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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Boston Celtics could select Morez Johnson<\/p>\n
The Boston Celtics<\/a> will head into the offseason armed with their own draft pick. Brad Stevens has been highly successful when identifying talent late in the first round, with both Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez playing key roles this season.<\/p>\n Therefore, Celtics fans may be excited to see who Stevens chooses to take with Boston\u2019s 2026 late-first-round pick. Yahoo Sports\u2019 Kevin O\u2019Connor<\/a> predicts the Celtics will select Morez Johnson out of Michigan in his latest mock draft.<\/p>\n \u201cMichigan is filled with so much star power that Johnson is the guy who often gets overlooked nationally,\u201d O\u2019Connor wrote. \u201cHe\u2019s a 250-pound wrecking ball with surprisingly soft hands and the defensive IQ to guard 1 through 5 in a switch-heavy scheme. And he makes constant plays beyond the box score with bone-crushing screens, full-court sprints and high-IQ rotations that blow up the opponent\u2019s action.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Connor continued.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Celtics have targeted team-first guys like Johnson in recent years, so he\u2019d fit the profile here after proving himself as the connective tissue of the best team in the country. He isn\u2019t quite big enough to be a true center and not yet proven enough as a shooter to guarantee he spaces the floor. But the Celtics can be patient and are proving to have a strong developmental program to help resolve any concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson has enjoyed a strong season with Michigan. In 38 games (all as a starter), he\u2019s averaging 13.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists, shooting 65.8% from two-point range and 36.4% from deep on one attempt per game.<\/p>\n Johnson Would Face Competition on the Celtics<\/p>\n Johnson wouldn\u2019t be walking into an easy situation with the Celtics. Joe Mazzulla\u2019s team already has a loaded forward rotation. Johnson would face competition from Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Sam Hauser, Jordan Walsh, Gonzales, Scheierman and Ron Harper Jr.<\/p>\n However, there\u2019s no guarantee Boston\u2019s roster looks the same heading into next season. Stevens could make some roster moves that open up a viable path toward playing time, especially if Walsh and Harper Jr. find themselves on new teams next season.<\/p>\n Even if Johnson spends next season with the Maine Celtics in the G League, there is still a viable pathway forward. The Celtics have made solid use of their developmental connection with Maine in recent years.<\/p>\n Celtics Could Trade Sam Hauser<\/p>\n According to Bleacher Report\u2019s Greg Swartz<\/a>, the Celtics could float Sam Hauser in trade discussions this summer more than any other player.<\/p>\n \u201cAssuming the Boston Celtics keep their core of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Derrick White moving forward, Sam Hauser is the next priciest part of the rotation,\u201d Swartz wrote. \u201cHis $10.8 million salary for next year doesn\u2019t chew up much of the cap sheet. Although, it could be used to help match money in a potential deal for another star.\u201d<\/p>\n Swartz continued.<\/p>\n \u201cWith younger, cheaper forwards on the roster like Baylor Scheierman, Hugo Gonz\u00e1lez and Jordan Walsh, the 28-year-old Hauser may be the most likely player to hit the trade block if the Celtics like what they see from the young core.\u201d<\/p>\n Hauser is one of the best shooters in the NBA<\/a>. It\u2019s hard to envision Boston parting ways with him unless they believe Scheierman can sustainably replace his production. Either way, if Boston drafts another forward, changes will have to be made.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAdam Taylor<\/a> is a basketball reporter covering the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Miami Heat for Heavy. He holds bylines for CelticsBlog, USA Today and Yardbarker. Adam also covers the WWE and AEW. He has a bachelor\u2019s degree in creative writing from Open University. More about Adam Taylor<\/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 The Boston Celtics could select Morez Johnson The Boston Celtics will head into the offseason armed with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-699336","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\/116351410566890952","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699336","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=699336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}