Celtics locked in with Aaron Gordon at 6

[hwangjini_1]

Danny is locked in to draft a PF for the third straight year while still having the other two PFs on the roster along with a couple others?

I'll believe that when I see it. Danny Ainge is not David Kahn.

I know he's perhaps as tall as 6'10", but isn't Gordon's initial position in the NBA for the next several years going to be SF?

I have been under the impression he would have to play PF because his lack of shooting at the SF position makes him nothing more than a young, Gerald Wallace like bench role playing SF. Those type of players aren't selected 6th in the draft.

For any real offense from the kid he has to play as close to the basket as possible. Heck he can't even hit free throws at a rate above 45%. He would be a massive offensive liability at SF.

How bad a shooter is Aaron Gordon? 10 players in the NBA last year shot a better percentage from the NBA three point line than Gordon did as a free throw shooter in college.

So who would you rather select at 6, Nick?

I am not in love with the players in that area. They all have some pretty major flaws. Probably trade the pick. Farther down in the draft I really like Tyler Ennis, Gary Harris, James Young and Nik Stauskas. At six, hold a gun to my head, Smart or Vonleh but would most likely trade down to gather an asset.

fairly much in agreement with nick here, who makes good points as usual. gordon should not be picked at #6 due to his offensive limitations. he seems to make more sense, to me, being picked at 10ish or there abouts.

but i differ a bit from nick in that i think smart has the potential to be an outstanding player and i would not be upset if ainge picked him at #6. his shooting is a weakness, but his mechanics looked better than gordon so i have more hope for improvement with him.

of course, i do not wish to further sidetrack this thread, but picking smart would allow the celtics to move rondo as well.

[notthebowler]

Danny is locked in to draft a PF for the third straight year while still having the other two PFs on the roster along with a couple others?

I'll believe that when I see it. Danny Ainge is not David Kahn.

I know he's perhaps as tall as 6'10", but isn't Gordon's initial position in the NBA for the next several years going to be SF?

Every NBA guy I have heard or read has said emphatically he is a 4 at the next level.  He just doesn't have the perimeter skills to play the 3 in the NBA.  The only people I have seen project him as a 3 are fans.  In fact, there was a decent amount of talk about that on NBATV's coverage of the NBA Draft Combine.

Would you rather have a guy who has the offensive skills to play 3 or defensive skills to play 3??

I rather have a guy who can at worse provide lockdown defense at the 3 spot. And thats what gordon will be able to do. He has more perimeter skills than you think and his jump shot has looked like it has improved

He is not a pure 3 or 4. What i care about in the end is that he can be a lockdown 3 defender and take adv of his man (likely smaller) utilizing his explosiveness and underrated skills to do damage on the offensive end

First of all, I don't think he is a given to be a lock-down defender.  However, given your options, I would choose the guy with the offensive skills to play the 3.  Jeff Green is a plus defender at his position, and Brandon Bass has done a good job defensively against the bigger power 3s.  The incremental improvement that Gordon may provide the Celtics is not that significant IMO.  And our offense would be markedy weaker with him on the floor in place of either of those guys (especially Green).

Again, going back to the combine, there was talk about how his defense is overrated by fans just because of his athleticism.  I think it was Tom Penn who went through a list of a handfull of guys who abused Gordon in the post this year.  And they weren't household "this guys is going to be a star" names.

I saw a half dozen or more AZ games this year, and he just didn't do anything that impressed me that much.  Yes, he hustles and works hard and I defininately don't mean to downplay that, but I can't see using a lottery pick on a hustler.  With respect to the YouTube videos of his dunks and blocks, Tyrus Thomas's highlights match (and sometimes exceed) every highlight you can find of Gordon.

I would also argue that he doesn't have better perimeter skills than I think, whatever it is that I think, haha.  Going coast to coast with your head down against terrible college transition D does not translate to being a good ballhandler at the NBA level. Hitting an occasional wide open college 3 does not translate to being able to score on the perimeter against NBA defenses. 

