Danny's type of players for the 2008 draft

[Fan from VT]

portland and minny have two early 2nd round picks and if danny thinks he can get a two for one deal like last year he will go through that route.

Might have to with our budget not being so great(only 1 million in cap opening up) and at least 3-4 players existing our roster almost definitely next year

Agreed about a 2-1 trade, especially with Portland known to deal on draft night. 

Trent Plaisted -- I know little about him, but #30 is too high for the guy.  If Cs trade down I could see it, but to give guaranteed money?  I have a hard time seeing that happening.  Draft express covered him a little bit RE: his Orlando pre-draft camp showing and it didn't seem like he was all that spectacular.

Theoretically, early 2nd round picks are more valuable than late 1st round ones - no guaranteed contract and the talent is only marginally worse. Only if we draft a player they really, really love, they'd consider to trade up.

I had the chance of watching some tape of Plaisted and he doesn't look like NBA material - no energy, no hustle, very tentative in the offense... the center of the opponent team was a 6-6 or something and he was dominating the paint. I saw a very impressive player in that BYU team, a winger named Cummard (he's the guy behind Plaisted in his DX profile photo).

here's the thing about 1st vs. 2nd round picks though. 1st round picks are only guaranteed for 2 years, then there are 2 years of team options. last year's #29 pick made $931,920 this year, which is chump change compared to the rest of the roster. Because we are well over the cap, the only way to sign free agents will be with our mid-level exception. if a team is over the cap, the mid-level exception is also the only way to sign second rounders. however, a team can always go over the cap to add their first round picks, so drafting a first rounder instead of a second rounder would let us keep the full mid-level to entice free agents.

[shiggins]

I love Gary Forbes and as a UMass grad, followed his career closely.  He has torn up the pre-draft camps and gotten on a lot of radar screens.  However, I am not sure he is a #30 pick.  Some people might not want to hear this, but his game is somewhat similar to Antoine's, which I like because I loved Antoine.

[dang]. I was so high on this kid till I read this.

He plays absolutely identically to evil Pierce.  He has a decent but sort of sloppy dribble.  Doenst like defense too much.  Decent rebounder.  Strong, quick but not fast.  Big for a 3.  Buuut he also jacks shots at inopportune times.  Gets into mano a mano spells.  Forces his way to the lane and forces up shots.  He tries hard and is very competitve.

Hes basically a less athletic, less talented evil Paul

[Vermont Green]

It is fun to start thinking about the draft in mid June instead of January last season!!

At first I was thinking that it would be smarter to draft an upperclassman type of player who may not have a huge upside but was "ready".  A Ryan Gomes type but bigger as that is where the need is.  Then I thought that if you are going for the championship, even an advanced rookie is still not all that likely to help right away so why not go the route of picking and stashing (meaning take a shot at some really big European and let them play in Europe a couple of years).  If we pick and stash, then we can take a free agent veteran to fill the roster spot and probably help the team more in the next year or two.  I don't have enough knowledge of these lesser known European players but I am confident the Celtics know who they are.  If we are really sure that a player will help next year and they are available at 30, then pick him but do we really need another player like Pruitt around waiting while he develops, but not really helping the team (I like Pruitt btw but I am not sure that he helps much even next year).

[scout]

Anyone know what the player from Vermont that the Celts cut a few years back is doing? I believe he went to Europe to play. Do you think he's improved and would he be available?

[Brickowski]

Taylor Coppenrath is playing in Spain and is certainly no star in the Spanish league.  He's averaging under 10 ppg. Not NBA material.

[cordobes]

I love Gary Forbes and as a UMass grad, followed his career closely.  He has torn up the pre-draft camps and gotten on a lot of radar screens.  However, I am not sure he is a #30 pick.  Some people might not want to hear this, but his game is somewhat similar to Antoine's, which I like because I loved Antoine.

[dang]. I was so high on this kid till I read this.

He plays absolutely identically to evil Pierce.  He has a decent but sort of sloppy dribble.  Doenst like defense too much.  Decent rebounder.  Strong, quick but not fast.  Big for a 3.  Buuut he also jacks shots at inopportune times.  Gets into mano a mano spells.  Forces his way to the lane and forces up shots.  He tries hard and is very competitve.

Hes basically a less athletic, less talented evil Paul

Thanks for the insights. Well, I guess it all depends on how much less athletic and talented he is. I was not the biggest fan of evil Pierce, though I understood that a successful evil Pierce was oftenly our best chance to win games, but the good Pierce can be a good tutor to this kid.

[cordobes]

Taylor Coppenrath is playing in Spain and is certainly no star in the Spanish league.  He's averaging under 10 ppg. Not NBA material.

