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NBA Draft: Jamal Murray Coveted By Celtics, Timberwolves, Pelicans And Sixers

| May 30, 2016 06:45 AM EDT

Twitter/Jamal Murray

The 2016 NBA Draft has other intriguing prospects not named Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram.

Jamal Murray of Kentucky does not have a long and colorful college career as Kris Dunn or Buddy Hield but he's also not an enigma like Dragan Bender. He also fits the mold of what the NBA covets-a guard who can shoot the lights out.

The Boston Celtics have the no.3 pick in the draft and they might have moved on from coveting Simmons and Ingram. Most pundits consider it a steep drop to no.3 but teams looking for specific needs could find the answer here.

But the Celtics need is a "superstar" or at least one in the future. Murray might not fit that, and he's more of a combo guard though, as he confided to Chad Ford of ESPN.

"I did what I had to do at Kentucky. I've played point guard my whole life. But we had Tyler [Ulis] there. I wasn't focused on scoring 20 points a game. I was just doing whatever we need to win. Sometimes that was scoring 26 points, sometimes 12 and focusing on getting people involved from the 2 spot."

Point guards who can shoot the three are very welcome in the league nowadays, such as Most Improved Player, CJ McCollum-probably Jamal Murray's most accurate comparison, or unanimous MVP Steph Curry.

Still, it might not be a position of need for the Celtics given their roster, but the possibility looms that the Celtics would rather trade pieces like Marcus Smart or Avery Bradley and take a chance on Murray.

Murray is also one of the rumored reasons why the Sixers are trading one of their centers (Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel) to get a top 6 pick. Ford projected that Murray could go no.3, no.5 to the Minnesota Timberwolves or no.6 to the Pelicans.

The only team that would not take Murray is the Phoenix Suns who already has two starting grade point guards in Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight as well as last year's rookie sensation Devin Booker. Incidentally, all of those players are also Kentucky Wildcats.

The Minnesota Timberwolves would take him as their most glaring need is shooting. The Pelicans are likely to let go of Eric Gordon and replacing him with Murray would be the best scenario for the team.

Chad Ford's Big Board and Bleacher Report's mock draft has Murray at no.3, while Jonathan Givony of Draft express pegs him at no.6. Ford says this is his draft range and Murray is unlikely to slip past the Pelicans.

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