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.

I know a little bit about Avery Bradley the player, but I hardly know anything about Avery Bradley the person. This piece from ESPN, written before this past season, is a start.

“I told them I wanted to wear zero,” he said. “To me, this is a fresh start. High school doesn’t matter. It’s over. There are no more rankings, any of that. I have to prove myself all over again, so that’s why I wanted to start at zero. Start at the beginning.”

Imagine that. No sense of entitlement or grandiosity, two feet planted firmly in Austin and not halfway in the NBA.

You ask Bradley, who many figure for a one-and-done, if he thinks about his future and he sheepishly says, “People tell me I have potential, but until I go out there and prove it, what people say or think about me doesn’t matter.”

There’s a word for kids like Bradley.

In a sad testimony to the state of the game today, that word is throwback.

“The thing about Avery, he doesn’t come in here thinking he knows everything,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said during the recent Big 12 media day in Kansas City. “He came in here this summer to work out with Kevin [Durant] and Justin Mason and he was like a little puppy, following them around. He’s just got it figured out.”

So Avery Bradley was the number one high school recruit (ahead of John Wall, who — this is absurd — was cut from his high school team as a sophomore), but had no ego about it? I don’t know whether to say that’s a good or bad thing. It would definitely be good if he came in, destroyed all opponents and just didn’t want any credit for it. But he didn’t do that. Instead, he came in as the number one recruit and then failed to live up to expectations, averaged only 11 points and 2 assists, and was generally the biggest disappointment in the entire state of Texas. So maybe he should be more egotistical.

If it was a bigger head he needed, maybe Bradley has gotten it: He said his goal for next season is to win Rookie of the Year. I guess he forgot that Doc Rivers doesn’t play rookies and, even if he does break through Doc’s unwritten rule of benching all first-year players, Bradley will have to battle Rajon Rondo for playing time. Methinks Rookie of the Year is just a little bit out of the question.

I’ve already weighed in on Avery Bradley (in a word, why?) so now it’s time for some expert opinions.

Potential? Yes. Good fit? I don't think so.

Bill Simmons – “By the way, you know this draft sucks because I’m now irrationally excited that the Celtics (picking 19th) might get either Eric Bledsoe (my favorite remaining prospect) or Avery Bradley (ESPNU’s No. 1 college recruit just 12 months ago) as Rondo insurance. I thought we’d have dreck left in this spot. This almost makes up for blowing a double-digit lead in the second half of Game 7 of the 2010 Finals against the NBA team I hate the most. Oh, wait, it doesn’t at all. Not even a little. [...] Come on Celtics … Avery Bradley … Avery Bradley … Avery Bradley. YES! Good value. And by the way, if you’re betting on a No. 1 overall high school prospect whose stock dropped a little after one college year, you want it to be for a reason like, ‘Yeah, he played at Texas for Rick Barnes, OF COURSE his stock dropped!’”

Fox Sports – “Loser: Boston Celtics — Danny Ainge has a terrific track record with drafting, so it’s difficult to question the Celtics boss. However, now he’s added another small guard who can’t shoot the ball. However, unlike Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley can’t run a team, either. He’s a terrific defender, which should get him on the floor, but it’ll be difficult to pair the 6-foot-1 Bradley with the 6-2 Rondo.”

NBADraft.net – “There’s a lot to like about Bradley teaming with Rajon Rondo in the future. Defensively, you couldn’t come up with a much better backcourt. It was important for Bradley to land on a team that didn’t need him to play point full-time but would also give him the opportunity to learn the position. Harangody is a value along the same lines as Glen Davis and Leon Powe of previous drafts – a highly productive college player who should be better than Brian Scalabrine, for what that’s worth. Neither was a “great” pick, but both were solid and earn a solid grade.

Sports Illustrated – Bradley is a speedy backcourt tweener who has the potential to develop into a point guard. He didn’t have a great year at Texas after a celebrated high school career, but this is an upside pick for the Celtics.

Chris Mannix – Danny Ainge has had a bit of a man-crush on Avery Bradley for weeks, hoping the explosive combo guard would get to the Celtics at No. 19. While most believed Ainge was targeting a big man to fill in for the injured Kendrick Perkins or the just-retired Rasheed Wallace, Ainge was always after the best player available. Bradley was it. Bradley can back up Rajon Rondo and his slashing ability gives Boston a much-needed punch on what will likely be a revamped bench. Luke Harangody was an overachiever in college, but if he turns out to be a good practice player, Boston will keep him around.

