Ainge did draft Fab Melo

[walker834]

I think we forget how much the draft is a crap shoot sometimes.  I remember that draft as well and researching it and thinking Fab was terrible and to stay far away but Ainge took him anyways.  Also really loved Draymond Green but reading nbadraft.net's scouting report it's all limited upside.  Great motor but at best nothing but a borderline roleplayer.  Looking at the past 2 or 3 drafts a lot of these guys taken at the top are terrible basketball players.  A huge percentage of these guys don't even make it in the league.  Some drafts the entire second round are players out of the league already and maybe 1 or 2 finds every so often.

 I still think a lot of players in the league are overhyped.  Even the ones that produce numbers.  It's really difficult to find players that know how to play basketball which is surprising considering it's the NBA and at the professional level.

There are very few players that really stand out in my mind. I remember watching Shaq at LSU and Duncan at Wake Forest and Chris Paul. The fab 5 etc. Marcus Camby at Umass and Antoine at Kentucky. I remember watching Stephon Marbury at Georgia tech and Dwight Howard in the All America game.  That's about as far back as I go as far as college though.  But there are very few plaeyrs that really stand out to me. Steph Curry did that a bit.  Lebron was a huge deal.  Oden, Durant, Blake Griffin.  Anthony Davis.  Nerlens Noel.  The Wiggins draft was overrated imo.  Ben Simmons looks good and a step above but who knows what he is going to do.

[walker834]

I actually think this draft looks pretty strong. But it's hard to tell when the quality of play in college basketball has gotten so bad.  Most of the highlights of these guys the action is so fast and chaotic and they are just jacking up shots and running to the basket for putbacks and dunks. It's really difficult to tell how that's going to translate to the NBA.

[Celtics4ever]

Fab Melo was a mediocre college player there was nothing indicative that he was anything more than a shot blocker.  He gambled like he did on Sullinger hoping for big pay offs when over avoided these two.   The gamble did not work on Fab and perhaps was not merited on Sullinger.   Hindsight is 20/20 though and many thought Sullinger dropped and it was a godsend for us to get him there.   It was a godsend for Boston Restaurants.

[walker834]

I haven't looked at this draft too much but Ben Simmons passing and speed has obviously been on display.  Jaylen Brown also looks incredible but it's really hard to tell when there is so little basketball being played. There are quite a few players in the top 10 that look really good. Rabb, Murray, Brice Johnson all look good body wise but again it's just really hard to tell.

Smart was kind of the same thing. You could tell he was a beast at the college level but it really hasn't translated to the nba so far as far as his offense.  Jabari has struggled so far as well.  You can see it in highlights of Smart how much faster and hectic the college game is.  He's coming off screens just jacking up shots.

[hwangjini_1]

Fab Melo was a mediocre college player there was nothing indicative that he was anything more than a shot blocker.  He gambled like he did on Sullinger hoping for big pay offs when over avoided these two.   The gamble did not work on Fab and perhaps was not merited on Sullinger.   Hindsight is 20/20 though and many thought Sullinger dropped and it was a godsend for us to get him there.   It was a godsend for Boston Restaurants.

i agree. ainge swung for the fences on melo, which at #21 is understandable. melo had ability, but was not motivated and not smart. that is what lead to his early demise as a nba player. 

[greg683x]

Fab Melo was a mediocre college player there was nothing indicative that he was anything more than a shot blocker.  He gambled like he did on Sullinger hoping for big pay offs when over avoided these two.   The gamble did not work on Fab and perhaps was not merited on Sullinger.   Hindsight is 20/20 though and many thought Sullinger dropped and it was a godsend for us to get him there.   It was a godsend for Boston Restaurants.

crack all the jokes you want, but the player Sully has become, being drafted 21st, is a WIN in any draft. 

Just because he doesnt average 20 and 10 doesnt mean hes a bust, if he was drafted in the lottery maybe, drafted in the top 5 definitely a bust.  But he was drafted 21st.....hes proved he can be an NBA starter on his best day and a great bench player on his worst day.  Thats a great draft pick at 21.

[CroCorvus]

First of all, draft is a lucky crap shot. You have to be at least little lucky to draft an all star or even a borderline one. Secondly, I think that Danny is't all that good in drafting players as he is in all other stuff like trading and mixing players. In his tenure here he didn't have any high picks except Smart. He usually gets mid round picks which are low risk high reward (no GM is going to get fired because he didn't pick an all star in twenties or in the second round).
And yes, Melo was a bust from the beginning and DA should have know that. He's a low IQ guy, he couldn't figure it out in the NBA. 

[hwangjini_1]

First of all, draft is a lucky crap shot. You have to be at least little lucky to draft an all star or even a borderline one. Secondly, I think that Danny is't all that good in drafting players as he is in all other stuff like trading and mixing players. In his tenure here he didn't have any high picks except Smart. He usually gets mid round picks which are low risk high reward (no GM is going to get fired because he didn't pick an all star in twenties or in the second round).
And yes, Melo was a bust from the beginning and DA should have know that. He's a low IQ guy, he couldn't figure it out in the NBA.

i did not want ainge to draft melo, but i dont blame him for trying. melo has physical abilities and is seven foot tall. yes, we all knew he was about as sharp as a sack full of wet mice, but, at #21 i can see ainge thinking "all melo needs is to listen and then do what we say on the court."

that is, a lot of nba players are stupid, but they can learn specific roles. melo's role would have been to play defense, defend the rim, and come off the bench. not a bad ceiling for the 21st pick.

worst of all was melo's lack of motivation. he did not care about learning and improving. he simply was the anti-kg and anti-smart.

i dont give ainge grief over melo. i remember how so many posters here screamed and wailed and gnashed their molars when pj III was not chosen instead of melo. 

