2023 NBA Draft – Thurs, 8PM, June 22

[Dogen]

I'm coolin' with Coulibaly. He looks so smooth.

Another Euro-stash? -- if he even lasts to 33 or 35.

[djFan71]

Dang, tankathon fixed itself and we only have 33 now. It was fun while it lasted.

[BostonCouchGM]

I'm coolin' with Coulibaly. He looks so smooth.

Another Euro-stash? -- if he even lasts to 33 or 35.

lottery talent whether he comes out this draft or 2024

[ConstableGeneva]

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[Smart2Nesmith43]

I'm coolin' with Coulibaly. He looks so smooth.

Another Euro-stash? -- if he even lasts to 33 or 35.

At this point, I would be shocked if he lasted into the second round. With Wembanyama, Rupert and Cissoko, France should end up with 4 first round guys. Pretty crazy to get their deepest draft by far the same year that the greatest french prospect of all time comes out. And next season, Risacher (best french wing prospect ever) is going to declare. Just insanity.

[cl2117]

I'm coolin' with Coulibaly. He looks so smooth.

Another Euro-stash? -- if he even lasts to 33 or 35.

At this point, I would be shocked if he lasted into the second round. With Wembanyama, Rupert and Cissoko, France should end up with 4 first round guys. Pretty crazy to get their deepest draft by far the same year that the greatest french prospect of all time comes out. And next season, Risacher (best french wing prospect ever) is going to declare. Just insanity.

Even if he does make it out of the 1st round, he seems like a classic Spurs picks and they'll be picking ahead of us regardless of whether we're 33 or 35.

I'd see if we could use Yam's rights to move up even a spot or two to snag him. Upside is well worth it.

[Hal14]

Really high on both Lively and Nnaji at this point. I've got them both top 20 on my big board.

Seems like no chance lively slips into the 2nd round - but if we somehow manage to trade up into the 20-28 range, perhaps we can snag him.

Nnaji has not yet declared for the draft, but I think he will. He's getting more and more buzz. Check out this piece on him:
https://www.noceilingsnba.com/p/around-the-world-james-nnaji

One note: although the article lists Nnaji at 6'10", 225 lbs, on film he definitely looks closer to 7'0", 250 lbs which is what RealGm has him listed as.

Here is his latest game, between 2 Europe powerhouses, Real Madrid and Barcelona.

The key play to watch is at 2:14. Look how powerful this put-back dunk is. He dunks it on Edy Tavares, who is arguably the best center in Europe, and is BIG, strong dude.

Watch on YouTube

Most mocks have Nnaji going late 1st - early 2nd round. So there's a chance he falls to us - especially if we get the 33rd pick, rather than 35. Getting Nnaji at 33 or 35 would be a huge win, imo. Or who knows, maybe we trade up into like the 25-30 range and snag him.

[Dogen]

I'm coolin' with Coulibaly. He looks so smooth.

Another Euro-stash? -- if he even lasts to 33 or 35.

At this point, I would be shocked if he lasted into the second round. With Wembanyama, Rupert and Cissoko, France should end up with 4 first round guys. Pretty crazy to get their deepest draft by far the same year that the greatest french prospect of all time comes out. And next season, Risacher (best french wing prospect ever) is going to declare. Just insanity.

Even if he does make it out of the 1st round, he seems like a classic Spurs picks and they'll be picking ahead of us regardless of whether we're 33 or 35.

I'd see if we could use Yam's rights to move up even a spot or two to snag him. Upside is well worth it.

The Yam ship has sailed, methinks. He didn't come over after summer league, and if he had, he'd be behind Payton Pritchard, who isn't even in the rotation. And it seems the team likes Davison.

Coulibaly fits a team need more, but it could be argued that he's so young that the team's needs may well change before he's ready to contribute to a team with championship aspirations. The talent looks to be there though; if he's a quick study he could get a few minutes in the RS.

[playa-hater]

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Wow.. NBA flexing their muscles.. Good.. Players want to get paid crazy Big dollars, least they can do is show up..

Of course all it will take is one top talent getting injured.. and then Bam!!

[Dogen]

The key play to watch is at 2:14. Look how powerful this put-back dunk is. He dunks it on Edy Tavares, who is arguably the best center in Europe, and is BIG, strong dude.

Watch on YouTube

Yes, but at 2:34 our old friend the Dancing Bear sends Nnaji back to the craddle.

[Hal14]

The key play to watch is at 2:14. Look how powerful this put-back dunk is. He dunks it on Edy Tavares, who is arguably the best center in Europe, and is BIG, strong dude.

