Charles Barkley said Friday that the Boston Celtics are a "middle of the road team in no man's land." Kevin O'Connor joined Greg Dickerson on Sports Tonight and explained just how foolish of a statement that is.
Make sure you watch the video above, but here are some of the key stats O'Connor mentions regarding the state of the Celtics.
Competitive teams rarely select at the top of the draft, but the Celtics have already done it before and could again in 2017 and 2018. Over the last 40 years, only 10 teams have won at least 45 games and used a top five pick in the draft. Here’s the list:
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| PLAYER | TEAM | WINS | YEAR | PICK |
| Greg Ballard | Washington | 48 | 1977 | 4 |
| Mychal Thompson | Portland | 58 | 1978 | 1 |
| Magic Johnson | LA Lakers | 47 | 1979 | 1 |
| Kevin McHale | Boston | 61 | 1980 | 3 |
| James Worthy | LA Lakers | 57 | 1982 | 1 |
| Charles Barkley | Philadelphia | 52 | 1984 | 5 |
| Sam Bowie | Portland | 48 | 1984 | 2 |
| Len Bias | Boston | 67 | 1986 | 2 |
| Darko Milicic | Detroit | 50 | 2003 | 2 |
| Jaylen Brown | Boston | 48 | 2016 | 3 |
Two of those teams won a single championship (Washington and Detroit). Two became dynasties (Boston and the Lakers). Four of the players are Hall of Famers (Johnson, McHale, Worthy, Barkley). You’ll also find Jaylen Brown, who could be a cornerstone even if we don’t know it yet.
If they play their cards right and the Nets struggle as much as everyone expects them to, they’ll be right back in the conversation for another star next season. Due to their tremendous flexibility, that could happen through the draft, the trade market, or free agency.
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