Chad Ford gives our draft a B

[Eddie20]

Boston Celtics
Round 1: Terry Rozier (16), R.J. Hunter (28)
Round 2: Jordan Mickey (33), Marcus Thornton (45)
Grade: B

The Celtics took care of three big needs in the draft, and I think they filled them well. Shooting was one of the biggest needs, and landing Hunter at No. 28 was, in my opinion, a steal. Our analytics guru Kevin Pelton had Hunter ranked as a top-10 prospect, and while I'm not sure I'd go that far, he's a potentially elite shooter and a very good playmaker for his size. Rozier gives the team a credible backup point guard to Marcus Smart. Rozier does many things Smart does (he's tough, physical, a tenacious defender and a good athlete) and has some of his weaknesses (he's not a great shooter, and his feel for the point is still emerging).

Rozier dominated workouts against higher-ranked prospects for a month and would've gone somewhere three or four spots later, so I don't think the Celtics reached. Mickey gives them some of the rim protection they desperately need, and Thornton is an interesting experiment -- a super-athletic, undersized guard who has a terrific shot. I'm not sure the Celtics got a star here (which is what they really need), but taking care of needs in the back half of the first round is a good start.

[Roy H.]

Yeah... They got three guys who should be able to play. That's solid. I just don't understand the fit with Rozier alongside Avery, Smart, and IT.

[jambr380]

He certainly put a positive spin on our draft which is great. It is true that we likely didn't acquire any stars, but it's hard to be upset with the actual players we drafted. Hopefully Danny and Brad knew what they were doing.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Yeah... They got three guys who should be able to play. That's solid. I just don't understand the fit with Rozier alongside Avery, Smart, and IT.

I think the odd man out is Turner. Turner's value last year was to have ball-handling when Avery/Smart were on the floor.

So now you take care of that with another guard who can play alongside them.

We'll see how things unfold.

[Eddie20]

Yeah... They got three guys who should be able to play. That's solid. I just don't understand the fit with Rozier alongside Avery, Smart, and IT.

He's talked several times over the last week about "Smart's backup PG". In one mock he had us taking Tyus Jones and now he said, "Rozier gives the team a credible backup point guard to Marcus Smart". So I wonder if he feels that the one that should be/or will be moved is Thomas. Stevens said recently, “I just think we need to continue to focus on ability to be a little bit more versatile", so perhaps they've seen things on Thomas (being trapped on P&R constantly vs Cleveland and having a lot of trouble with it, defense liability, etc.) that have made them sour a bit.

[BlackCeltic]

I think the only way we hang on to IT long term, is if we land Love or Cousins.

[Kuberski1]

I just saw this as drafting the BPAs at our respective draft positions, as opposed to drafting for need.  I expect some guys to be moved, both in summer and the regular season.  I don't think it'll be quite the revolving door of last season, but I do think there will be movement.  I think Ainge and co see this as a way of getting better; if you do an analysis of all the Ins and Outs of last season, I do think the talent level got better.  The ideal would have been to draft a great talent, particularly in a position of need, but as we have seen the price for that would have been extremely high Thursday night.  I think they did a good job given the draft positions we had.

[PAOBoston]

He certainly put a positive spin on our draft which is great. It is true that we likely didn't acquire any stars, but it's hard to be upset with the actual players we drafted. Hopefully Danny and Brad knew what they were doing.

Rozier might make someone like Bradley expendable. Something has to give. The team has like 9 gaurds at the moment. Whether it's Bradley or someone else, I believe there is something that's going to happen (i.e. trade) soon for this team that will help clear that logjam.

[Chris22]

We got a tough PG, a 3 point shooter, and an athletic big.

Now sign Monroe and keep Crowder.

[Rosco917]

Boston Celtics
Round 1: Terry Rozier (16), R.J. Hunter (28)
Round 2: Jordan Mickey (33), Marcus Thornton (45)
Grade: B

The Celtics took care of three big needs in the draft, and I think they filled them well. Shooting was one of the biggest needs, and landing Hunter at No. 28 was, in my opinion, a steal. Our analytics guru Kevin Pelton had Hunter ranked as a top-10 prospect, and while I'm not sure I'd go that far, he's a potentially elite shooter and a very good playmaker for his size. Rozier gives the team a credible backup point guard to Marcus Smart. Rozier does many things Smart does (he's tough, physical, a tenacious defender and a good athlete) and has some of his weaknesses (he's not a great shooter, and his feel for the point is still emerging).

Rozier dominated workouts against higher-ranked prospects for a month and would've gone somewhere three or four spots later, so I don't think the Celtics reached. Mickey gives them some of the rim protection they desperately need, and Thornton is an interesting experiment -- a super-athletic, undersized guard who has a terrific shot. I'm not sure the Celtics got a star here (which is what they really need), but taking care of needs in the back half of the first round is a good start.

Interesting spin, where does that leave IT? He's not going to be happy playing behind Rosier. He can't be a SG.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Boston Celtics
Round 1: Terry Rozier (16), R.J. Hunter (28)
Round 2: Jordan Mickey (33), Marcus Thornton (45)
Grade: B

The Celtics took care of three big needs in the draft, and I think they filled them well. Shooting was one of the biggest needs, and landing Hunter at No. 28 was, in my opinion, a steal. Our analytics guru Kevin Pelton had Hunter ranked as a top-10 prospect, and while I'm not sure I'd go that far, he's a potentially elite shooter and a very good playmaker for his size. Rozier gives the team a credible backup point guard to Marcus Smart. Rozier does many things Smart does (he's tough, physical, a tenacious defender and a good athlete) and has some of his weaknesses (he's not a great shooter, and his feel for the point is still emerging).

Rozier dominated workouts against higher-ranked prospects for a month and would've gone somewhere three or four spots later, so I don't think the Celtics reached. Mickey gives them some of the rim protection they desperately need, and Thornton is an interesting experiment -- a super-athletic, undersized guard who has a terrific shot. I'm not sure the Celtics got a star here (which is what they really need), but taking care of needs in the back half of the first round is a good start.

Interesting spin, where does that leave IT? He's not going to be happy playing behind Rosier. He can't be a SG.

Conclusions, don't jump into them...

[GC003332]

The welcoming tweet from IT4 for Rozier appears to be missing from his account.What is up with that

[PhoSita]

Yeah... They got three guys who should be able to play. That's solid. I just don't understand the fit with Rozier alongside Avery, Smart, and IT.

I think the safe conclusion is that at least one of those guys will be gone in the next year.  Maybe two.

[Jesus Shuttlesworth #20]

It is very important to know the draft grade given to the Celtics by Chad Ford. If Ford gave the Celtics draft a bad grade that would mean all the draft picks are going to be bad. Since Ford gave the Celtics draft a good grade that means Danny did a good job in the draft. I think it is safe to say that draft grades given by sports reporters are an extremely important indication of how the next season will go. I was ready to completely give up on the Celtics if Chad Ford gave a grade below a B. Thank you Chad Ford for your hard work and dedication to giving random opinions about the basketball draft, the league would cease to exist without this invaluable analysis.

[tarheelsxxiii]

Chad Ford drinks to get drunk.