Wow, I had no idea Coppenrath played for the Celtics. Yeah, he's playing in the Spanish 2nd league for Alicante and he's not even their star player. He plays along an intriguing european prospect, dutchman Henk Norel (a 6-11 20 years old center, who's already better than Coppenrath).

[cdif911]

Taylor Coppenrath is playing in Spain and is certainly no star in the Spanish league.  He's averaging under 10 ppg. Not NBA material.

Wow, I had no idea Coppenrath played for the Celtics. Yeah, he's playing in the Spanish 2nd league for Alicante and he's not even their star player. He plays along an intriguing european prospect, dutchman Henk Norel (a 6-11 20 years old center, who's already better than Coppenrath).

Taylor only played in training camp and I believe exhibition ball, didn't actually make the team

[Emmette Bryant]

It seems that I recall Danny being interested in Richard Roby a couple of years ago.  Think there is any interest now?

[Chris]

It seems that I recall Danny being interested in Richard Roby a couple of years ago.  Think there is any interest now?

Probably only in the second round.  Roby has really dropped off the radar. 

[PRIDE]

Drafting and stashing is probably the worst move DA could make. I'm confident that Danny will do the right thing.

The team is full of aging players and if DA doesn't build for the future we will be back at the bottom in 3 years when our vets are too old. We don't have a first round draft pick next year so this years pick has to bring us some young talent. DA has the ability to find solid player in the draft and I don't see him doing anything but that.

I think we need to add some youth at the wing, preferably a slasher. Pruitt is a shooter so we need someone that can take the ball to the rack off the bench.

I dont see a real need at PG. Pruitt should see a lot of backup point minutes next year. I expect us to keep Eddie House or sign another vet point guard so we should be full at that position.

We do need another big though. If we take a big it has to be someone with  SIZE. We have Powe, BBD and Scal at the backup PF position. So if we draft a big we need someone that is a Center only.

[Chris]

Drafting and stashing is probably the worst move DA could make. I'm confident that Danny will do the right thing.

The team is full of aging players and if DA doesn't build for the future we will be back at the bottom in 3 years when our vets are too old. We don't have a first round draft pick next year so this years pick has to bring us some young talent. DA has the ability to find solid player in the draft and I don't see him doing anything but that.

I think we need to add some youth at the wing, preferably a slasher. Pruitt is a shooter so we need someone that can take the ball to the rack off the bench.

I dont see a real need at PG. Pruitt should see a lot of backup point minutes next year. I expect us to keep Eddie House or sign another vet point guard so we should be full at that position.

We do need another big though. If we take a big it has to be someone with  SIZE. We have Powe, BBD and Scal at the backup PF position. So if we draft a big we need someone that is a Center only.

But drafting and stashing does help build for the future.  If you do it well, it allows you at times to get a lottery talent who is not ready for the NBA yet(or stuck in a contract overseas) under your control, so then when they are ready to come over, they are able to help much quicker.

[PRIDE]

Why would you stash a player when you can add young talent and let them play with championship caliber veterans? Draft picks have a good chance of succeeding here because of the veteran atmosphere. It takes a lot of pressure off them. I'm sure DA will go after someone the right brain type. Danny has always done a good job of that and I dont expect him to stop.


European bigs don't excite me that much. A lot of them aren't strong enough  to impact a teams interior defense or rebounding. Theres always exceptions but I don't see a defensive team like the C's going after a European player not know for their defense.

[cdif911]

Why would you stash a player when you can add young talent and let them play with championship caliber veterans? Draft picks have a good chance of succeeding here because of the veteran atmosphere. It takes a lot of pressure off them. I'm sure DA will go after someone the right brain type. Danny has always done a good job of that and I dont expect him to stop.


European bigs don't excite me that much. A lot of them aren't strong enough  to impact a teams interior defense or rebounding. Theres always exceptions but I don't see a defensive team like the C's going after a European player not know for their defense.

So kind of follow the Detroit model with guys like Maxiell and Stucky (and Johnson to a lesser extent) - quality value who have been able to play because their mistakes get minimized on a veteran team.  I think you're right on this one

[PRIDE]

Why would you stash a player when you can add young talent and let them play with championship caliber veterans? Draft picks have a good chance of succeeding here because of the veteran atmosphere. It takes a lot of pressure off them. I'm sure DA will go after someone the right brain type. Danny has always done a good job of that and I dont expect him to stop.


European bigs don't excite me that much. A lot of them aren't strong enough  to impact a teams interior defense or rebounding. Theres always exceptions but I don't see a defensive team like the C's going after a European player not know for their defense.

So kind of follow the Detroit model with guys like Maxiell and Stucky (and Johnson to a lesser extent) - quality value who have been able to play because their mistakes get minimized on a veteran team.  I think you're right on this one

Its worked fine with Perk, Rondo and Powe. We should take advantage of that while we can.