Who was Danny’s worst draft pick?

[Donoghus]

One name I dont think has been mentioned is Gerald Green. He ended up becoming a serviceable player later in his career after a stint overseas, but that doesn’t negate the fact that he was horrible in his first stint with the team. And there were some pretty good players taken after him - David Lee, Lou Williams, Monta Ellis, Ersan Ilyasova, Marcin Gortat, Amir Johnson, Brandon Bass. 2005 was deep.

He was high risk/high reward.  Danny knew that at the time.   Green never lived up to the hype but he was somewhat serviceable for a crap team.  He flashed enough potential in '06-07 where Minnesota grew enamored enough to take him in the KG deal.

Granger was the one I really wanted that year.

[Surferdad]

Gabe Pruitt

I will reiterate my choice and back it up with career stats:
62 NBA games played
2.0 ppg
2-pt FG: 35%

[Moranis]

The clear answer is Fab Melo.

Why? Ainge has taken a number of total busts earlier in the 1st round than Melo.

Fab Melo played 36 minutes and in just 6 games in his entire career.  No one else even comes close to that.  And I get you don't necessarily think you are going to strike gold with the 22nd pick, but you should at least get guys to make it through the 1st contract.  Even Yabu played 486 minutes in 74 games.  There is no contest.  Melo was an indefensible horrible pick.  It isn't close.  Worst pick by a mile.  I mean only the 4 2nd rounders that never played in the NBA have less games or impact than Melo.  When basically the entire 2nd round outperforms you, you are a horrid pick.

This criteria was met by only one of the 8 1st rounders selected after Fab.

That just isn't accurate.  Jenkins played for 6 seasons in the league and obviously Plumlee is still playing now in year 7.  Wroten made it 4 years (and was paid for 2 years after the 4, he just never played).   Cunningham ended up playing in 4 different seasons.  Jones, Teague, and Ezeli all made it through 3 years (just didn't have the 4th year option picked up).  And the 2nd round was loaded with solid talent with Satoransky, Crowder, Draymond, Middleton, Barton, and Scott all still playing.  Not to mention guys like O'Quinn, Acy, and Miller all getting more than 5 years.

When only the 4 2nd rounders to never play in the league play less games than you, you are an indefensible 1st round pick. 

[TheTruth34]

For me - this question always boils down to opportunity cost.  Who we drafted versus who we should have (with the understanding that hindsight is 20/20).

Unfortunately, drafting Olynyk over Giannis was legacy altering.   Yes, KO went on to be a serviceable rotation big.  But Giannis is a generational talent - an MVP and DPOY who can serve as the anchor to a team with title aspirations.

The Celtics scouted the Greek Freak pretty extensively.   In the end, they went with a player with a higher floor, but much lower ceiling.  My quibble with this move - the Celtics had just traded away KG and Pierce.  The rebuild was well underway.  Given that context, that just seemed like the right time to take a flyer on a player like Giannis, with a middle of the first round pick. Olynyk's selection was the conservative approach.  For a team that struggles to recruit the truly elite players - you have to roll the dice in the draft.

Compunding matters, they traded two 2nd rounders to move up to 13.  One of those was a 2014 Brooklyn 2nd round pick which wound up 34th overall in 2014.  Nikola Jokic was selected 7 picks later at 41st.   Either of these two players would have turned into cornerstones, with Brown and Tatum coming later via the Nets lottery picks. 

If the Celtics had been able to draft either of these guys - we're viewing Ainge very differently right now. 

[todd_days_41]

Gabe Pruitt

I will reiterate my choice and back it up with career stats:
62 NBA games played
2.0 ppg
2-pt FG: 35%

He was a 2nd round pick. He doesn't qualify considering the misses Ainge has had in the first round.

[Moranis]

For me - this question always boils down to opportunity cost.  Who we drafted versus who we should have (with the understanding that hindsight is 20/20).

Unfortunately, drafting Olynyk over Giannis was legacy altering.   Yes, KO went on to be a serviceable rotation big.  But Giannis is a generational talent - an MVP and DPOY who can serve as the anchor to a team with title aspirations.

The Celtics scouted the Greek Freak pretty extensively.   In the end, they went with a player with a higher floor, but much lower ceiling.  My quibble with this move - the Celtics had just traded away KG and Pierce.  The rebuild was well underway.  Given that context, that just seemed like the right time to take a flyer on a player like Giannis, with a middle of the first round pick. Olynyk's selection was the conservative approach.  For a team that struggles to recruit the truly elite players - you have to roll the dice in the draft.

Compunding matters, they traded two 2nd rounders to move up to 13.  One of those was a 2014 Brooklyn 2nd round pick which wound up 34th overall in 2014.  Nikola Jokic was selected 7 picks later at 41st.   Either of these two players would have turned into cornerstones, with Brown and Tatum coming later via the Nets lottery picks. 

