Welcome to Boston, JD Davison! – Appreciation Thread (Waived July 24, 2025)

[babyjax13]

FWIW Davison didn't develop the same kind of reputation on campus that someone like Collin Sexton did. Don't think it means he is a bad person or anything, just wasn't a leader on the team or in the community. Athletic, hoping he works out. Really he needs to be attached to Smart to figure out how best to use his physical tools and leverage his talent. He's got very good court vision and has a ton of bounce, handle can be loose, shot is developing.

[brackdan70]

I’m not holding my breath for the next coming of Ja Morant, but I think a legit NBA player that settles into a rotation somewhere is realistic. He’s got some translatable skills, but also plenty to work on.

That's my one criticism with the pick. He is essentially going to use us as college to develop. Then, once het gets to be a rotation eligible player, he probably leaves.

For that reason, he has to become a two-way player for us. He isn't ready to play.

Yeah likely outcome. I think we see how how the summer goes, but I also wouldn’t mind locking him into a cheap longer term deal. 2 way is probably the smart way to go though.

[zoyathedestroya]

Read on Twitter

[return2glory]

https://www.celticsblog.com/2022/6/26/23182348/exploring-jd-davisons-game-boston-celtics-jayson-tatum-jaylen-brown-marcus-smart-ime-udoka

Exploring JD Davison’s growing game.

Good breakdown.

[darrendaye]

https://www.celticsblog.com/2022/6/26/23182348/exploring-jd-davisons-game-boston-celtics-jayson-tatum-jaylen-brown-marcus-smart-ime-udoka

Exploring JD Davison’s growing game.

Good breakdown.

I find myself favoring the route of trying to convince Begarin to accept a two way contract this year and put absolutely all your possible resources into getting the best coaching of combo guard and slasher development and an assistant with some shooting development as well. Only downside is you are likely going to need to add them to your big league team by next season I would say.

But developing both of these guys is a very worthwhile investment. But you need to make it a very effective development environment. I am a fan of loud finishes.

[zoyathedestroya]

Read on Twitter

[LewisnotMiller]

Watch on YouTube

JD has more bounce than Hauser.

I mean...even I wouldn't miss from that close.
Mind you, I'd need a step ladder to get 'that close'.

He's got some ups.

[LewisnotMiller]

LOL. I think Demetrius Jackson (who has been on the Celtics books since the middle ages) is a more apt comparison than Ja Morant.
Jackson played in Spain a year ago but appears to be out of basketball.
Another comparison would be a poor man's Coby White (before White cut his hair).

I watched a lot of Jackson in college, and thought he'd stick. But he was smaller and less explosive than Davison. I just figured his handle and smarts would make him a solid third point at the very least, with upside as a backup.

Missed the mark there, obviously. And I'm almost certain Davison won't work out, because picks in the 50s don't. But Jackson doesn't spring to mind for me when watching Davison.

(To be fair, neither does Morant. But I guess that's the hair/jump combo more than a real comp of games)

[jfs1000d]

As long as his hair in a bun, I am cool. LOL. I hated Elfrin Payton's hair, to the point I didn't want to even draft him.
If you hair isn't thick and curly to get a classic afro, ya gotta wear the dreads like Jae Crowder or something. You can't have that hair flopping everywhere.

Most annoying hair since Kelly Olynk's man bun. LOL.

[sam_I_am]

LOL. I think Demetrius Jackson (who has been on the Celtics books since the middle ages) is a more apt comparison than Ja Morant.
Jackson played in Spain a year ago but appears to be out of basketball.
Another comparison would be a poor man's Coby White (before White cut his hair).

I watched a lot of Jackson in college, and thought he'd stick. But he was smaller and less explosive than Davison. I just figured his handle and smarts would make him a solid third point at the very least, with upside as a backup.

Missed the mark there, obviously. And I'm almost certain Davison won't work out, because picks in the 50s don't. But Jackson doesn't spring to mind for me when watching Davison.

