product. Be it No. 199 or No. 133 overall draft pick.

Time will tell whether there is company.

New England has entrusted a rookie as Brady’s lone understudy twice over the past decade. In 2009, Michigan State undrafted free agent Brian Hoyer found himself the second and final quarterback on the roster. And in 2014, Eastern Illinois second-round pick Jimmy Garoppolo became the next following Ryan Mallett’s trade to the Houston Texans on cutdown day.

It’s possible such a scenario could play out again.

Hoyer, who has been around the league and back, will have to put his experience above Stidham’s projection. But the Patriots have shown confidence in numbers when it comes to the 33-year-old Hoyer. He has an upcoming base salary of $2.8 million, a cap number of $3 million and $1.5 million guaranteed remaining on his deal.

That reflects the strong roster outlook of a veteran backup who has started 36 career games. Hoyer has appeared in 10 games since returning to Patriots in the fall of 2017, and gone 5-of-8 passing for 49 yards with 15 kneel-downs in the process.

Original content by Forbes.com

Five things to watch at minicamp

Leave a reply

The Patriots will kick off their mandatory three-day minicamp on Tuesday, giving us our first extended look at the 2019 version of the team. It should provide an opportunity to see Tom Brady for the first time this spring, as well as newcomer Michael Bennett and perhaps some others who have yet to make an appearance.

While the only difference between minicamp and the OTA session the media was invited to watch two weeks ago is the mandatory element, the non-padded practices do provide an opportunity to start assessing the potential depth chart and to watch the younger players operate in the Patriots system.

With no contact it’s difficult to judge performance – and Bill Belichick often cautions against doing that anyway as he views these workouts as instructional and not for evaluations. But three days of work, plus an additional OTA practice open to the media next week, will provide a glimpse of what we’ll see come the opening of training camp in late July.

Until then, here are five things we’ll be focusing on this week.

Brady’s presence – Assuming Brady will be back in the fold, it’s always news when the quarterback is involved. For the second straight spring he’s chosen to do his prep work on his own, which is unfortunate because it would be great to watch Brady work with rookie first-round pick N’Keal Harry a bit more extensively. Still, there should be some chances for the two to connect this week and we’ll likely hear from Brady at some point as well.

Finding Wynn – So far we’ve had just one chance to watch practice (May 23) and Isaiah Wynn was not present. Instead we saw left guard Joe Thuney man the left tackle spot in place of the departed Trent Brown. Wynn continues to recover from a torn Achilles that wiped out his rookie season and offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia said several weeks ago that he hadn’t yet been cleared for full on-field work. Although it’s not with pads, it would be nice to see Wynn in uniform and working his way back into form. If not, it will be worth watching to see if Thuney remains at left tackle, a position he played at a high level while earning All-ACC honors at N.C. State.

Crowded secondary – Joejuan Williams was drafted in the second round, one year after Duke Dawson was taken in the same round. The two corners join J.C. Jackson, Jason McCourty, Jonathan Jones and Keion Crossen in a fight for playing time with No. 1 corner Stephon Gilmore. Williams’ size is intriguing as a potential matchup weapon for Belichick, who could use a rotation of corners depending on a specific opponent from week to week. Williams should get a lot of chances to lock horns with Harry in a battle of tall, physical performers. We’ll be watching those closely.

Tight quarters – The tight end position is arguably the one that has drawn the most concern among Patriots fans this offseason following Rob Gronkowski’s retirement. The former All-Pro added a measure of finality to that over the weekend when he told reporters that rumors of a possible return could be put to rest. Whether that ultimately is true or not, it’s time to figure out how the position might look without him. Benjamin Watson will miss the first four games while serving a suspension for PED use, and we’ve yet to see veteran free agent addition Austin Seferian-Jenkins. Matt LaCosse looked like a candidate to fill a pass-catching role a couple of weeks ago, albeit in shorts under far-less-than-competitive circumstances. LaCosse moves well and it will be interesting to see what if any work he gets to do with Brady.

Bennett Brothers 2.0 – Michael Bennett has yet to make an appearance during practice but is expected to be in Foxborough this week. He ostensibly replaces Trey Flowers, and while at 33 he may not be able to handle the full workload, he possesses more explosiveness as a pass rusher. Again, shorts and T-shirts work will only tell so much but Bennett is an interesting character very much in the mold of his brother Martellus, who had a couple of stints as a Patriot. Bennett will be worth a look as well as a listen.

Original content from Patriots.com

Bill Belichick Says Tom Brady Would Be A Goalie If He Played Lacrosse

Leave a reply

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick soaked in some lacrosse at Gillette Stadium over the weekend, as the Premier Lacrosse League kicked off its season in New England.

Belichick has always had a special place in his heart for lacrosse, playing in high school at Phillips Andover and collegiality at Wesleyan University. He spoke about his love of the game on the NBC Sports Network broadcast on Sunday, and also gave a scouting report on how some of his Patriots players would fit on the lacrosse field.

