BSJ Daily Briefing 06.20.19: Busy night ahead for Celtics, NBA Draft set to get underway

Jun 20, 2019 • 11:42 am

Good morning!

It’s going to be a very busy night for the Celtics, with Danny Ainge and Co. staring at multiple possibilities to improve the club — both in the short term and long term — as the 2019 NBA Draft gets underway.

Along with holding three picks in the first round (No. 14, No. 20 and No. 22), the Celtics have plenty of cap space to work with in wake of Kyrie Irving and Al Horford’s expected departure. Moving Aron Bayes’s contract could free up even more cap room. Fair to say, things are going to get crazy tonight in New York.

The Red Sox closed out a 5-1 road trip with a convincing 9-4 victory over the Twins last night, handing Minnesota its first series loss at Target Field since back in April. A nice showing from the Sox, especially after Tuesday’s marathon loss. Boston will now have Thursday off before beginning a six-game homestand.

Great stuff from Price on which Patriots rookies are set to hit the ground running come September.

Once again, the St. Louis Blues got the last laugh against the Bruins on Wednesday, as St. Louis pivot Ryan O’Reilly beat Patrice Bergeron in voting for the Selke Trophy at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas. Tough break for No. 37, but given his track record, it seems like a given that he’ll be back in Vegas next June with his ninth straight Selke finalist nod.

The Bruins still managed to take home some hardware on Wednesday, as Don Sweeney was named General Manager of the Year. You can’t knock Sweeney for his efforts this season, whether it be free-agent pickups like Halak, Wagner, Nordstrom, and Moore — followed by his deadline deals for Coyle and Johansson. He’s had his bumps along the way, but Sweeney deserves plenty of credit when it comes to retaining talent without putting Boston in cap hell, headlined by Brad Marchand ($6.125 million) and David Pastrnak ($6.66 million).