(To be fair, neither does Morant. But I guess that's the hair/jump combo more than a real comp of games)

Watching the scrimmage made it clear what is holding JD back. It’s not the spacing that was problem in college, it’s his ball handling just like his coach said. His speed and explosiveness would be an awesome weapon if he could could knife through tight spaces decisively. You can see the hesitation and insecurity when he dribbles against pressure. I still like the pick a lot because he has talent and toughness. I hope they can stash or 2-way him this year because after Brogdon trade there is no role for him yet.

[Hal14]

LOL. I think Demetrius Jackson (who has been on the Celtics books since the middle ages) is a more apt comparison than Ja Morant.
Jackson played in Spain a year ago but appears to be out of basketball.
Another comparison would be a poor man's Coby White (before White cut his hair).

I watched a lot of Jackson in college, and thought he'd stick. But he was smaller and less explosive than Davison. I just figured his handle and smarts would make him a solid third point at the very least, with upside as a backup.

Missed the mark there, obviously. And I'm almost certain Davison won't work out, because picks in the 50s don't. But Jackson doesn't spring to mind for me when watching Davison.

(To be fair, neither does Morant. But I guess that's the hair/jump combo more than a real comp of games)

Watching the scrimmage made it clear what is holding JD back. It’s not the spacing that was problem in college, it’s his ball handling just like his coach said. His speed and explosiveness would be an awesome weapon if he could could knife through tight spaces decisively. You can see the hesitation and insecurity when he dribbles against pressure. I still like the pick a lot because he has talent and toughness. I hope they can stash or 2-way him this year because after Brogdon trade there is no role for him yet.

You mean like he does here?

Watch on YouTube

Or like he does in the first play of this vid?

Watch on YouTube

You seem to be basing an awful lot off 10 mins of scrimmage highlights for a kid who literally just met his summer league teammates and coaches..

[sam_I_am]

I watched a lot of Jackson in college, and thought he'd stick. But he was smaller and less explosive than Davison. I just figured his handle and smarts would make him a solid third point at the very least, with upside as a backup.

Missed the mark there, obviously. And I'm almost certain Davison won't work out, because picks in the 50s don't. But Jackson doesn't spring to mind for me when watching Davison.

(To be fair, neither does Morant. But I guess that's the hair/jump combo more than a real comp of games)

Watching the scrimmage made it clear what is holding JD back. It’s not the spacing that was problem in college, it’s his ball handling just like his coach said. His speed and explosiveness would be an awesome weapon if he could could knife through tight spaces decisively. You can see the hesitation and insecurity when he dribbles against pressure. I still like the pick a lot because he has talent and toughness. I hope they can stash or 2-way him this year because after Brogdon trade there is no role for him yet.

You mean like he does here?

Watch on YouTube

Or like he does in the first play of this vid?

Watch on YouTube

You seem to be basing an awful lot off 10 mins of scrimmage highlights for a kid who literally just met his summer league teammates and coaches..

Well he is also a late second round pick. I have never seen him play against NBA talent before so I really have nothing else to go on. I actually liked what I saw….he looks like he belongs and even stood out as one of better 4-5 players. I think you would agree that he didn’t look like a guy who is ready to take minutes away from Smart, White, Brogdon and PP though ……right? Of course all that could change come October ….it has happened before.

[Hal14]

Watching the scrimmage made it clear what is holding JD back. It’s not the spacing that was problem in college, it’s his ball handling just like his coach said. His speed and explosiveness would be an awesome weapon if he could could knife through tight spaces decisively. You can see the hesitation and insecurity when he dribbles against pressure. I still like the pick a lot because he has talent and toughness. I hope they can stash or 2-way him this year because after Brogdon trade there is no role for him yet.

You mean like he does here?

Watch on YouTube

Or like he does in the first play of this vid?

Watch on YouTube

You seem to be basing an awful lot off 10 mins of scrimmage highlights for a kid who literally just met his summer league teammates and coaches..

Well he is also a late second round pick. I have never seen him play against NBA talent before so I really have nothing else to go on. I actually liked what I saw….he looks like he belongs and even stood out as one of better 4-5 players. I think you would agree that he didn’t look like a guy who is ready to take minutes away from Smart, White, Brogdon and PP though ……right? Of course all that could change come October ….it has happened before.

