Sherrod Blakely- C's to put a package deal for Aldridge and Matthews

[slamtheking]

Here are the last 7 drafts

2008 - Giddens (awful), Erden (excellent)
2009 - Hudson (blah)
2010 - Bradley (great), Harangody (average)
2011 - Johnson (awful), Moore (good)
2012 - Sullinger (excellent), Melo (awful), Joseph (blah)
2013 - Olynyk (great)
2014 - Smart, Young - too early to rate either

Ainge has been really hit and miss the last 7 years in the draft, so it is really hard to tell how he will do with all the draft picks.

But the point is where those guys are picked you're lucky to get a non-bust at all. The bust rate past the top-6-7 picks is around 70% +. I mean you guys are expecting him to get all-stars int he twenties, it's ridiculous..

agreed.  what's been really lacking here on the side of the anti-Ainge brigade is who exactly stood out as a clearly better option than the player Danny picked. 

I have no issue stating Fab was an obvious mistake - iirc about 80-90% of the posters here were dead set against him pre-draft.

Giddens was the other questionable pick.  pretty much an unknown with other better-known (and better projected) players available with that pick.

Other than that, the other first rounders were legitimately in the running for BPA at the time of the pick and any questioning of the second rounders is laughable.  Someone actually complaining Harangody and Joseph.  yeesh.

[JHTruth]

Here are the last 7 drafts

2008 - Giddens (awful), Erden (excellent)
2009 - Hudson (blah)
2010 - Bradley (great), Harangody (average)
2011 - Johnson (awful), Moore (good)
2012 - Sullinger (excellent), Melo (awful), Joseph (blah)
2013 - Olynyk (great)
2014 - Smart, Young - too early to rate either

Ainge has been really hit and miss the last 7 years in the draft, so it is really hard to tell how he will do with all the draft picks.

But the point is where those guys are picked you're lucky to get a non-bust at all. The bust rate past the top-6-7 picks is around 70% +. I mean you guys are expecting him to get all-stars int he twenties, it's ridiculous..

agreed.  what's been really lacking here on the side of the anti-Ainge brigade is who exactly stood out as a clearly better option than the player Danny picked. 

I have no issue stating Fab was an obvious mistake - iirc about 80-90% of the posters here were dead set against him pre-draft.

Giddens was the other questionable pick.  pretty much an unknown with other better-known (and better projected) players available with that pick.

Other than that, the other first rounders were legitimately in the running for BPA at the time of the pick and any questioning of the second rounders is laughable.  Someone actually complaining Harangody and Joseph.  yeesh.

Fab busted out of the league, which makes him an average 22 pick. The odds were always against him.

Year   Player   Drafted From   Drafted By
2013   Mason Plumlee   Duke   Brooklyn
2012   Fab Melo   Syracuse   Boston
2011   Kenneth Faried   Morehead State   Denver
2010   Elliot Williams   Memphis   Portland
2009   Victor Claver   Spain   Portland
2008   Courtney Lee   Western Kentucky   Orlando
2007   Jared Dudley   Boston College   Charlotte
2006   Marcus Williams   Connecticut   New Jersey
2005   Jarrett Jack   Georgia Tech Jr.   Denver
2004   Viktor Khryapa   Russia 1982   Portland
2003   Zoran Planinic   Croatia 1982   New Jersey
2002   Casey Jacobsen   Stanford Jr.   Phoenix
2001   Joseph Forte   North Carolina So.   Boston
2000   Donnell Harvey   Florida Fr.   New York
1999   Kenny Thomas   New Mexico Sr.   Houston
1998   Brian Skinner   Baylor   LA Clippers
1997   Ed Gray   California   Atlanta
1996   Roy Rogers   Alabama   Vancouver
1995   George Zidek   UCLA   NO Hornets
1994   Bill Curley   BostonCollege   San Antonio
1993   Chris Mills   Arizona   Cleveland
1992   Oliver Miller   Arkansas   Phoenix
1991   LeRon Ellis   Syracuse   LA Clippers
1990   Tate George   Connecticut   New Jersey
1989   Byron Irvin   Missouri   Portland
1988   Randolph Keys   Southern Mississippi   Cleveland
1987   Reggie Lewis   Northeastern   Boston
1986   Scott Skiles   Michigan State   Milwaukee
1985   Jerry Reynolds   Louisiana State   Milwaukee
1984   Tom Sewell   Lamar   Philadelphia
1983   Randy Wittman   Indiana   Washington
1982   Mark McNamara   California   Philadelphia
1981   Franklin Edwards   ClevelandState   Philadelphia
1980   Chad Kinch   North Carolina-Charlotte   Cleveland

