Danny Ainge
It?s hard to find those guys that care and do anything it takes to win. I just prefer those.
He was talking about Marcus Smart when saying this. But this statement can also apply to Aaron Gordon imo.
Danny has always liked tough players that were one of the best players on their team, leaders of their team.
He was talking about Smart yeah, he is a killer like Gordon.
Unfortunately for you triboy, it's extremely doubtful that we are looking at Gordon.
Kid's great and if we had the 11 or 12th pick I'd be open to giving up Olynyk to get him, but he just doesn't fall in our pick range (unless we trade down).
I didn't see him on yesterday's Ainge interview list and he's probably not going top 6.
The top 3 picks are a given- if we get one of those we'll take one of the consensus three.
4th pick? I think it's between Vonleh and Exum now after Vonleh's numbers.
5th pick? Vonleh or Smart.
Other than the consensus three, I think we're going to see either Exum, Vonleh or Smart as Celtics.
It's possible we take Randle and trade him down to a team that loves him too.
Does anyone else see Olynyk being used as a trade chip on draft night ?
your wrong chambers. Gordon was interviewed
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4712881/draft-hopefuls-give-glimpse-of-cs-interviews
Looks like it was pretty in depth.
Both Danny and Stevens saw what he did in the U19 (mvp) and carrying his team to the elite 8. Unless they are turned off by his incapability to make the jump shot or have guys like Smart ahead, imo he is goin to be considered. He should be considered.
Gordon is not the 11th best prospect in this draft. No way. You can pintpoint all the issues he has, but he is a winner and is someone you can build a team around.
I stand corrected- he wasn't on the first list of interviewees for the Celtics.
Just to be clear, when I said 'if we had the 11th pick' I said I'd give up the 11th or 12th pick+Olynyk to get him at number 7 or 8. He's definitely a top 10 pick- in a weaker class he'd be top 3 or 4.
I agree with everything you say about his work ethic and he's a great defender- probably the most complete defender to come out of college in a while. The problem is that work ethic can only take you so far before a lack of skill and offensive anticipation gets in the way. What scares me about him is that a lot of his game revolves around bullying boys in the NCAA- he is a grown man among boys.
To be extra picky about his game? Well his dribble needs work and he dribbles high, he puts up a lot of shots that I think NBA level defenders will block very easily-This is why so many are unsure of what his real position in the NBA will be. To be an NBA small forward you have to be able to break NBA defenders down off the dribble and finish with both hands.
I'm not sure if I've see Aaron Gordon finish with his left hand more than a few times?
One of Jeff Green's biggest problems is that he needs a running start to get to the rim- Gordon is similar in that he's fantastic in the open court but 1v1 against size and strength he will 100% struggle to get his shot off comfortably and won't be able to just lower his shoulder and bull doze with an underarm loop finish that he loves.
He can't break players down like the other 'wings' in the draft. (Wiggins struggles sometimes but his first step is so quick he gets away with a lack of dribbling skill too).
Gordon's style is very unorthodox and it's hard to think of top tier NBA stars that are unorthodox... to me he's a hybrid of Shaun Marion, Bruce Bowen, Thomas Robinson and Andre Iguadala- all hardworking, great players and great to have in the locker room because of work ethic. I like to call those guys 'elite role players' because they're not really taking their team to the next level- certainly not guys you 'build around' as you state of Gordon.
You seem to put him on the same level as Wiggins and Parker and in the past you've suggested we take Gordon ahead of some of these guys which is just crazy to me.
Remember that guys like Gordon are always going to look great in college because of their strength and athleticism vs weaker teenagers, it's so much harder when they get to the NBA to just push everyone around and get off circus shots like they've done in college.
Don't get me wrong-I respect your opinion and understand why you like him- I just don't understand why some Celtics fans are focusing on a guy that won't really be on our radar unless the lottery gods are cruel to us- there are some potential 'franchise' guys ahead of AG this year.
The top 4 guys are potential franchise players or at least multi year All Stars.
I think Aaron Gordon's ceiling is something like Shaun Marion or Andre Iguadala- A franchise role player that might make one All Star game in the right team situation.
Honestly if we were picking between 7 to 11 then he'd be my guy in 2014, I just don't see him going where we (hopefully) pick in the top 5 because there are so many other studs.
Now if we get unlucky and end up with the 6th or 7th pick, then Gordon is someone that Danny and Stephens will take a long, hard look at and perhaps try to organize a deal with a team that wants Julius Randle or another standout player that hasn't been picked yet.
All I'm saying is that for Aaron Gordon to be our pick, we've probably gotten unlucky on Tuesday night at the lottery and we've turned to plan B.