YABU being waived

[SparzWizard]

Yabusele is perhaps the worst pick since James Young.

I think you have to go all the way back to Albert K. Brown in 2001 to find a worse Celtics pick than Yabu.

Fab melo - rip and jajuan Johnson can be argued were worse picks given that they played in the ncaa tournament
I have posted before that Danny has 4 of the top 10 worst picks in the last 15 years in the 15-30 range

Im pretty sure there were a lot worse picks, esp in the 20-30 range.

Here are some:

2017
#16 Chicago Justin Patton
#28 LAL Tony Bradley

2016
#25 LAC Brice Johnson
#26 Sixers Forkan Korkmaz

2015
#17 Milwaukee Rashad Caught
#26 San Antonio Nikola Milutinov
#29 Brooklyn Chris McCullough

2014
#20 Toronto Bruno Cabocolo
#21 OKC Mitch McGary
#22 Memphis Jordan Adams

2013
#16 Dallas Lucas Nogueira
#19 Cleveland Sergey Karasev
#28 San Antonio Livio Jean Charles
#30 Phoenix Nemanja Nedovic

2012
#16 Houston Royce White
#23 Atlanta John Jenkins
#24 Cleveland Jared Cunningham
#27 Miami Arnett Moultrie
#28 OKC Percy Jones

2011
#18 Washington Chris Singleton
#21 Portland Nolan Smith

2010
#21 OKC Craig Brackins
#22 Portland Elliot Williams
#24 Atlanta Damian James
#25 Memphis Dominique Jones
#29 Orlando Daniel Orton
#30 Washington Lazar Hayward

That's just 2010-2017. I didn't do 2018 because those still need to be evaluated more. But that's 27 picks only in the last 10 years that can be argued are every bit as bad as some of Ainge's picks in the #16-30 range.

Some are made even worse by being near a great player that could have been selected instead.

Tremendously bad picks happen to everyone and are very common. Even teams that normally draft well make mistakes. San Antonio have selected two guys that have never even played for them yet and might never.

I have never even heard of any of them except Royce White and maybe Percy Jones. Must be that bad lol.

[nickagneta]

Funny thing about the Noguiera pick by Dallas. That was the pick Danny traded out of to grab Olynyk higher in the draft. I remember that draft night and a lot of people hated that pick, me included.

But funny enough, people get crazy angry with Ainge for not picking Giannis, but no one was saying that on this site that night. There was a bunch of anger over trading up just to get Olynyk, but little to no consternation about not selecting The Greek Freak. Nope, because that same night, Ainge traded KG and Pierce to the Nets and everyone was screaming about what a bad trade that was. All the hate over Ainge passing on Giannis is just Monday Morning Quarterbacking. That night, almost no one was mentioning anything about not grabbing The Freak. Everyone was too busy talking the big trade of two Celtic legends to the Nets.

[RockinRyA]

Funny thing about the Noguiera pick by Dallas. That was the pick Danny traded out of to grab Olynyk higher in the draft. I remember that draft night and a lot of people hated that pick, me included.

But funny enough, people get crazy angry with Ainge for not picking Giannis, but no one was saying that on this site that night. There was a bunch of anger over trading up just to get Olynyk, but little to no consternation about not selecting The Greek Freak. Nope, because that same night, Ainge traded KG and Pierce to the Nets and everyone was screaming about what a bad trade that was. All the hate over Ainge passing on Giannis is just Monday Morning Quarterbacking. That night, almost no one was mentioning anything about not grabbing The Freak. Everyone was too busy talking the big trade of two Celtic legends to the Nets.

I didn't like the pick because I felt the Cs needed to go for upside and Olynyk is the opposite route. And yeah I remember that day and it was all about the "horrible trade"

[DarrenTillis]

Funny thing about the Noguiera pick by Dallas. That was the pick Danny traded out of to grab Olynyk higher in the draft. I remember that draft night and a lot of people hated that pick, me included.

But funny enough, people get crazy angry with Ainge for not picking Giannis, but no one was saying that on this site that night. There was a bunch of anger over trading up just to get Olynyk, but little to no consternation about not selecting The Greek Freak. Nope, because that same night, Ainge traded KG and Pierce to the Nets and everyone was screaming about what a bad trade that was. All the hate over Ainge passing on Giannis is just Monday Morning Quarterbacking. That night, almost no one was mentioning anything about not grabbing The Freak. Everyone was too busy talking the big trade of two Celtic legends to the Nets.

