I really don’t like this draft for where BOS will be picking

[gouki88]

This draft has a load of high-ceiling low-floor raw athlete types. Not the kind of player I want us to draft.

I do think there are some handy guys. Wagner and Kispert would be awesome, but I think they get picked before we're on the clock.

Josh Giddey would be ideal for me. 6'7" PG currently playing in the NBL and playing really solidly. I also coached against him when he was 14 (same age as my younger brother) and he torched us!

Day'Ron Sharpe is a big I like but given the improvement of TL I don't think spending our 1st rounder on a 5 is smart.

Davion Mitchell, Usman Garuba, Kai Jones, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Jaden Springer are all guys I like that could be there in that 15-20 range. Our pick might get worse though

Can Giddey shoot? The scouting video shows him playmaking well (loves the bounce pass), but I couldn't see any scouting on his outside shot.

He can, but he's pretty darn streaky. That said, LaMelo Ball was also terribly inefficient in the NBL but operates better shooting-wise in the NBA. Giddey doesn't get given much space.

[Celtics2021]

This draft has a load of high-ceiling low-floor raw athlete types. Not the kind of player I want us to draft.

I do think there are some handy guys. Wagner and Kispert would be awesome, but I think they get picked before we're on the clock.

Josh Giddey would be ideal for me. 6'7" PG currently playing in the NBL and playing really solidly. I also coached against him when he was 14 (same age as my younger brother) and he torched us!

Day'Ron Sharpe is a big I like but given the improvement of TL I don't think spending our 1st rounder on a 5 is smart.

Davion Mitchell, Usman Garuba, Kai Jones, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Jaden Springer are all guys I like that could be there in that 15-20 range. Our pick might get worse though

If our pick gets much worse, one player I'd like to look at is Isaiah Todd from the G-League team.  He's a 4/5 type, and his game reminds me a lot of a vet he was teamed up with on his G-League squad -- former Celtic Amir Johnson.  He's a two-way stretch big, capable of hitting the outside shot when left open, but also holding his own down low.  It didn't show much in the G-League, but at the amateur level he was a capable ballhandler and passer from the top of the key, and I think that part of his game will continue to develop.  Defensively I think he's a little more of a 4 than a 5, which in the modern NBA can make him a bit of a tweener, but he should be athletic enough to keep up with bigger wings on the perimeter.  Rebounding is a relative weakness.  I think he has a high BBIQ, as well.

I've seen him mostly at the end of the first round or early second-round, but I think he's one of those guys who's going to steadily rise, to the 17-25 range.  I'm not sure he's an instant contributor as a rookie, as he probably needs to build up some more strength to compete with NBA bigs, but I could see him taking Grant Williams' minutes before too long and slotting into the early part of the rotation in year 2.

[gouki88]

This draft has a load of high-ceiling low-floor raw athlete types. Not the kind of player I want us to draft.

I do think there are some handy guys. Wagner and Kispert would be awesome, but I think they get picked before we're on the clock.

Josh Giddey would be ideal for me. 6'7" PG currently playing in the NBL and playing really solidly. I also coached against him when he was 14 (same age as my younger brother) and he torched us!

Day'Ron Sharpe is a big I like but given the improvement of TL I don't think spending our 1st rounder on a 5 is smart.

Davion Mitchell, Usman Garuba, Kai Jones, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Jaden Springer are all guys I like that could be there in that 15-20 range. Our pick might get worse though

If our pick gets much worse, one player I'd like to look at is Isaiah Todd from the G-League team.  He's a 4/5 type, and his game reminds me a lot of a vet he was teamed up with on his G-League squad -- former Celtic Amir Johnson.  He's a two-way stretch big, capable of hitting the outside shot when left open, but also holding his own down low.  It didn't show much in the G-League, but at the amateur level he was a capable ballhandler and passer from the top of the key, and I think that part of his game will continue to develop.  Defensively I think he's a little more of a 4 than a 5, which in the modern NBA can make him a bit of a tweener, but he should be athletic enough to keep up with bigger wings on the perimeter.  Rebounding is a relative weakness.  I think he has a high BBIQ, as well.

I've seen him mostly at the end of the first round or early second-round, but I think he's one of those guys who's going to steadily rise, to the 17-25 range.  I'm not sure he's an instant contributor as a rookie, as he probably needs to build up some more strength to compete with NBA bigs, but I could see him taking Grant Williams' minutes before too long and slotting into the early part of the rotation in year 2.

