Coach Stevens Connections - Draft Targets (Ultimate Grand Plan)

[Fireworks_Boom!]

We know that some of this year's draft picks were playing during Coach Stevens position as head coach at Butler. Teams in the Big East with draft picks, include:

Providence (Kris Dunn/Ben Bentil)
Seton Hall (Isaiah Whitehead)

Regarding Kris Dunn - Just because we have a glut of guards don't think for one second that if DA likes this kid he won't take him.

Coach Stevens also points to his previous head coach at Butler, Thad Matta as one of his top mentors. Thad now coaches the Ohio State University in the Big Ten Conference. Perhaps he is a resource for scouting across the Big Ten (Purdue, Michigan State, etc.)?

Teams in the Big Ten with draft picks, include:

Michigan State (Denzel Valentine/Deyonta Davis)
Purdue (AJ Hammons)
Marquette (Henry Ellenson)
Indiana (Troy Williams)
Iowa (Jared Uthoff)
Maryland (Diamond Stone)

Regarding AJ Hammons - An NBA ready big man who looks legit. I would love to grab him with one of our early 2nd round picks. Nbadraft.net has him going at Pick #50. I think he goes a little earlier than this. He is more NBA ready given he was a Senior last year.

AJ Hammons Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTjHHICQMy4

P.S. I believe Denzel Valentine will be a very good player in the NBA. Has the long arms and body, the shooting stroke and looks the part. I'd love to grab him with Pick #16.

Could you be mad with this draft:

Pick #3: Kris Dunn (the other shoe to drop would be a trade of Marcus Smart with Brooklyn picks for DeMarcus Cousins)
Pick #16: Denzel Valentine
Pick #23: Ante Zizic (Draft & Stash)
Pick #31: Zhou Qi (Draft & Stash)
Pick #35: Joel Bolomboy
Pick #45: AJ Hammons
Pick #51: Khalil Felder (IT Part II)
Pick #58: Who cares

Trade Marcus Smart, Amir Johnson & Brooklyn Picks for DeMarcus Cousins
Sign Kevin Durant in free agency
Let Jerebko walk

Wowza:

Ball-handlers: Isaiah Thomas/Terry Rozier/Kris Dunn/Khalil Felder
Shooters: Avery Bradley/RJ Hunter
Swings: Kevin Durant/Jae Crowder/Denzel Valentine
Bigs: DeMarcus Cousins/Kelly Olynyk/Jordan Mickey/AJ Hammons/Joel Bolomboy

[konkmv]

NOT HAPPENING

[bdm860]

Stevens has been out of college basketball for 3 full seasons (also Butler wasn't a part of the Big East when Stevens was there).  The few Seniors projected to go in the 1st round (Hield, Valentine) Butler never played against.  But if Stevens did coach against somebody in this draft to the point it gave him special insight, that would mean that player would have had to make a huge impression on him as a Freshman but still stay in school for 3 more years, when let's face it if you're a Senior in the NBA draft, you probably didn't play a big role as a Freshman.  Most guys in this draft were Sophomores and Juniors in high school when Stevens left for the Celtics.

There's probably very few (if any) players in this draft that Stevens tried to recruit or coached against while at Butler.

Though I think the Thad Matta point is a good one where Stevens does have some trusted connections in the college world who he could call for an honest assessment of a particular player.  Remember though, Stevens isn't in charge of the scouting or the drafting, Ainge is.  Stevens time at Butler 3+ years ago isn't likely to help the C's in any way for this draft.