He's obviously your favorite prospect for the C's at 6 and he's my least favorite, so we're never going to convince one another to switch camps.  But that's the fun of CB.  I just hope we trade the pick so this becomes a moot point.  Another opinion I'm pretty sure we disagree on, haha!

[MBunge]

Gordon not only as usual plays lockdown defense, but does everything to prevent from a clean jump shot from being taken (Thames is a deadly jump shooter).

THAT is what you call "lockdown" defense?  Do you know what "lockdown" means?

I won't be disappointed in Gordon at 6 but I am befuddled at a guy dead set against acquiring a double-double machine like Kevin Love also being in love with a guy who's not unfairly compared to Tristan Thompson.

Mike

[Tr1boy]

Danny is locked in to draft a PF for the third straight year while still having the other two PFs on the roster along with a couple others?

I'll believe that when I see it. Danny Ainge is not David Kahn.

I know he's perhaps as tall as 6'10", but isn't Gordon's initial position in the NBA for the next several years going to be SF?

Every NBA guy I have heard or read has said emphatically he is a 4 at the next level.  He just doesn't have the perimeter skills to play the 3 in the NBA.  The only people I have seen project him as a 3 are fans.  In fact, there was a decent amount of talk about that on NBATV's coverage of the NBA Draft Combine.

Would you rather have a guy who has the offensive skills to play 3 or defensive skills to play 3??

I rather have a guy who can at worse provide lockdown defense at the 3 spot. And thats what gordon will be able to do. He has more perimeter skills than you think and his jump shot has looked like it has improved

He is not a pure 3 or 4. What i care about in the end is that he can be a lockdown 3 defender and take adv of his man (likely smaller) utilizing his explosiveness and underrated skills to do damage on the offensive end

First of all, I don't think he is a given to be a lock-down defender.  However, given your options, I would choose the guy with the offensive skills to play the 3.  Jeff Green is a plus defender at his position, and Brandon Bass has done a good job defensively against the bigger power 3s.  The incremental improvement that Gordon may provide the Celtics is not that significant IMO.  And our offense would be markedy weaker with him on the floor in place of either of those guys (especially Green).

Again, going back to the combine, there was talk about how his defense is overrated by fans just because of his athleticism.  I think it was Tom Penn who went through a list of a handfull of guys who abused Gordon in the post this year.  And they weren't household "this guys is going to be a star" names.

I saw a half dozen or more AZ games this year, and he just didn't do anything that impressed me that much.  Yes, he hustles and works hard and I defininately don't mean to downplay that, but I can't see using a lottery pick on a hustler.  With respect to the YouTube videos of his dunks and blocks, Tyrus Thomas's highlights match (and sometimes exceed) every highlight you can find of Gordon.

I would also argue that he doesn't have better perimeter skills than I think, whatever it is that I think, haha.  Going coast to coast with your head down against terrible college transition D does not translate to being a good ballhandler at the NBA level. Hitting an occasional wide open college 3 does not translate to being able to score on the perimeter against NBA defenses. 

He's obviously your favorite prospect for the C's at 6 and he's my least favorite, so we're never going to convince one another to switch camps.  But that's the fun of CB.  I just hope we trade the pick so this becomes a moot point.  Another opinion I'm pretty sure we disagree on, haha!

haha yeah. Good post

[boscel33]

If we draft Gordon at #6 I will be greatly disappointed. That would be a real bummer if that is the grand prize from this terrible season.

Is there really a "grand prize" after the top-4?

I have a hard time getting excited about most in our range really.

The grand prize might actually be trying to trade back and acquire other assets.  I keep thinking about the comment I read recently though, picks 5-10 in this years draft would be picks 1-5 in a normal draft.

[DesertDweller]

Ainge has enough draft picks and options to do whatever he wants. all he has to do is push the right buttons and the other teams will, once again, be chasing and cursing the Green Machine for years to come. do it now Danny and you will be immortalized by the Boston fans forever!!!