Jaylen Brown is doing his part to bump up Ainge's draft rep. Jaylen was not viewed as third pick material by a huge majority of media, scouts, draft sites, bloggers, etc..
-There were concerns about his bbiq and ability to play within a team concept (not due to selfishness just due to bbiq).
-There were concerns about his outside shooting (he must have dispelled those with his great pre-draft shooting exhibition for Celts.)
-There were concerns about his ball handling.
On average he was probably expected to go between pick 6 and 8. Ainge took him at 3 and looks great right now for doing so.
Dunn was this blog's favorite along with one or two others I'm forgetting...I wanted Dunn (who has looked good in spurts when healthy, but not in the same league as Brown).
Then the trade down for Tatum has only boosted his rep. more. Rozier has looked great too and that pick came out of nowhere for most of us. The last three years have helped reverse some previous consternation (deserved or not) with Ainge's drafting.
I see this take alot but its not really true. Jaylen Brown was widely considered as part of the second tier of propects from 3-8 and severa mock draft a in the few weeks before the draft had him at 3 or 4 to the suns. So I wouldn't say Ainge made some genius move taking him in the range everyone thought he would go. Still picked the right guy, but this narrativa is largey driven by the fact everyone thought wed take Dunn to later trade him.
The reason for Jaylen suddenly being projected as 3rd(never saw 4th) in the draft just a week or two before the draft was because of leaks from people saying Danny was going to take Brown. The draftniks then put Jaylen at 3rd. But before that he was usually being projected towards the end of that 3-8 range.
This is 100% on the nose. The general consensus was that Brown was closer to 8th. I think DA may be been the only guy to draft Brown at #3.
Again have to disagree. There were leaks to that regard yes, but there were plenty of people who had him going #3 literally months before that. And others who thought he be a nice fit with his defense at 4 to the Suns (same reason many projected them to take Jackson). His draft express profile had him as a likely 3-8 pick. He was in the same range as Murray, Bender and Dunn all who we were also rumored to be interested in. And I guaranteed you Dany wasnt the only guy who would have taken him three. Respected analysts like Nate Duncan for example had him as high as even #2 on his board. This idea that he was in the 6-8 range and we reached just isnt true, he was always in play at 3 its just that our team needs at the time seemed to indicate we would trade the pick (take Dunn) or get a shooter (bender/murray) hence when Brown was picked it caught locals off guard and create this untrue narrativa that he was a reach.
I mean if you guys dont believe me I can literally pull up mock drafts ranging from after the lottery in May to the night before the draft in late June that gave jaylen going to the celtics or suns. 3-8 were all very interchanable. Is is really that surprising that an athletic freak with great size and length was in play at 3-5?
For what it is worth, I don't think this is inaccurate. I think you could find legit mock drafts that had him going 3rd. However, I also would say he was probably more likely thought of to go 5th or 6th because Dunn and Bender were really getting a lot of pre-draft hype. Dunn seemed to actually be approaching consensus number 3 at one point.
Here's Bill Simmons tweet on draft night:
https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/status/746153441093816320The Celtics just took the 7th pick in the draft at no. 3 and used no. 16 on a French guy sitting in the stands. I'm gonna make a drink.
Of course that's the same man who had this reaction to drafting James Young:
So maybe Simmons isn't the best evaluator of talent.
When it comes to Brown's projected draft position though,
NBA.com actually posted a mock draft summary, and it appears to have been updated the night before the draft with the latest mocks:
NBA.com: Brown at 8, Bender at 3
Draft Express: Brown at 8, Dunn at 3
ESPN.com: Brown at 6, Dunn at 3
SI.com: Brown at 8, Bender at 3
Sporting News: Brown at 7, Chriss at 3
CBS Sports (6/14): Brown at 8, Murray at 3
NBADraft.net: Brown at 4, Dunn at 3
USA Today: Brown at 3
NetScouts: Brown at 8, Bender at 3
Bleacher Report: Brown at 7, Hield at 3
Basketball Insiders: Brown at 6, Murray at 3
CBS Sports (6/21): Brown at 8, Murray at 3
1 of 12 had Brown going #3 (USA Today nailed the C's pick, not much else).
1 of 12 had Brown going #4
2 of 12 had Brown going #6
2 of 12 had Brown going #7
6 of 12 had Brown going #8
So a couple of people had Brown going high, but the majority seemed to have him going at the back end of that #3-#8 tier.