NBA Draft 2020: Top 3 options for the Boston Celtics with the No. 14 pick

Possible NBA Draft target for Boston Celtics — Cole Anthony

Guard | North Carolina | 6’3 | 190 lbs | 20 years old

Cole Anthony’s stint at North Carolina didn’t go as planned.

It is, one would thing, quite safe to say that he didn’t expect to suit up for a team with endless injury and chemistry woes, historically-anemic outside shooting, cramped spacing, and an underwhelming collection of talent despite the reputations of several heralded newcomers.

Anthony missed 11 games with a partially torn MCL, struggled to finish at the rack, and never seemed to completely gel with his teammates or get a firm grasp of Roy Williams’s dual-post offensive system. His raw averages of 18.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.2 threes per game are solid, but he was lacking in efficiency (.501 TS%) and consistency, oscillating between some high highs and low lows.

Once considered a contender to go first overall, Anthony’s stock is now up in the air, with NBA front offices questioning how his headstrong personality and all-of-a-sudden-murky athletic profile will translate to the next level. As a result, he’s now projected to go anywhere from the late lottery to the end of the first round. And, as a result, he’s now projected to go in a range with better organizations who rightfully don’t view him as a future primary.

The Boston Celtics are chief among the best fits for the maligned guard, with a potential union of the two parties being a mutually beneficial one. Executive Danny Ainge has constructed an ecosystem that includes a defensive-minded coach that can mask the weaknesses of his guards (Boston had a top-five defense while starting a 6’0 guard in Kemba Walker), and a roster full of impact defenders on the wings and interior.

There also was a track record with deploying guards with and without the ball (Isaiah Thomas, Kyrie Irving, Walker), and a spread pick-and-roll offense featuring a pair of stars in Walker and Jayson Tatum, the latter of which leaped into the upper echelon of NBA wings this year.

If Boston is looking for a guard with nuclear shot-making upside — Anthony shot .441/.380/.892 across 21 EYBL games in the spring of 2018 and consistently shot well on high volume pre-college, suggesting his UNC sample is more of an outlier — then it likely can’t do much better than Anthony.

Concerns over his burst and ball control are warranted, but those can be mitigated in the short term by running off-ball him next to Marcus Smart in the second unit, using him more as an over-qualified play-finisher than a full-time creator. And though his foot speed isn’t great defending at the point of attack, Boston rosters enough suitable on-ball defenders so that he can be thrust into the corner, where his instincts as a help-side defender could hypothetically shine.

There’s a lot of reasons for Boston hold interest in Anthony, despite the flaws and questions. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Ainge has proven himself to be quite fond of decorated prospects with bullish personalities, functional strength, and theoretical two-way upside.