I miss Danny's drafting...

[Roy H.]

He had some misses, but he consistently landed talent after pick #20.

* Kendrick Perkins
* Tony Allen
* Delonte West
* Rajon Rondo
* Ryan Gomes
* Leon Powe
* Glen Davis
* Timelord
* Grant Williams
* E'Twaun Moore
* Jared Sullinger

Several other second rounders he selected enjoyed a cup of coffee in the league without the benefit of two-way contracts.

Just looking at 2023 and 2024, I think I'd like our team more if Danny had been in charge.

2023 Celtics:  Start at #25, end up at #38, pick Jordan Walsh and acquire second rounders in the future
2023 Jazz:  Start at #28, pick Brice Sensabaugh (10.9 points, 42.2% 3PT%, 59.0 eFG%)

2024 Celtics: Start at #30, pick Baylor Scheierman
2024 Jazz: Start at #32, pick Kyle Filipowksi (9.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, 35.0% 3PT%)

This isn't a criticism of Brad overall.  He's been tremendous, and I have no doubt that he gave input into some of Danny's drafts.  But, based upon track record alone, I'm feeling a bit of nostalgia for Danny.

[Celtics2021]

Need we discuss the disaster that was the 2015 and 2016 drafts after our first picks?  Has the 7-year stretch of Demetrius Jackson come off the books yet?  Fred VanVleet was just sitting there as we burned through second-rounder after second-rounder in 2016, and the only reason those two drafts weren?t even worse is because Pat Riley refused to take a gazillion picks for Justise Winslow, so we didn?t trade the picks that ultimately became Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown.

And Danny didn?t look so squeaky in 2019 and 2020 either.

[todd_days_41]

Agreed -- Danny was really fun to have around at draft time. He was a REALLY good drafter, except if the pick was in the teens of the 1st round...... in which case he was straight trash.

[Roy H.]

Need we discuss the disaster that was the 2015 and 2016 drafts after our first picks?  Has the 7-year stretch of Demetrius Jackson come off the books yet?  Fred VanVleet was just sitting there as we burned through second-rounder after second-rounder in 2016, and the only reason those two drafts weren?t even worse is because Pat Riley refused to take a gazillion picks for Justise Winslow, so we didn?t trade the picks that ultimately became Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown.

And Danny didn?t look so squeaky in 2019 and 2020 either.

You seem to be demanding perfection.

It's also weird that you criticize the 2015 and 2016 drafts, which glossing over us getting Brown, as if that was the obvious selection.  And what was wrong with Rozier?

[perks-a-beast]

Getting Al Jefferson, Delonte West, and Tony Allen all in the first round was diabolical.

Man, I miss those days.

[Ilikesports17]

Agreed -- Danny was really fun to have around at draft time. He was a REALLY good drafter, except if the pick was in the teens of the 1st round...... in which case he was straight trash.

Maybe I'm just forgetting some of the busts but off the top of my head I can think of:

Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk, James Young, Rozier, Yabu, Langford, Nesmith

Jefferson and Bradley are home runs. Nesmith, Olynyk and Rozier are very solid picks. Young, Green, Yabusele and Langford are busts.

I think to come out of that range with 5 hits and 4 misses is actually quite good.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

He had some misses, but he consistently landed talent after pick #20.

* Kendrick Perkins
* Tony Allen
* Delonte West
* Rajon Rondo
* Ryan Gomes
* Leon Powe
* Glen Davis
* Timelord
* Grant Williams
* E'Twaun Moore
* Jared Sullinger

Several other second rounders he selected enjoyed a cup of coffee in the league without the benefit of two-way contracts.

Just looking at 2023 and 2024, I think I'd like our team more if Danny had been in charge.

2023 Celtics:  Start at #25, end up at #38, pick Jordan Walsh and acquire second rounders in the future
2023 Jazz:  Start at #28, pick Brice Sensabaugh (10.9 points, 42.2% 3PT%, 59.0 eFG%)

2024 Celtics: Start at #30, pick Baylor Scheierman
2024 Jazz: Start at #32, pick Kyle Filipowksi (9.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, 35.0% 3PT%)

This isn't a criticism of Brad overall.  He's been tremendous, and I have no doubt that he gave input into some of Danny's drafts.  But, based upon track record alone, I'm feeling a bit of nostalgia for Danny.

