On Wednesday night I entered a movie theater to watch Green Lantern, fully anticipating that it would suck. When my friend first asked me to watch the movie, my response was, “I heard that movie was horrible. But I guess I’m in.” I had nothing else to do, the movie’s special effects didn’t look bad, and if worst came to worst and the flick was as horrendous as advertised, I knew I could just spend two hours staring at Blake Lively on the big screen. Even if the movie lived up to its (miserable) hype, at least I had a fallback plan—ogle a hot chick.

So I strolled into the theater with rock-bottom expectations, expecting this generation’s Gigli. Oddly enough, I didn’t even mind the movie. I’ll be the first to tell you it wasn’t a great movie, or even a good one. The beginning was odd (at best), off-putting, and so poorly made I contemplated walking out after two minutes. Ryan Reynolds still can’t act his way into a fourth-grade class play (though he had certain moments of charm and humor, I guess). Blake Lively looked good, as usual, but brought little else to the table. And the movie’s “corny” factor jumped off the charts, inspiring many “ugh” moments and weird chills.

Despite all that, I almost enjoyed Green Lantern. I went in with expectations lower than Nate Robinson’s toilet seat, and lowered my standards accordingly. By my new standards, the movie was not THAT bad. It was even decently watchable, if only in an “I know this isn’t a good movie, at all, but it’s almost entertaining” way. In the shocker of the century, I actually exited the theater somewhat pleased to have dumped $11 on what will probably go down as the summer’s worst flick. Just two weeks ago, I had watched The Hangover 2; though that movie was certainly better than Green Lantern, I left with a far worst taste in my mouth, mostly because I actually expected a good time.

I entered last night’s NBA Draft with the same feeling I had when I strolled into the theater for Green Lantern. I expected nothing, or at least nothing enjoyable. With the Celtics drafting late in a weak draft, I felt positive Danny Ainge would either trade out of the first round or select someone with little chance of receiving playing time next season. I feared the Celtics might draft BC’s Reggie Jackson, or, in other words, their second straight point guard to keep the bench warm behind Rajon Rondo. I feared they might draft Marquette’s Jimmy Butler, who completely underwhelmed me when I watched him in college. I feared they might draft Jeremy Tyler, a physical freak, yes, but one who averaged 9.8 points for the Tokyo Apache last season. When adding that poor production to his questionable attitude, Tyler has a 98.7% chance of becoming a bust. Hell, my grandmother could average 9.8 points for the Tokyo Apache. I can’t lie—this was the least excited I have been heading into an NBA Draft since, well, ever. I had serious issues about each player the Celtics were rumored to draft.

And then the Celtics made two choices I completely agreed with. JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore aren’t perfect, don’t get me wrong. But they’re winners, they proved themselves through four years college, and they fit needs. The Celtics need shooters and scorers; Johnson and Moore do just that. They need rookies who know how to commit to defense; if you’ve ever watched Purdue play basketball, you know how Johnson and Moore feel about defense. They need polished rookies who could step right in; they picked up two All-Big Ten players with more wins than any other players in Purdue history. They need size on the interior; Johnson’s 6’11, and he can jump, too.

“We’re very fortunate,” Ainge told WEEI. “We got two really good productive college players. Mature kids, great character and attitude. We got some shooting. We got some length and they’ll be a good fit for us.”

I won’t sit here and tell you Johnson and Moore will become All-Stars. In all likelihood, they will never come close. But the Celtics desperately needed depth for next season, and in Johnson and Moore, the Celtics drafted two players who should at the very least compete for playing time. A franchise-altering draft? No. But after entering the draft with my expectations at Green Lantern status, Boston’s selections brought a smile to my face. And I didn’t even need a hot chick to ogle.

The Celtics spent tonight drafting the two winningest players in Purdue basketball history.

After choosing JaJuan Johnson with their first pick, Boston kept with the Purdue theme in the second round of the NBA draft, selecting guard E’Twaun Moore. The 6’4, 191-pound shooting guard proved himself during an impressive four-year career, finishing his career as Purdue’s fourth-leading scorer. He can shoot, he can score from all over the court, and he became known as a hard-nosed player who commits himself to defense. The two new Celtics won more games during their Purdue careers than any other Boilermaker player ever.

With that pedigree, why did Moore fall to the second round? NBA teams question his athleticism and size, which are both average-to-below average for a perimeter player. But he can play the game, and he proved that against the best competition in college basketball for four years.

“I think I am being overlooked, but I couldn’t really say why,” Moore told Draft Express. “Maybe people didn’t see a lot of me during the regular season, or they just haven’t seen a lot of what I can do well. I’m more athletic than what people think, that’s something I think I’ll show in workouts.”

Maybe he has a point: during a study of college wings, Draft Express examined the statistics of NBA-bound collegiate players. Moore tested very well.

“There’s a case to be made that Moore is one of the most underrated players in this draft class,” Draft Express wrote, “and his showing in this sampling does nothing to discourage that notion.”

The Boston Celtics will think about moving out of the first round of tonight’s NBA Draft. (ESPN)

The Boston Celtics are taking a hard look at Marquette’s Jimmy Butler and Boston College’s Reggie Jackson with the 25th pick in the draft. But there’s another potential option for Boston.

