We have missed on two of our last three first round picks.

[connor]

JJJ is going to be a player in this league.  The mistake Danny made was not in drafting him, but in not being more patient with him.

I disagree.  He doesn't have a position.  Not fast enough to guard SF, not strong enough to guard PF, not enough offense to offset either one.

I definitely see him more as a big, in the mold of Anthony Randolph, Ty Thomas, or Brandan Wright (the latter of which, quietly had a nice season in Dallas).

None of those 3 are sure-fire starters on any given team; they're all role players.


JJJ's ceiling is probably a role player, though.

That's wild. I called him a Euro player prior to his demotion... how could any one possibly think he has NBA size or talent? You literally need to have no concept of NBA basketball, whatsoever, to believe he can play even spot minutes in the NBA. You or I would fit as well as he, physically... and I mean that.

Thats way too harsh. I mean he isn't going to suddenly develop into a starter for any NBA team, but he easily has the tools to be a solid role player down the line.

To say he doesn't have NBA size is just wrong. 6'10, very long, very athletic, quick for his size. He has a serious lack of strength that makes him a liability down low on both ends of the floor, but thats something he can work on and build up to at least be competent. He is a great shot blocker so if he can get to the point where he doesn't get backed down for easy buckets at the basket he can certainly be serviceable in that area.

His strengths are his offensive game and quickness. He is solid from midrange, can even hit 3's, strong from the line and has a quick first step to beat other bigs off the dribble.

Now he may never develop the strength, toughness or aggressiveness to be able to play in the NBA but the tools are there. Celtics18 is completely right that he fits more in that stretch big mold. Danny drafted for need and hoped that he would develop quickly given his age (4 year college player) and he didn't. But to say that this kid's career is done at 24 is premature. He has plenty of time to develop into a role player.

[nostar]

It's also worth noting that the 2011 draft sucked after the first pick.  Danny missed on JaJuan Johnson, but very few guys drafted after him have done anything.  Chandler Parsons is good, Jimmy Butler is looking like a very nice prospect, Isaiah Thomas has played well for the Kings and Norris Cole is a serviceable backup guard, but the list basically ends there. 

This is just down right silly.

Kanter/Williams/Thompson/JV are all very good big man prospects. They aren't Dwight Howard but they aren't nothing either. Klay Thompson at #11 is already a pretty good player and Iman Shumpert at #17 is pretty good as well.

Let's go on:

Kawhi Leonard at #15
Nikola Vučević at #16
Kenneth Faried at #22


And for guys picked after the C's at #25:

Kyle Singler at #33
Lavoy Allen at #50
(keeping Brooks at #25)

I'd argue that this draft is actually better than 2010 and probably rivals 2009 for overall talent. There were (imo) 7 guys drafted after #25 that are proving to be NBA caliber talent and about 10 more that have stuck around longer than Johnson did. Danny blew this draft but I don't think this is a fair cross section of his drafting. Also it's worth noting that he sometimes does better trading his picks than using them. See Rondo and Perkins

[BballTim]

Melo has been a total stiff who can not stay out the way of a door frame. We were wiped out by injuries and dopes running off to the Balkans and Melo still could not get time in on the team. Rather than bring him up after Jason Collins got traded we brought in guys who just left the Chinese league.

Then JaJuan Johnson. If you can name the three D-League teams he has bounced around this year without looking it up I will send you a prize. I think that sums that up nicely.

Thank goodness we did get Sullinger.

Danny has not been drafting like he used to. Has me worried.

  Different drafting priorities. He's looking for bigs, it's hard to score on them so late in the draft.

[Fan from VT]

I would stay away from Dieng and Plumlee. There's a lot of emerging evidence that age matters a lot (more than class year) in translating from College to overall NBA performance, and those guys are oooold.

[Who]

I would stay away from Dieng and Plumlee. There's a lot of emerging evidence that age matters a lot (more than class year) in translating from College to overall NBA performance, and those guys are oooold.

That (age) worries me a lot too. I am expecting both to end up as backup centers in the NBA.

[CFAN38]

Its way to early to judge the Fab Melo pick. I was critical of the pick because I wanted Festus Ezeli, but its is way to early in Fab's career to judge him. Fab is fairly new to basketball, big are typically slow developers and has ideal physical specs for his position.

JJJ I thought was a solid pick. At the point he was drafted he really fit what the Cs needed pretty well. Long, Athletic, jump shooting big who was also his conferences raining defensive player of the year. I still think he will surface some day as a NBA bench player.

[moiso]

Gerald Green may be out of the league again soon if he keeps playing like he's playing this year.  He was more effective last year when he had an ultra green light on a horrible team.

I was happy with the JJJ pick at the time and through about 2/3 of his rookie season.  He just never got better.

I didn't want Melo at all, and he has done nothing to show he's an NBA player so far.

[CFAN38]

I'd argue that this draft is actually better than 2010 and probably rivals 2009 for overall talent. There were (imo) 7 guys drafted after #25 that are proving to be NBA caliber talent and about 10 more that have stuck around longer than Johnson did. Danny blew this draft but I don't think this is a fair cross section of his drafting. Also it's worth noting that he sometimes does better trading his picks than using them. See Rondo and Perkins

The last thing you said about trading picks is very true, DA is at his best finding a talent then trading to grab him.