Watch on YouTube

Yes, but at 2:34 our old friend the Dancing Bear sends Nnaji back to the craddle.

haha. Yeah, but that's not a bad play by Nnaji. He does a nice job contesting the dunk. You just tip your hat to Yabusele on that play - heck of a finish by him - he's been a very good player overseas these past couple years.

[playa-hater]

I'm coolin' with Coulibaly. He looks so smooth.

Another Euro-stash? -- if he even lasts to 33 or 35.

I would take him easy.

looking at him and being only 18 years old makes me see a High ceiling future. But I am getting tired of stashing players. He needs to stay stateside. Our strength training and skill development + G -League > Overseas..

[Dogen]

The key play to watch is at 2:14. Look how powerful this put-back dunk is. He dunks it on Edy Tavares, who is arguably the best center in Europe, and is BIG, strong dude.

Yes, but at 2:34 our old friend the Dancing Bear sends Nnaji back to the craddle.

haha. Yeah, but that's not a bad play by Nnaji. He does a nice job contesting the dunk. You just tip your hat to Yabusele on that play - heck of a finish by him - he's been a very good player overseas these past couple years.

One does not tip one's hat to The Yabusele, one daps one's bow!

[Dogen]

I'm coolin' with Coulibaly. He looks so smooth.

Another Euro-stash? -- if he even lasts to 33 or 35.

I would take him easy.

looking at him and being only 18 years old makes me see a High ceiling future. But I am getting tired of stashing players. He needs to stay stateside. Our strength training and skill development + G -League > Overseas..

I'd smash...er, stash!

None of these guys are going to get significant minutes on a serious contender. May as well go for the future high upside; one of 'em may pan out.

Coul dude kinda reminds me of a small, mobile Pascal Siakam.

[Hal14]

At this point, I would be shocked if he lasted into the second round. With Wembanyama, Rupert and Cissoko, France should end up with 4 first round guys. Pretty crazy to get their deepest draft by far the same year that the greatest french prospect of all time comes out. And next season, Risacher (best french wing prospect ever) is going to declare. Just insanity.

Even if he does make it out of the 1st round, he seems like a classic Spurs picks and they'll be picking ahead of us regardless of whether we're 33 or 35.

I'd see if we could use Yam's rights to move up even a spot or two to snag him. Upside is well worth it.

The Yam ship has sailed, methinks. He didn't come over after summer league, and if he had, he'd be behind Payton Pritchard, who isn't even in the rotation. And it seems the team likes Davison.

I don't know if I'd go that far. He didn't come to training camp last year, because what would be the point? We had a stacked back court with JB, smart, white and brogdon. Plus Pritchard as the 5th guy, who was getting rotation minutes in the NBA finals.

Yam is obviously gonna just stay overseas (where he's been the starting PG for a good EuroLeague team, playing for the GOAT europe basketball coach) until he has a realistic shot at making the roster and possibly even competing for some minutes.

We're all assuming Pritchard gets traded this offseason. I would think JD probably gets that roster spot. BUT i wouldn't be surpised if Yam gets it and JD stays on a 2-way next season.

Yam's case for getting the spot over JD is simple. Yam has 5 years experience playing pro ball, he's 2 years older and he's a 40% shooter from 3, whereas JD has 1 year experience playing pro ball, he's 2 years younger and is a 30% shooter from 3. Yam's game is more mature, more polished.

With that being said, JD obviously has higher upside. He's got a stronger build, much more athletic. But if we need a guy to fill the role Pritchard had this season (get spot mins off the bench, don't turn the ball over, don't make mistakes, hit open shots, move the ball, hold your own on D), Mazzulla might trust Yam in that role more.

Summer league will be interesting. I assume Yam and JD will both be on the team. As well as Begarin and Champagnie..

[Smart2Nesmith43]

I'm coolin' with Coulibaly. He looks so smooth.

Another Euro-stash? -- if he even lasts to 33 or 35.

I would take him easy.

looking at him and being only 18 years old makes me see a High ceiling future. But I am getting tired of stashing players. He needs to stay stateside. Our strength training and skill development + G -League > Overseas..

I understand not wanting to wait three years after a guy has been drafted to see him play a game for the team but there's tons of advantages to taking a draft and stash guy. The biggest one is freeing up a roster spot either for a vet or an UDFA. If you go the second route, it gives you two opportunities to hit on a prospect in a zone where let's face it the success rate is exceedingly low. Think about how drafting and stashing Begarin left a spot open to sign Hauser. Regardless of how Juhann turns out, the Celtics already outperformed their draft slot in that draft.