[LooseCannon]

Criticizing Ainge for his draft misses seems like criticizing a guy hitting .350 in baseball for the times he strikes out or because he makes an out almost two thirds of the time.

Fab Melo was a bad pick because size and and athleticism and having one elite skill were overvalued.

[Beat LA]

I've seen a bit of criticism for the Lester Hudson pick.  Really?  He's stuck around in the NBA for four seasons, which isn't bad for the 58th pick in the draft.

When Wesley Matthews was still, incredibly, available?  Yes, really. 

As for Hudson, if by 4 seasons you mean a combined 57 games spread out over 4 years (with 25 in his rookie year being the high point, I might add), during which, after his first 2 campaigns he played overseas for 2 years, then yes, he's played in the league for 4 seasons .

[Ilikesports17]

I've seen a bit of criticism for the Lester Hudson pick.  Really?  He's stuck around in the NBA for four seasons, which isn't bad for the 58th pick in the draft.

When Wesley Matthews was still, incredibly, available?  Yes, really. 

As for Hudson, if by 4 seasons you mean a combined 57 games spread out over 4 years (with 25 in his rookie year being the high point, I might add), during which, after his first 2 campaigns he played overseas for 2 years, then yes, he's played in the league for 4 seasons .

When you complain about the 58th overall pick...
facepalm sigh! LOL

c'mon man, blame Ainge for Melo, blame him for KO, but when you blame him for missing on Lester freakin Hudson?

I really think it just kills your credibility.

[Beat LA]

BDeCosta26, I'm going to respond here instead of quoting everything so as to not take up too much space, lol .

Anyway, in fairness, I didn't even look at clips of Giannis, and the guy I who thought was the bpa at 16 was Tim Hardaway JR, and he's turned out to be much better than I anticipated; but no, to answer your question, I wasn't a Giannis guy (and I would never try to rewrite history like chad ford, haha ), although I was deeply disappointed that Ainge actually traded up to get Kelly Nolynyk, of all people.  I mean, really? *facepalm*

As far as the draft goes, I don't see why including guys like Harangody and Joseph is ridiculous, because we're talking about Danny's ENTIRE draft record, not just when he has the chance to pick between 15-20.  Additionally, people like to say that he has a knack for finding guys in the second round, so that's why I brought said players up.  I know that you can't hit a home run with every pick, but what really bothers me about Ainge's selections isn't just that they're bad players, it's that they're so horrible that many of them are out of the league before the end of a typical rookie contract, and there's no way to sugarcoat that, I'm sorry.  As you said, though, even the best screw up, like Buford did with Kyle Anderson.  His skill set is fine, but his physical attributes will likely never allow him to be even a serviceable backup in the NBA, because he's simply too slow with zero lateral quickness.  He reminds me of KO in that respect.

Btw, do you happen to know if Jim Sciutto likes melon (sarcasm), lol ?

Sorry, dude, but you are holding Ainge to a ridiculous standard. Pile up the draft records of all the teams since 2003, and I'd be very surprised if Ainge didn't rank out in the top 5 based on his average draft position. There have been a couple analytic studies done on the draft over a period of time, and Ainge generally always ranks out in the top 5. I don't have the links off hand, and the studies are a couple years old at this point so things are probably a bit different now. The fact that you are holding those missed second round picks against Ainge is a little silly considering he is one of the better drafters in the second round in the league (or he was until recently). The reason the misses stick out to you more here is because you clearly aren't paying enough attention to other teams' successes and failures.