I didn't like the pick because I felt the Cs needed to go for upside and Olynyk is the opposite route. And yeah I remember that day and it was all about the "horrible trade"

I didn't like the Olynyk pick at the time for the same reason. 

And the pick had eerie parallels to the disastrous Michael Smith selection in 1989 (both #13 picks, both white forwards, both 4 year college players, both chosen ahead of obvious "upside" picks like Shawn Kemp in Michael Smith's case, both immediately criticized by fans, etc). 

To Olynyk's credit, at least he turned into a serviceable NBA player and helped us win some key games.  Can't say the same for Smith. 

[mr. dee]

Playing in China did more damage in his career than it helped. CBA's defense is so putrid. He should have signed with the euroleague instead.

[NKY fan]

Yabusele is perhaps the worst pick since James Young.

I think you have to go all the way back to Albert K. Brown in 2001 to find a worse Celtics pick than Yabu.

Fab melo - rip and jajuan Johnson can be argued were worse picks given that they played in the ncaa tournament
I have posted before that Danny has 4 of the top 10 worst picks in the last 15 years in the 15-30 range

Im pretty sure there were a lot worse picks, esp in the 20-30 range.

Here are some:

2017
#16 Chicago Justin Patton
#28 LAL Tony Bradley

2016
#25 LAC Brice Johnson
#26 Sixers Forkan Korkmaz

2015
#17 Milwaukee Rashad Caught
#26 San Antonio Nikola Milutinov
#29 Brooklyn Chris McCullough

2014
#20 Toronto Bruno Cabocolo
#21 OKC Mitch McGary
#22 Memphis Jordan Adams

2013
#16 Dallas Lucas Nogueira
#19 Cleveland Sergey Karasev
#28 San Antonio Livio Jean Charles
#30 Phoenix Nemanja Nedovic

2012
#16 Houston Royce White
#23 Atlanta John Jenkins
#24 Cleveland Jared Cunningham
#27 Miami Arnett Moultrie
#28 OKC Percy Jones

2011
#18 Washington Chris Singleton
#21 Portland Nolan Smith

2010
#21 OKC Craig Brackins
#22 Portland Elliot Williams
#24 Atlanta Damian James
#25 Memphis Dominique Jones
#29 Orlando Daniel Orton
#30 Washington Lazar Hayward

That's just 2010-2017. I didn't do 2018 because those still need to be evaluated more. But that's 27 picks only in the last 10 years that can be argued are every bit as bad as some of Ainge's picks in the #16-30 range.

Some are made even worse by being near a great player that could have been selected instead.

Tremendously bad picks happen to everyone and are very common. Even teams that normally draft well make mistakes. San Antonio have selected two guys that have never even played for them yet and might never.

How do you define worse picks than fab melo? If you look at games and minutes played you would see that melo is at the bottom compared to the players you listed ...

[nickagneta]

Yabusele is perhaps the worst pick since James Young.

I think you have to go all the way back to Albert K. Brown in 2001 to find a worse Celtics pick than Yabu.

Fab melo - rip and jajuan Johnson can be argued were worse picks given that they played in the ncaa tournament
I have posted before that Danny has 4 of the top 10 worst picks in the last 15 years in the 15-30 range

Im pretty sure there were a lot worse picks, esp in the 20-30 range.

Here are some:

2017
#16 Chicago Justin Patton
#28 LAL Tony Bradley

2016
#25 LAC Brice Johnson
#26 Sixers Forkan Korkmaz

2015
#17 Milwaukee Rashad Caught
#26 San Antonio Nikola Milutinov
#29 Brooklyn Chris McCullough

2014
#20 Toronto Bruno Cabocolo
#21 OKC Mitch McGary
#22 Memphis Jordan Adams

2013
#16 Dallas Lucas Nogueira
#19 Cleveland Sergey Karasev
#28 San Antonio Livio Jean Charles
#30 Phoenix Nemanja Nedovic

2012
#16 Houston Royce White
#23 Atlanta John Jenkins
#24 Cleveland Jared Cunningham
#27 Miami Arnett Moultrie
#28 OKC Percy Jones

2011
#18 Washington Chris Singleton
#21 Portland Nolan Smith

2010
#21 OKC Craig Brackins
#22 Portland Elliot Williams
#24 Atlanta Damian James
#25 Memphis Dominique Jones
#29 Orlando Daniel Orton
#30 Washington Lazar Hayward

That's just 2010-2017. I didn't do 2018 because those still need to be evaluated more. But that's 27 picks only in the last 10 years that can be argued are every bit as bad as some of Ainge's picks in the #16-30 range.

