The Celtics have blown four drafts in a row.

[Eja117]

Are the Giannis fans trying to say we'd be better off with the Buck's GM? 

[Cman]

You can insult me all you would like but you have no counter to my actual argument. I am correct.

Insults are out of line. And my earlier post may have come across as such. Apologies if so.
But, we all need to take a measured approach to this. Consider the following:

(1) Smart was just drafted. He looks like a good pick. You gotta give him a *little* benefit of the doubt here.
(2) KO? I'm on the fence. I think he'll be a bust personally. It was a risky pick by Ainge, doesn't look like it will pan out.
(3) Sully was a good pick. An All Star? No, probably not. But for where DA was picking, he almost qualifies as a steal.
(3A) Fab Melo, a risky pick and a bust.
(4) JJ. Bust. No question. But consider this: Q: how many busts are there that late in the draft? A: Many.

I also note that you conveniently left Bradley off the list. Many on this forum had him listed as a "bust" until the last year, when started averaging ~15 points a game. Why do I point this out? Because it helps point out that you cant' judge too early. So, hold off on judging Smart, and probably hold off on judging KO....

[Chris22]

Isaiah Thomas is our first pick in the 2015 draft.

This years draft looks good so far.

[Alleyoopster]

You can insult me all you would like but you have no counter to my actual argument. I am correct. Regarding the "Hindsight" line of debate, I specifically point out there were players Boston scouted extensively that Boston passed on, Antetokounmpo and Parsons. Boston has drafted awfully in 2011, 2012, 2013. 2014 is still in the air but early results are mixed at best. If you want to attack me for "whining" or "complaining" I hope living as a mindless yes man is to your liking.

You do have some merit in what your write about.  The Celtics could have made better choices in those years.  I feel the problem most of us have with your message is your categorizing the drafting as simply "awful". 

Awful is the state the Nets are in.  Awful is the picks Minnesota made for Flynn and Williams (reread GetLucky's post again....that may help you understand why awful seems like too strong a word.)  Could the Celtics have done better? yes.  Were their selections awful?  not really when you compare it to what some other teams have done. 
 
What would have been "awful" is if Danny had the opportunity to draft Odom and selected him.  Unfortunately for Odom, three of our draft picks already have had much better careers than he had.   

[Eja117]

If people want to tell me Ainge is a bad drafter or hasn't drafted well over the past 4 or 5 years fine. But then I need to know the 5 guys who were picking very close to him that have drafted better than him over the same period of time.

[MJohnnyboy]

You say that the Celtics have blown 4 straight drafts including 2014 and yet you say the jury is still out with Young and Smart. That doesn't make any sense bro. Not to mention they aren't that much younger than KO or Sully. I'd say the jury's still out on them too. They haven't been perfect by any means but they haven't been total scrubs who haven't proven a thing like say Anthony Bennett or Dante Exum.

Didn't we get this same kind of sentiment a few weeks ago when someone was saying Ainge wasn't a very good GM because the Celtics haven't been contenders year after year like they used to be? It's not the Celtics or Ainge, its the circumstances that they are put in. At a glance, yes, Ainge blew the picks getting Jajuan Johnson and Fab Melo, but they were picked around the end of the first round. You need to understand, when the NBA draft gets to the later picks, the odds of you finding a good to great player lower drastically. Especially by the 20s. That's not a good example of blowing a draft. That's simply missing the pick that is more likely to fail than to succeed. Now sometimes, the latter end of the draft has some good players, but they are far and in between. The number of guys who are drafted in the latter part of the draft that don't make it in the league vastly outweigh the ones that do. And the players from the latter round that do make it very rarely become something special. Draymond Greens, Jimmy Butlers, and Deandre Jordans are diamonds in the rough.

Blowing a draft is when a team blows a lottery pick because that's when the best players are usually available. That's something the Celtics haven't had the opportunity to do for a while until 2014. A good example of a team blowing a pick is Sacramento in 2012. They drafted Thomas Robinson #5 over Jared Sullinger, who play the same position. Sully, even if he has had weight issues that are becoming alarming, has proven a lot more than Robinson. Robinson has yet to prove anything and has played for 4 teams in 3 seasons. Not to mention they took Robinson over Damian Lillard and a few other notable talents. That is blowing a draft. More examples are Washington taking Jan Vesley over Kawhi Leonard. Or Minnesota taking Jonny Flynn over Stephen Curry. Or Cleveland taking Anthony Bennett over practically everyone else in the 2013 draft.

