![\"Boston](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2198063180-e1771607252632.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Boston Celtics general manager Brad Stevens during a game against the Dallas Mavericks in February 2025<\/p>\n
The Boston Celtics<\/a> have won eight of their last 10 games and are trending in the right direction at a crucial point in the season.<\/p>\n As the race for playoff positioning intensifies, Boston sits second in a tightly contested Eastern Conference with a 51-25 record.<\/p>\n They are currently four games behind the Detroit Pistons<\/a> in first place and 2.5 games ahead of the New York Knicks<\/a> in third, making every result increasingly significant as the regular season winds down.<\/p>\n While the immediate focus remains on securing playoff positioning, attention is beginning to turn towards another potentially important offseason.<\/p>\n Boston Celtics Could Lean on Young Talent as Future Financial Decisions Approach<\/p>\n The impact of Payton Pritchard<\/a>, Baylor Scheierman<\/a>, and others<\/a> has reinforced the value of high-upside, cost-controlled contributors on a championship-caliber roster.<\/p>\n With Jaylen Brown<\/a>, Jayson Tatum<\/a>, and Derrick White<\/a> already occupying significant portions of the team\u2019s long-term payroll<\/a>, and Nikola Vucevic<\/a> potentially joining them if he re-signs in unrestricted free agency, Boston could soon face increased financial pressure.<\/p>\n That reality places added importance on the NBA<\/a> Draft.<\/p>\n For a team aiming to contend year after year, the draft offers a reliable path to add affordable talent without limiting roster flexibility.<\/p>\n Boston retains control of its future draft capital and is currently projected to pick towards the end of the first round.<\/p>\n In his latest mock draft, Bleacher Report\u2019s Jonathan Wasserman<\/a> has the Celtics selecting Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz with the 27th pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n Through 37 games this season, Stirtz averaged<\/a> 19.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.4 steals while shooting 47.7% from the field and 35.8% from three-point range.<\/p>\n \u201cBennett Stirtz\u2019s college career is over after guiding Iowa to a surprise Elite Eight appearance,\u201d Wasserman wrote. \u201cScouts have to decide how much the advanced shotmaking and touch can offset some of the struggles he has creating easy separation against length.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStirtz was forced to take some difficult shots against Florida, but he\u2019s also converted 90 dribble jumpers on the year and 70.2 percent of his rim finishes. And he\u2019s one of the class\u2019 most accurate catch-and-shoot guards at 50.8 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n In his senior season, Stirtz led Iowa to a widely noted Sweet Sixteen appearance, where they were eliminated by Illinois.<\/p>\n The 22-year-old played all 40 minutes in each of his four NCAA Tournament games, including a 24-point performance with three rebounds and three assists in the team\u2019s final outing.<\/p>\n Bennett Stirtz Emerging as Intriguing Late First-Round Option<\/p>\n Across those four tournament games, Stirtz averaged<\/a> 18.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per contest, along with just under a steal per game, though his shooting dipped to 36.9% from the field and 25.6% from three-point range.<\/p>\n After beginning his college career with two seasons at Northwest Missouri State, Stirtz transferred to Drake alongside head coach Ben McCollum before following him again to Iowa for his final season.<\/p>\n Drake reached the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, a run that helped McCollum secure the Iowa head coaching position.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s seen success at each and every stop as a 6-foot-4 floor general with a pretty specific style, albeit one that\u2019s been very effective when surrounded with the right pieces,\u201d Sports Illustrated\u2019s Derek Parker<\/a> recently wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cAside from the pure numbers, it is clearly evident that Stirtz is an elite pick-and-roll player on film. He doesn\u2019t possess elite athleticism, but has a surgical level of NBA craft in navigating his way around the court.\u201d<\/p>\n Falling just short of 23-years-old on draft night, Stirtz\u2019s age may impact his draft position, but it also brings a level of maturity that could appeal to teams selecting later in the first round.<\/p>\n For a Boston Celtics team balancing immediate title ambitions with long-term planning, a prospect like Stirtz could offer more than depth. He could represent a potential contributor who can support the current core while fitting into the franchise\u2019s broader vision.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMatt Evans<\/a> is a sports journalist from the United Kingdom, based in Paris, with over a decade of experience covering the NBA and wider global sport. More about Matt Evans<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Celtics\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Boston Celtics general manager Brad Stevens during a game against the Dallas Mavericks in February 2025 The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-693922","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116335357283037103","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}