Better not criticize Brad's drafting on CelticsBlog ... they'll rip you to shreds for not thinking that Hugo Gonzalez is a sure-fire stud.

[Ilikesports17]

Need we discuss the disaster that was the 2015 and 2016 drafts after our first picks?  Has the 7-year stretch of Demetrius Jackson come off the books yet?  Fred VanVleet was just sitting there as we burned through second-rounder after second-rounder in 2016, and the only reason those two drafts weren?t even worse is because Pat Riley refused to take a gazillion picks for Justise Winslow, so we didn?t trade the picks that ultimately became Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown.

And Danny didn?t look so squeaky in 2019 and 2020 either.

In 2019 and 2020 Danny got Grant Williams, Aaron Nesmith and Pritchard. Langford was a bust in the lottery which is bad, but come on that's a good haul!

[jambr380]

Need we discuss the disaster that was the 2015 and 2016 drafts after our first picks?  Has the 7-year stretch of Demetrius Jackson come off the books yet?  Fred VanVleet was just sitting there as we burned through second-rounder after second-rounder in 2016, and the only reason those two drafts weren?t even worse is because Pat Riley refused to take a gazillion picks for Justise Winslow, so we didn?t trade the picks that ultimately became Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown.

And Danny didn?t look so squeaky in 2019 and 2020 either.

In 2019 and 2020 Danny got Grant Williams, Aaron Nesmith and Pritchard. Langford was a bust in the lottery which is bad, but come on that's a good haul!

Yeah, I was going to say this. Roy has a great comprehensive list there, but he forgot Pritchard.

And Romeo was a fail, but we landed Derrick White partly due to his potential.

I remember when people used to constantly smear Ainge because of his drafting, saying he was only good at trading. While he did have a lot of picks to work with (due to the great trades he made), he ended up with a lot of mini-successes later in the draft. And he obviously nailed the Brown/Tatum picks where there were a lot of busts around them.

[Celtics2021]

Need we discuss the disaster that was the 2015 and 2016 drafts after our first picks?  Has the 7-year stretch of Demetrius Jackson come off the books yet?  Fred VanVleet was just sitting there as we burned through second-rounder after second-rounder in 2016, and the only reason those two drafts weren?t even worse is because Pat Riley refused to take a gazillion picks for Justise Winslow, so we didn?t trade the picks that ultimately became Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown.

And Danny didn?t look so squeaky in 2019 and 2020 either.

You seem to be demanding perfection.

It's also weird that you criticize the 2015 and 2016 drafts, which glossing over us getting Brown, as if that was the obvious selection.  And what was wrong with Rozier?

I ignored those picks largely because I thought your premise was picks outside the top 20 (which made sense to me because Brad has never had such a pick).

In 2015 and 2016 he made the following picks:

28 - RJ Hunter
33 - Jordan Mickey
45 - Marcus Thornton
23 - Ante Zizic
45 - Demetrius Jackson
51- Ben Bentil
58 - Abel Nader

And he traded away 31 and 35 in 2016 as well.

The overall point is Ainge made a lot of bad picks.  He made some good picks as well.  He made a LOT of picks.  Stevens has made very few picks, and of those few picks, probably the only one we can make a final judgment on is Begarin.  The other point is that Ainge?s best later picks came earlier in his tenure.  Whether that is because he got worse at drafting, everyone else got better so there were fewer diamonds in the rough, or just the structure of the team he was drafting into (the mid-aught rebuild years) is up to interpretation.   

[Celtics2021]

Need we discuss the disaster that was the 2015 and 2016 drafts after our first picks?  Has the 7-year stretch of Demetrius Jackson come off the books yet?  Fred VanVleet was just sitting there as we burned through second-rounder after second-rounder in 2016, and the only reason those two drafts weren?t even worse is because Pat Riley refused to take a gazillion picks for Justise Winslow, so we didn?t trade the picks that ultimately became Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown.

And Danny didn?t look so squeaky in 2019 and 2020 either.