If the Celtics had been able to draft either of these guys - we're viewing Ainge very differently right now.

2011, Marshon Brooks instead of Jimmy Butler.  2008, JR Giddens instead of Pekovic or Jordan.  2006, trade the Randy Foye pick for Telfair, Portlant then traded Foye for Brandon Roy.  2003, Banks instead of David West.

You can do that time and time again.  Missing out on a great player, doesn't necessarily mean you had a bad pick.  KO is a solid NBA player.  If you did a redraft of that draft, he is a clearly a top 10 player in a redraft.  Sure he doesn't go 1 like Giannis, but his value exceeded his draft position.  That is never a bad draft pick even if you miss out on clearly superior player.

[Donoghus]

Melo makes Pruitt look like a career journeyman.

[keevsnick]

The correct answer is Yabu. What makes that pick so bad is the fact that you HAD to make it. That offseason thevteam had a roster crunch, they couldn't fit more rookies on.thier roster. so they had to reach basically a half to whole round early to find a stash guy at the spot. It was obvious at the time is was a terrible reach but there inability to manage the team basically cost them an asset.
 

[todd_days_41]

Two different criteria are being debated in this thread:

1) Worst player drafted
2) Biggest miss

The two don't really have much in common. To me, the worst pick is the worst miss, thus setting back the franchise more. If Ainge picked a bad player in a bad draft (where virtually everyone else behind him also came away with a useless player), it's illogical to call that his worst pick, IMO. The Fab Melo example fits this pretty well. Did the pick set the Cs back? End of the day, in a Star driven league.... not really.

It's where he failed to identify the best talent available that's evidence of his worst pick. So the better question might be: what was his worst draft? And 2013 is the answer.

[footey]

For me - this question always boils down to opportunity cost.  Who we drafted versus who we should have (with the understanding that hindsight is 20/20).

Unfortunately, drafting Olynyk over Giannis was legacy altering.   Yes, KO went on to be a serviceable rotation big.  But Giannis is a generational talent - an MVP and DPOY who can serve as the anchor to a team with title aspirations.

The Celtics scouted the Greek Freak pretty extensively.   In the end, they went with a player with a higher floor, but much lower ceiling.  My quibble with this move - the Celtics had just traded away KG and Pierce.  The rebuild was well underway.  Given that context, that just seemed like the right time to take a flyer on a player like Giannis, with a middle of the first round pick. Olynyk's selection was the conservative approach.  For a team that struggles to recruit the truly elite players - you have to roll the dice in the draft.

Compunding matters, they traded two 2nd rounders to move up to 13.  One of those was a 2014 Brooklyn 2nd round pick which wound up 34th overall in 2014.  Nikola Jokic was selected 7 picks later at 41st.   Either of these two players would have turned into cornerstones, with Brown and Tatum coming later via the Nets lottery picks. 

If the Celtics had been able to draft either of these guys - we're viewing Ainge very differently right now.

We had just hired Brad Stevens, and I recall Ainge asking Brad his opinion of Kelly pre-draft, and Brad said that his team couldn't guard him, an endorsement of drafting him, I suppose.  Wonder if Brad's view on Kelly affected Danny's decision to take Kelly; he in fact traded up to get him. Of course if he hadn't moved up, I think the Bucks would have had the pick before us, IIRC.

Not blaming Brad, but just wondering.

[Moranis]

The correct answer is Yabu. What makes that pick so bad is the fact that you HAD to make it. That offseason thevteam had a roster crunch, they couldn't fit more rookies on.thier roster. so they had to reach basically a half to whole round early to find a stash guy at the spot. It was obvious at the time is was a terrible reach but there inability to manage the team basically cost them an asset.

except they didn't.  And the reason I know they didn't is 2nd round pick Demetrius Jackson made the team that season.  So they could have had a 1st round rookie on the roster if they had a 2nd round rookie on the roster.

[KG Living Legend]

 My favorite topic. How trash Danny is. Let's see off the top of my head.

JR Giddens
Billy Walker
Yabu
Olynyk, cough Giannis
Nesmith
Romeo
Carsen
Fab Melo
Zizic

[Roy H.]

The correct answer is Yabu. What makes that pick so bad is the fact that you HAD to make it. That offseason thevteam had a roster crunch, they couldn't fit more rookies on.thier roster. so they had to reach basically a half to whole round early to find a stash guy at the spot. It was obvious at the time is was a terrible reach but there inability to manage the team basically cost them an asset.

Was there no team in the league that would have taking our second and third #1s that year for a future pick?  It probably would have made sense to kick the can down the road for a season or two.

I think that it will be interesting to see what Oklahoma City does with their 34 draft picks over seven years. 

[Ogaju]

Y’all selling Romeo short.

[LatterDayCelticsfan]

How about JaJuan Johnson?

Most likely Yabu since he was a higher pick.

The name I was looking for.