Also, most second round picks are out of the league before training camp even begins, lol. Missing in the second round should NEVER be held against any GM. I'd bet 80% of second round picks are out of the league before their rookie contract is up. Last I checked Ainge has some of the highest retention rates for second round picks in the league since he became GM. Again, no offense, but you seem to not really understand how often teams miss in the draft if you think Ainge is horrible in the draft. This has nothing to do with believing he is a draft wizard, which I don't think he is necessarily. He's missed maybe twice or three times in the first round since 2003. Most owners would kill to have that kind of draft record considering our average position in the draft since 2003. You need to do a bit more research and not be so emotional that Ainge is not picking the guys you think/thought are the best (and to your credit actually turned out pretty good).

It's great that you felt Jordan and couple of these guys would be better picks than what we got. Good for you, honestly (and I mean it), but as everyone under the sun has pointed out already, every team in the league passed on those players. Regardless of it being viewed as hindsight by you personally or not is just completely irrelevant. These guys dropped in the second round, and Ainge was one of 28 other teams that passed on said player. By definition, it is definitely hindsight. Holding Ainge under the fire for missing is just ridiculous even if you thought that player would be good.

Ainge's drafting during the Big 3 era left a lot to be desired to be honest. I'll admit to that, but Ainge's drafting from 2003-2007 is what led us to getting Garnett and Allen. Without his solid picks, we would have never gotten both players in the Summer of 2007. Ainge's drafting from 2008-2011 was pretty meh except for Avery Bradley. Totally admit that, but his mediocre drafting from 2008-2011 isn't enough to take away from his great drafting from 2003-2007 which led us to the championship. Since then, Ainge's drafting has been better with picks like Sullinger, Olynyk, Smart, and Young. Before you say it, yes, Olynyk was a GREAT pick at 13 regardless of Giannis being available. That draft was pretty junky, and Olynyk is performing like a top 7 player in his draft. Any time you choose a player that performs higher than his position in the draft is a win. Melo was obviously a miss, but Sully makes up for it. Not sure why Ainge struggled in the draft during the Big 3's prime years, but he seems to be back on track with his great drafting from 2003-2007.

This isn't even really subjective. If you pile up the retention rates of players getting second contracts and average win shares by draft position, Ainge would be near the top of the league in draft record. It's fairly black and white. It's objective, and you are pretty wrong in general about his overall draft record relative to the rest of the league.

EDIT: Another thing about '03-'07. Even after the trades, we were left with Rondo, Perkins, and Tony Allen. A future DPOY candidate (perennial all team defense) and another was a four time all-star. Having those three players left over on the roster after trading for Garnett and Allen is a testament to how good Ainge's drafting was from '03-'07.

And why should I, when I only care about the Celtics, lol ?  Look, we're obviously not going to agree here, and that's okay, but I don't understand your point about hindsight at all, given that it's defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as, "the knowledge and understanding that you have about an event only after it has happened."  By definition, then, my picks AT THE TIME were not done with hindsight in the least, no matter how hard everyone tries to dismiss them. 

My other problem, here, is that if you can't criticize a gm for not even getting a rotational player in the second round, for what can you possibly criticize him?  Missing on non-lottery first rounders don't seem to count, nor does screwing up second round picks seems to bother anyone, so it appears that you're giving him a pass on every draft where he was not somewhere in the lottery . Do you have any idea how ridiculous that is?

Additionally, taking Sully (which you practically had to do, anyway), does not 'make up' for missing out terribly on Fab, never mind Joseph . I used to think that Ainge was really good at drafting, too, and of course his selections made those two acquisitions possible, but so did a number of other once-in-a-lifetime circumstances, such as Ray and Pierce both being hurt in the same year and Seattle's winning of the number 2 pick in 2007 which allowed them to move Allen in the first place.  Since that time, however (which is close to a decade, now), Danny has largely been simply atrocious, and no one seems to realize it.  I mean, Olynyk?  Really?  Taking him at 16 (had he been available, of course), would have been bad enough, but trading up to get dat billy goat makes the whole thing even worse, imo.

