The Celtics have picked 19-year old point guard Avery Bradley with the 19th overall pick of the NBA Draft. Bradley played in 34 games (32 starts) for Texas last season and he averaged 11.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game. The Celtics will have Bradley learn behind Rajon Rondo for a while. Bradley is too small at 6′2″, 180 pounds to consider using him at shooting guard. Bradley has a nice upside so I like this pick for the Celtics even if it doesn’t fill a need.

With Ray Allen and Paul Pierce not locks to come back for the 2010-11 season the Celtics will need to pick either a SG or a SF with their first round pick. They pick #19 and #52 in tomorrow night’s NBA Draft. The Celtics only have six players under contract right now and cut that number to 5 if Rasheed Wallace is going to retire. The good news for the Celtics is that SF Damion Jones or SG Xavier Henry should be available when they pick in the first round.

The biggest question heading into this summer is if Paul Pierce with exercise his early termination option on his contract so that he can enter the free agent market. My gut feeling is that he won’t opt out as he has been a Celtic his whole NBA career and I think he feels comfortable there. Ray Allen wants to return but it will be interesting to see if the Celtics are willing to pay the going rate for an aging player like him. Tony Allen has been saying all of the right things about wanting to stay in Boston but what if another team offers him good money and a starting job? I would think he would leave in that situation. Nate Robinson, Marquis Daniels and Shelden Williams are all players the Celtics would probably take back if they agree to take what Boston offers them. I don’t see them getting into bidding wars for any of those three guys. I don’t see Michael Finley and Brian Scalabrine wearing green uniforms next season. The Celtics have to decide if they are going to make a run of it again in 2010-11 or if they are going to try to shed some payroll.

The Celtics played great defense holding the Lakers to 32.5% shooting from the floor and it still wasn’t enough to win the game. The Celtics were outscored 30-22 in the 4th quarter last night and they were outrebounded 53-40 in the game which were the biggest reasons for the loss. Paul Pierce only shot 5 of 15 from the floor as he finished up with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 2 assists. Kevin Garnett was outplayed by Pau Gasol but he still finished up with 17 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 blocked shots. Rajon Rondo did his part finishing with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists. The Lakers win the NBA Finals 4-3.

Starting Celtics’ center Kendrick Perkins tore his MCL and ACL in his right knee which will cause him to miss the deciding game of the NBA Finals tomorrow night in L.A. Perkins has started all 23 of the Celtics’ playoff games to this point and he averaged 25.0 minutes, 5.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.4 blocked shots per game. The Celtics will miss Perkins’ size inside as Glen “Big Baby” Davis will likely replace him in the starting lineup. Davis has played in all 23 games (1 start) this post season for the Celtics and he is averaging 20.1 minutes, 7.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. I have little doubt that Davis can step up and have a big game for the Celtics and he is a better offensive player than Perkins so that will work in the Celtics’ advantage. Rasheed Wallace will also likely see a bump in playing time tomorrow night. He has played in 23 games (0 starts) for the Celtics this post season and he is averaging 16.3 minutes, 5.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. Wallace has always stepped up the bigger the games get and I think tomorrow night qualifies as a big one.