...is the upcoming NBA draft! Yes, the fans of one of the NBA's proudest franchises have had to resort to looking forward to the next season, and in particular the upcoming draft, where the Celtics' are guaranteed to have a very high draft pick. The team has already endured one of the roughest seasons of a Boston sports team in recent memory. Just think about what has happened to this team so far this season:

•  Team patriarch and legendary coach Red Auerbach passed away less than a week before the home opener. The team did a fantastic job of honoring him, with a ceremony at City Hall Plaza and a great pre-game tribute. Even in his older years, Red was the face of the Celtics and the heart and historian of the franchise. I was at the home opener, and the crowd was into it, the atmosphere was great, and....the Celtics lost the game.
• As if one death wasn't enough to cast a pall over the season, the Celtics lost one of the most loved players in their history in Dennis Johnson. DJ died suddenly of a heart attack after a practice while serving as interim coach of the NBDL's Austin Toros. Even as a young Celtics fan, I still remember the highlight, with Johnny Most in the background, "Here's a steal by Bird, lays it in to DJ and it's up and in..." to beat the Pistons.
• Paul Pierce, the heart and soul of the team and the main source of the offense, has missed considerable time this season with elbow and foot injuries. Without him, the Celtics went 2-22, pretty much securing a top 5 draft pick. Pierce missed the terrible losing streak, and has looked pretty well since his return. He still isn't playing as well as he could, because he seems like he is still injured, but according to reports Doc Rivers is completely against the idea of shutting Pierce down for the season.
• Tony Allen, who had stepped up his game in Pierce's absence, tore his ACL. The worst part about the injury is that Allen injured himself attempting a dunk AFTER the whistle blew. He had surgery on his injured knee January 13, and he is out for at least the rest of this year. Hopefully he'll return by the start of the '07-'08 campaign.
• Wally Szczerbiak, who was again supposed to be the team's second offensive weapon, has been plagued by ankle injuries all year, and elected to shut it down and get surgery.

The above would be a lot for a great team to overcome, let alone a very young and inexperienced one. So yes, the highlight of the season will be the Draft, as Celtics fans' hopes will be lifted again with a new young prospect in the fold. The Celtics are all but guaranteed to finish with between the 1st and 3rd picks, so let's have a look at the top 5 draft prospects.

1. Greg Oden, C, Ohio State University (Fr.), 7 ft., 250 lbs.- Oden is nearly a consensus #1 pick, and there are those who think he could have gone first overall last year had the NBA's new age rule not gone into effect. Oden is a huge kid, and yes, I call him a kid because he is a little more than a month YOUNGER than I am. Kind of makes me feel unaccomplished, but that's another story. He's very athletic and very quick, and has great defensive instincts. The only areas of weakness in his game appear to be his jump shot, and he is uncomfortable when facing the basket. Considering the kid is only 19, two knocks on him should tell you a lot about the kid's skill level. I'd love to see him in Celtics' green.

2. Kevin Durant, SF, Texas (Fr.), 6 ft. 10 inches, 220 lbs.- There has been some talk that Durant could sneak into the 1st overall spot, as he is a pure scorer and has great offensive abilities for his size. His strengths include an amazing offensive ability and great size for his position and age. The knocks on him are that he isn't great defensively, and that some think he hasn't really been tested enough at the college level. Considering his tremendous upside and the fact that he is only 18, I think he'd be a risk all 30 teams would be willing to take.

3. Brandan Wright, PF, North Carolina (Fr.), 6 ft. 10 inches, 210 lbs.- Wright isn't as talked about as Oden or Durant, but he is a great player as well. He is very athletic, and uses his size to his defensive advantage. He's also a great rebounder, but some think he needs to bulk up and get stronger to be able to excel at the NBA level.

4. Al Horford, PF, Florida (Jr.), 6 ft. 9 inches, 245 lbs.- Horford is an old man next to the three preceding freshman, but with age comes experience. Horford was a catalyst on Florida's championship team of last season, and the 3 years of college ball should only help him play at the next level. I saw him in Florida's second round game against Purdue, and he seems to have a nice touch around the net too. He's a great rebounder and uses his size to his advantage, as he is very strong. He doesn't have much range and can at times be too aggressive, but I'm sure many coaches wouldn't mind having a player who was TOO aggressive as a problem. That can be controlled in due time.

 There are other prospects who may go high, but since I don't expect the Celtics to pick past 3rd, why go on? There have been rumblings that the Celtics could trade the pick for a higher end NBA player, which I wouldn't be altogether opposed to. I think the team now has a great young group of players, and with another bonafide scorer they could conceivably have a pretty good team in a year or two.

 Until then, here's to hoping the Celtics end their little winning skid and secure the number one pick overall... ;=)

(Prospect info taken from a pretty cool website, www.NBADraft.net)