What's really frustrating to me is how a complete moron like myself can look at some blog posts, read over a few scouting reports, watch various youtube clips, and consistently pick far better players at, as you said, much more difficult draft positions.  I probably just got lucky, though.  Honestly - no sarcasm.  I'm not mad at you, btw.   

[Beat LA]

I've seen a bit of criticism for the Lester Hudson pick.  Really?  He's stuck around in the NBA for four seasons, which isn't bad for the 58th pick in the draft.

When Wesley Matthews was still, incredibly, available?  Yes, really. 

As for Hudson, if by 4 seasons you mean a combined 57 games spread out over 4 years (with 25 in his rookie year being the high point, I might add), during which, after his first 2 campaigns he played overseas for 2 years, then yes, he's played in the league for 4 seasons .

When you complain about the 58th overall pick...
facepalm sigh! LOL

c'mon man, blame Ainge for Melo, blame him for KO, but when you blame him for missing on Lester freakin Hudson?

I really think it just kills your credibility.

I didn't realize that I had any, lol , but okay, I'll bite - how so?  The failure to take Matthews might very well have cost us a title that year, imo.  I know that it's rare to find guys at such a spot in the draft, but that's why it was so frustrating to me to see us pass on him, because you have to seize those precious opportunities when they appear, especially when Hudson likely would have gone undrafted, anyway, and even if he didn't, who cares?  He wasn't going to help that team in the slightest.

[Beat LA]

BDeCosta26, I'm going to respond here instead of quoting everything so as to not take up too much space, lol .

Anyway, in fairness, I didn't even look at clips of Giannis, and the guy I who thought was the bpa at 16 was Tim Hardaway JR, and he's turned out to be much better than I anticipated; but no, to answer your question, I wasn't a Giannis guy (and I would never try to rewrite history like chad ford, haha ), although I was deeply disappointed that Ainge actually traded up to get Kelly Nolynyk, of all people.  I mean, really? *facepalm*

As far as the draft goes, I don't see why including guys like Harangody and Joseph is ridiculous, because we're talking about Danny's ENTIRE draft record, not just when he has the chance to pick between 15-20.  Additionally, people like to say that he has a knack for finding guys in the second round, so that's why I brought said players up.  I know that you can't hit a home run with every pick, but what really bothers me about Ainge's selections isn't just that they're bad players, it's that they're so horrible that many of them are out of the league before the end of a typical rookie contract, and there's no way to sugarcoat that, I'm sorry.  As you said, though, even the best screw up, like Buford did with Kyle Anderson.  His skill set is fine, but his physical attributes will likely never allow him to be even a serviceable backup in the NBA, because he's simply too slow with zero lateral quickness.  He reminds me of KO in that respect.

Btw, do you happen to know if Jim Sciutto likes melon (sarcasm), lol ?

I liked Hardaway a lot myself, and he played decently on that joke of a Knicks team this year. I understand you must not be high on KO, to put it nicely. But Olynyk is certainly at least a "serviceable back-up" big man in this league. I think that much isn't very debatable anymore. True 7 footers with point guard skills and a good 3 point shot just don't come around very often. He's has his issues, mostly with consistency and aggressiveness, but he's proven he can not only hit 3's but consistently beat guys on the dribble for drives to the hoop. He'll be in an NBA rotation for a while, especially the way the game is evolving. Plus, Olynyk is one of our more valuable trade chips because nearly every team can use a guy like him. With consistent playing time and some more confidence he could be a real weapon on offense. But even as is, he's got a place in this league for some time to come.