Some are made even worse by being near a great player that could have been selected instead.

Tremendously bad picks happen to everyone and are very common. Even teams that normally draft well make mistakes. San Antonio have selected two guys that have never even played for them yet and might never.

How do you define worse picks than fab melo? If you look at games and minutes played you would see that melo is at the bottom compared to the players you listed ...

Not true. San Antonio took two guys that haven't played a single NBA minute. And Royce White played less minutes and less games than Melo while being picked much higher.

[saltlover]

Yabusele is perhaps the worst pick since James Young.

I think you have to go all the way back to Albert K. Brown in 2001 to find a worse Celtics pick than Yabu.

Fab melo - rip and jajuan Johnson can be argued were worse picks given that they played in the ncaa tournament
I have posted before that Danny has 4 of the top 10 worst picks in the last 15 years in the 15-30 range

Im pretty sure there were a lot worse picks, esp in the 20-30 range.

Here are some:

2017
#16 Chicago Justin Patton
#28 LAL Tony Bradley

2016
#25 LAC Brice Johnson
#26 Sixers Forkan Korkmaz

2015
#17 Milwaukee Rashad Caught
#26 San Antonio Nikola Milutinov
#29 Brooklyn Chris McCullough

2014
#20 Toronto Bruno Cabocolo
#21 OKC Mitch McGary
#22 Memphis Jordan Adams

2013
#16 Dallas Lucas Nogueira
#19 Cleveland Sergey Karasev
#28 San Antonio Livio Jean Charles
#30 Phoenix Nemanja Nedovic

2012
#16 Houston Royce White
#23 Atlanta John Jenkins
#24 Cleveland Jared Cunningham
#27 Miami Arnett Moultrie
#28 OKC Percy Jones

2011
#18 Washington Chris Singleton
#21 Portland Nolan Smith

2010
#21 OKC Craig Brackins
#22 Portland Elliot Williams
#24 Atlanta Damian James
#25 Memphis Dominique Jones
#29 Orlando Daniel Orton
#30 Washington Lazar Hayward

That's just 2010-2017. I didn't do 2018 because those still need to be evaluated more. But that's 27 picks only in the last 10 years that can be argued are every bit as bad as some of Ainge's picks in the #16-30 range.

Some are made even worse by being near a great player that could have been selected instead.

Tremendously bad picks happen to everyone and are very common. Even teams that normally draft well make mistakes. San Antonio have selected two guys that have never even played for them yet and might never.

How do you define worse picks than fab melo? If you look at games and minutes played you would see that melo is at the bottom compared to the players you listed ...

Fab isn’t at the bottom.  Livo Jean Charles was drafted in 2013, stashed until 2016, when he was finally signed and then cut in the preseason.  He played literally zero games on his rookie deal.

The Spurs, masters the draft-and-stash, completely bombed with that pick.  They should have just never signed him at all.

[Ogaju]

Funny thing about the Noguiera pick by Dallas. That was the pick Danny traded out of to grab Olynyk higher in the draft. I remember that draft night and a lot of people hated that pick, me included.

But funny enough, people get crazy angry with Ainge for not picking Giannis, but no one was saying that on this site that night. There was a bunch of anger over trading up just to get Olynyk, but little to no consternation about not selecting The Greek Freak. Nope, because that same night, Ainge traded KG and Pierce to the Nets and everyone was screaming about what a bad trade that was. All the hate over Ainge passing on Giannis is just Monday Morning Quarterbacking. That night, almost no one was mentioning anything about not grabbing The Freak. Everyone was too busy talking the big trade of two Celtic legends to the Nets.

no one complained about not picking Giannis because all the experts here said Giannis could not replicate his game (and he did have game) in the NBA. So much for that.

[bellerephon]

Funny thing about the Noguiera pick by Dallas. That was the pick Danny traded out of to grab Olynyk higher in the draft. I remember that draft night and a lot of people hated that pick, me included.

