Something was surprising when I was looking at James Young’s Wikipedia page (he’s playing in Israel)…I’d forgotten that he was the first part of Ainge’s historical pick haul from Brooklyn.
What was interesting is how much late blooming talent has come after Young was chosen.
James Young was selected with 17th pick in the 2014 Draft
Tyler Ennis was the 18th pick
Gary Harris was the 19th
Rodney Hood was the 23rd
Clint Capela was the 25th
Bogdan Bogdanovic was the 27th
Kyle Anderson was the 30th
Joe Harris was the 33rd
Spencer Dinwittie was the 38th
Jerami Grant was the 39th
Nikola Jokic was the 41st
Dwight Powell was the 45th
Jordan Clarkson was the 46th
Khem Birch was undrafted
Langston Galloway was undrafted
Tyler Johnson was undrafted
Maxi Kleber was undrafted
I was fist pumping right along with Bill Simmons when we took James Young, thought it was a great pick and I was glad at the time that we didn't go with Rodney Hood since he was having a strange vomiting's problem at multiple workouts.
Of the list I thought there was a chance we'd take Gary Harris which probably would have been a good pick.
I remember liking Capela but he was such and unknown coming out of Switzerland.
Kyle Anderson fell from his lukewarm college production compared to the 'Slow-mo' hype he was riding. Probably would have been a great pick at 16.
Couldn't believe Jerami Grant fell to 39 in that draft but there were doubts that his defense could translate out of the Syracuse zone. I figured he'd be a bust that he was drafted that low.
There was some pre draft hype around Khem Birch but clearly teams were unimpressed with his workouts.
Jokic and the rest of the second rounders weren't on my radar.