I don?t understand, Julius Randle is one of the best players in this draft and Celtics pass?. I think him and Vonleh are best pf in this draft. Randle to Lakers (to the enemy).
For me a missed opportunity for Boston, Smart a great player but Randle seems to me better player with more conditions.
Indeed. The pick is interesting, as it seems to reflect a belief on the part of ownership that the fans are going to be OK with a 5- to 10-year period of bad basketball, aka "rebuilding."
Let alone the barrage of rationalizations this board provides to cover ownership's tracks, as this thread evidences, that will buy them time while fans wax happily about bad seasons and dust off space in Springfield for the Orien Greenes and Gabe Pruitts who are on the way.
Randle would have helped immediately, for sure. The most NBA-ready player left on the board, plus he frees you to move Sullinger.
Instead, Ainge and Wyc opt for a project. Smart is a "me" player from a wildly-underachieving, badly coached "me" program whose coach barely survived the post-season ax. The thought of Smart and Rondo on the floor together must bring a smile - and a variety of zone packages - to the minds of every other coach in the league. An entire backcourt with no jump shot?
In fact, I'd assert that Young is more NBA ready today than Smart is. Brad Stevens has a tremendous job on his hands to rid Smart of the immaturity, the juvenile histrionics on the floor and teach him how to score the basketball from the perimeter - coach him, because Travis Ford certainly didn't. Let alone the anger management stuff.
It's sad, really. The rebuild should have begun in 2010, by drafting astutely and acquiring astutely the players who would be the foundation of the franchise when Garnett and Pierce were gone. Master Po has been absolutely on point regarding Celtics management, and he gets a hat tip as I favored myself the "win immediatelY" mentality.
Now, it's clear that was wrong. Garnett and Pierce should have been surrounded by the future of the franchise, drafted and acquired carefully instead of the wild, wasted first round picks that are Ainge's hallmark. Anyone seriously think San Antonio won't put a good team on the floor when Tim Duncan retires? Of course they will.
Instead, it appears to me that the Pitino Era is at the door, trying to get in. Tragic, because those who hold the Celtics franchise have a sacred trust to respect its traditions. It should NEVER get this bad.
This whole quote is just silly.
What is there at all to suggest Randle is any more NBA ready than Smart, or any more mature?
Smart so far has handled every interview with the upmost maturity - perfectly treading that fine line between confidence and modesty. Randle has acted like a spoiled brat, trying to shrug off concerns over his foot just because "my doctors said its fine so I don't care" and then refusing to show up to a celtics workout because "I've already shown enough", then refusing to work out with groups of players...why? Afraid that he'll get outplayed by somebody who's projected to go below him? The guy is acting like a first class child - personality wise he sounds like Demarcus Cousins 2.0, only with about 20% of the talent level.
Then in terms of his game - where is his positive side? From what I've seen there are only two things Randle has going for him. He scored a lot in the paint by pushing smaller guys around a lot, and he rebounds well. He's not an elite athlete, he's a terrible defensive player, he's lacks versatlity to play multiple positions (he's purely a PF), he's shown zero evidence of having a jumper, he can only score going in one direction, and he's shown pretty limited post moves. Where is this amazing talent? How is his physical build (which allowed him to dominate against college bigs) going to help him at the NBA level, where suddenly he's only average size?
On the other hand Smart has a major size/strength advantage at the PG spot even at the NBA level. He's also got the size to play SG, and arguably the size to defend SF's too. He's a good rebounder for his position, he's a solid (if not exceptional) passer, he's more athletic than Randle. He's arguably the best perimeter defender coming out of college, yet also was one of the more dominant scorers. He lacks a consistant jumper, butRandle has shown no sign of having one that's any more consistent.
Every person who's interviews or spoken of Smart has raved about his amazing maturity, leadership and toughness.
There is nothing - absolutely nothing - to indicate his game is any less NBA ready than Randle.
Topic: Ainge terrible mistake of not choosing to Randle in the pick 6, incomprehensible (Read 11409 times)