Danny's biggest regret, not drafting Brogdon

[Rondo9]

Malcolm Brogdon? All 35 games a year of him?

That any thread on this topic doesn’t begin and end with Giannis is fodder. Ainge literally traded up three spots in 2013 to put himself in a position to take arguably the best player in the NBA — and took Kelly ******* Olynyk.

There’s no greater regret than that. And whoever says “the draft is a crap shot” first is officially a homer.

Well, it is.

[Rondo9]

He passed over one of the greatest players of all time, and instead drafted a dirty hippie with midget arms and not a single thing resembling an elite skill.

Then why are Heat and Celtic fans clamoring for him? But it's sad Celticsblog hates their players.

[moiso]

Malcolm Brogdon? All 35 games a year of him?

That any thread on this topic doesn’t begin and end with Giannis is fodder. Ainge literally traded up three spots in 2013 to put himself in a position to take arguably the best player in the NBA — and took Kelly ******* Olynyk.

There’s no greater regret than that. And whoever says “the draft is a crap shot” first is officially a homer.

I don't think people regret not being lucky as much as they do messing something up that they know they should have gotten right.  Giannis isn't even the same height as he was when he was drafted.  Add 2 or 3 inches to every player after they are drafted and there would be tons of players greatly outplaying their projections.

[todd_days_41]

Malcolm Brogdon? All 35 games a year of him?

That any thread on this topic doesn’t begin and end with Giannis is fodder. Ainge literally traded up three spots in 2013 to put himself in a position to take arguably the best player in the NBA — and took Kelly ******* Olynyk.

There’s no greater regret than that. And whoever says “the draft is a crap shot” first is officially a homer.

I don't think people regret not being lucky as much as they do messing something up that they know they should have gotten right.  Giannis isn't even the same height as he was when he was drafted.  Add 2 or 3 inches to every player after they are drafted and there would be tons of players greatly outplaying their projections.

Brogdon was 23 when he was drafted. Think Giannis was 18.

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

Malcolm Brogdon? All 35 games a year of him?

That any thread on this topic doesn’t begin and end with Giannis is fodder. Ainge literally traded up three spots in 2013 to put himself in a position to take arguably the best player in the NBA — and took Kelly ******* Olynyk.

There’s no greater regret than that. And whoever says “the draft is a crap shot” first is officially a homer.

So Giannis was the clear cut #1 prospect? I disagree. I think he was a relatively unknown player that was raw and played at a relatively low level of competition. I think you are using revisionist history. 1/2 of the GMs made the same mistake that Danny did. They all deserve to be fired, or Giannis developed? I’m going with the latter.

[todd_days_41]

Malcolm Brogdon? All 35 games a year of him?

That any thread on this topic doesn’t begin and end with Giannis is fodder. Ainge literally traded up three spots in 2013 to put himself in a position to take arguably the best player in the NBA — and took Kelly ******* Olynyk.

There’s no greater regret than that. And whoever says “the draft is a crap shot” first is officially a homer.

So Giannis was the clear cut #1 prospect? I disagree. I think he was a relatively unknown player that was raw and played at a relatively low level of competition. I think you are using revisionist history. 1/2 of the GMs made the same mistake that Danny did. They all deserve to be fired, or Giannis developed? I’m going with the latter.

Regret is by nature retrospective. That said, it's fair to say Giannis was seen as a very young, very raw, very talented player -- which is why he was taken in the middle of the first round. Ainge had whiffed on such players to date (Gerald Green, Kedrick Brown) -- feeling here's is he become gun shy, preferring one dimensional "sure things" like Olynyk.

Also, I'm now sure how blaming other GMs (and if you look at the list of teams who picked above the Cs that year, it ain't so good) lets Ainge off the hook for having one of the worst Euro scouting records in the league.

[Roy H.]

Ainge had whiffed on such players to date (Gerald Green, Kedrick Brown)

Kedrick Brown wasn't drafted by Ainge.

[todd_days_41]

Ainge had whiffed on such players to date (Gerald Green, Kedrick Brown)

Kedrick Brown wasn't drafted by Ainge.

Rick Pitino? Noted. But the only "upside" player Ainge ever really hit on previously was Big Al.

[Roy H.]

Ainge had whiffed on such players to date (Gerald Green, Kedrick Brown)

Kedrick Brown wasn't drafted by Ainge.

Rick Pitino? Noted. But the only "upside" player Ainge ever really hit on previously was Big Al.

You think so?

I think Jaylen was an upside pick.  He certainly wasn't the safe option.  Preferring Tatum over Fultz was pretty bold, too.  Kendrick Perkins? Rajon Rondo?  Terry Rozier?  Robert Williams?

[todd_days_41]

Ainge had whiffed on such players to date (Gerald Green, Kedrick Brown)

Kedrick Brown wasn't drafted by Ainge.

Rick Pitino? Noted. But the only "upside" player Ainge ever really hit on previously was Big Al.

You think so?

I think Jaylen was an upside pick.  He certainly wasn't the safe option.  Preferring Tatum over Fultz was pretty bold, too.  Kendrick Perkins? Rajon Rondo?  Terry Rozier?  Robert Williams?