I agree with the bolded part. I've said all along that he is likely going to spend his first 1 or 2 years in Maine and after that, see if he's ready to start getting mins off the bench..

As far as "well he's JUST a 2nd round pick" ...
1) you should know there's been tons of quality NBA players who have been 2nd round picks or undrafted, including the reigning back to back NBA MVP, Jokic.

2) I posted this a few pages back, but "Davison went 8th overall in this mock draft that was done right before the season:
https://www.nbadraft.net/1252045-2/

Had an up and down freshman season at Alabama, but a lot of players end up being better in the NBA than they were in college - especially guys who were only in college 1 year, which is a small sample size. Plus, it's not like Alabama is considered a factory for churning out NBA stars - their coach kept switching up the starting lineup all the time, Davison was starting sometimes, other times coming off the bench. Sometimes ran the point, other times was out there with Quinerly, who was the starting PG for Bama the year before so was tough for him to know what his role was consistently. Also, Davison went to a small-ish HS so quite a jump in competition from there to the gauntlet that is the SEC.

Arguably Bama's 2 best players (Davison and Quinerly) play the same position, which is bad roster construction and put both of them in an awkward position. Quinerly probably felt threatened that here's this young hot shot 5 star recruit coming in to take my spot. And Davison as a 5 star recruit coming in normally would get the keys to the offense, would be THE MAN running the show, but he probably felt bad coming in and taking Quinerly's spot, since Quinerly was their best returning player.

There was kind of a similar situation with Kentucky. 5 star recruit PG TyTy Washington coming in, but they also had another PG Savir Wheeler. But that worked out better for Washington because a) Calipari is a freaking hall of fame coach, on a completely different level of a coach compared to Nate Oats from Bama, who might get fired any day now and b) the strength of Washington's game is shooting, so it was an easy transition for Wheeler to run point and have Washington play off-ball. However, the strength of Davison's game is dribble penetration, drive and kick, creating off the bounce (especially in the open floor) as opposed to shooting, so it was much trickier to make the double-PG lineups work for Bama.

Even still, Washington was a lottery pick preseason - some even had him top 10 but he ended up getting drafted 29th so his stock dropped quite a bit as a result of the college basketball season - no doubt a big reason for that is Kentucky playing 2 PGs together. Same thing happened with Davison..

Bama overall was a really inconsistent team - they beat Gonzaga at one point (who i think was ranked #1 in the country at the time) but then they also lost to some really bad teams. A lot of that inconsistency is likely

If NBA teams took some of that context into account, and focused more on Davison's film and scouting report coming out of HS, he would have been a 1st rounder for sure, possibly even a lottery pick."

[Feed Your Head]

People can like Davidson, and also realize the chances of him sticking are under 5%.

[CelticsPride18]

People can like Davidson, and also realize the chances of him sticking are under 5%.

Probably lower

[Feed Your Head]

People can like Davidson, and also realize the chances of him sticking are under 5%.

Probably lower

Hater.

[CelticsPride18]

People can like Davidson, and also realize the chances of him sticking are under 5%.

Probably lower

Hater.

I hope the kid succeeds but I would be disappointed if we give him a spot on the 15 man roster next season. He can on 1 of the 2 way players.

[Shak_Celts]

I don't like some words I have heard/seen lately. Don't like that he blamed his Bama play on spacing or that he's counting on it to open up his game. fans and journalist can say that, I want him to talk about his issues he can fix himself. I don't want that to be an excuse he leans on because it gives room to blame anything else if it's also tough for him in the NBA.

I don't like what the coach said about not bringing it every day, I don't know dogs who don't go hard every chance they get, because they want to be the best at what they do, they want to show they are the best. The best players need to outwork everyone else. Essentially saying he is resting on his natural ability. It just gives me Romeo vibes, just do enough work to stay fit, but not enough to improve. Immature. I know he's only 19, but that's a lot of guys coming out these days since they can be 1 and done.

There were more things but I can't remember atm.

