NBA Teens: 2016-17 Boston Celtics preview

I have a friend named of Nakeem Middleton. We both attended KIPP: Ways Academy for 6th-8th grade. Nakeem was a very skilled basketball player and made the school team all 3 years and started in 7th and 8th. Once he graduated from KIPP he went on to play basketball at Joseph Wheeler High school in Marietta, Georgia. This school has arguably one of the best basketball programs in Georgia. He benched the team his freshman and sophomore year due to the firepower in the lineup including one particular player. Nakeem was accompanied by 6’7, 220 pound shooting guard Jaylen Brown. Surprisingly Brown was drafted 3rd overall to my favorite team, the Boston Celtics. He was drafted out of University of Cal, Berkeley averaging 14.6 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game. This is pretty amazing to know that I had close  friend play on the same team as a lottery pick. This now brings me to talk about the Boston Celtics. Boston’s biggest move was signing center Al Horford after his contract ended in Atlanta. It was sad for Hawks fans to see him leave but I key addition to the gaping hole in the Celtics depth chart. They also recently signed Gerald Green in the off season who played well for Miami last season. A Lot of their draft picks where big men from overseas. This was smart for the C’s considering their roster is loaded with guards. These players are Ante Zizic from Croatia, Guerschon Yabusele from France and Abel Nader from Egypt. The Celtics also drafted  solid center in Ben Bentil from Providence, although he is a little undersized he certainly knows how to play the game. Lastly, Demetrius Jackson is a very quick guard from Notre Dame who was also selected in the draft. They took some chances in trying to sign Russell Westbook and Blake Griffin this season but both decided to re-sign with their former teams. I predict the Celtics make the playoffs with the 4th or 5th seed and make a run in the 2nd round. My sleeper pick will be R.J Hunter this year as I expect a lot from him this year. The starting line-up will be I.T running the point, Bradley at the 2, Crowder at the 3, Either Olynk or Amir at the 4 and Horford at the 5. This is a solid line up to me and all of these players play hard every night.