Does it bother anybody that Ainge apparently wanted Winslow over Porzingis?

[Snakehead]

Year one is not even over.  I think Winslow may be an All Star type player from what I've seen of him.  He isn't a shooter like Porzingis.  It will take more time for his skills to develop but he could be a stud on both ends of the floor at some point.

Also Porzingis obviously went high and was well thought of but no one thought he was going to be this good.  Give me a break.

I do think he may be the breaking point here for trepidation about taking European players 1-2 it kind of feels like there is.  Bender is obviously coming right up here.

I just hate talking these draft picks with people and they pretend they aren't using hindsight.  I think Ainge does well as a drafter.

[slamtheking]

Since wiffed on Giorgi deng, Rodney hood, and Hollis Jefferson.  Danny's drafting acumen is fairly poor.  See our current state

and were you on record as wanting all of those players prior to the draft?

I know I was on record as wanting Dieng and Hood.  Dieng has been a decent backup center but not a world beater.  hasn't shown flashes at the level KO has.  I can live with the KO pick.   
I was ok with Young over Hood on draft night though I wanted Hood.  Young is still young while Hood had a couple of years on him.  Young's shown some improvement but not as much as I'd like.  if he hasn't made some significant improvement for next year, I'll go along with it was a really bad pick.

[Dedalus]

No. Most people thought Porzingis would suck. He was booed. I love Porzingis ftr.

[Silent Storm]

Since wiffed on Giorgi deng, Rodney hood, and Hollis Jefferson.  Danny's drafting acumen is fairly poor.  See our current state

and were you on record as wanting all of those players prior to the draft?

I know I was on record as wanting Dieng and Hood.  Dieng has been a decent backup center but not a world beater.  hasn't shown flashes at the level KO has.  I can live with the KO pick.   
I was ok with Young over Hood on draft night though I wanted Hood.  Young is still young while Hood had a couple of years on him.  Young's shown some improvement but not as much as I'd like.  if he hasn't made some significant improvement for next year, I'll go along with it was a really bad pick.

How about picking Olynyk over the Greek Freak?

[cltc5]

Since wiffed on Giorgi deng, Rodney hood, and Hollis Jefferson.  Danny's drafting acumen is fairly poor.  See our current state

and were you on record as wanting all of those players prior to the draft?

I know I was on record as wanting Dieng and Hood.  Dieng has been a decent backup center but not a world beater.  hasn't shown flashes at the level KO has.  I can live with the KO pick.   
I was ok with Young over Hood on draft night though I wanted Hood.  Young is still young while Hood had a couple of years on him.  Young's shown some improvement but not as much as I'd like.  if he hasn't made some significant improvement for next year, I'll go along with it was a really bad pick.

I was supportive of Danny's picks, even melo but they were not the guys I thought we should have picked.  We needed a center when deng was there.  We needed another sf when hood and Jefferson were there.  This last year we have two pgs on our roster and our first pick is another pg and not a sf when two were available?  I know some people are against picking for need but the two area we didn't pick are the areas we NEED the most help in.  No one saw how good kp would be so I don't fault him for that but thank god he didn't give up the house for Winslow.  Yes Winslow is a position of need but rhj or hood woulda for those roles fine and we'd still had hunter and Mickey.

Our priority this year needs to be a viable second scoring option in whatever form that comes in.  Preferably sf or center

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

It bothers me but honestly I wouldn't be surprised, given the type of players Danny seems to like: "scrappy, hard-nosed, tough, work ethic, heart, etc". Not guys with talent or skill.

Don't forget "little offense." 

[footey]

There's always that chance Porzingis is the next Bargnani, so drafting 4th for Barganani would be a huge miss.

Sounds like you were (and still are) one of the doubters.

[slamtheking]

Ainge is 50/50 drafting at BEST...probably 75/25 on trades though...C's should hire somebody to help out with all these picks we have---Ainge has WIFFED Many times in the draft---it's really pathetic at all the guys he has passed up...

2007:Gabe Pruitt instead of Marc Gasol/Josh McRoberts/Aron Grey
2008:JR Giddens instead of D.Jordan/Pekovic/Dragic/Asik
2011:JJ Johnson instead of Jimmy Butler/C.Parsons/I.Thomas
2012:Fab Melo instead of Draymond Green/Jae Crowder/Khris Middleton
2015 Rozier instead of Portis (still up in the air-but doesn't look good)

There are some EPIC misses during Ainge's tenure--and I know lots of teams passed on those players too...BUT---Geeze---Gabe Pruitt--? JR Giddens-? JJ Johnson-? Fab freaking Melo--?...he has almost NO CLUE how to evaluate talent.

I'm kinda hoping Ainge trades ALL of our picks---cause he's just gonna BLOW them.

nothing like cherry picking to try to make your point. 

just curious, can you point to your older posts that show those were the players you wanted in those drafts?

Pruitt --> 2nd round pick and you're harping on this?  kid had the skills but not the drive to succeed.     of those you listed, Gasol was the only real player of impact.  lots of teams missed on him, including the Lakers who had him and used him as a throw-in to Memphis for his brother.  Pruitt was taken about where he was projected to go so it's not like he was a complete mystery pick.

Giddens-->this one I'll go along with.  bad pick and was panned when it was made particularly with players projected to be better than him still on the board.

