NBA Draft Hypothetical: Julius Randle is the Best Player Available

[Kane3387]

When rebuilding always take best player available. Actually in the nba you always take best available. Period.

[SHAQATTACK]

I imagine if Ainge can't trade the pick, he'll just draft Julius and figure it out later.

Correct answer .

[Q_FBE]

Trade Sully and Rondo for Kevin Love and Rick Rubio.

SL Rubio, AB, Jeff G, Randle, Love.

Question is who can we get for Kelly Olynyk?

[Q_FBE]

Trade Sully and Rondo for Kevin Love and Rick Rubio.

SL Rubio, AB, Jeff G, Randle, Love.

Question is who can we get for Kelly Olynyk?

[JBcat]

Looks like another Thomas Robinson = top college PF, backup PF in NBA.

The lack of a jump-shot is a killer blow for a guy with so-so size, mediocre wingspan and lack of explosive athleticism. That will severely limited his offensive utility in the NBA.

I don't think he'll contribute much his first few years in the league and I expect his long term future will be decided by whether or not he can add that jump-shot to his repertoire.

So to answer the question, if Randle is the best available, I say trade the pick. Not interested. Too much risk in that pick. Certainly nowhere near able to threaten a skilled and proven NBA big like Sully.

I agree mostly with this.   As of right now I think Sully will have a better career.  People forget how good Sully was in college, and was projected himself to be in the top 5 of his draft before the back issues.  Now that it seems like it's been cleared up, I go with Sully and trade the pick for other assets if you can.

[Smokeeye123]

If we end up with the 7th pick in the draft I will gouge my eyes out with a sewing needle.

[Celtics4ever]

Sully and Randle are virtually the same player their freshman years.   Sully has one more PPG.  Both shot around 54% and 10 RPG.  I think Randle plays against better competition in the SEC than Sully did in the big ten.  He also has better team mates than Sully. 

I think Randle is a better athlete than Sully but Sully has a clear edge in skills.

[beantownboy171]

If we end up with the 7th pick in the draft I will gouge my eyes out with a sewing needle.

Yeah, i'm happy to say that ending up in that spot is unlikely at this point. I did that for the sake of the scenario though, because I wanted to eliminate the guys that members like over Randle.

But I think Randle may actually be on Danny's radar. I wouldn't be surprised if Danny's big board is:

Embiid
Parker
Wiggins
Exum
Randle

So I think we could see the celtics take Randle if we end up at #5 or 6. I think drafting randle could be a catalyst for the next big trade. Because sullinger has value around the league for sure.

I think we need to trade for center. Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Marc Gasol. Somebody is going to become available for the right price.

[Snakehead]

Sully and Randle are virtually the same player their freshman years.   Sully has one more PPG.  Both shot around 54% and 10 RPG.  I think Randle plays against better competition in the SEC than Sully did in the big ten.  He also has better team mates than Sully. 

I think Randle is a better athlete than Sully but Sully has a clear edge in skills.

I am interested in the talk though that Randle is being held back in college from showing his passing and three point shooting.

If he had that he could already have some of the wrinkles to his game Sully has been trying to add.  I think a lot of players are held back in college (just with things like the lack of spacing). I don't think he has Sully's touch in the post but he could be a similar player for sure.  Better in the open floor I'd think if he is being held back.

[Mr October]

Right now i am split on who i think will be a better power forward between sully and Randle. My primary sullinger concern is his bad defense and the extra weight he carries. Can he lose the weight and move his feet fast enough to slow down a griffin, millsap, bosh, or any of the other mobile scoring 4s?

Randle moves his feet really well on defense, and even switches onto perimeter players fairly well. My main Randle concern is that he cant do anything scoring wise with his off hand, not even 3 feet from the basket. Having only 1 hand forces him into a lot of awkward shots, where he tries to power through his left, when he could have got a quick right off.

[KGs Knee]

Considering the Celtics are highly likely to have a top 10 pick, this shouldn't be a concern.

I wouldn't touch him anywhere in the lottery.  NBA bust written all over him.  Same as Aaron Gordon.

[beantownboy171]

Considering the Celtics are highly likely to have a top 10 pick, this shouldn't be a concern.

I wouldn't touch him anywhere in the lottery.  NBA bust written all over him.  Same as Aaron Gordon.

I disagree. I see a lot of parallels between Randle and Sullinger, in terms of how their draft stock went. Randles skills around that basket alone will make him an nba starter. And his athleticism is underrated. Unlike sullinger, I could actually see Randle bulking up, and developing into a force on both sides of the ball.