I know one thing, our best players are all known as very hard workers. They aren't going to take to anyone who isn't going to put in real work to be their best. You aren't getting playing time here if you don't work and you'll be shipped out if you don't take the opportunity serious. He didn't want to go hard to get ahead of their starting PG in college, these dudes in the NBA are 10 tiers better, is he going to cower to them too? You gotta go hard to be a Celtics, they aren't handing anything to you! Ask Rob, Brad didn't care about the flashes, he made Rob work to get minutes and over the seasons people talked more and more about how hard he was working. Then comes Ime who challenged him even more and now he's excelling.

Talent is nice, but you need more in the NBA!

[31to6]

I don't like some words I have heard/seen lately. Don't like that he blamed his Bama play on spacing or that he's counting on it to open up his game. fans and journalist can say that, I want him to talk about his issues he can fix himself. I don't want that to be an excuse he leans on because it gives room to blame anything else if it's also tough for him in the NBA.

I don't like what the coach said about not bringing it every day, I don't know dogs who don't go hard every chance they get, because they want to be the best at what they do, they want to show they are the best. The best players need to outwork everyone else. Essentially saying he is resting on his natural ability. It just gives me Romeo vibes, just do enough work to stay fit, but not enough to improve. Immature. I know he's only 19, but that's a lot of guys coming out these days since they can be 1 and done.

There were more things but I can't remember atm.

I know one thing, our best players are all known as very hard workers. They aren't going to take to anyone who isn't going to put in real work to be their best. You aren't getting playing time here if you don't work and you'll be shipped out if you don't take the opportunity serious. He didn't want to go hard to get ahead of their starting PG in college, these dudes in the NBA are 10 tiers better, is he going to cower to them too? You gotta go hard to be a Celtics, they aren't handing anything to you! Ask Rob, Brad didn't care about the flashes, he made Rob work to get minutes and over the seasons people talked more and more about how hard he was working. Then comes Ime who challenged him even more and now he's excelling.

Talent is nice, but you need more in the NBA!

He’s a lottery ticket/swing for the fences pick due to his athleticism. He likely needs everything you say he needs and more, and is about to start getting a crash course in it. I watched the “57 pts in high school” video above and there was some shameful defense — including “trailing” plays defensively in case the ball comes the other way — but that’s all part of it, right?

If there was pressure on him to come in and play right away — or heck, to EVER pan out — that’d be one thing. But there isn’t, and if he wants this job as you said (and as he said) he’s going to learn how to work for it.

[sam_I_am]

I don't like some words I have heard/seen lately. Don't like that he blamed his Bama play on spacing or that he's counting on it to open up his game. fans and journalist can say that, I want him to talk about his issues he can fix himself. I don't want that to be an excuse he leans on because it gives room to blame anything else if it's also tough for him in the NBA.

I don't like what the coach said about not bringing it every day, I don't know dogs who don't go hard every chance they get, because they want to be the best at what they do, they want to show they are the best. The best players need to outwork everyone else. Essentially saying he is resting on his natural ability. It just gives me Romeo vibes, just do enough work to stay fit, but not enough to improve. Immature. I know he's only 19, but that's a lot of guys coming out these days since they can be 1 and done.

There were more things but I can't remember atm.

I know one thing, our best players are all known as very hard workers. They aren't going to take to anyone who isn't going to put in real work to be their best. You aren't getting playing time here if you don't work and you'll be shipped out if you don't take the opportunity serious. He didn't want to go hard to get ahead of their starting PG in college, these dudes in the NBA are 10 tiers better, is he going to cower to them too? You gotta go hard to be a Celtics, they aren't handing anything to you! Ask Rob, Brad didn't care about the flashes, he made Rob work to get minutes and over the seasons people talked more and more about how hard he was working. Then comes Ime who challenged him even more and now he's excelling.

Talent is nice, but you need more in the NBA!

Thing is …. you can learn how to work hard by following a mentor’s example. We have seen RW go from underachiever to phenomenon because he put in the work. You can’t learn a 40 inch vertical so there is reason to be hopeful.