In 2019 and 2020 Danny got Grant Williams, Aaron Nesmith and Pritchard. Langford was a bust in the lottery which is bad, but come on that's a good haul!

Nesmith and Langford were both before 20, which was the premise I was responding to, so ignored them.  Post 20, he also traded away the pick that became Desmond Bane, and picked Carsen Edwards, Yam Madar, and Tremont Williams, and also traded away the pick that became Ty Jerome (someone who I?ve stumped on this board for for years, and who finally got a real chance).

Again, my point is Danny had a large volume of picks, and it isn?t clear his success rate was great.  Stevens has had a small volume of picks, and it also isn?t clear his success rate has been great (in large part because we really can?t know the results of most of them yet).

[Roy H.]

Need we discuss the disaster that was the 2015 and 2016 drafts after our first picks?  Has the 7-year stretch of Demetrius Jackson come off the books yet?  Fred VanVleet was just sitting there as we burned through second-rounder after second-rounder in 2016, and the only reason those two drafts weren?t even worse is because Pat Riley refused to take a gazillion picks for Justise Winslow, so we didn?t trade the picks that ultimately became Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown.

And Danny didn?t look so squeaky in 2019 and 2020 either.

You seem to be demanding perfection.

It's also weird that you criticize the 2015 and 2016 drafts, which glossing over us getting Brown, as if that was the obvious selection.  And what was wrong with Rozier?

I ignored those picks largely because I thought your premise was picks outside the top 20 (which made sense to me because Brad has never had such a pick).

In 2015 and 2016 he made the following picks:

28 - RJ Hunter
33 - Jordan Mickey
45 - Marcus Thornton
23 - Ante Zizic
45 - Demetrius Jackson
51- Ben Bentil
58 - Abel Nader

And he traded away 31 and 35 in 2016 as well.

The overall point is Ainge made a lot of bad picks.  He made some good picks as well.  He made a LOT of picks.  Stevens has made very few picks, and of those few picks, probably the only one we can make a final judgment on is Begarin.  The other point is that Ainge?s best later picks came earlier in his tenure.  Whether that is because he got worse at drafting, everyone else got better so there were fewer diamonds in the rough, or just the structure of the team he was drafting into (the mid-aught rebuild years) is up to interpretation.

In 2023 and 2024, the Jazz and Celts were similarly situated.

Would you prefer Sensabaugh and Filipowski, or Walsh and Scheirman plus future #2s?

[Celtics2021]

Need we discuss the disaster that was the 2015 and 2016 drafts after our first picks?  Has the 7-year stretch of Demetrius Jackson come off the books yet?  Fred VanVleet was just sitting there as we burned through second-rounder after second-rounder in 2016, and the only reason those two drafts weren?t even worse is because Pat Riley refused to take a gazillion picks for Justise Winslow, so we didn?t trade the picks that ultimately became Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown.

And Danny didn?t look so squeaky in 2019 and 2020 either.

You seem to be demanding perfection.

It's also weird that you criticize the 2015 and 2016 drafts, which glossing over us getting Brown, as if that was the obvious selection.  And what was wrong with Rozier?

I ignored those picks largely because I thought your premise was picks outside the top 20 (which made sense to me because Brad has never had such a pick).

In 2015 and 2016 he made the following picks:

28 - RJ Hunter
33 - Jordan Mickey
45 - Marcus Thornton
23 - Ante Zizic
45 - Demetrius Jackson
51- Ben Bentil
58 - Abel Nader

And he traded away 31 and 35 in 2016 as well.

The overall point is Ainge made a lot of bad picks.  He made some good picks as well.  He made a LOT of picks.  Stevens has made very few picks, and of those few picks, probably the only one we can make a final judgment on is Begarin.  The other point is that Ainge?s best later picks came earlier in his tenure.  Whether that is because he got worse at drafting, everyone else got better so there were fewer diamonds in the rough, or just the structure of the team he was drafting into (the mid-aught rebuild years) is up to interpretation.

In 2023 and 2024, the Jazz and Celts were similarly situated.

Would you prefer Sensabaugh and Filipowski, or Walsh and Scheirman plus future #2s?