Greg Payne, CelticsBlog – “I’m also curious about what the Celtics’ plans for Bradley’s future are. Clearly he’s not your point guard of the future, because Rondo and his $55 million contract already hold that title. So, is he your backup point guard of the future? Or, are we waiting to see how well his offensive game translates to the NBA, with the possibility existing that he could be our shooting guard of the future? But then, say that last scenario does unfold, the Celtics could be looking at a backcourt that’s fairly undersized. Do the Celtics hope Bradley develops and then use him as a trade chip down the road? Clearly all of these questions will not be answered for some time, but I couldn’t help thinking about them last night. Finally – and this is no fault of Bradley’s – the Celtics, for the most part, failed to address their lack of front court depth in the draft last night. Luke Harangody stands at 6-8, but it remains to be seen how he’ll fair going up against the larger, stronger bodies of the NBA, and he could channel his game towards the perimeter. If he does do that, then he won’t be much help at all to the Celtics along the frontline, with the lone possible exception being he’ll draw opposing big men out of the paint.”

Kurt Helin, NBC – “Avery Bradley could be the regular backup point guard that the Celtics need. It was nice somebody drafted Luke Harangody, though I’m not sure why. Grade: A-”

Draft Express – “Seeing Bradley run so many pick-and-rolls and play in an environment with much more spacing than he saw at Texas, it’s not hard to see many reasons why he has the potential to be a better NBA player than he was in college, especially if he can go to a system that emphasizes those two concepts. Bradley’s 6’7 wingspan also bodes well for his chances of defending shooting guards at the next level, at least reserves, many of which are 6’5 and under. While there are questions about his position, Bradley certainly brings quite a few NBA skills to the table, and could be capable of contributing immediately in the right situation, though situation should be critical to his early chances at success.”

Chris Forsberg, ESPN Boston – “The Celtics couldn’t have asked for the draft to play out much better and, with their choice of players among the second tier of shooting guards, the Green selected the best available player in Bradley. It’s a safe selection. If Bradley pans out as many believe he will, he’ll be the explosive scorer the team covets off the bench. Even if he takes time to develop, Bradley can play the point guard spot and provide a much-needed backup behind Rajon Rondo. What’s more, he’s a lockdown defender who will immediately ingratiate himself in Boston’s defense-first system. Bradley projected as a lottery pick, but an ankle injury might have scared some teams off. The Celtics, who worked him out prior to the draft, scooped him up when he stayed on the board until No. 19. Keep in mind that Bradley was ranked as the top high school prospect in the country in the class of 2009. He’s still very young at 19, but he was regarded as the best perimeter defender in college basketball last season. He’s going to make an immediate impact on that end of the court and anything he provides early on in the offensive end will be a nice bonus.”

Stern might not announce any picks for the C's tonight.

Though there were reports earlier in the day that Kendrick Perkins was involved in a package that would move the Celtics into the lottery, Danny Ainge said the Celtics are not trying to move up in the draft. (Boston Herald)

“We’re not trying to move up,” said the Celtics president of basketball operations, seemingly putting to rest a prevalent rumor that the team was attempting to package the 19th pick and Kendrick Perkins in an attempt to move into lottery range.

Instead, Ainge said, he is open to either moving down in the draft or out altogether – the latter option a move that could save them a scintilla of money for a veteran free agent.

The rumor seemed silly in the first place. Who wants a center that just tore two ligaments? A rebuilding team in the lottery? Please.

In other news, Perkins is waiting to have surgery until his swelling goes down, but the surgery could be tomorrow. And the recovery time will not be known until after Perkins has the surgery.

It's weird to think of Perk on another team.

Kendrick Perkins is the latest Celtic on the trading block, according to Fanhouse’s Sam Amick.

A league front-office source told FanHouse that the Celtics have been dangling center Kendrick Perkins and their No. 19 pick to teams with high lottery picks in attempt to add a dynamic young talent to their aging core. It’s a tough sell, considering Perkins is facing surgery as early as Friday after tearing his medial collateral ligament and partially tearing his posterior cruciate ligament in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

If the Celtics could trade Perk and the #19 for DeMarcus Cousins or Derrick Favors, count me in. But it’s not happening. That package isn’t nearly enough. These talks are interesting and it’s weird to think Perk might be on the way out, but no team with a high lottery pick is biting on that. Perkins is the type of player every contending team needs, but rebuilding teams need the guys with higher ceilings. Plus, the guy’s got torn ligaments. This trade isn’t happening, unless the Celtics offer more.