Ranking Ainges Draft Picks

[theman]

A great pick is when you get the best player still on the board. Therefore:

Great:
Al Jefferson
Ryan Gomes
Rajon Rondo (perhaps Danny's greatest pick, no one picked later comes close)
Leon Powe


Good picks (a better player might have been available but not at the same position)
Kendrick Perkins (ZaZa Pachulia?) Passed on Maciej Lempe (a good thing) and Sofoklis Schortsanitis.
Bill Walker: Mike Taylor?

Bad picks are where multiple better players were taken later in the draft and or a better player at the same position was available. You can argue Josh Howard is a better player than Perkins, but Perkins is a center Howard is not.

Bad Picks:

Brandon Hunter (yes a bad pick) consider these players: Marquis Daniels, Matt Carroll, Ime Udoka
Delonte West/ Tony Allen - My biggest problem here is they play the same position, beyond that still available were Kevin Martin, Sasha Vujacic, Beno Udrih, Anderson Varejão, Chris Duhon
Justin Reed: Trevor Ariza, Andres Nocioni, Maurice Evans
Orien Greene: Marcin Gortat, Amir Johnson, Jose Calderon
Pruitt : Glen Davis, Marc Gasol and Ramon Sessions
JR Giddens: Mario Chalmers, DeAndre Jordan, Chris Douglas-Roberts


Terrible pick are not only were there better players available at the position but the guy taken was a bust (based on where taken). And players passed on are big stars.

Terrible Picks
Marcus Banks: Luke Ridnour (Can't guard a chair but nice career), David West (all-star), Boris Diaw, Travis Outlaw, Kendrick Perkins (yes, we go him but he was better), Leandrinho Barbousa, Josh Howard, Mo Williams
Gerald Green: Hakim Warrick, Nate Robinson, Francisco Garcia, David Lee

Don't know yet (Giddens and Walker should probably be here)
Semih Erden
Lester Hudson

[theman]

Seems to me Danny's weakness in the draft is ignoring the foreign players. Other GM's probably put too much emphasis on it (look at all the foreign busts) but Danny tends to ignore it and thus he missed on Barbousa, Nocioni. and Calderon.

[Zin5]

Hudson hasn't shown anything yet, even in preseason. He's just getting attention right now for his passion.

I wouldn't agree with that at all. Hudson has shown he can score and defend in the preseason. He's shown he can create his shot off the dribble, and he's pretty adept at taking what the defense gives him and making them pay. If they lay off, he'll pop a 3. If they crowd him, he'll take them off the dribble, and get a midrange jumper, or finish at the rim with either hand. Yes, it's just preseason, but Hudson's shown he can score at the NBA level already. It's about learning the PG position with him.

I'd also disagree with what's getting him attention: it isn't passion (though he has some), it's inner confidence. After seeing wallflowers like Gabe Pruitt, or deer-in-the-headlights guys like Giddens, it's refreshing to see a guy that believes from day 1 that he belongs on an NBA court. That's what everybody notices when they see Hudson--he acts like he belongs.

I like Hudson, but he's really only had two games this preseason where he really showed anything. And still, it's the preseason. Give him some real minutes before giving him a final verdict.

West has to be better GREAT!

We didn't keep him because we traded him for Ray.

Last season he was a starter for Cleveland and played well for them. Why do you rank him lower than a Powe, Gomes or Davis?

Is it because the Celtics didn't get value for him?

We did, when we got Ray.

The other is Giddens. He hasn't played yet. What little I've seen in the pre-season looks. I'd say he was "undetermined".

You really need to start checking your facts. We moved West along with the much more valuable #5 pick for Ray in 2007. Delonte's nothing special, at all.

Also, I agree with whoever said to put West/Allen in the OK group and Giddens/Hudson in the unknown. Can we at least see Giddens and Hudson get some minutes in the season before we right them off as bad or good? Hudson hasn't shown anything yet, even in preseason. He's just getting attention right now for his passion.

He is a career 38% shooter from 3 point range. A very good defender.

His wins produced per berri are 6.4 making him 12th among all shooting guards.

Wins Produced for others on your list who had significant playing time last year.
rondo 18.3
Jefferson 6.1 - missed a 40% of season, so say about 10.0
Kendrick 5.0
Powe was 4.8
Tony 1.6 - also missed significant time.
Gomes 0.6
Davis was MINUS 2.5 [did better in latter part of season.]