The Celtics are open to moving out of the draft altogether if they can trade their pick for a young player. The Celtics have a $2.4 million trade exception that would allow them to take back a young player without having to send anything in return other than the 25th pick.

Sadly, trading the 25th pick in this (weak) draft will not fetch any good, cheap, young player (unless David Kahn’s in a giving mood). If the Celtics do trade the 25th pick, their prerogative would likely be to save themselves money and a roster spot rather than to find any useful, young talent. The Celtics could package the pick with something else, of course, but if they are trading the pick by itself, it won’t return much value. I see the Celtics trading the choice only if they feel nobody left on the board will help them next season.

Ready yourself for anything tonight, but expect very little. The Celtics will probably keep the 25th pick and select some relatively small name who will in all likelihood make little to no impact next season. Or maybe they’ll trade the selection for whatever they can get because they don’t expect anybody that late in the draft to contribute. Or maybe they’ll trade up a few spots and select another relatively small name who will probably spend next year picking splinters from his rump.

Don’t be completely blind-sided if the Celtics use the draft as a springboard to trades, to change, to evolution, but don’t expect any substantial, franchise-altering trades. The chances, of course, that Danny Ainge drastically changes the team’s nucleus tonight remain small. But Ainge—for better and for worse—has always shot first, then asked questions later. He maintains that he would have broken up the Larry Bird-Kevin McHale-Robert Parish triumvirate before the trio broke down, and he has already broken up Boston’s unbeaten starting five. Assume that if Ainge believes he can find proper value for Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce or even Rajon Rondo, one or more star Celtics will find himself in the market for a new home.

Short of a trade, the draft will be bland, at least from Boston’s perspective. A weak draft, two low choices—the Celtics are more likely to find another Allan Ray than the next Ray Allen. We can get excited about Jimmy Butler (and his fantastic story, and his reportedly otherworldly attitude), but we should remember that he’s not nearly as talented as Jeff Green, and that we (or at least I) spent most of last season cursing at Green under our breath. We can get excited about Nikola Vucevic, but is he really the type of player an NBA team should trade up to acquire? We can get excited about Jeremy Tyler, but he was underwhelming while playing in Japan; what’s to say he will make an impact in the NBA? We can get excited about this shooter, that rebounder, or that scorer, but whoever becomes the 25th pick could very well play more D-League games than NBA games in 2012.

Translation: expect the Celtics to draft Luke Harangody, not Paul Pierce. Expect Avery Bradley, not Rajon Rondo. Expect Von Wafer, not Ray Allen. Expect tonight to unfold with barely a whisper, with a lower-tier prospect who might one day boost Ainge’s status as a diamond miner (or, perhaps more likely, become the next J.R. Giddens).

The Celtics need to fill a lot of roster spots this offseason. They need size, and a backup point guard, and now that I’m thinking about it, an entirely new bench. Change will come. But tonight, blandness seems far more likely.

A sprained ankle requiring surgery and keeping someone out two months? That's one hell of a sprain, no?

Avery Bradley’s ankle surgery will keep him out six to eight weeks, according to Danny Ainge, but Bradley should be 100% by training camp. (Boston Globe)

On draft night, Celtics president Danny Ainge said he was surprised to see Bradley slip so far, but acknowledged the injury might have been one of the reasons. Ainge said the rookie would have surgery and rehab in Boston.

“Avery will need a scope of his ankle,’’ Ainge said. “It will be about six weeks. He’ll probably say three weeks, but probably six to eight weeks but he’ll be 100 percent by training camp.’’

I’ve got a question about this injury — if it’s only a sprained ankle, why does he need surgery that will require six to eight weeks of rehab? I’ve seen a lot of sprained ankles in my life and they’ve never, ever required surgery, and certainly not such a long recovery. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it comes out that Bradley’s injury is worse than we know.

In other Bradley news, SI’s Ian Thomsen said Bradley is the next Eddie House and could potentially play both backcourt positions. (WEEI)

The Celtics got a better version of Eddie House. They got a guy who’s a terrific shooter; he’s got great range, but he’s a very good defender. The one thing he doesn’t do [is] he doesn’t drive the ball great. He’s a much better shooter than he is a driver. And is he a true point guard? They’re going to have to hope he can come off the bench and be the backup point guard they needed.

A lot of teams looked at him and wondered if he ever would be a true point guard. You’re going to have to think of him as more of an off-guard. If he’s your third guard and he can come in and play some point guard minutes, and then he can bring the ball up, he’s your deep shooter that they used to have with Eddie House.

They sort of have this hybrid, all-for-one thing that works well with what the Celtics have been the last few years. It’ll be interesting to see what the Celtics are a couple of years from now, if they’re operating on the same formula. I think that there’s always that need for an Eddie House kind of threat.

If Bradley is a better version of Eddie House, if he’s such a ”terrific shooter,” then why did he average 11 points per game last year? Down the road, Bradley could become a very good player. Given Ainge’s track record and Bradley’s potential, I wouldn’t be at all surprised. But for now? I wouldn’t expect anything out of the combo guard.

I want to like Avery Bradley’s potential, I really do. I want to like that he’s a defensive stopper, that he’s very athletic, and that he was the number one player in his high school class. So every time I start to think about Bradley playing the exact same position as Rajon Rondo, or needing surgery on his ankle, or averaging only 11 points and 2 assists for Texas last season, somebody please remind me to watch this YouTube clip.