Though some of them would make solid players in Belichick’s mind, he didn’t sound so optimistic that quarterback Tom Brady’s success on the football field would translate to lacrosse. Asked what position Brady would play, Belichick said the quarterback’s mobility issues would limit him to just one position. “Goalie,” Belichick said without missing a beat. “You need to be able to run here. I think some of our players, like Devin McCourty and Pat Chung, guys like that who are fast and have good quickness could play at 200-205 pounds, 210 pounds, somewhere in there, that they would be pretty tough. I think [Tedy] Bruschi would have made a good defenseman. Rodney Harrison and [Mike] Vrabel, guys like that who are long and tough.”

The Patriots have their mandatory minicamp at Gillette Stadium this week, so don’t be shocked if Belichick has a few lacrosse drills added to the mix this year. If that’s the case, it’s clear that Brady will be in net for those drills.

Original Article can be found at CBS Boston

NBA Mock Draft 2019: Zion Williamson, Ja Morant and what might happen if the Boston Celtics traded up?

Leave a reply

With the 2019 NBA Draft approaching quickly (seriously, somehow it’s already June), it’s time to take a shot at a second mock draft. The first one came immediately after the lottery, without the benefit of a couple of weeks of draft workouts and the subsequent rumors. This one has the benefit of … more rumors, which somehow create more uncertainty.

So as we guess our way through the first round, we added another element to the lottery: What if the Boston Celtics traded up for each pick? The Celtics have three first-round selections, with which they could go in almost limitless directions. If they packaged them together, they might be able to chase better talent, or even shore up a selection they really want. But as you will see, there might not be much reason to move up only a few slots if their top targets look like they will slide anyway, and moving up higher than that in a top-heavy draft could be tricky. The first six or seven draft selections are essentially just thought exercises — the Grizzlies, for example, are obviously not dealing the No. 2 pick to the Celtics.

In any case, we gave it our best shot. Here’s our 2019 Mock Draft 2.0.

1. New Orleans: Zion Williamson, Duke. This is the least mysterious part of the night.

If the Celtics had this pick: Zion Williamson. Don’t sprain your brain overthinking this one.

2. Memphis Grizzlies: Ja Morant, Murray State. Morant spent the season beating up on inferior competition, which should be slightly worrisome for Memphis, but not nearly worrisome enough to draft someone else.

If the Celtics had this pick: Ja Morant. Don’t overthink this one either.

3. New York Knicks: R.J. Barrett, Duke. Feels like the Knicks have been telegraphing this one a bit, but given how safe the first two picks are, that’s probably fine.

If the Celtics had this pick: Darius Garland, Vanderbilt. Garland has star potential at point guard thanks to his long-range shooting off the dribble, and the Celtics might very well need a primary initiator after this offseason.

4. Los Angeles Lakers: Darius Garland. Garland makes more sense than Jarrett Culver for three reasons: His star power is higher, his trade value is higher as well, and he’s represented by Klutch Sports.

If the Celtics had this pick: Darius Garland. Presumably in this case, the Celtics could still get Garland once the Knicks took Barrett.

5. Cleveland Cavaliers: Jarrett Culver, Texas Tech. Cleveland gets a nice piece on the wing — a starting-quality two guard who can also initiate the offense alongside Collin Sexton.

If the Celtics had this pick: Coby White, UNC. With Garland off the board, the Celtics go with the next best point guard, and he’s a good one — White has excellent size and athleticism, and he can score from every level.

6. Phoenix Suns: Coby White. The point-guard-desperate Suns finally get their primary initiator (and take themselves off the table as one of the teams likely to pursue Rozier).

If the Celtics had this pick: Again, Coby White, for the same reasons listed above.

7. Chicago Bulls: De’Andre Hunter, Virginia. The Bulls have a nice young core in Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter. Hunter gives them spacing and some defensive versatility on the wing.

If the Celtics had this pick: Cam Reddish, Duke. If I were the Celtics, I would gamble on Reddish’s size, athleticism and shooting ability, as well as the chance that playing at Duke limited his effectiveness.

8. Atlanta Hawks: Cam Reddish. Atlanta already has its point guard of the future in Trae Young, and both John Collins and Kevin Huerter look like keepers. Adding Reddish gives their intriguing roster a little more diversity.

If the Celtics had this pick: Cam Reddish. Guys who can score are always useful.

9. Washington Wizards: Brandon Clarke, Gonzaga. What the Wizards will do this offseason remains an open question, but Clarke — an impressive athlete at the four with plenty of length and versatility — would fit in nicely.

If the Celtics had this pick: Brandon Clarke. The Celtics aren’t going to have Al Horford forever, and Clarke would be a nice pick-up to replace some of his defensive versatility.

10. Atlanta Hawks: Jaxson Hayes, Texas. Filling out the roster of young players with a rim-running big who could add more to his game down the road suits Atlanta very well. This would be a nice result for the Hawks.

If the Celtics had this pick: Jaxson Hayes. He wouldn’t be a perfect fit necessarily, but Hayes is too good to pass up.

11. Minnesota Timberwolves: Sekou Doumbouya, France. Minnesota is trying desperately to build a contender around Karl-Anthony Towns, who submitted a wonderful season last year. Doumbouya has plenty of potential as a stretch four, and while he’s raw, he could be one of the draft’s better talents (in the non-Zion division) when he’s fully developed.