Well, JB, JT and RWIII were picked after the Giannis draft. And yes -- they were great picks, yet the point i was trying to make is the place and time of the Giannis pick.

Perkins was a role player, albeit a good one. True re: Rondo, a high upside player, yet it only cost him some dollars in Robert Sarver's pocket.

Look, I just object to the excuse making about taking Olynyk over Giannis. The title of this thread is simply incorrect. There's not change Ainge regrets more not taking Brogdon over not taking Giannis.... absurd, really.

[Roy H.]

Look, I just object to the excuse making about taking Olynyk over Giannis. The title of this thread is simply incorrect. There's not change Ainge regrets more not taking Brogdon over not taking Giannis.... absurd, really.

The distinction being made is probably about semantics.

I think you're right:  the player Danny *wishes* he had taken the most was Giannis. 

But, at least to some, "regret" implies some degree of fault.  If that's the lens that's being looked through, then you can get to an answer different than Giannis or Jokic.  The front office probably feels like they did their job well when picking KO and made a sound decision based upon the information that they had at the time.  And honestly, in any other draft, KO would be seen as a clear "hit" for Danny.  It's only in comparison to the skinny, athletic, skilled PG with the broken shot that the KO pick looks bad.

[Roy H.]

Just for the sake of fun, you can go back and review some of the early comments about Giannis (and applaud those fans who recognized the upside):

https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=63261.msg1420854;topicseen#msg1420854

https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=63526.msg1431141;topicseen#msg1431141

https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=63891.msg1439165#msg1439165

https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=64042.msg1443686#msg1443686

https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=64092.msg1445022#msg1445022

https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=64919.msg1470066#msg1470066

And aftermath:

https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=66032.0 (Praise for KO pick)

https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=65912.195 (Draft thread)

At the time, there wasn't a ton of hype, or regret for passing on Giannis.  People were more concerned by passing on Muhammed, or Schroeder. 

And, I say that despite drafting Giannis into the "DKC league" we used to have here in July 2013.

How one group of CBers saw the prospects:

1.   Cleveland Cavaliers Nerlens Noel
2.   Orlando Magic Ben McLemore
3.   Washingotn Wizards Alex Len (DX Pick)
4.   Portland Trailblazers Victor Olapido
5.   Denver Nuggets Trey Burke
6.    Houston Rockets Otto Porter
7.   New Orleans Pelicans Kelly Olynyk
8.   Phoenix Suns CJ McCollum
9.   San Antonio Spurs Shabazz Muhammad
10.    Detroit Pistons Anthony Bennett
11.   Philadelphia 76ers Dennis Schroeder
12.   Phoenix Suns Kentavious Caldwell Pope
13.   San Antonio Spurs Cody Zeller
14.   Utah Jazz Shane Larkin
15.   Milwaukee Bucks Michael Carter-Williams
16.   Chicago Bulls Gorgui Dieng
17.   Atlanta Hawks Steven Adams
18.   Atlanta Hawks (via Rox) Jamaal Franklin
19.   Cleveland Cavaliers (via Lakers) Giannis Adetokunbo
20.   Portland Trailblazers Ricky Ledo
21.   Utah Jazz (via Warriors)Tim Hardaway Jr
22.   Brooklyn Nets Reggie Bullock
23.   Indiana Pacers Tony Snell
24.   New York Knicks Mike Muscala
25.   LA Clippers Mason Plumlee
26.   Dallas Mavericks Rudy Gobert
27.   Minnesota Timberwolves Erick Green
28.    Portland Trailblazers Jeff Withey
29.   Toronto Raptors Sergey Karasev, DX Selection
30.   Denver Nuggets Lucas Nogueira

Round 2:

Round 2 Draft Times:

31. Cleveland (from Orlando ) Glen Rice Jr.
32. Portland   Pierre Jackson
33. Cleveland   Allen Crabbe
34. Houston (from Phoenix)  Tony Mitchell
35. Nawlins   Nate Wolters
36. Houston   Myck Kabongo
37. Detroit   Vander Blue
38 Washington   Archie Goodwin
39. Philadelphia   Ray McCallum
40. Chicago   Payton Siva
41. Memphis (from Toronto) Livio Jean-Charles
42. Philadelphia  Mouhammadou Jaiteh
43. Milwaukee CJ Leslie
44. Dallas Jackie Carmichael
45. New Orleans  Alejandro Abrines
46. Utah Trevor Mbakwe
47. Atlanta Marko Todorovic
48. L.A. Lakers Carrick Felix
49. Stolden Gate Colton Iverson
50. Atlanta (from Houston) Bojan Dubljevic
51. Orlando (from Golden State Denver and New York)Isaiah Canaan
52. Philadelphia Erik Murphy
53. Indiana Matthew Dellavedova
54. Washington (from New York) Arsalan Kazemi
55. Memphis Lorenzo Brown
56. Portland James Ennis
57. Houston BJ Young
58. Houston Deshaun Thomas
59. Phoenix Solomon Hill
60. Memphis (from Miami)   4:50 PM

In hindsight, Fake Cleveland should have packaged #31 and #33 to get up to #26 in that draft.