[Snakehead]

If you are already throwing Melo out, I know not to but any stock into your opinion OP.

It was not a pick made for this year.  It was a pick to take a chance on a 7 footer who could be developed and had for a reasonable price.  The arc would be the same as Perk: when he gets to the point where he needs to get paid (about 10 mill if he pans out eventually) we probably move on, like we did with Perk.  Until then, we have a 7 footer on the cheap.

If it doesn't work out?  Oh, we could have had one of those great players later in the draft we are always hearing about... (SARCASM)

[Jeff]

[slamtheking]

any expectations for Melo contributing before his 3rd year are way too premature.  everyone knew this kid was really raw and needed lots of development time.

JJJ was a reasonable pick.  He had the size and athleticism.  he could score, rebound and defend (defensive player of the year in his conference).  what he apparently was lacking was the motivation/confidence to succeed.   I'd only consider this a questionable pick due to the significant link to Parsons prior to the draft

As far as Danny swinging and missing in the draft, I'd point to Giddens as the one true bust for him.  there were lots of other really solid players available at that pick.  I wouldn't even consider Green a bust since he was a projected top 5 pick that fell to 18 and the player they really wanted supposedly, Granger, was just picked by Indy.  The Green situation is similar to Sully's -- highly-regarded talent that slides down the board-->can't object to Danny taking a chance in that case since there are no sure things that late in the draft when he picks

[CoachBo]

JJJ is going to be a player in this league.  The mistake Danny made was not in drafting him, but in not being more patient with him.

I disagree.  He doesn't have a position.  Not fast enough to guard SF, not strong enough to guard PF, not enough offense to offset either one.

Totally agree. JJJ isn't ever going to make an impact in this league.

As for Melo, hated the pick when it was made, and have seen nothing to suggest otherwise at this point.

[Moranis]

Ainge hasn't drafted well since 2007.  He has some ok players (and the 2 best are hurt all the time in Bradley and Sullinger), but hasn't hit a home run since Davis in the 2nd round of 2007 or Rondo in the 1st round of 2006 (powe was in the 2nd round in 2006 as well).  Even 2005 with Gerald Green wasn't a great pick in retrospect, but that one was a virtual no brainer at the time so I can't fault him there (and Gomes and even Orien Greene were pretty solid 2nd rounders).  2004 was a monster draft with Jefferson, Allen, and West and even the 2nd round pick Reed played 136 games in the league (which isn't bad for a mid 2nd rounder). 

I mean seriously since Davis in 2007 Ainge hasn't hit a homerun. Bradley looks like a good pick, but he has missed a ton of games due to injury, which is also the same for Sullinger so you can't really call them home runs, though I think they are probably solid doubles.  Erden was a solid pick with the last pick of the 2008 draft, but considering how quickly we shipped him off he was also far from a home run. 

And Ainge also traded away a lottery pick in 2006 for crap i.e. Telfair.  Wasted pick.  Obviously trading the lottery pick in 2007 for Ray Allen worked out quite well especially since that lottery pick is currently on Boston.


Ainge brought Boston a title with the Allen and KG trades, which were both precipitated by the moves he had made when he first took over, but quite frankly he hasn't been a very good GM since the summer of 2007.  He has no great draft picks, no great trades or free agent signings, and it doesn't appear the team is realistically close to a title nor will be any time in the next 5 years.  Ainge is getting awfully close to Joe Dumars territory i.e. the savior that turned into a goat very quickly.

[Snakehead]

Ainge hasn't drafted well since 2007.  He has some ok players (and the 2 best are hurt all the time in Bradley and Sullinger), but hasn't hit a home run since Davis in the 2nd round of 2007 or Rondo in the 1st round of 2006 (powe was in the 2nd round in 2006 as well).  Even 2005 with Gerald Green wasn't a great pick in retrospect, but that one was a virtual no brainer at the time so I can't fault him there (and Gomes and even Orien Greene were pretty solid 2nd rounders).  2004 was a monster draft with Jefferson, Allen, and West and even the 2nd round pick Reed played 136 games in the league (which isn't bad for a mid 2nd rounder). 

I mean seriously since Davis in 2007 Ainge hasn't hit a homerun. Bradley looks like a good pick, but he has missed a ton of games due to injury, which is also the same for Sullinger so you can't really call them home runs, though I think they are probably solid doubles.  Erden was a solid pick with the last pick of the 2008 draft, but considering how quickly we shipped him off he was also far from a home run. 

And Ainge also traded away a lottery pick in 2006 for crap i.e. Telfair.  Wasted pick.  Obviously trading the lottery pick in 2007 for Ray Allen worked out quite well especially since that lottery pick is currently on Boston.


Ainge brought Boston a title with the Allen and KG trades, which were both precipitated by the moves he had made when he first took over, but quite frankly he hasn't been a very good GM since the summer of 2007.  He has no great draft picks, no great trades or free agent signings, and it doesn't appear the team is realistically close to a title nor will be any time in the next 5 years.  Ainge is getting awfully close to Joe Dumars territory i.e. the savior that turned into a goat very quickly.

Please offer alternatives to the picks made or examples of GMs that have done better picking around the same spots if you are going to be this critical.

I couldn't disagree more.  Avery and Sullinger were both great draft picks.  Late 1st picks almost never work out.

[Cman]

Let's run him out of town!