Yeah, I've heard that before to. And I don't think that's true, but he hasn't been bad their either. Every GM misses more than hits there, and he's had some hits too. I do wish he would take a stash guy once in a while but, oh well. When your picking in the middle of the second round, as long as we find a few guys we can use, which we have, I'm happy. Hitting on 2nds, especially ones that aren't 31-36 or so, just doesn't happen much.

The record shows that Ainge is a good, solid drafter. Better than most others in the league. Not the best, but good. Certainly likes certain kinds of players. He loves highly rated guys who fall in the draft (Young, Sullinger, Bradley, Jefferson, Green) and tough, under-sized PF's who were well decorated in college (Sully, Davis, Harangody). But most of those guys went on to good, if not star-level careers.
When you consider everything a GM does, He's pretty clearly one of the best in the league.

I guess I just don't understand, with so many franchises run in near perpetual darkness, how anyone can not be happy with what Ainge has done here.

Woop dee freakin' doo, a 'serviceable backup taken at 13," . How is he a 'true 7 footer,' btw, when he never plays under the basket, blocks shots, or rebounds well, which are all attributes of 'true 7 footers?'  The fact that he's a big guy who can shoot the 3 is not unique, either.  30 years ago, yes, but today, do you know what's truly rare?  Traditional big men, like Hassan Whiteside.

Who are all of these draftees of his who have gone on to have star-level careers, btw, because I can only think of two (and only one if we're going by the guys from your list) - Rondo, although cue the backlash because nothing he ever did here seems to count to most people on this site , and Big Al.  Unless you define 'star' differently from everyone else, who amongst Danny's selections have ever even made an All Star team? 

I'm in agreement with you on his preference for certain types of players, though.  Usually, they're undersized pf's, lol . Ugh.

[Ilikesports17]

I've seen a bit of criticism for the Lester Hudson pick.  Really?  He's stuck around in the NBA for four seasons, which isn't bad for the 58th pick in the draft.

When Wesley Matthews was still, incredibly, available?  Yes, really. 

As for Hudson, if by 4 seasons you mean a combined 57 games spread out over 4 years (with 25 in his rookie year being the high point, I might add), during which, after his first 2 campaigns he played overseas for 2 years, then yes, he's played in the league for 4 seasons .

When you complain about the 58th overall pick...
facepalm sigh! LOL

c'mon man, blame Ainge for Melo, blame him for KO, but when you blame him for missing on Lester freakin Hudson?

I really think it just kills your credibility.

I didn't realize that I had any, lol , but okay, I'll bite - how so?  The failure to take Matthews might very well have cost us a title that year, imo.  I know that it's rare to find guys at such a spot in the draft, but that's why it was so frustrating to me to see us pass on him, because you have to seize those precious opportunities when they appear, especially when Hudson likely would have gone undrafted, anyway, and even if he didn't, who cares?  He wasn't going to help that team in the slightest.

Look, Tom Brady got picked in the 6th round and hes probably the greatest quarterback of all time. 32 teams passed on him 6 times before he finally got picked.

The draft is an imperfect science.

the baseball anology is pretty good.
No Ainge has not homered on every at bat. But its ridiculous to expect that.

Since Lester Hudson there have been 5 players selected with the 58th overall pick.
They have played a combined 139 games.
All 139 split between the immortal Robbie Hummel and the indomitable Derrick Character. Hudson has played 52 games. His 12.7 ppg in 24 minutes and 3.5 boards and 2.7 assists in 2011 represent the most impressive numbers in ppg, mpg, rpg, and apg among the other 5 58th overall picks. In those numbers are the most impressibe scoring, rebounding, and assisting numbers ever put up by a 58th overall pick.

Yes I checked every 58th pick dating back to 1994 where the draft was 54 picks long.

