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The Garden crowd’s response to Ainge’s first choice, and his inability to deliver a trade with the No. 3 pick, was akin to how New Yorkers greet unpopular draft picks — like Kristaps Porzingis — with loud displeasure.
I’m not sure I know what people expected once Boston wasn’t able to turn the #3 pick into a player they felt was worth the trouble.
In the immediate aftermath, there was so much hand-wringing about how Boston had screwed up a chance to fleece the Colangelos or pick up Jimmy Butler, and how Phoenix was going to “auction off” Kris Dunn that nobody noticed that none of those deals materialized. Khris Middleton, Jimmy Butler, Greg Monroe, Nerlens Noel and Robert Covington all ended the evening in the same place they started (and it’s questionable to what extent Boston was interested in Monroe in the first place). Phoenix didn’t, in fact, auction off Kris Dunn. They picked for need, kind of, with Dragan Bender.
By the end of the evening, after everyone had made their last “Guerschon Ya-but-seriously” jokes, it was pretty clear that there weren’t many deals for Boston to work. They weren’t in the running for the Serge Ibaka auction, and nothing else happened. Optionally, they could’ve deferred the 16 & 23 picks to other years, if another team wanted into the first round, but as this year has demonstrated, having a huge pile of picks isn’t a guarantee that you’ll be able to consolidate them into something bigger.
Was Danny over-valuing the #3 pick? I don’t think so. Are you going to argue that Minnesota over-valued the #5 pick because they too weren’t able to make deals for Butler or some assemblage of Sixers players and picks?
Page 2: Guerschon Who?
Even Guerschon Yabusele was surprised.
The Boston Celtics selected him with the 16th overall selection in the 2016 NBA Draft on Thursday night. The 20-year-old power forward from France possesses a formidable frame — he stands 6-foot-8 and weighs 240 pounds — and an intriguing combination of skills.
“No, nobody was expecting,” Yabusele, who was sitting in the stands at Barclays Center, told reporters after being drafted, via Matthew Dollinger of Sports Illustrated. “I see them coming close to me, see my name. So I was really surprised to be in here. But I was so happy.”
Here’s where people need to take a long and realistic look at the Celtics’ current roster:
It’s not bad.
While it’s almost inevitable that at least one or two players selected after the #16 spot are going to be better than players currently on the Celtics roster, you don’t know who they are. And, in any given year, most GMs don’t know either. If you look at the various late draft success stories you’ll notice that they’re from different teams (Butler: Bulls, Green: Warriors; Thomas: Kings; Parsons: Rockets; etc.) You’ll also notice that teams which pick those guys have often already burned a pick (Warriors grabbed Ezeli before they picked Green) on another, worse, player, which should provide conclusive evidence that this part of the draft is a magnificent crap-shoot every single year.
So, obviously, Danny is thinking Draft-And-Stash at this point, and why not? Everything after the #3 pick in this draft was gravy. House money. A chance, possibly, to net a rotation player from a team trying to get back into the first round. That’s assuming that deals did not materialize.
Getting bent out of shape because a pick doesn’t match the opinion you’ve formed over nights and weekends of casual TV watching and internet perusal is just silly.
Page 3: Trades! Finally! What?
The Celtics dealt a pair of second-round picks (Nos. 31 and 35) to the Memphis Grizzlies for the Los Angeles Clippers’ 2019 first-round pick, per Jeff Goodman of ESPN. Memphis owned this Clippers pick from a previous trade. The first-round pick the Celtics get from Grizzlies in ’19 is lottery protected and could turn into a 2nd rounder under certain conditions
This pick is lottery protected in 2019-2021, and then it turns into second round picks. This deal wasn’t fireworks. Shoot. It wasn’t even sparklers. Still, it took the total number of picks from a ridiculous 8 to a more manageable 6.
Finally: I get on my soapbox. Again.
I don’t live in Boston. I don’t live anywhere near Boston.
Occasionally, I get a little annoyed when I see Boston fans talk about how Boston fans are better than fans in other cities.
Collectively, you all had a chance to be better than those Knicks fans who booed Kristaps Porzingis last year, and a lot of you failed miserably at it.
Some 19 year old kid who’s spoken highly of things that Boston fans are allegedly proud of, gets booed because somehow he didn’t turn into I don’t know what? Jimmy Butler or Khris Middleton or who knows what?
Look, booing the guys on the other team is expected. Booing your own guys when they don’t show up to play is understandable. Booing a 19 year old kid who owes your team absolutely NOTHING at this point? You don’t own a piece of this kid. You have no right. You’re wayyyy out of line with that. Even more so booing the #23 pick because, I don’t know, he didn’t come with a factory guarantee to be at least as good as some other tall European that you’ve already heard of.
Oh, and booing the guy who literally bought this team a title?
That’s also pretty low rent.
I don’t know the overlap between Red’s Army readers and people who were either at the Garden booing the Celtics, or agreeing loudly with that kind of conduct. Maybe it’s relatively small. All I know is it’s a really bad look.
Collectively, Celtics fans have earned just about every upcoming reminder of this evening’s poor behavior. Perhaps even more so for repeatedly taking Knicks fans to task for the exact same thing, and for perhaps being a bit too quick to insist that they’re “better” fans than those that support other teams.
Because I’m here to tell you that a lot of you. A lot of you, weren’t very good fans last night.
And yeah, feel free to disagree with that statement, but only if you think that those Knicks fans last year were every bit as good as you are.
The rest of the links.
MassLive: Celtics take Cal SF Jaylen Brown at No. 3 overall | Celtics take Guerschon Yabusele of France at No. 16 | Celtics take Croatian big man Ante Zizic at No. 23 | Round 2: C’s take Notre Dame PG, Providence PF | Watch: Fans go nuts (in a bad way) over Zizec pick | Fans not happy about team drafting Jaylen Brown | Trade offers ‘weren’t even close’ before No. 3 pick | 2016 NBA Draft: Boston Celtics pick up Demetrius Jackson, Ben Bentil in second round | Boston Celtics draft recap: Jaylen Brown at No. 3 leads six-pick haul
Boston Herald: Bulpett: Celtics’ Jaylen Brown sweats out No. 3 selection | Celtics notebook: Third first-rounder Ante Zizic likes physical play
NESN: Celtics Keep Future In Mind With Guerschon Yabusele, Ante Zizic Picks | NBA Draft 2016: Ben Bentil Pick Highlights Celtics’ Solid Second Round
Boston.com: Celtics had ‘a lot of discussion, and no deals’ on busy NBA draft night | Celtics owner: Fans’ reaction ‘probably the worst’ in my 14 years
Providence Journal: Unable to pull off trade, Celtics look to future with draft picks
CSNNE: C’s 2016 Draft puts ‘In Danny we trust’ mantra to the test | Is “draft and stash” strategy a good move for Celtics?
Boston Globe: Celtics trade two second-round picks to Grizzlies | Meet the Celtics’ 2016 draft picks | Here’s a closer look at Jaylen Brown, the Celtics’ top draft pick | Major trade doesn’t develop, so Celtics draft six players
ESPN Boston: Danny Ainge: ‘Lot of discussion, no deals’ for Celtics | Celtics draft Demetrius Jackson, Notre Dame G, at No. 45 overall | Didn’t expect Guerschon Yabusele at No. 16? Neither did he
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