Chad Ford's Boston Draft Grade

[Eddie20]

Boston Celtics: C


Round 1: Jaylen Brown (3), Guerschon Yabusele (16), Ante Zizic (23)


Round 2: Demetrius Jackson (45), Ben Bentil (51), Abdel Nader (58)


There are two ways to evaluate Boston's draft night.

Based on pure talent, I really like five of the six players the Celtics netted Thursday. Boston probably gets an A- to B+ in that category.

I had Jaylen Brown ranked No. 7 on my Big Board, but there's no question that he has a very high ceiling if he can consistently hit jump shots in the NBA. He wowed the Celtics in workouts. If that's the player that shows up for them, he's got a real shot to be an All-Star someday.

As my colleague Fran Fraschilla said, Yabusele is the French Larry Johnson. He is a beast in the paint, has a great motor and can step out and hit 3s. Zizic is one of the best rebounders in the draft and also has a terrific motor. Yabusele and Zizic can both be stashed overseas, which adds to their value.

In the second round I really liked the value they got from Jackson and Bentil. Jackson is a great athlete, plays hard on both sides of the ball and is an ideal backup point guard. Bentil is a scoring machine who can put up points from anywhere on the floor. I have no idea whether they can crack the roster for Boston, but I like the potential of both players.

Nader wasn't in our top 100, but with their sixth pick at No. 58 it doesn't affect their grade one way or the other.

The other way to grade the draft is on what we expected from the Celtics.

Here, they earn an F. The plan for all of these picks, as the Celtics have talked about on multiple occasions, was to package them (and players) to land a young All-Star.

The Celtics tried hard and got close on a few things, but in the end they didn't deliver. The assets Danny Ainge had just weren't as valuable as he hoped. For Boston and its fans, that's a big disappointment. Nothing that happened Thursday night will move the needle significantly for the Celtics for a couple of years, unless there is a trade that materializes later.

I averaged the two grades together to get a grade of C.

[Eddie20]

I don't agree with the C grade at all since he's basing that on the deals we DIDN'T make. It takes two to tango so a team countering with a trade we didn't like has no barring on draft grade. Now, that should be part of the grade when assessing off-season on the whole, which also factors in free agency.

[max215]

Ford's logic, unsurprisingly, is completely ridiculous. "I thought they might make a trade, and they didn't, which makes all of their good picks terrible!" We got good players, and that's what Danny should be judged on. Overall, I'd give Danny a B+.

[BitterJim]

Ford's logic, unsurprisingly, is completely ridiculous. "I thought they might make a trade, and they didn't, which makes all of their good picks terrible!" We got good players, and that's what Danny should be judged on. Overall, I'd give Danny a B+.

He basically said "Well, they deserved an A- or B+, so I gave them a C"

It doesn't make sense at all

[Boris Badenov]

Ford's logic, unsurprisingly, is completely ridiculous. "I thought they might make a trade, and they didn't, which makes all of their good picks terrible!" We got good players, and that's what Danny should be judged on. Overall, I'd give Danny a B+.

TP.

Ford is essentially blaming Danny for the behavior of other GMs. I don't have the article, but did he also downgrade Philly for not trading Okafor or Noel for a top 5 pick? Because the "logic" is identical.

I will say however that I don't like the 31/35 swap. That's the only move I really don't understand.

[kozlodoev]

I will say however that I don't like the 31/35 swap. That's the only move I really don't understand.

You gave up two players you probably wouldn't have been able to sign for one likely better player in the future. What's so hard there?

[slamtheking]

talent-wise, the C's drafted decently. 

-Brown figures to at least be very solid defensively.  if his offense comes around, he likely justifies that #3 pick
-Yabu at 16 looks like a serious stretch regardless of the rumor someone wanted him a few picks later.  highlights looked good except his shape reminded me of Sully so there'll be someone else now the LUNKs can pick on for weight issues.  I think there were some other very solid, less risky players available I would have preferred picked in this slot even though Yabu had gotten some pre-draft comments as a possible late first rounder.
-Zizic had been projected to us at the 23rd pick in a number of mocks.  Guy looks like a very solid draft and stash option.  I think he will make a solid rotation player in 3 years.  with the current roster clog, I can wait for him to come over for 1-2 years.
-31 and 35 trade is eh.  I get the idea of consolidation which is what happened and that adding more first rounders in future years when it'd be nice to have more than 1 is certainly not a negative.  Clips don't figure to be in the lottery in 2019 provided they still have Blake and Jordan so we should see the pick -- possibly late teens which is an upgrade over 2 early seconds.
-Jackson and Bentil were talked about as first round talent.  hard to be upset with those picks.  with Yabu and Zizic still overseas, these guys have a shot at making the roster --> could be taking the places of two of these guys - Sully, Zeller, Turner and possibly Young  (figure Brown is taking Holland's spot as a given).
-Nader - well, what do you expect for #58?

if there were no trades being discussed or considered, I'd be satisfied with this haul of prospects.  it's the trade aspect that casts a major shadow over last night

[rochrist]

Ford's logic, unsurprisingly, is completely ridiculous. "I thought they might make a trade, and they didn't, which makes all of their good picks terrible!" We got good players, and that's what Danny should be judged on. Overall, I'd give Danny a B+.

TP.

Ford is essentially blaming Danny for the behavior of other GMs. I don't have the article, but did he also downgrade Philly for not trading Okafor or Noel for a top 5 pick? Because the "logic" is identical.

I will say however that I don't like the 31/35 swap. That's the only move I really don't understand.

They couldn't deal with taking 8 players, period, and this keeps the pipeline of multiple firsts stocked. And I say that liking Deyonta Davis a lot.

[Big333223]

Weird. The grade drops significantly because they didn't do what Ford thought they were going to do?

I'm encouraged that most seem to think the Celtics got good talent where they drafted, though. That's nice.

[aingeforthree]

It tells you a lot about the talent we got with the 6 picks. Most of these kids can play, and if Ainge hits on 1 or 2, that's all that will matter.

[Sketch5]

I will say however that I don't like the 31/35 swap. That's the only move I really don't understand.

You gave up two players you probably wouldn't have been able to sign for one likely better player in the future. What's so hard there?

Yep. Paul and Griffin will be FA's the summer of 2018. And it would be possible they don't resign. And with the West getting stronger it's going to get tough, and they had a hard time this year at times to keep up.

Even at pick 20-25 is better than two second rounders.

[footey]

I will say however that I don't like the 31/35 swap. That's the only move I really don't understand.

You gave up two players you probably wouldn't have been able to sign for one likely better player in the future. What's so hard there?

Two foreign players could have been had, pretty decent, including the kid LA picked up.  Put on your thinking cap.

[Csfan1984]

I would have given them a B.

Brown= B, Yab= C-, Zizic= A,
Grizz trade=B-
Jackson=C+, Bentil=C+, Nader F

[Eddie20]

I will say however that I don't like the 31/35 swap. That's the only move I really don't understand.

You gave up two players you probably wouldn't have been able to sign for one likely better player in the future. What's so hard there?

Agreed.

As an aside, the 2019 Draft will be the Jeff Green draft:

Memphis 1st (protected 1-9) as a result of the Green to Memphis trade

LAC 1st (protected 1-14), which Memphis received from the LAC as a result of the of the Green to LAC deal

[manl_lui]

Ford's mock draft didn't come true so of course he would rate it lower

I personally loved the outcome from yesterday

Loved Brown, excited to see him play.
Didn't know anything about Yab/Zicic, but am warming up to them very quickly

I'd give them it a solid B.