I think the reason why people come to these conclusions is because they expect consistent perfection from their teams. That simply doesn't happen. Even the best make mistakes.

[ctrey]

You can insult me all you would like but you have no counter to my actual argument. I am correct.

Insults are out of line. And my earlier post may have come across as such. Apologies if so.
But, we all need to take a measured approach to this. Consider the following:

(1) Smart was just drafted. He looks like a good pick. You gotta give him a *little* benefit of the doubt here.
(2) KO? I'm on the fence. I think he'll be a bust personally. It was a risky pick by Ainge, doesn't look like it will pan out.
(3) Sully was a good pick. An All Star? No, probably not. But for where DA was picking, he almost qualifies as a steal.
(3A) Fab Melo, a risky pick and a bust.
(4) JJ. Bust. No question. But consider this: Q: how many busts are there that late in the draft? A: Many.

I also note that you conveniently left Bradley off the list. Many on this forum had him listed as a "bust" until the last year, when started averaging ~15 points a game. Why do I point this out? Because it helps point out that you cant' judge too early. So, hold off on judging Smart, and probably hold off on judging KO....

I actually call Bradley a good pick. I mention it in my OP.

I just think picking Olynyk over Giannis when we scouted him hard was a massive error. JJ and Melo were awful selections when there were others on the board the Celtics liked. especially Chandler Parsons who told interviewers here in Houston he was shocked Boston did not select him. I like Danny as a GM but after the Sullinger articles today I went back and Boston's drafting has been weak for a while now.

[ctrey]

You say that the Celtics have blown 4 straight drafts including 2014 and yet you say the jury is still out with Young and Smart. That doesn't make any sense bro. Not to mention they aren't that much younger than KO or Sully. I'd say the jury's still out on them too.

Didn't we get this same kind of sentiment a few weeks ago when someone was saying Ainge wasn't a very good GM because the Celtics haven't been contenders year after year like they used to be? It's not the Celtics or Ainge, its the circumstances that they are put in. At a glance, yes, Ainge blew the picks getting Jajuan Johnson and Fab Melo, but they were picked around the end of the first round. You need to understand, when the NBA draft gets to the later picks, the odds of you finding a good to great player lower drastically. Especially by the 20s. That's not a good example of blowing a draft. That's simply missing the pick that is more likely to fail than to succeed. Now sometimes, the latter end of the draft has some good players, but they are far and in between. The number of guys who are drafted in the latter part of the draft that don't make it in the league vastly outweigh the ones that do. And the players from the latter round that do make it very rarely become something special. Draymond Greens, Jimmy Butlers, and Deandre Jordans are diamonds in the rough.

Blowing a draft is when a team blows a lottery pick because that's when the best players are usually available. Something the Celtics haven't had the opportunity to do for a while until 2014. A good example of a team blowing a pick is Sacramento in 2012. They drafted Thomas Robinson #5 over Jared Sullinger. They play the same position. Sully, even if he has had weight issues that are becoming alarming, has proven a lot more than Robinson, who has yet to prove anything and has played for 4 teams in 3 seasons. Not to mention they took Robinson over Damian Lillard and a few other notable talents. That is blowing a draft. Or Washington taking Jan Vesley over Kawhi Leonard. Or Minnesota taking Jonny Flynn over Stephen Curry.

In 2011 they really liked Chandler Parsons. In interviews he has stated he was convinced that Boston would pick him. We pick JJ. Ex-Celtic front office man Morey picks Chandler. Massive draft fail.

[MJohnnyboy]

You say that the Celtics have blown 4 straight drafts including 2014 and yet you say the jury is still out with Young and Smart. That doesn't make any sense bro. Not to mention they aren't that much younger than KO or Sully. I'd say the jury's still out on them too.

