Poll: Grade the Celtics draft

[cltc5]

After a night to sleep on it and watch videos like very year I graded this draft from F to a C.  I really wanted Deumbo and Clarke, but thinking about it, both those guys are kinda alpha mentalities on offense.  Not a bad thing, but when you have 3 alpha type scorers starting ie Tatum, Hayward, Brown, you really need guys that can do some things that give you other options.  Grant is a glue guy and can be useful to help downlow or stretch the floor.  Edwards has potential to be a great spark/IT type off the bench.  Jury is still out on Romeo, but if he can get some fire, which I think Brad can get from him, he has a chance to be a nice complimentary pg/sg.  So I’m not as fussed today because it seems these kids that were drafted are really just gonna be solid to real good basketball players.  And now, with cap room to pick up some needs in free agency, that’s really all we need.

[Evantime34]

Thoughts from last night

1. My goal to start the draft was to trade up for Garland or White, I really wanted to add a knock down shooter at the one for the long term. After I got over that not happening I thought the draft was great.

2. Langford reminds me of the Avery and to a lesser extent the Jaylen pick. Langford was a top 6 prospect coming into his rookie season at Indiana. He's a high pedigree prospect, with strength, length and most importantly for this team, the ability to get to the rim and finish there. His shot doesn't look bad and he was a good shooter before college, so if his wrist injury really did prevent him from shooting a high percentage it's a steal.

3. I wanted Brandon Clarke at 22, but when he was picked at 21 I thought Williams was an excellent pick. High character guy, high basketball IQ, strong as an ox and his shot looked good in workout videos I saw. He's the type of big that you can run the offense through in the dribble hand off. He is going to play some point big like Horford did. Long term he can play the 4 next to Tatum and Brown to defend the guys who are too strong for those two. He played 3 years in college but he must have started early because he's only 20. People are going to absolutely love this guy because he's going to make the right play and always play hard.

4. Anyone who saw Edwards in the tournament knows what kind of microwave scorer he is. After we couldn't get Garland or White, Edwards was the best live dribble scorer available. He can't really pass but man he can really get buckets. He also fit the archetype of current Ainge picks in that he's really strong. He reminds me of Isaiah Thomas a lot, only with less passing and more defensive upside.

5. As usual, I thought that Danny killed it in trades. trading 20 for 24 and 33 was great value, especially because the Sixers picked a player who I have no interest in at 20. It seem like Memphis traded up specifically to prevent us from drafting Clarke at 21, but I'd rather have Edwards and Williams than Clarke. I also really like 24 and Baynes for a future first. Ainge clearly has something up his sleeve (he said "Wish I could tell you everything I know, but I can’t.”) so I assume that trading Baynes into cap space helped him achieve that plan. With 3 firsts and everyone saying that we wouldn't make all the picks, I'm very happy we got a future first instead of having to draft two stash guys like the last time we had 3 firsts.

6. The Vucevic rumors don't really make any sense to me. Ainge looks to be back in asset accumulation mode and signing Vucevic to the type of deal that Orlando wouldn't outbid us on doesn't seem like a deal that would be easy to turn into assets. I expect the Vucevic rumors were leaked by his agent to drive up the price on Orlando. Boston is one of the few teams with cap space and a need at center, so leaking that they are in the running is a good leverage play for Vuc.

7. I expect us to trade for a vet center like Adams or Capela, use our cap space to take on bad salary to get picks, or sign 2 or 3 guys using our cap space, because it's easier for them to outperform a $15- 18 MM deal than a $30 MM one.

8. I'm warming up to bring back Rozier. I hated watching him play last year, but if he can come in and string a couple months of good play together to start the year then we can trade him for value. His cap hold isn't very high, so I expect him to be worth more in a trade than a player signed at a similar amount to his cap hold. I also expect Hayward will be moved for picks and young players at the deadline if he shows his value to start the year. He's not interested in being on a rebuilding team.

9. Brad really build a great, high effort, ball movement heavy culture before the C's got Kyrie. We are going to go back to that. Our offense probably isn't going to be great next year, but if we can get a center like Adams or Capela I expect the C's to be a top 5 defensive team and make the playoffs.

[SHAQATTACK]

Failure ....thats low as i can vote unfortunately


Danny is a SLOW learner .

Those kids out of Va....play exactly like CBS would like ,  other wordss they come pre trained to play ball the correct way , it appears the Celtics want . Play for each other, pass the ball, look for best easy shot every time down court and play aggressive defense the whole game.

He should try to draft their best player every year , long as their present coach stays.   

[RodyTur10]

After calming down from that horrible draft night, I still have to grade the draft as an: F

This isn't hindsight of complaining, because the foundation of the team has been shredded. Purely based on who I wanted and were available at those draft positions (which I posted, so there's proof) I can't be anything else than massively disappointed.

We went in with picks #14, #20 and #22. And we drafted Langford, Williams and Edwards, which I had at 23, 25 and 38.
So on average we drafted every player 10 spots too early for my taste.

I hope I'm wrong, that eventually Langford and Williams can be starters/role players and Edwards a scorer from the bench, but I don't see it. The player I like best of the three is actually Edwards.

(the trades with Philly and Phoenix are basically meaningless, since in the end you've given up a cheap role player for probably only #30 next year)

[nickagneta]

Failure ....thats low as i can vote unfortunately


Danny is a SLOW learner .

