I miss Danny's drafting...

[Roy H.]

I don't miss Danny drafting JaJuan Johnson over Jimmy Butler, or even Kelly Olynyk over Giannis.

I also don't miss him drafting James Young, Fab Melo, Romeo Langford, and all those horrid deep off the bench players.

Which GM hasn't missed, or picked a solid double (KO) over a home run (Giannis)?

[libermaniac]

[There?s no way you can say FULL STOP yet as Brad?s resume is totally incomplete compared to Danny?s.

Full stop.

Full stop Roy? 🤣

[Goldstar88]

[There?s no way you can say FULL STOP yet as Brad?s resume is totally incomplete compared to Danny?s.

Full stop.

Full stop Roy? 🤣

Brad still hasn?t found anyone notable. Scheierman is playing well right now, but he?s still averaging less than 5pts a game. I?m not sure he?s better than Minott. So who did Brad hit on? I don?t think Stevens has been good when it comes to drafting. He?s been GM for 5 years now.

[Donoghus]

[There?s no way you can say FULL STOP yet as Brad?s resume is totally incomplete compared to Danny?s.

Full stop.

Full stop Roy? 🤣

Brad still hasn?t found anyone notable. Scheierman is playing well right now, but he?s still averaging less than 5pts a game. I?m not sure he?s better than Minott. So who did Brad hit on? I don?t think Stevens has been good when it comes to drafting. He?s been GM for 5 years now.

He also hasn't drafted higher than 28th since becoming GM which seems to go over some peoples' heads. 

Sure as heck looks like he's struck on Hugo. Schierman also seems to be performing decently for a 30th pick.

Until Brad is in rebuild mode and drafting higher than the mid to late 20s, it's gonna be kinda hard to truly gauge, IMO.  Where he's been drafting is such a crapshoot.

[Neurotic Guy]

I?d like to see Brad compared to other GMs with late firsts and 2nds. My guess is he compares favorably to most. 

Hugo, Scheierman and Walsh look pretty good to me for where they were picked. I don?t love playing the *look who we could have had* game. You can do that with amy team.  No one drafts perfectly.  The best miss more than they hit.  The one exception I make is Giannis only because he was well scouted by the Cs and Danny seemed high on him prior to the draft.  But the Butterfly Effect being what it is, it?s possible that Danny then takes Fultz leaving Tatum for the Sixers to play with Embiid . 

[Goldstar88]

[There?s no way you can say FULL STOP yet as Brad?s resume is totally incomplete compared to Danny?s.

Full stop.

Full stop Roy? 🤣

Brad still hasn?t found anyone notable. Scheierman is playing well right now, but he?s still averaging less than 5pts a game. I?m not sure he?s better than Minott. So who did Brad hit on? I don?t think Stevens has been good when it comes to drafting. He?s been GM for 5 years now.

He also hasn't drafted higher than 28th since becoming GM which seems to go over some peoples' heads. 

Sure as heck looks like he's struck on Hugo. Schierman also seems to be performing decently for a 30th pick.

Until Brad is in rebuild mode and drafting higher than the mid to late 20s, it's gonna be kinda hard to truly gauge, IMO.  Where he's been drafting is such a crapshoot.

Danny did a draft night trade his first year as GM for Perkins who was taken 27th overall. The next year he took Jefferson(15), West(24) and Toney Allen (25). Following season Green at 18 and Gomes at 50. Danny was killing it right away.

Also, plenty of teams move down a few spots In the draft if they really like a player. Brad is choosing not to do so.

[Moranis]

[There?s no way you can say FULL STOP yet as Brad?s resume is totally incomplete compared to Danny?s.

Full stop.

Full stop Roy? 🤣

Brad still hasn?t found anyone notable. Scheierman is playing well right now, but he?s still averaging less than 5pts a game. I?m not sure he?s better than Minott. So who did Brad hit on? I don?t think Stevens has been good when it comes to drafting. He?s been GM for 5 years now.

He also hasn't drafted higher than 28th since becoming GM which seems to go over some peoples' heads. 

Sure as heck looks like he's struck on Hugo. Schierman also seems to be performing decently for a 30th pick.

Until Brad is in rebuild mode and drafting higher than the mid to late 20s, it's gonna be kinda hard to truly gauge, IMO.  Where he's been drafting is such a crapshoot.

Danny did a draft night trade his first year as GM for Perkins who was taken 27th overall. The next year he took Jefferson(15), West(24) and Toney Allen (25). Following season Green at 18 and Gomes at 50. Danny was killing it right away.

Also, plenty of teams move down a few spots In the draft if they really like a player. Brad is choosing not to do so.

the draft day trade the 1st year was to trade up for Marcus Banks.   Danny traded 16 and 20 for 13 and 27.  Yes he got Perk at 27 but he totally flubbed 13 with Banks.  For reference, David West went 18th and Boris Diaw went 21st.  Staying pat and taking those 2 would have been way better than doing the trade.  Also, Perk was good at 27 but Leandoro Barbosa went 28 and Josh Howard went 29, both of whom had significantly more WinShares in their careers than Perk did. 

All that said, I don't really have much issue with Danny's drafting even early on.   Some of his decisions were odd, but they all made sense on some level.  Where Danny really struggled was trading.  His early trades were all disasters, then he landed Ray and KG and basically stopped swinging. Then made the brilliant PP/KG trade and then went back to disasters.  Other than those 3 trades it really is hard to find trades that worked out.  He had so many near misses, but just didn't pull the trigger and when he did it worked out poorly. 

[Roy H.]

"Disasters" seems quite strong.

[Celtics2021]

I still remember how mad I was on draft night in 2006 when we traded pick 7 for Sebastian Telfair.  That was a miss that seemed obvious to me at the time.

[Vermont Green]

In June's [2015] NBA Draft, Jordan -- using his power as owner of the Charlotte Hornets -- turned down the Celtics' offer of four first-round picks to move up to the Hornets' No. 9 spot, Grantland's Zach Lowe reported. Boston's desire was to draft Duke forward Justice Winslow -- who went a few picks later to Miami -- but Jordan was dead set on Charlotte using the pick to draft Wisconsin big man Frank Kaminsky.

I think there are a few things that are truths in this debate over Ainge vs. Stevens drafting/trading.  Ainge has a much bigger sample size and much wider range of where the picks were taken.  He also had a very wide range of results.  From Fab Melo (one of the worst picks in Celtics' history), to trading the #1 to PHI in 2017 for the #3 and a first in 2018 (via LAL).  In typical Ainge form, he killed it with picking Tatum but then picked Romeo Langford with the other pick.  That is Ainge, some big wins, but a lot of misses along the way also.  Not unlike most GMs.  Overall, it seems his big wins overshadow his misses and near misses (Michael Jordan saved him from making one of the worst trades imaginable).  But in the end, his net was pretty good.

Stevens just does not have enough sample size yet.  The recent play of Walsh (#38), Scheierman (#30), and Hugo (#28) is certainly providing some vindication of those picks.  They were late picks that have developed into useful players.  Hugo Gonzalez in particular may turn out to be an absolute steal.  And I remain high on Amari Williams (#46).  The book is not nearly closed on him.  I don't know how you can't grade Stevens high on these picks.  He also picked JD Davison at #53 and he is still hanging around the NBA which is not bad for a player taken that late.

[Donoghus]

I still remember how mad I was on draft night in 2006 when we traded pick 7 for Sebastian Telfair.  That was a miss that seemed obvious to me at the time.

That's how we ended with the legendary Theo Ratliff expiring contract, though. Helped them down the road.