Yeah, I like him (I basically like that whole G-League team prospect-wise). He also 100% fits the mould of a DA pick. High ranking in high school but has sort of faded from the spotlight. He'd be a really interesting bench big in the short-term with some nice potential. By his 2nd contract he could be a really interesting player - reminds me of the way Ryan Anderson used to play

[Tr1boy]

I would not be surprised if we trade our pick, especially if we want to move off of Kemba's contract.

Agreed.  That is a good idea

[nickagneta]

My best friend is an assistant athletic director at a D1 school out west and his team played both USC and Gonzaga. He said the best player he saw all year was....Corey Kispert.

Sure, he is a senior while Suggs and Mobley are freshman, but I thought that interesting. Especially given if Boston slips into the lottery in a worse case scenario, if Kispert slides he might make a great pick.

Nick, this is good intel. Just curious, what was your friend's take on Payton Pritchard before the draft?

He loved the pick. His school didn't play Oregon but he saw him on a PAC12 feed a whole lot over Pritchard's stay there and thought him a tough, clutch guy that the fanbase would love. He has been spot on in that regard.

[slamtheking]

I don't like any draft for where the Cs will be picking in 2021, unless they keep losing a lot. I like Ainge in the Top 5 picks or the bottom 5 picks of the 1st round. The rest has been not so good.

[/b]
please check other threads that deal with this exact topic. ainge has drafted well above the NBA average for getting players in that area of the draft.

Look over this list to learn more:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/draft.html

rozier
smart
sullinger
bradley
rondo (picked for them)
jefferson
west
allen
olynyk (for them)

langford & nesmith are too early to tell. some folks may include gerald green, but i am reluctant to do so myself since he took soooooo long to develop his game.

plus a number of acceptable players were taken by ainge in the second round.

When you average the above draftees with the 7-8 James Youngs he drafted it doesn’t look like he is an above average drafted in that range
And sully was picked for tanking purposes. Not sure where he contributed to a winning organization in a meaningful way

You make some weird arguments from time to all the time, but this is a new one.  How was Sully, who was drafted with KG, Pierce, and Rondo still on the team, and Doc coaching, picked for tanking purposes?  Heck, when he picked, the Celtics still thought Ray would return as well.

fixed it for you.

I'd love to know who all these James Youngs are.  There's the original.  who else?  Yabu and Zizic were draft and stash players because he couldn't make roster room or trade the picks (which is bad asset management and a different issue entirely).  JJJ was a dud but was considered a very solid pick by most sources considering the place in the draft and who was left on the board.  Fab Melo was anticipated to be a horrible pick by pretty much everyone so there's 3 duds.   Romeo and Nesmith are too early to know what their talent level will be. 

[nickagneta]

All things draft in 2021 were released today:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31159973/nba-sets-july-29-draft-determining-schedule-accompanying-combine-lottery

The NBA announced Monday that the draft will be held on July 29, the draft lottery on June 22 and the draft combine June 21-27, as the league adjusts to its temporary schedule because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

[GreenCoffeeBean]

Player development was epicly bad under Doc. But we also didn’t have high picks for him to work with. E’Twaun Moore is the only player that comes to mind as flourishing elsewhere that we never really gave a chance.

Brad is a bit better at player development even if you subtract high picks like Brown, Tatum, and Smart. Some of this is because Brad doesn’t have a choice: PP and KG aren’t walking through that door.

I think Ainge is great at making trades but not picks. We had chances at Jimmy Butler, Middleton, Draymond, etc.

[GreenShooter]

Won’t matter who we pick cause he won’t play..  plus it be a undersized guard anyhow

I would take Sharife Cooper, Davion Mitchell or even Jared Butler in a heartbeat, for where we'll be picking. This draft is VERY solid at the top so getting into the top 7 is what a lot of teams will be tanking for.
My favorite, after Cade is probably Scottie Barnes. He won't go second but after all is said and done he'll be a stud from this draft class. His tool kit is full though not a great rebounder (it'll come) He just needs that thing called experience.

[GreenShooter]

My best friend is an assistant athletic director at a D1 school out west and his team played both USC and Gonzaga. He said the best player he saw all year was....Corey Kispert.

Sure, he is a senior while Suggs and Mobley are freshman, but I thought that interesting. Especially given if Boston slips into the lottery in a worse case scenario, if Kispert slides he might make a great pick.

Unless we suffer a major injury we won't be in the lottery. The Kispert kid can really play but not sure he'll anything more than a starter on a scrub team (he'll need talent around him to get the most out of him) or a very good contributor off the bench right off the bat.
Not sure why you mentioned Suggs and Mobley but me thinks Kispert won't go that high but you never know. He was on such a deep team that he might have averaged about 25 elsewhere. He might be in our range but will have to trade up for him. 

