I still don't get the Marcus Thornton pick

[Tr1boy]

What a waste. Yes it was the 45th pick but another pg? And not even a pure pg. Another sg in a pg body.  Its either a sg in a pg body or a pg trapped in a pg body (Olynyk) lol.

Danny should of drafted a promising Euro player with the 45. Eveb Dakari Johnson and shipping him to overseas would of made more sense

[PhoSita]

Danny wanted to take a guy at #45 who would be OK playing overseas.

[Rosco917]

What a waste. Yes it was the 45th pick but another pg? And not even a pure pg. Another sg in a pg body.  Its either a sg in a pg body or a pg trapped in a pg body (Olynyk) lol.

Danny should of drafted a promising Euro player with the 45. Eveb Dakari Johnson and shipping him to overseas would of made more sense

Agree, I never got it either. I don't understand why he didn't even take a chance on center, send him to D-league or Europe and see if he develops further.

You can stash a center just as easily as a PG.

[Eddie20]

What a waste. Yes it was the 45th pick but another pg? And not even a pure pg. Another sg in a pg body.  Its either a sg in a pg body or a pg trapped in a pg body (Olynyk) lol.

Danny should of drafted a promising Euro player with the 45. Eveb Dakari Johnson and shipping him to overseas would of made more sense

Agree, I never got it either. I don't understand why he didn't even take a chance on center, send him to D-league or Europe and see if he develops further.

You can stash a center just as easily as a PG.

It doesn't work like that. We drafted Thornton because he was willing to play overseas and develop, which doesn't count as a roster spot. There are no assurances that Dakari, Upshaw, Alexander, etc. would've been equally willing. Once I knew the circumstances involved (Thornton agreeing on going the Iverson route) I had no issues with it.

[cooz14]

What a waste. Yes it was the 45th pick but another pg? And not even a pure pg. Another sg in a pg body.  Its either a sg in a pg body or a pg trapped in a pg body (Olynyk) lol.

Danny should of drafted a promising Euro player with the 45. Eveb Dakari Johnson and shipping him to overseas would of made more sense

Only if the player agrees to it. If the player doesn't want to go, you either sign him or release him.



Agree, I never got it either. I don't understand why he didn't even take a chance on center, send him to D-league or Europe and see if he develops further.

You can stash a center just as easily as a PG.

[Eja117]

Danny wanted to take a guy at #45 who would be OK playing overseas.

Two picks later there was Arturas Gudaitas, and a little after that was the 7ft 2, 290lbs Satnam Singh Bhamara from India. There were at least 4 more Euros after that. Didn't HAVE to pick Thornton.

[gift]

What a waste. Yes it was the 45th pick but another pg? And not even a pure pg. Another sg in a pg body.  Its either a sg in a pg body or a pg trapped in a pg body (Olynyk) lol.

Danny should of drafted a promising Euro player with the 45. Eveb Dakari Johnson and shipping him to overseas would of made more sense

Agree, I never got it either. I don't understand why he didn't even take a chance on center, send him to D-league or Europe and see if he develops further.

You can stash a center just as easily as a PG.

It doesn't work like that. We drafted Thornton because he was willing to play overseas and develop, which doesn't count as a roster spot. There are no assurances that Dakari, Upshaw, Alexander, etc. would've been equally willing. Once I knew the circumstances involved (Thornton agreeing on going the Iverson route) I had no issues with it.

Except that at #45, no player would be guaranteed a roster spot and contract.

[Alleyoopster]

He looked great in the Miami game.  Maybe his confidence was shot and he just didn't play up to his abilities. 

[PhoSita]

Danny wanted to take a guy at #45 who would be OK playing overseas.

Two picks later there was Arturas Gudaitas, and a little after that was the 7ft 2, 290lbs Satnam Singh Bhamara from India. There were at least 4 more Euros after that. Didn't HAVE to pick Thornton.

No, but I imagine he thought Thornton was the best option among the guys who could be drafted-and-stashed.

[Tr1boy]

Danny wanted to take a guy at #45 who would be OK playing overseas.

Two picks later there was Arturas Gudaitas, and a little after that was the 7ft 2, 290lbs Satnam Singh Bhamara from India. There were at least 4 more Euros after that. Didn't HAVE to pick Thornton.

No, but I imagine he thought Thornton was the best option among the guys who could be drafted-and-stashed.

Thornton apparently killed the individual workout(jump shots). Still , i cant believe that is a key reason why danny chose him (another small guard).

[loco_91]

Why should we second guess? How much do we really know about Thornton? This is a situation where Ainge has way more information than us. I'm sure he would've drafted a center all else being equal, but clearly he thought Thornton was the best prospect available.

[BDeCosta26]

What a waste. Yes it was the 45th pick but another pg? And not even a pure pg. Another sg in a pg body.  Its either a sg in a pg body or a pg trapped in a pg body (Olynyk) lol.

Danny should of drafted a promising Euro player with the 45. Eveb Dakari Johnson and shipping him to overseas would of made more sense

As others have mentioned, a player has to be willing to go overseas, you can't force them.

The fact of the matter is, of all the guys available at 45 that would accept going overseas, Ainge felt that Thornton was the one with the most legitimate shot of contributing on an NBA roster on day. The kid is hyper-athletic and has a few other solid skills.

Johnson, Alexander and Upshaw weren't going to accept that kind of deal. They felt like they were first round picks. The only C available at that point that would is a Colton Iverson-level guy. And I'd say Thornton has a better shot of doing something some day than a guy like Iverson would

[BudweiserCeltic]

"OMG! NOT EUROPEAN!"

This thread basically...

[Celtics4ever]

Danny should of drafted a promising Euro player with the 45.

All the promising ones were gone, and they flame out just as much if not more than American picks.

[saltlover]

What a waste. Yes it was the 45th pick but another pg? And not even a pure pg. Another sg in a pg body.  Its either a sg in a pg body or a pg trapped in a pg body (Olynyk) lol.

Danny should of drafted a promising Euro player with the 45. Eveb Dakari Johnson and shipping him to overseas would of made more sense

Agree, I never got it either. I don't understand why he didn't even take a chance on center, send him to D-league or Europe and see if he develops further.

You can stash a center just as easily as a PG.

It doesn't work like that. We drafted Thornton because he was willing to play overseas and develop, which doesn't count as a roster spot. There are no assurances that Dakari, Upshaw, Alexander, etc. would've been equally willing. Once I knew the circumstances involved (Thornton agreeing on going the Iverson route) I had no issues with it.

Except that at #45, no player would be guaranteed a roster spot and contract.

Correct, but you either have to offer him a one-year fully non-guaranteed deal, lose his rights, or have him sign elsewhere.  So you could have drafted Dakari, and then he could have waited until September 1st (I think that's the deadline), and become a free agent.  Or they could have offered Dakari that one-year contract and waived him in October when they had no room, again making him a free agent.  Thornton was drafted because he said he was willing to keep developing his game at a level other than the NBA, and was willing to wait for a bit to become an NBA player.

So no, you don't have to give a player at #45 a contract, but that's not the same thing as preserving the Celtics' draft rights to said player.