So yes, you lose credibility when you criticize what might actually have been the single best 58th overall pick in the history of the NBA

[Beat LA]

Here are the last 7 drafts

2008 - Giddens (awful), Erden (excellent)
2009 - Hudson (blah)
2010 - Bradley (great), Harangody (average)
2011 - Johnson (awful), Moore (good)
2012 - Sullinger (excellent), Melo (awful), Joseph (blah)
2013 - Olynyk (great)
2014 - Smart, Young - too early to rate either

Ainge has been really hit and miss the last 7 years in the draft, so it is really hard to tell how he will do with all the draft picks.

But the point is where those guys are picked you're lucky to get a non-bust at all. The bust rate past the top-6-7 picks is around 70% +. I mean you guys are expecting him to get all-stars int he twenties, it's ridiculous..

agreed.  what's been really lacking here on the side of the anti-Ainge brigade is who exactly stood out as a clearly better option than the player Danny picked. 

I have no issue stating Fab was an obvious mistake - iirc about 80-90% of the posters here were dead set against him pre-draft.

Giddens was the other questionable pick.  pretty much an unknown with other better-known (and better projected) players available with that pick.

Other than that, the other first rounders were legitimately in the running for BPA at the time of the pick and any questioning of the second rounders is laughable.  Someone actually complaining Harangody and Joseph.  yeesh.

I'd be glad to expand upon that, if you want, but I somehow get the feeling that you probably won't like it.



Ahaha .

[Beat LA]

I've seen a bit of criticism for the Lester Hudson pick.  Really?  He's stuck around in the NBA for four seasons, which isn't bad for the 58th pick in the draft.

When Wesley Matthews was still, incredibly, available?  Yes, really. 

As for Hudson, if by 4 seasons you mean a combined 57 games spread out over 4 years (with 25 in his rookie year being the high point, I might add), during which, after his first 2 campaigns he played overseas for 2 years, then yes, he's played in the league for 4 seasons .

When you complain about the 58th overall pick...
facepalm sigh! LOL

c'mon man, blame Ainge for Melo, blame him for KO, but when you blame him for missing on Lester freakin Hudson?

I really think it just kills your credibility.

I didn't realize that I had any, lol , but okay, I'll bite - how so?  The failure to take Matthews might very well have cost us a title that year, imo.  I know that it's rare to find guys at such a spot in the draft, but that's why it was so frustrating to me to see us pass on him, because you have to seize those precious opportunities when they appear, especially when Hudson likely would have gone undrafted, anyway, and even if he didn't, who cares?  He wasn't going to help that team in the slightest.

Look, Tom Brady got picked in the 6th round and hes probably the greatest quarterback of all time. 32 teams passed on him 6 times before he finally got picked.

The draft is an imperfect science.

the baseball anology is pretty good.
No Ainge has not homered on every at bat. But its ridiculous to expect that.

Since Lester Hudson there have been 5 players selected with the 58th overall pick.
They have played a combined 139 games.
All 139 split between the immortal Robbie Hummel and the indomitable Derrick Character. Hudson has played 52 games. His 12.7 ppg in 24 minutes and 3.5 boards and 2.7 assists in 2011 represent the most impressive numbers in ppg, mpg, rpg, and apg among the other 5 58th overall picks. In those numbers are the most impressibe scoring, rebounding, and assisting numbers ever put up by a 58th overall pick.

Yes I checked every 58th pick dating back to 1994 where the draft was 54 picks long.

So yes, you lose credibility when you criticize what might actually have been the single best 58th overall pick in the history of the NBA

Was Manu Ginobili not taken at 57?

[Ilikesports17]

I've seen a bit of criticism for the Lester Hudson pick.  Really?  He's stuck around in the NBA for four seasons, which isn't bad for the 58th pick in the draft.

When Wesley Matthews was still, incredibly, available?  Yes, really. 

As for Hudson, if by 4 seasons you mean a combined 57 games spread out over 4 years (with 25 in his rookie year being the high point, I might add), during which, after his first 2 campaigns he played overseas for 2 years, then yes, he's played in the league for 4 seasons .

When you complain about the 58th overall pick...
facepalm sigh! LOL

c'mon man, blame Ainge for Melo, blame him for KO, but when you blame him for missing on Lester freakin Hudson?

