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.
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.
• 
??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.
Really, Danny?
I'm glad that, for once, someone is actually questioning his draft selections - what took you guys so long, lol
, and where is the analysis of the legend that is Marcus Thornton
, or were these scouts too busy cleaning up the drink that they likely spewed everywhere after hearing his name? I'm fine with the Hunter pick, but the rest of them are rather puzzling. Actually, I take that back - it's hardly surprising given that Ainge keeps taking the same kind of players in an undersized guard/a shooting guard in a point guard's body, as well as yet another undersized power forward - woo
. Rozier is okay, and I can understand the argument in taking him to an extent when you factor in the teams who came after us, but I disagree that he was the bpa, and the same goes for Mickey and Thornton (obviously). Still, at least the draft did make for a good laugh
.
Btw, didn't Corey Walden have 6 steals
in his first summer league game off the bench? Wow. Can we at least put him on our d-league team?
Topic: Bulpett: Some not sold on Terry Rozier, R.J. Hunter (Read 8720 times)