[wdleehi]

Ainge took two chances with late round picks.  One worked out great.  One was a failure. 

But the important part of that failure was he quickly moved on from it.  Other gms like to believe they didn't make a mistake and hold on way too long.


Going into that draft where they were picking, drafting one starting quality big man is a complete win.

[Who]

Ainge took two chances with late round picks.  One worked out great.  One was a failure. 

But the important part of that failure was he quickly moved on from it.  Other gms like to believe they didn't make a mistake and hold on way too long.

Ainge moved on too quickly for my taste.

I thought Fab Melo should have been given another year.

I don't like seeing GMs move on so quickly from draft choices. When that happens, I believe there was a problem in the processes of how the pick was made. In how they evaluated the player. Which is more troubling to me than being wrong. 

GMs should be slow to change their minds. They should have trust in their processes - how they make decisions. How they evaluate players.

A GM changing his mind too quickly is just as big a problem as a GM being too slow to change his mind (which I agree, is a major problem - like Bryan Colangelo and Bargnani in Toronto which wrecked their chances of building a strong team around Chris Bosh).

[walker834]

Very few players are a sure thing in the NBA draft.   Maybe 1 or 2 a year.   I rememember Eddie  Curry and Tyson Chandler.  these players now are so young and the college game is such a mess it's going to take some of these guys a bit to develop.   Take Brice Johnson for example.  His body reminds me of Shawn Marion just a bit but it's really difficult to tell what kind of player he's going to be in the NBA at this point. Thing is drafting that high Ainge is smart enough to get a good player we would hope. He did that with Smart, he didn't fall for some of the other overhyped guys, but even he is going to take some time. Okafor and TOwns on the other hand come right in and start producing.  Fab was drafted late and was a flier but body wise he looked like he had some potential at the time at least body wise.  He couldn't play a lick.

just looking at drafts,  Rudy Gobert on the other hand was drafted late and is probably the best player in that whole draft.  I think this draft is different where the talent is at the top.

I think the way the college game is a lot of these players offensive games are going to take a bit to catch up.  Simmons looks really good though.  So do most of these guys. They look more offensively geared  and well rounded some of them. 

[KG Living Legend]

 Sullinger was an elite college player Fab Melo sucked as a basketball player, he was tall and looked like maybe a good rim protected but his BBIQ was always really bad.

 Sullinger his freshman year looked like a top three pick. Sullinger was a great college player, his back and weight issues pushed him way down the draft board.

 

[BornReady]

I think part of drafting melo was because we needed a C/ rim protector
Melo was the only 7fter left over than mikes plumlee
Plus he was seen as defensive minded which is what we needed even though this was overrated as in college they mainly played zone where he just needed to stay in the post

[walker834]

Ainge is a very good drafter for the most part especially where he's been drafting.  He always seems to target the right kind of players.  When we took smart I wanted him to target a young sg/sf to develop behind him and he did.  I was also all over AB and Smart myself and Ainge took them.  We needed a physical center he took Perk.  Every so often though he takes a flier on a skinny big man who can't play though. Fab, we needed rim protection.  JJ he was probably hoping to take a flier on the next KG there with Kg leaving.  He also drafts these combo guards every so often. Giddens and Delonte come to mind. He hit good on Tony Allen and  Big Baby Davis.  Good role guys.  He took fliers on guys like Gerald Green and Al j for their upside but they didn't really fit us longterm. Neither guy played defense or was mentally mature enough. Gomes was a local guy and kind of in that Eric Williams mold.

I usually see pretty eye to eye with him on our needs and the type of plaeyrs he drafts that's the thing. Sully was that too. KO was really the only guy I didn't see coming but it made sense with the way the NBA is going.

He could maybe have done better with all these picks though. There were better players drafted. He really hasn't hit big with any of his picks. More just role guys who fit the celtics system.

We need him to do both this draft imo.  He needs to hit big and fill needs at the same time.  And continue to find Celtics.  We don't want to just be another team with players that don't fit us.  We need a scorer and a big man.  He doesn't need to find both this draft.  We have more picks coming but whether it's via trade or through the draft or both he needs to fill those needs.

With all these picks coming up we need Ainge to start finding some upper echelon star talent that are Celtics too.

[walker834]

I also like that Ainge doesn't fall for the hype on some of these guys.  He's patient. He's tried to be aggressive and move up and get certain guys but for the most part he's remained patient.  He didn't bite on Embiid. Embiid was a good prospect when he was rated down the draft.  The minute he got into the top 5 and injured, it was time to stay away from him. He's not going to just draft Parker or Wiggins because they are Parker and Wiggins.  He remains patient. I wish he'd find more guys like Middleton though and our Reggie Lewis or players like that.  Paul Pierce etc.

We are in position to take a really good player and find someone else down the draft this draft and maybe make a trade for a solid player as well. We have the next few drafts though.

For the time being he took Rozier, Rj and Mickey this last draft.  Another Ainge draft.  Rozier gives us options with Smart and Turner. Rj is a shooter and Mickey is another role guy who can potentially give us some rim protection but more just role guys.