Those kids out of Va....play exactly like CBS would like ,  other wordss they come pre trained to play ball the correct way , it appears the Celtics want . Play for each other, pass the ball, look for best easy shot every time down court and play aggressive defense the whole game.

He should try to draft their best player every year , long as their present coach stays.   

This pretty much describes Grant Williams to a tee. If that's the type of player you want, Williams is definitely that type of player.

[Jamilmac99]

Easily an A or B+. First of all the trade down to pick up the extra pick with Philly was beautiful. Baynes trade was great too for extra cap space. 4 solid players. I expect Williams to contribute a lot as a rookie. The negativity on this board is comical sometimes. I voted A!

[Atzar]

B+.  I like each pick individually.  Somewhat surprised that we didn't target a big man, but honestly, it wasn't a good draft for bigs.  The only one that interested me in our pick range was Bitadze, but if our guys just liked Langford more, then hey.  I can accept that. 

Content with the Langford pick.  Not the best positional fit (unless the Celtics think he can play the point), but his ability to get to the rim and draw fouls is something we lacked last year.  Several significant concerns, shooting and focus chief among them.  But he has serious upside if everything breaks right.  His upside is as high as anybody in this draft outside of the top 3 picks. 

LOVE the Williams pick.  High intelligence and character.  Understands and sticks to his strengths.  Defends with positioning and strength rather than length and athleticism - this is where the PJ Tucker comp makes the most sense. Good finisher, foul magnet, good FT shooter which offers hope that his perimeter game will improve.  I'm not sold that his driving game will translate - he racked up the charge calls at times even at the college level.  But he was a POY finalist for a reason.  This dude can ball.

Content with the Edwards pick.  Very obvious flaws that won't go away, but also very obvious strengths.  He can get his shot whenever he wants... but he won't make anybody else better.  Willing but limited defender.  He won't face the defensive attention in the NBA that he saw in college... might help him a bit.  At 33?  You take a profile like this.

Waters looks like he could hang around as a third-string guard for a couple of years, sort of in a Phil Pressey, Shane Larkin style.  I don't expect much from a 50+ pick.

Good draft overall. 

[SHAQATTACK]

Failure ....thats low as i can vote unfortunately


Danny is a SLOW learner .

Those kids out of Va....play exactly like CBS would like ,  other wordss they come pre trained to play ball the correct way , it appears the Celtics want . Play for each other, pass the ball, look for best easy shot every time down court and play aggressive defense the whole game.

He should try to draft their best player every year , long as their present coach stays.   

This pretty much describes Grant Williams to a tee. If that's the type of player you want, Williams is definitely that type of player.

We shall see.  Can only hope.

[gpap]

Wonder why the Cavs drafted Garland when they already have Sexton

[Somebody]

Graded it a C after an afternoon of thinking. I'm still iffy on the Langford pick, I'd want Jaylen to play SG and Tatum to play SF so the remaining spot for him to start if he develops is PG (assuming all goes well). I did read that he's good at navigating through picks, so maybe he's the convertable wing that I craved before the draft. Don't really think his ceiling was high enough to alleviate the fit and floor concerns, but I don't hate the pick. Really like the Grant Williams pick though, he's a very good scorer and playmaker from the PF position who is willing to play any role on the team, which I like because it opens up more possibilities of him being an impact player for us (he could lead if he somehow becomes a star, or be the perfect role player if he doesn't make the leap). His strength, post game and FT rate is very useful to us as well, as we lack all three of them. Hope Stevens plays him at the 4 and not the 5. Don't know too much about Edwards except for the fact that his scoring is nuts and resembles IT, which I'm all in for as a huge IT fan (only NBA player merchandise I have is an IT T-shirt lol). Should've been a B in a vacuum, but Danny not drafting one more C as insurance if Williams busts when we're rebuilding is a head scratcher imo.

[SHAQATTACK]

Wonder why the Cavs drafted Garland when they already have Sexton

to screw with Danny ?

[Moranis]

Wonder why the Cavs drafted Garland when they already have Sexton

they absolutely 100% believe they can play together

[vjcsmoke]

F.

Two 6'6 players.  One is an undersized PF, the other... ??

We lost 2 centers in Baynes and Horford and replaced them with nobody.

What's the plan here Danny?  Clog up the rotation with more 6'6 players who can't get playing time since we already have Brown/Tatum/Hayward/Ojeyle in that 6'6-6'8 range?

[hwangjini_1]

but now they have tako fall at 7'6". and since only height seems to factor into your judgement of players, you must adore this guy and readjust your opinion of the draft.

[keevsnick]

I went with a B. I wanted Sekou at the 14 spot but to be honest that was mostly based of positional need, since I think he would be a be a nice stretch 4. Just in terms of upside I think Langford is a good pick. Smooth, nice first step, excellent finisher, some decent passing instincts and all around good scoring game are all signs of high upside. he seems like a guy with the potential to develop in a number of areas, and I dont think you can ever have too many wings. Nice length too, could be a good defender if he buckles down and the Celtics seem to demand that of their guys. Could very easily see a 2-3-4 with him, Jaylen, Jayson.Williams seems like a guy who will just be a rotation guy at least for a long time, which at 22 is solid. Overall I do just wish they could have found a 4 man with some decent size, but those guys are hard to find. Liked that they picked up anther first next year.