[GreenShooter]

This draft has a load of high-ceiling low-floor raw athlete types. Not the kind of player I want us to draft.

I do think there are some handy guys. Wagner and Kispert would be awesome, but I think they get picked before we're on the clock.

Josh Giddey would be ideal for me. 6'7" PG currently playing in the NBL and playing really solidly. I also coached against him when he was 14 (same age as my younger brother) and he torched us!

Day'Ron Sharpe is a big I like but given the improvement of TL I don't think spending our 1st rounder on a 5 is smart.

Davion Mitchell, Usman Garuba, Kai Jones, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Jaden Springer are all guys I like that could be there in that 15-20 range. Our pick might get worse though

Can Giddey shoot? The scouting video shows him playmaking well (loves the bounce pass), but I couldn't see any scouting on his outside shot.

Looks like Giddey has a complete game and is BIG. He's Doncic-lite. Very young for this draft class as well.

[NKY fan]

I don't like any draft for where the Cs will be picking in 2021, unless they keep losing a lot. I like Ainge in the Top 5 picks or the bottom 5 picks of the 1st round. The rest has been not so good.

[/b]
please check other threads that deal with this exact topic. ainge has drafted well above the NBA average for getting players in that area of the draft.

Look over this list to learn more:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/draft.html

rozier
smart
sullinger
bradley
rondo (picked for them)
jefferson
west
allen
olynyk (for them)

langford & nesmith are too early to tell. some folks may include gerald green, but i am reluctant to do so myself since he took soooooo long to develop his game.

plus a number of acceptable players were taken by ainge in the second round.

When you average the above draftees with the 7-8 James Youngs he drafted it doesn’t look like he is an above average drafted in that range
And sully was picked for tanking purposes. Not sure where he contributed to a winning organization in a meaningful way

You make some weird arguments from time to all the time, but this is a new one.  How was Sully, who was drafted with KG, Pierce, and Rondo still on the team, and Doc coaching, picked for tanking purposes?  Heck, when he picked, the Celtics still thought Ray would return as well.

fixed it for you.

I'd love to know who all these James Youngs are.  There's the original.  who else?  Yabu and Zizic were draft and stash players because he couldn't make roster room or trade the picks (which is bad asset management and a different issue entirely).  JJJ was a dud but was considered a very solid pick by most sources considering the place in the draft and who was left on the board.  Fab Melo was anticipated to be a horrible pick by pretty much everyone so there's 3 duds.   Romeo and Nesmith are too early to know what their talent level will be.

Right Sully was picked to compete now with the aging big three but ended up driving the tank post nets trade. I don’t see what’s so great about that pick.
Also my argument was that when you average his ok picks with the duds it’s not looking so great.

[slamtheking]

I don't like any draft for where the Cs will be picking in 2021, unless they keep losing a lot. I like Ainge in the Top 5 picks or the bottom 5 picks of the 1st round. The rest has been not so good.

[/b]
please check other threads that deal with this exact topic. ainge has drafted well above the NBA average for getting players in that area of the draft.

Look over this list to learn more:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/draft.html

rozier
smart
sullinger
bradley
rondo (picked for them)
jefferson
west
allen
olynyk (for them)

langford & nesmith are too early to tell. some folks may include gerald green, but i am reluctant to do so myself since he took soooooo long to develop his game.

plus a number of acceptable players were taken by ainge in the second round.

When you average the above draftees with the 7-8 James Youngs he drafted it doesn’t look like he is an above average drafted in that range
And sully was picked for tanking purposes. Not sure where he contributed to a winning organization in a meaningful way

You make some weird arguments from time to all the time, but this is a new one.  How was Sully, who was drafted with KG, Pierce, and Rondo still on the team, and Doc coaching, picked for tanking purposes?  Heck, when he picked, the Celtics still thought Ray would return as well.

fixed it for you.

I'd love to know who all these James Youngs are.  There's the original.  who else?  Yabu and Zizic were draft and stash players because he couldn't make roster room or trade the picks (which is bad asset management and a different issue entirely).  JJJ was a dud but was considered a very solid pick by most sources considering the place in the draft and who was left on the board.  Fab Melo was anticipated to be a horrible pick by pretty much everyone so there's 3 duds.   Romeo and Nesmith are too early to know what their talent level will be.

Right Sully was picked to compete now with the aging big three but ended up driving the tank post nets trade. I don’t see what’s so great about that pick.
Also my argument was that when you average his ok picks with the duds it’s not looking so great.

that's pure nonsense.