JJ Johnson --> considering who was still on the board and this guy's skill set, this was a valid pick.  not upset with this since it was in the 20's and those picks are crapshoots.  The primary other player being mentioned at that time was Marshon Brooks and we all saw how he worked out.  I get that the C's supposedly liked Parsons but didn't take him so that may be a valid concern but when a player slides to the second round that turns out to be pretty good, that "wiff" is on every GM, not just Ainge

Fab-->yeah, he sucked and 98% of posters said so.  wanted PJIII myself but he hasn't set the world on fire either.  sure, the guys that slid to the second round were better but there's a lot of first rounders from that deep draft that have been disappointments, not just Fab.

Rozier-->halfway through his rookie season and you've already labeled him a bust?  sure, I wanted Portis too and couldn't fathom why Danny passed on him but Rozier has shown some flashes that he can run point.  I'll give him this year and next before I label him a bust.

the thing I can't help but notice is you pulled out 5 picks in 9 drafts where Danny made a number of picks.  1 is a second round pick, 1 is a rookie.  not a whole lot here to support your opinion.  I also notice that you ignore the evaluation of the picks you omitted as well as earlier years.  is that because you'd have to begrudgingly admit Ainge is better than you give him credit for?  also, I notice you don't compare his performance to his peers for draft results.  is that because when he's compared to his peers, you'd have to admit he's at the top level in terms of finding players that can actually play in the league?

[footey]

Also Porzingis obviously went high and was well thought of but no one thought he was going to be this good.  Give me a break.

I did. The record will show this.  Maybe not this quickly, but feel the sky is the limit with this guy in terms of size and talent.  For guys to say that Winslow could eventually prove out to be just as good as Porzingis, I ask you: Do you really think Winslow ceiling is anywhere close to Porzingis?  Porzingis is a more athletic version of Dirk Nowitski.  That's right: If this kid continues on this tragectory, we will refer back to Dirk as a poor man's KP.  This statement will get ridicule, but I don't mind sticking my neck out there in expressing my admiration for this kid and his potential.

[slamtheking]

Since wiffed on Giorgi deng, Rodney hood, and Hollis Jefferson.  Danny's drafting acumen is fairly poor.  See our current state

and were you on record as wanting all of those players prior to the draft?

I know I was on record as wanting Dieng and Hood.  Dieng has been a decent backup center but not a world beater.  hasn't shown flashes at the level KO has.  I can live with the KO pick.   
I was ok with Young over Hood on draft night though I wanted Hood.  Young is still young while Hood had a couple of years on him.  Young's shown some improvement but not as much as I'd like.  if he hasn't made some significant improvement for next year, I'll go along with it was a really bad pick.

I was supportive of Danny's picks, even melo but they were not the guys I thought we should have picked.  We needed a center when deng was there.  We needed another sf when hood and Jefferson were there.  This last year we have two pgs on our roster and our first pick is another pg and not a sf when two were available?  I know some people are against picking for need but the two area we didn't pick are the areas we NEED the most help in.  No one saw how good kp would be so I don't fault him for that but thank god he didn't give up the house for Winslow.  Yes Winslow is a position of need but rhj or hood woulda for those roles fine and we'd still had hunter and Mickey.

Our priority this year needs to be a viable second scoring option in whatever form that comes in.  Preferably sf or center

fair enough -- takes guts to admit you were ok with Melo.

I think the Brooklyn pick this year will be used to get us the prime scorer we need whether he actually makes the pick or uses it in a trade to get an established scorer

[walker834]

I think you are assuming Phil Jackson would have traded that pick. Maybe there was no chance there and Miami was thinking about trading their pick.  We also have KO and Kristaps is similar. I was all over Kristaps though.

http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=78805.msg1904684#msg1904684

No one commented at the time lol. Hindsight is 20/20.  Me on the other hand am a genius.

[manl_lui]

I guess to be fair, Porzingis went at 4, Winslow went at 9fff

and I really don't know, had NYK did not take Porzingis, how many other teams would have passed on him. Does anyone have passed mock draft histories on where Porzingis was projecte to go?

He might've still been lotto based on the the final mock draft on nbadraft.net and draftexpress., Last mock still had him at 4 and 5

[walker834]

I was happy with our pick of Rozier.  I had another post where  I said we should stay put and  had Porzingis and Winslow at the top of players we should trade up for.  Thought Dekker was the guy where we were rated but felt we could do better at that spot.  Ainge found Rozier and I was happy.  Winslow, Stanley johnson etc were all good guards but Ainge found Rozier. So not much to complain about.

We had KO and Porzingis really was a guy we had to have a plan to build around and I said this at the time too.  I don't think NY was probably interested in trading that pick with us. Miami was probably more likely the spot where we had a chance of moving up.

Funny thing is I also had Portis as a guy we might have moved up for.  I didn't think he'd be there at 16.

[LilRip]

I admit that I didn't think KP would be this good. I thought he'd be another bust. If there was a guy who I wanted the C's to get last year (outside of Okafor and Towns), I wanted it to be Winslow. I still wish we could've gotten him, actually.

And this is unrelated but I still can't let it go. I really wish we didn't draft Olynyk and we drafted the Greek Freak instead

[KG Living Legend]

Not a lot of people are actually "good" at drafting superstar talent, because it's so rare. It would be like being "good" at winning the lottery.

 This maybe true, however the point is that The Zinger has a better chance at becoming a star than anyone in the draft outside of Town's.