Kind of interesting article from the Herald that gives big praise to the Mickey selection...
LAS VEGAS — Offering up a few notes to lighten the luggage for the trip home after two and a half weeks at summer leagues:
• ??Our annual check on scouts’ opinions of Celtics drafts has generally been quite kind, but many of the league’s talent evaluators are not exactly sold on first-round picks Terry Rozier and R.J. Hunter.
Told that the reviews for his work were not entirely kind, president of basketball operations Danny Ainge shot back, “You’re talking to the wrong people.”
On the other hand, second-rounder Jordan Mickey was drawing praise even before showing his talents at summer league.
Said one personnel man: “He’s going to be so good, he’ll make people forget about the guys they took in the first round. We talked about taking Mickey in the first round, and then we tried to buy a pick early in the second round to get him. But I don’t know about Boston’s first-round guys.”
The funny thing about Rozier is that he grew on some people as the Vegas week progressed. We know of at least two teams that were hoping to take him later in the first round, but even after he stepped up with a gutsy 3-pointer to tie Saturday’s quarterfinal game in the waning seconds, he was still facing questions.
“The thing is whether he’s a point guard,” one general manager said. “I just don’t see it. He’s going to be good on defense, but I can’t see him running an offense. He makes too many mistakes.”
But seconds later, one of the GM’s peers said, “I don’t know how it’s going to work out for (Rozier), but he’s a tough kid, and a lot of times guys like that somehow find a way.”
Several others seemed to fall on their side of that fence.
“I think he’s trying to find his way,” Ainge said. “I’m not worried about Terry. I think a lot of things with his defense are excellent. But you can see he’s got a way to go.”
Hunter, meanwhile, still looks like he’ll be spending some quality time in Maine this winter, but he showed dramatic improvement after a pair of deer-in-the-headlights outings in Salt Lake City.
The interesting thing is that he came advertised as a shooter and, while he still had some man-to-man defensive issues, Hunter showed good instincts getting his hands into passing lanes.
• ??We hesitate to bring this up because it’s an utterly moot point, but we heard more about Kevin Love’s process and think it’s worth sharing.
First off, Love was never close to being a Celtic, OK? His first choice was always to go back to Cleveland because he very much likes the organization and his teammates, and that’s where he believes is his best chance to win now. Are we clear on all this?
But all those who say the Celtics could never attract a major free agent might want to know that, if for any reason the Cavaliers situation hadn’t worked out, he could have wound up in Boston.
According to one impeccable source on the matter — a non-Celtics source — Boston might not be the NBA Siberia some have made it out to be.
“If there was some reason Cleveland didn’t want him, which sounds pretty silly .?.?. but if they wanted to go in a different direction, I think Boston was going to be his second choice,” the source said.
In contradiction to some of the talk when Love took in a Red Sox game last summer at Fenway Park, the trip was not to investigate the city as a potential home.
“He was just in to have some fun,” the source said. “But he really enjoyed himself.”
The key question is why Love would consider the Celtics when the club is still not seen as good enough to attract a major star and needs more than one to become a contender. The reply was that, again if the Cavaliers didn’t return his affection, Love wasn’t afraid to be the first one in, believing the Celts’ ability to recruit another impact player would be improved.
Bottom line: All that should be taken from this is the point that, while it is extremely difficult to get major free agents to change teams — ask the Lakers — the Celtics and Boston aren’t as far out of the picture as some opine.
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??Marcus Smart was very good for a rookie, but he’ll be much better as a sophomore.
• It’s always difficult to judge bigs in summer settings because of the lack of size, but Jonathan Holmes looked more than solid.
• Corey Walden didn’t get to show all he could because of a hamstring injury, but he has his fans in this organization and in others.
• ?After another round of transactional twisting, we’re not sure which needs to be simplified more, the U.S. tax code or the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement.
Topic: Bulpett: Some not sold on Terry Rozier, R.J. Hunter (Read 8720 times)