Sully's purpose was to compete and hopefully be either a building block or a valuable trade chip.  he was a good player, particularly where he was picked.  the problem was his lack of commitment to his conditioning.

your argument about Danny's draft record is still lacking any support.  Sully is not an example.  what other examples do you have other than the ones I offered for you?

[NKY fan]

I don't like any draft for where the Cs will be picking in 2021, unless they keep losing a lot. I like Ainge in the Top 5 picks or the bottom 5 picks of the 1st round. The rest has been not so good.

[/b]
please check other threads that deal with this exact topic. ainge has drafted well above the NBA average for getting players in that area of the draft.

Look over this list to learn more:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/draft.html

rozier
smart
sullinger
bradley
rondo (picked for them)
jefferson
west
allen
olynyk (for them)

langford & nesmith are too early to tell. some folks may include gerald green, but i am reluctant to do so myself since he took soooooo long to develop his game.

plus a number of acceptable players were taken by ainge in the second round.

When you average the above draftees with the 7-8 James Youngs he drafted it doesn’t look like he is an above average drafted in that range
And sully was picked for tanking purposes. Not sure where he contributed to a winning organization in a meaningful way

You make some weird arguments from time to all the time, but this is a new one.  How was Sully, who was drafted with KG, Pierce, and Rondo still on the team, and Doc coaching, picked for tanking purposes?  Heck, when he picked, the Celtics still thought Ray would return as well.

fixed it for you.

I'd love to know who all these James Youngs are.  There's the original.  who else?  Yabu and Zizic were draft and stash players because he couldn't make roster room or trade the picks (which is bad asset management and a different issue entirely).  JJJ was a dud but was considered a very solid pick by most sources considering the place in the draft and who was left on the board.  Fab Melo was anticipated to be a horrible pick by pretty much everyone so there's 3 duds.   Romeo and Nesmith are too early to know what their talent level will be.

Right Sully was picked to compete now with the aging big three but ended up driving the tank post nets trade. I don’t see what’s so great about that pick.
Also my argument was that when you average his ok picks with the duds it’s not looking so great.

that's pure nonsense.

Sully's purpose was to compete and hopefully be either a building block or a valuable trade chip.  he was a good player, particularly where he was picked.  the problem was his lack of commitment to his conditioning.

your argument about Danny's draft record is still lacking any support.  Sully is not an example.  what other examples do you have other than the ones I offered for you?

You clearly love all his picks - no need to argue.

ok edit : you listed 5 duds above - JY,JJJ,FM, Yabu and Zizic ... here are 2 more - Gabe Pruit and JR Giddens - that makes 7 guys that can be argued  whether they are the worst players in their drafts.
In terms of drafting skill and GM acumen - only Rondo and Rozier are the picks where Danny outsmarted other GMs. For every other pick its either a big reach or players such as Sully and Bradley that fell to him and he was just hoping that the celtics staff can straighten up their deficiencies and red flags. Timelord has a chance to join Rondo and Rozier if he stays healthy and consistently impact winning from now on. So that is 3 out of 20+ picks (that are subject to this topic) where he did above average. How does that make for an above average drafting experience?

[Celtics4ever]

what other examples do you have other than the ones I offered for you?

What about Desmond Bane who seems more NBA ready than Nesmith?  Or Matisse Thybulle from last year while keeping Grant Williams and trading him for Carsen Edwards.

Sully was a gamble that did not pay off.   There is a reason he fell and we rolled the dice and watched him eat himself out of the league.  I don't think we picked him for tanking.  Ainge saw a good college player that fell and took a chance at getting value with high risk/reward guy.   Trouble, is when he does this with guys with subpar athletic ability it rarely pans out.   

rozier
smart
sullinger
bradley
rondo (picked for them)
jefferson
west
allen
olynyk (for them)

All decent to good players save Sully on that list.   But there are stinkers too and quite a few.    I stuck to first rounders

Grant Williams
Guerschon Yabusele    
James Young
Lucas Nogueira
Jared Sullinger
Fab Melo
MarShon Brooks
J. R. Giddens
RJ Hunter


This is a fun read about some of the value of players drafted about Draft Value vs. Expectation

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2021/3/2/22308624/danny-ainge-boston-celtics

But we are 13th in  Draft Value vs. Expectation

The draft is a crap shoot.  Every GM hits sometimes and misses others.  I support Ainge as GM, that does not mean I think he is without fault.

I did not choose to get into guys who we didn't pick who have turned out to be solid players who we could have got, like Jimmy Butler or Fred Van Fleet. 

Whomever, is scouting some of these guys needs evaluated and I don't care if he is Danny's son or not.