But funny enough, people get crazy angry with Ainge for not picking Giannis, but no one was saying that on this site that night. There was a bunch of anger over trading up just to get Olynyk, but little to no consternation about not selecting The Greek Freak. Nope, because that same night, Ainge traded KG and Pierce to the Nets and everyone was screaming about what a bad trade that was. All the hate over Ainge passing on Giannis is just Monday Morning Quarterbacking. That night, almost no one was mentioning anything about not grabbing The Freak. Everyone was too busy talking the big trade of two Celtic legends to the Nets.

no one complained about not picking Giannis because all the experts here said Giannis could not replicate his game (and he did have game) in the NBA. So much for that.

That wasn't just here, there were many so called experts questioning whether Giannis could be a good NBA player. Turns out they were wrong. But so what, as has been said many times the draft is a crap shoot. No one knew Giannis would be this good, even Milwaukee didn't know, they were rolling the dice. It worked for them, that's the nature of the draft.

[Ogaju]

Funny thing about the Noguiera pick by Dallas. That was the pick Danny traded out of to grab Olynyk higher in the draft. I remember that draft night and a lot of people hated that pick, me included.

But funny enough, people get crazy angry with Ainge for not picking Giannis, but no one was saying that on this site that night. There was a bunch of anger over trading up just to get Olynyk, but little to no consternation about not selecting The Greek Freak. Nope, because that same night, Ainge traded KG and Pierce to the Nets and everyone was screaming about what a bad trade that was. All the hate over Ainge passing on Giannis is just Monday Morning Quarterbacking. That night, almost no one was mentioning anything about not grabbing The Freak. Everyone was too busy talking the big trade of two Celtic legends to the Nets.

no one complained about not picking Giannis because all the experts here said Giannis could not replicate his game (and he did have game) in the NBA. So much for that.

That wasn't just here, there were many so called experts questioning whether Giannis could be a good NBA player. Turns out they were wrong. But so what, as has been said many times the draft is a crap shoot. No one knew Giannis would be this good, even Milwaukee didn't know, they were rolling the dice. It worked for them, that's the nature of the draft.

No revisionist history please. Bottom line is with Giannis thise who were paid to know should have known. Giannis should not be a surprise, he was discovered and scouted. The problem is bias. The experts looked down at the league he played in, they over analyzed the situation and passed on him. We saw the video of his play on celticcsblog, Danny scouted him peesonally but just could not pull the trigger. Had Giannis played NCAA div 1 the same way he played in that league he would have been an early lottery pic. The league got caught with inherent bias.

[gift]

Funny thing about the Noguiera pick by Dallas. That was the pick Danny traded out of to grab Olynyk higher in the draft. I remember that draft night and a lot of people hated that pick, me included.

But funny enough, people get crazy angry with Ainge for not picking Giannis, but no one was saying that on this site that night. There was a bunch of anger over trading up just to get Olynyk, but little to no consternation about not selecting The Greek Freak. Nope, because that same night, Ainge traded KG and Pierce to the Nets and everyone was screaming about what a bad trade that was. All the hate over Ainge passing on Giannis is just Monday Morning Quarterbacking. That night, almost no one was mentioning anything about not grabbing The Freak. Everyone was too busy talking the big trade of two Celtic legends to the Nets.

no one complained about not picking Giannis because all the experts here said Giannis could not replicate his game (and he did have game) in the NBA. So much for that.

That wasn't just here, there were many so called experts questioning whether Giannis could be a good NBA player. Turns out they were wrong. But so what, as has been said many times the draft is a crap shoot. No one knew Giannis would be this good, even Milwaukee didn't know, they were rolling the dice. It worked for them, that's the nature of the draft.

No revisionist history please. Bottom line is with Giannis thise who were paid to know should have known. Giannis should not be a surprise, he was discovered and scouted. The problem is bias. The experts looked down at the league he played in, they over analyzed the situation and passed on him. We saw the video of his play on celticcsblog, Danny scouted him peesonally but just could not pull the trigger. Had Giannis played NCAA div 1 the same way he played in that league he would have been an early lottery pic. The league got caught with inherent bias.

I wanted Giannis in the draft, and when the Celtics traded up during the draft, I thought they were trading up for Giannis.

However, there is an important thing to note about Giannis if we are going to be historically accurate. He was a legit 6'9 prospect. He grew to a 7 foot player with the same skills and agility. That makes a big difference on your ceiling as a player, and that's not something that was predictable or expected. So, while they didn't pick the player that I wanted them to, I have to admit that Giannis saw unexpected, unprojected growth (in more ways than one) after being drafted. The fact that he played in a minor league in Greece was part of the reason he wasn't projected or drafted higher as well. But he was a physical anomaly that didn't fully manifest until after he was drafted. I have to admit that much.