They weren?t similarly situated, however.  The Jazz are tanking and can throw minutes at players.  The Celtics were busy winning a title and cannot.  We have no idea what Jordan Walsh looks like if he?s given 2000 NBA minutes his first two years.  We have no idea what Baylor Scheierman looks like if he?s automatically in the rotation from day 1.  But it isn?t clear to me that any of those four players have contributed to winning games for their teams, given how few the Jazz have won, and how little time has been given to youth on the Celtics.

This is a make or break year for Walsh, for sure, but that doesn?t mean he won?t make it.  The hope was that he would provide quality, cheap minutes when the budget restrictions kicked in.  We are now in that situation.

[perks-a-beast]

Im willing to forgive the Langford pick in 2019. There were no good players in that range.

The 5 picks after Langford were:
Sekou Doumboya
Chuma Okeke
Nickeil Alexander-Walker
Goga Bitadze
Luka Samanic

At the time, I did think Danny should have tried to package the picks we had later in the first round to try to trade up for Tyler Herro, but I doubt any teams were willing to trade down to that mid lottery range given how poor the talent was.

I take more issue with the 2020 draft. I know that was a weird draft year with Covid, but I thought for sure we were going to take Maxey 14th, or at least trade up for him when he began to fall. Our point guards at the time were hobbled Kemba, Brad Wanamaker, and Carsen Edwards. Then Danny traded Bane at 30 when it was clear the dude could play. Ugh. This bugs me 5 years later.

[Ilikesports17]

Need we discuss the disaster that was the 2015 and 2016 drafts after our first picks?  Has the 7-year stretch of Demetrius Jackson come off the books yet?  Fred VanVleet was just sitting there as we burned through second-rounder after second-rounder in 2016, and the only reason those two drafts weren?t even worse is because Pat Riley refused to take a gazillion picks for Justise Winslow, so we didn?t trade the picks that ultimately became Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown.

And Danny didn?t look so squeaky in 2019 and 2020 either.

In 2019 and 2020 Danny got Grant Williams, Aaron Nesmith and Pritchard. Langford was a bust in the lottery which is bad, but come on that's a good haul!

Nesmith and Langford were both before 20, which was the premise I was responding to, so ignored them.  Post 20, he also traded away the pick that became Desmond Bane, and picked Carsen Edwards, Yam Madar, and Tremont Williams, and also traded away the pick that became Ty Jerome (someone who I?ve stumped on this board for for years, and who finally got a real chance).

Again, my point is Danny had a large volume of picks, and it isn?t clear his success rate was great.  Stevens has had a small volume of picks, and it also isn?t clear his success rate has been great (in large part because we really can?t know the results of most of them yet).

Ok, so picks after 20 he went:

Perk - 27 - Hit
Bradon Hunter - 56 - Miss
Delonte West - 24 - Hit
Tony Allen - 25 - Hit
Justin Reed - 40 - Miss
Ryan Gomes - 50 - Hit
Orien Green - 53 - Miss
Rondo - 21 - Hit
Powe - 49 - Hit
Pruitt - 32 - Miss
Big Bay - 35 - Hit
Giddens - 30 - Miss
Bill Walker - 47 - Miss
Erden - 60 - Miss
Hudson - 58 - Miss
Harangody - 52 - Miss
Jujuan Johnson - 27 - Miss
ETuan Moore - 50 - Hit
Sullinger - 21 - Miss?
Melo - 22 - Miss
Kris Joseph - 51 - Miss
Iverson - 53 - Miss
RJ Hunter - 28 - Miss
Mickey - 33 - Miss
Thornton - 45 - Miss
Zizic - 23 - Miss
Jackson - 45 - Miss
Bentil - 51- Miss
Nader - 58 - Miss
Semi - 37 - Miss
Kadeem Allen - 53 - Miss
Jabari Bird - 56 - Miss
Robert Williams - 27 - hit
Grant Williams - 22 - Hit
Edwards - 33 - Miss
Tremont - 53 - Miss
Pritcahrd -26 - Hit
Madar - 47 - Miss

Take out the picks 45 and over which are really random and it's 8 hits and 10 misses (if I count correctly). If you think that's a bad rate in the 20-44 range I do not really know what to tell you.