ESPN Chad Ford 2014 mock draft has Celtics taking Jabari Parker

If your first reaction to this is "wait, what?" then you're on the same page as I am.  Yesterday Chad Ford unveiled his "2014 NBA Mock Draft 1.0" on ESPN Insider.  It's one thing to speculate on which spots college players might be taken in next summer with an entire season still to be played beforehand.  While the order is certainly subject to change, it's clearly possible to make educated guesses at the moment.  On the other hand, to combine that with predicting where every NBA team will finish next year, as well as the outcome of the draft lottery on top of that, seems like a bit of a stretch.   The magicians at ESPN have determined that the Celtics will have the #5 selection in next year's draft, and with that pick they will chose 6'8" Duke Freshman swingman Jabari Parker.  Here's Ford's rational:

“Forget for a second that [Ainge] and Parker are both Mormon and Ainge has been an informal adviser to Parker in the past. With a super-skilled frontcourt of Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk, and an athletic backcourt of Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley, Parker fits great in between — especially for Celtics fans who aren’t sold on Jeff Green as the Celtics’ future."

My biggest take here?  I'm just impressed Ford views Sullinger and Olynyk as the "super-skilled frontcourt" of the future for Boston.

Thanks to NESN.com's Ben Watanabe.


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