If the Celtics had this pick: Romeo Langford, Indiana. Thus starts a run of Langford-to-the-Celtics speculation on my draft board. He feels like a great fit, if he’s still available at 14.

12. Charlotte Hornets: Rui Hachimura, Gonzaga. Hachimura’s athleticism lends him special potential as a slasher and defender. The Hornets need a little bit of everything, but Hachimura could be a start.

If the Celtics had this pick: Romeo Langford. Hachimura is tempting for the Celtics, but we will stick with Langford, who shores up Boston’s guard depth and adds a talent that could start alongside Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, if everything works out.

13. Miami Heat: P.J. Washington, Kentucky. Miami gets a rock-solid big man who can space the floor, post up and move his feet.

If the Celtics had this pick: Romeo Langford. You get the idea.

14. Boston Celtics: Romeo Langford, Indiana. I can’t get a sense of where Langford will end up — he feels like he might last until the Celtics make their selection, but teams might talk themselves into a player who was supposed to be a high lottery pick before dealing with a hand injury all season.

15. Detroit Pistons: Tyler Herro, Kentucky. The Pistons add a valuable shooter to provide some floor spacing around Blake Griffin. Detroit probably remains a few pieces short of a deep playoff contender, but Herro helps.

16. Orlando Magic: Nassir Little, UNC. Orlando is already tough defensively with its length and versatility. Little brings more on the wing. If he can find some semblance of a shot, he could be deadly.

17. Brooklyn Nets: Bol Bol, Oregon. At this point, the Nets are stockpiling assets. Bol’s skills as a shooter/ball-handler at his height make him a high-risk, high-reward prospect, but the risk is significantly lower this late in the first round (especially for a Nets team with another pick).

18. Indiana Pacers: Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Virginia Tech. The Pacers could lose several free-agent guards, but Alexander-Walker could help replace them with his ability to score off the dribble and run the offense.

19. San Antonio Spurs: Goga Bitadze, Georgia. Bitadze very well might not slip this far — he seems to be rising up draft boards with his 3-point shooting and passing as a 7-footer — but he would be a perfect fit within San Antonio’s system.

20. Boston Celtics: Talen Horton-Tucker, Iowa State. We keep hammering this, but if the Celtics are going to deal Marcus Smart for Anthony Davis — and essentially any deal for Davis would have to involve Smart — getting a 6-foot-4 ball-handler who can guard positions one through four wouldn’t be a bad move.

21. Oklahoma City Thunder: Kevin Porter Jr., USC. Porter could be useful quickly if he can spot up and knock down 3-pointers in the NBA. His offense could shore up OKC’s bench depth.

22. Boston Celtics: Darius Bazley. Is this insane? Maybe a bit (okay, yes, it is), but the Celtics can afford to gamble on an intriguing young talent with their third pick in the first round. Bazley can handle the ball at 6-foot-9, and he can both pass and get to the rim with his length and athleticism. Other aspects of his game are a work in progress, but he would be an intriguing swing with Boston’s third pick of the first round.

The better bet? The Celtics don’t get to this point, having consolidated picks somewhere along the line.

23. Utah Jazz: Keldon Johnson, Kentucky. Utah bolsters its wing depth with a high-motor shooter who should be able to maximize himself with his work ethic.

24. Philadelphia 76ers: Matisse Thybulle, Washington. The 76ers haven’t always had reliable wing defense coming off the bench. Thybulle is an excellent athlete with great length at 6-foot-5 who looks like a lock-down defender at the next level.

25. Portland Trail Blazers: Mfiondu Kabengele, Florida State. Kabengele has potential as a floor-spacing, rim-protecting five. Jusuf Nurkic should be back next season, but drafting a reliable back-up center might not be a bad move.

26. Cleveland Cavaliers (via Houston): Cameron Johnson, UNC. Cleveland’s second pick of the first round is one of the best shooters in college basketball. At 6-foot-9, Johnson could stick in the league for a while.

27. Brooklyn Nets: Grant Williams, Tennessee. Williams shouldn’t slide this far, but if he does, Brooklyn could be ecstatic to pick him up. He’s a little undersized, but very versatile for his position with good pick-and-pop abilities that stretch to the 3-point line.

28. Golden State Warriors: Chuma Okeke, Auburn. Okeke tore his ACL last season, but he showed a lot of flashes of NBA talent. A 6-foot-8 power forward with good athleticism and wingspan who can shoot 3-pointers, Okeke is a nice fit at the next level despite his lack of elite size.

29. San Antonio Spurs: KZ Okpala, Stanford. Somehow, the Spurs pick up Bitadze and Okpala in the same mock draft here. Okpala struggled as the season went on at Stanford, but he showed flashes of lottery potential with his size, athleticism and ability to score in a variety of ways. San Antonio feels like the perfect place to maximize him.

30. Milwaukee Bucks: Carsen Edwards, Purdue. The Bucks nab a solid back-up point guard option who should be able to fill it up from deep both off the catch and off the dribble.

Original article can be found at www.masslive.com