Celtics have narrowed draft targets at No. 27 to 10 players

The Celtics won't be picking from a spot in the lottery for the first time in five years next Thursday night. With the uncertainty of the draft board ahead of them, there will be a broader range of players available at No. 27, but that will not prevent the Celtics from honing in on a number of names.

"I think there are about 10 guys that we've kind of narrowed it down to that we think have a chance to be there," Team director of player personnel Austin Ainge said on Friday. "Like I said, we evaluate the whole draft all the time. But we've kind of tried to laser focus into about 10 at this point."

The Celtics have already worked out 50-60 players at their practice facility in Waltham, names which included Grayson Allen, Billy Preston and Kenrich Williams on Friday. While there does not appear to be much room in the team's rotation for a rookie to make an immediate impact, the looming free agencies for a number of key reserves make Boston's only pick a crucial one.  

“We have to find players that can play and help us,” Ainge said. “Having guys on rookie contracts and lower contracts that can contribute are invaluable because we have some high-money guys on our team now and we’ve got free agents coming up every year. This year, next year, year after, and you never know how that’s going to go. So we have to continually have new talent in the pipeline.”

Guerschon Yabusele and Ante Zizic were a couple of draft-and-stash candidates for the team over the past couple seasons. The international pool is weaker this year but the C's will not rule out grabbing a player to develop overseas given the team's current roster crunch (11 players already under contract).

“That’s always a look,” Ainge said. “That could be beneficial to any team, guys that develop off not using a roster spot and not on your salary cap. So that’s something we always look at strongly.”

The Celtics don't have any glaring areas of need on the roster, given the depth of their backcourt and the development of youngsters like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on the wing. That balance will give the front office more flexibility as they approach the No. 27 selection.

"If you look," Ainge explained. "We make draft decisions, free agency decisions, all these things, usually for more than one season. You're trying to plan ahead. And we have guys whose contracts will be up at every position over the next three years. Rookie contracts and first-round rookie contracts are four years. And so, really, position -- we'll take the best player."

Allen raves about former teammate Tatum

The Duke swingman played with Tatum for his only season at Duke and expected big things from his running mate at the pro level.

"I knew he was going to perform really well -- maybe not this soon, but I knew he was going to do really well," Allen admitted. "It was amazing to see. He's always had that clutch, that want-to-be-in-the-moment in him, and that's why he thrived in the playoffs here."

Open space is tough to come by at the college level due to legal zone defenses and less capable shooters to spread out defenses. Things changed for Tatum on that front in Boston however and he was able to take advantage, according to Allen.

"If he gets in space, and that jump shot starts going down, he's taking shots you want him to take, but it's going in," Allen said. "And I knew once he got to the league, and the space, the floor opened up for him. He got more space. He got to do all that stuff he has to his game, be in his bag a little bit. I knew he was going to perform really well."

Allen added: "He came into Duke as such a great scorer that he wanted to get to all that stuff that he has. And I think at Duke, he kind of learned to slow down a little bit, make quicker decisions," Allen said. "You know, catch and shoot. We know you can cross guys over and shoot fadeaways and knock it down most of the time, but catch-and-shoot is easy, too. And I think he learned that at Duke, and then when he got to the league, he was just able to put it all together."