I really think it just kills your credibility.

I didn't realize that I had any, lol , but okay, I'll bite - how so?  The failure to take Matthews might very well have cost us a title that year, imo.  I know that it's rare to find guys at such a spot in the draft, but that's why it was so frustrating to me to see us pass on him, because you have to seize those precious opportunities when they appear, especially when Hudson likely would have gone undrafted, anyway, and even if he didn't, who cares?  He wasn't going to help that team in the slightest.

Look, Tom Brady got picked in the 6th round and hes probably the greatest quarterback of all time. 32 teams passed on him 6 times before he finally got picked.

The draft is an imperfect science.

the baseball anology is pretty good.
No Ainge has not homered on every at bat. But its ridiculous to expect that.

Since Lester Hudson there have been 5 players selected with the 58th overall pick.
They have played a combined 139 games.
All 139 split between the immortal Robbie Hummel and the indomitable Derrick Character. Hudson has played 52 games. His 12.7 ppg in 24 minutes and 3.5 boards and 2.7 assists in 2011 represent the most impressive numbers in ppg, mpg, rpg, and apg among the other 5 58th overall picks. In those numbers are the most impressibe scoring, rebounding, and assisting numbers ever put up by a 58th overall pick.

Yes I checked every 58th pick dating back to 1994 where the draft was 54 picks long.

So yes, you lose credibility when you criticize what might actually have been the single best 58th overall pick in the history of the NBA

Was Manu Ginobili not taken at 57?

Yes he was.

The Spurs are one of the few teams who I will grant to you are better drafters than Ainge and the C's however, when you have Pop and Duncan in place its a lot easier to be successful.

The point is that when you are picking that late it is a complete crapshoot. For every Ginobili and Wes Matthews there are 15 Ater Majoks and a Lester Hudson or 2.

[Eddie20]

I've seen a bit of criticism for the Lester Hudson pick.  Really?  He's stuck around in the NBA for four seasons, which isn't bad for the 58th pick in the draft.

When Wesley Matthews was still, incredibly, available?  Yes, really. 

As for Hudson, if by 4 seasons you mean a combined 57 games spread out over 4 years (with 25 in his rookie year being the high point, I might add), during which, after his first 2 campaigns he played overseas for 2 years, then yes, he's played in the league for 4 seasons .

When you complain about the 58th overall pick...
facepalm sigh! LOL

c'mon man, blame Ainge for Melo, blame him for KO, but when you blame him for missing on Lester freakin Hudson?

I really think it just kills your credibility.

I didn't realize that I had any, lol , but okay, I'll bite - how so?  The failure to take Matthews might very well have cost us a title that year, imo.  I know that it's rare to find guys at such a spot in the draft, but that's why it was so frustrating to me to see us pass on him, because you have to seize those precious opportunities when they appear, especially when Hudson likely would have gone undrafted, anyway, and even if he didn't, who cares?  He wasn't going to help that team in the slightest.

You seem to be extremely reliant on the power of hindsight. Do you have any proof, on this blog or somewhere else, that you were clamoring for Ainge to draft Butler, Jordan, and the undrafted Matthews before the draft? Because if you provide that evidence I will boldly say that you certainly have one of the keenest eyes in talent evaluation I've ever seen and are truly wasting your immense, NBA level, talents on this blog. You've missed your calling.

[MBunge]

I've seen a bit of criticism for the Lester Hudson pick.  Really?  He's stuck around in the NBA for four seasons, which isn't bad for the 58th pick in the draft.

When Wesley Matthews was still, incredibly, available?  Yes, really. 

If Matthews was available, that means not only did every other GM pass on him once, most passed on him a second time.  And that is where you lose any credibility.  You are putting forth a standard by which NO ONE is a good drafter.

Mike

[Monkhouse]

I guess Ainge should be fired and replaced by Beat LA.

He would've definitely got us Jimmy Butler, Wesley Matthews, and Jordan all in one scoop!