I say west is better than you recognize.

He was a starter on the CAV's, who were an OK team....lol.....

Uh huh, Delonte's not a system player at all. He had a huge part in those 66 wins Cleveland put up.

He's an average role player at best, not a difference maker, not what Seattle traded us Ray Allen for. There's a reason he couldn't get off the bench in Seattle, it's because he needs others around him to cover up his deficiencies. He was an upgrade over Pavlovic in Cleveland, which is saying absolutely nothing. Delonte's incredibly overrated but some of you kids here.

Seems to me Danny's weakness in the draft is ignoring the foreign players. Other GM's probably put too much emphasis on it (look at all the foreign busts) but Danny tends to ignore it and thus he missed on Barbousa, Nocioni. and Calderon.

IIRC, wasn't Danny interested in Barbosa? Or was that another team I'm thinking of. Maybe it was Chris Wallace that was interested in Barbosa. I definitely recall someone in this franchise being interested in him, but having a conflict of opinions in the front office and something about him being injured when we were working him out.

[chuckerz]

Technically, Rajon was drafted by the Suns and then traded to the Celts. And Perkins was drafted by the Grizzlies and then traded

[Zin5]

Technically, Rajon was drafted by the Suns and then traded to the Celts. And Perkins was drafted by the Grizzlies and then traded

We still effectively made those picks. Both were draft night deals, so I'm assuming arrangements were made before the picks.

[Wolves2011]

A great pick is when you get the best player still on the board. Therefore:

Great:
Al Jefferson
Ryan Gomes
Rajon Rondo (perhaps Danny's greatest pick, no one picked later comes close)
Leon Powe


Good picks (a better player might have been available but not at the same position)
Kendrick Perkins (ZaZa Pachulia?) Passed on Maciej Lempe (a good thing) and Sofoklis Schortsanitis.
Bill Walker: Mike Taylor?

Bad picks are where multiple better players were taken later in the draft and or a better player at the same position was available. You can argue Josh Howard is a better player than Perkins, but Perkins is a center Howard is not.

Bad Picks:

Brandon Hunter (yes a bad pick) consider these players: Marquis Daniels, Matt Carroll, Ime Udoka
Delonte West/ Tony Allen - My biggest problem here is they play the same position, beyond that still available were Kevin Martin, Sasha Vujacic, Beno Udrih, Anderson Varejão, Chris Duhon
Justin Reed: Trevor Ariza, Andres Nocioni, Maurice Evans
Orien Greene: Marcin Gortat, Amir Johnson, Jose Calderon
Pruitt : Glen Davis, Marc Gasol and Ramon Sessions
JR Giddens: Mario Chalmers, DeAndre Jordan, Chris Douglas-Roberts


Terrible pick are not only were there better players available at the position but the guy taken was a bust (based on where taken). And players passed on are big stars.

Terrible Picks
Marcus Banks: Luke Ridnour (Can't guard a chair but nice career), David West (all-star), Boris Diaw, Travis Outlaw, Kendrick Perkins (yes, we go him but he was better), Leandrinho Barbousa, Josh Howard, Mo Williams
Gerald Green: Hakim Warrick, Nate Robinson, Francisco Garcia, David Lee

Don't know yet (Giddens and Walker should probably be here)
Semih Erden
Lester Hudson

Don't forget Danny takes RISKS in the draft...

sometimes they work out..... like Jefferson....

And sometimes they don't like Gerald Green.

If you take the "safe" pick, you are less likely to have "busts" and you are also less likey to have unexpected Great players like Jefferson, who was the 2nd best player in that draft after Dwight Howard, but taken at #15 or #16 right out of high school.

[sam_I_am]

I don't think you can justify a pick as bad just because somebody better was taken later especially if that pick is made late first round or second round where it is expected that pick won't play in NBA.

There are exceptions of course as in very deep drafts. That is why Brandon Hunter, Orien Green were not terrible picks. They had better careers than the majority of second half of second round picks ever made.


Delonte West was a great pick in that it is so unusual to get such a productive player as low as he was drafted. However, in that draft there were a lot of really good players still on the board and a budding superstar in KMart.

That being said, going into any draft if you could get a combo guard that could start on a 67 win team, score 20 in a deciding game 7 on the road against the eventual champs including rattling in and out a 3 pointer that would have tied game in final minute....... you have to say that is very good if not great pick.