[hwangjini_1]

Funny thing about the Noguiera pick by Dallas. That was the pick Danny traded out of to grab Olynyk higher in the draft. I remember that draft night and a lot of people hated that pick, me included.

But funny enough, people get crazy angry with Ainge for not picking Giannis, but no one was saying that on this site that night. There was a bunch of anger over trading up just to get Olynyk, but little to no consternation about not selecting The Greek Freak. Nope, because that same night, Ainge traded KG and Pierce to the Nets and everyone was screaming about what a bad trade that was. All the hate over Ainge passing on Giannis is just Monday Morning Quarterbacking. That night, almost no one was mentioning anything about not grabbing The Freak. Everyone was too busy talking the big trade of two Celtic legends to the Nets.

no one complained about not picking Giannis because all the experts here said Giannis could not replicate his game (and he did have game) in the NBA. So much for that.

That wasn't just here, there were many so called experts questioning whether Giannis could be a good NBA player. Turns out they were wrong. But so what, as has been said many times the draft is a crap shoot. No one knew Giannis would be this good, even Milwaukee didn't know, they were rolling the dice. It worked for them, that's the nature of the draft.

No revisionist history please. Bottom line is with Giannis thise who were paid to know should have known. Giannis should not be a surprise, he was discovered and scouted. The problem is bias. The experts looked down at the league he played in, they over analyzed the situation and passed on him. We saw the video of his play on celticcsblog, Danny scouted him peesonally but just could not pull the trigger. Had Giannis played NCAA div 1 the same way he played in that league he would have been an early lottery pic. The league got caught with inherent bias.

you seem to be saying that giving weight to the level of competition is a form of bias. many people do not see it that way, including a number of nba GMs. scouting talent is not a science and not always a sure thing. everyone here has gone "all in" for a player who has turned out to be poor.

i dont think it is "inherent bias" (please define how you are defining this since it seems odd in this context) as much as using well considered, well used criteria as they usually do. sometimes, given the nature of young talent, it works. some times it doesnt.

[Ogaju]

Funny thing about the Noguiera pick by Dallas. That was the pick Danny traded out of to grab Olynyk higher in the draft. I remember that draft night and a lot of people hated that pick, me included.

But funny enough, people get crazy angry with Ainge for not picking Giannis, but no one was saying that on this site that night. There was a bunch of anger over trading up just to get Olynyk, but little to no consternation about not selecting The Greek Freak. Nope, because that same night, Ainge traded KG and Pierce to the Nets and everyone was screaming about what a bad trade that was. All the hate over Ainge passing on Giannis is just Monday Morning Quarterbacking. That night, almost no one was mentioning anything about not grabbing The Freak. Everyone was too busy talking the big trade of two Celtic legends to the Nets.

no one complained about not picking Giannis because all the experts here said Giannis could not replicate his game (and he did have game) in the NBA. So much for that.

That wasn't just here, there were many so called experts questioning whether Giannis could be a good NBA player. Turns out they were wrong. But so what, as has been said many times the draft is a crap shoot. No one knew Giannis would be this good, even Milwaukee didn't know, they were rolling the dice. It worked for them, that's the nature of the draft.

No revisionist history please. Bottom line is with Giannis thise who were paid to know should have known. Giannis should not be a surprise, he was discovered and scouted. The problem is bias. The experts looked down at the league he played in, they over analyzed the situation and passed on him. We saw the video of his play on celticcsblog, Danny scouted him peesonally but just could not pull the trigger. Had Giannis played NCAA div 1 the same way he played in that league he would have been an early lottery pic. The league got caught with inherent bias.

you seem to be saying that giving weight to the level of competition is a form of bias. many people do not see it that way, including a number of nba GMs. scouting talent is not a science and not always a sure thing. everyone here has gone "all in" for a player who has turned out to be poor.

i dont think it is "inherent bias" (please define how you are defining this since it seems odd in this context) as much as using well considered, well used criteria as they usually do. sometimes, given the nature of young talent, it works. some times it doesnt.

the bias here is that because he was playing in a foreign league his demonstrated skills could not be replicated in the USA.

[Fafnir]

If he had played against better competition in a better league and showed the same dominance and skills he would have been a higher draft pick? Such a bold conclusion!

Similary I imagine the Summer League MVPs are all stars in the NBA as well. Since weighting performance based on competition is "bias".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Summer_League