Didn't we get this same kind of sentiment a few weeks ago when someone was saying Ainge wasn't a very good GM because the Celtics haven't been contenders year after year like they used to be? It's not the Celtics or Ainge, its the circumstances that they are put in. At a glance, yes, Ainge blew the picks getting Jajuan Johnson and Fab Melo, but they were picked around the end of the first round. You need to understand, when the NBA draft gets to the later picks, the odds of you finding a good to great player lower drastically. Especially by the 20s. That's not a good example of blowing a draft. That's simply missing the pick that is more likely to fail than to succeed. Now sometimes, the latter end of the draft has some good players, but they are far and in between. The number of guys who are drafted in the latter part of the draft that don't make it in the league vastly outweigh the ones that do. And the players from the latter round that do make it very rarely become something special. Draymond Greens, Jimmy Butlers, and Deandre Jordans are diamonds in the rough.

Blowing a draft is when a team blows a lottery pick because that's when the best players are usually available. Something the Celtics haven't had the opportunity to do for a while until 2014. A good example of a team blowing a pick is Sacramento in 2012. They drafted Thomas Robinson #5 over Jared Sullinger. They play the same position. Sully, even if he has had weight issues that are becoming alarming, has proven a lot more than Robinson, who has yet to prove anything and has played for 4 teams in 3 seasons. Not to mention they took Robinson over Damian Lillard and a few other notable talents. That is blowing a draft. Or Washington taking Jan Vesley over Kawhi Leonard. Or Minnesota taking Jonny Flynn over Stephen Curry.

In 2011 they really liked Chandler Parsons. In interviews he has stated he was convinced that Boston would pick him. We pick JJ. Ex-Celtic front office man Morey picks Chandler. Massive draft fail.

So did everyone else man. Did you read what I said? Players like Parsons don't grow on trees. You want me to admit the Celtics blew that pick? Yeah you got me. I aint disagreeing but that wasn't my point. The point is you blow a draft when you have the opportunity to draft something special like say when you're in the lottery when the more expected talent is upfront and you don't. Last time I checked, JJJ was picked #27. Tell me off the top of your head the percentage of guys who are picked around the range who make it in the NBA. I guarantee you its not that many. At all. And again, guys who make it usually don't go as far as Parsons has.

[TheFlex]

Thanks for the laugh.

[Beat LA]

Everyday I wake up I immediately remember how we don't have Tony Wroten, and the pain and sadness start all over again.



Though I don't really look anything like this guy.

Um, Tony Wroten is a sick player.  Had we come out of the 2012 draft with Sullinger and Wroten, the 12-13 team would have been better, especially because of Wroten's Lance Stephenson-like versatility.  He also would have been a great guy to have if Rondo had still gotten injured, imo.

Sidebar - this has been nagging me for a while for some reason, but why does everyone refer to Jajuan Johnson as 'JJJ?'  Only basketballreference.com cites his middle name, and it's Markeis, so what gives, lol?  Just wondering.

Bottom line - we need to clean house with our scouting department, because it really sucks.

[Lucky17]

It's JaJuan, not Jajuan.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Everyday I wake up I immediately remember how we don't have Tony Wroten, and the pain and sadness start all over again.



Though I don't really look anything like this guy.

Um, Tony Wroten is a sick player.  Had we come out of the 2012 draft with Sullinger and Wroten, the 12-13 team would have been better, especially because of Wroten's Lance Stephenson-like versatility.  He also would have been a great guy to have if Rondo had still gotten injured, imo.

Sidebar - this has been nagging me for a while for some reason, but why does everyone refer to Jajuan Johnson as 'JJJ?'  Only basketballreference.com cites his middle name, and it's Markeis, so what gives, lol?  Just wondering.

Bottom line - we need to clean house with our scouting department, because it really sucks.

His first name has two capital Js—JaJuan—giving him three capital Js in his name. Thus, JJJ. Which in my mind I always referred to as "Trey J" (three Js).

[tarheelsxxiii]

"He reverts to his typical anti Euro bias and takes the safe choice in Olynyk who can not guard a locked door with a shotgun."

Just added a notification on my gmail to give you a TP every day, for 30 days, due to this comment.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Just to add some fuel to the fire.