Coulibaly might have been available if he played for some random French team but playing next to Wembanyama, all the front offices in the league should be very aware of what he can do. Hard to believe someone isn't going to fall in love with his mixture of wingspan and youth. That's before going into what he can do with the ball in his hands which he hasn't shown much at the pro level yet but he's really flashed at the U21 level. With the U21, he's second in the entire league in scoring at 22 per game (behind Flo Pietrus' son) while shooting 62% from inside the arc. Obviously it's nowhere near the caliber of defenses he'll face in the NBA but the point is that he has enough skill to dominate at lower levels and someone is going to buy that he'll be able to transfer at least some of that in a couple years in the NBA.

[Hal14]

I doubt he falls to the 2nd round. But you never know - this could be the type of guy we can snag if we're able to get that 33rd pick, instead of 35.

Saw a mock the other day that had him go like 36 or 37.

Very talented and just turned 19.

Read on Twitter

Did this type of stuff at age 18 in the g league. He could develop into a star, long term.

[Hal14]

Would not hate it if we drafted TJD. He's projected to go right around where we're picking, too..

Watch on YouTube

[playa-hater]

I'm coolin' with Coulibaly. He looks so smooth.

Another Euro-stash? -- if he even lasts to 33 or 35.

I would take him easy.

looking at him and being only 18 years old makes me see a High ceiling future. But I am getting tired of stashing players. He needs to stay stateside. Our strength training and skill development + G -League > Overseas..

I understand not wanting to wait three years after a guy has been drafted to see him play a game for the team but there's tons of advantages to taking a draft and stash guy. The biggest one is freeing up a roster spot either for a vet or an UDFA. If you go the second route, it gives you two opportunities to hit on a prospect in a zone where let's face it the success rate is exceedingly low. Think about how drafting and stashing Begarin left a spot open to sign Hauser. Regardless of how Juhann turns out, the Celtics already outperformed their draft slot in that draft.

Coulibaly might have been available if he played for some random French team but playing next to Wembanyama, all the front offices in the league should be very aware of what he can do. Hard to believe someone isn't going to fall in love with his mixture of wingspan and youth. That's before going into what he can do with the ball in his hands which he hasn't shown much at the pro level yet but he's really flashed at the U21 level. With the U21, he's second in the entire league in scoring at 22 per game (behind Flo Pietrus' son) while shooting 62% from inside the arc. Obviously it's nowhere near the caliber of defenses he'll face in the NBA but the point is that he has enough skill to dominate at lower levels and someone is going to buy that he'll be able to transfer at least some of that in a couple years in the NBA.

OK let me back track a bit.. Thought this kid was 6'8ish.. at 6'6 I am cooling on him.. I don't want to keep ignoring Bigger players for SG wings that will never get a chance to play. At pick 33? I want our first RD talent to be able to contribute something within 2 years. This kid won't..

really hoping for a trade up (PP) or a sliding down "bigger player" to fall to us.

[Dogen]

I would take him easy.

looking at him and being only 18 years old makes me see a High ceiling future. But I am getting tired of stashing players. He needs to stay stateside. Our strength training and skill development + G -League > Overseas..

I understand not wanting to wait three years after a guy has been drafted to see him play a game for the team but there's tons of advantages to taking a draft and stash guy. The biggest one is freeing up a roster spot either for a vet or an UDFA. If you go the second route, it gives you two opportunities to hit on a prospect in a zone where let's face it the success rate is exceedingly low. Think about how drafting and stashing Begarin left a spot open to sign Hauser. Regardless of how Juhann turns out, the Celtics already outperformed their draft slot in that draft.

Coulibaly might have been available if he played for some random French team but playing next to Wembanyama, all the front offices in the league should be very aware of what he can do. Hard to believe someone isn't going to fall in love with his mixture of wingspan and youth. That's before going into what he can do with the ball in his hands which he hasn't shown much at the pro level yet but he's really flashed at the U21 level. With the U21, he's second in the entire league in scoring at 22 per game (behind Flo Pietrus' son) while shooting 62% from inside the arc. Obviously it's nowhere near the caliber of defenses he'll face in the NBA but the point is that he has enough skill to dominate at lower levels and someone is going to buy that he'll be able to transfer at least some of that in a couple years in the NBA.

OK let me back track a bit.. Thought this kid was 6'8ish.. at 6'6 I am cooling on him.. I don't want to keep ignoring Bigger players for SG wings that will never get a chance to play. At pick 33? I want our first RD talent to be able to contribute something within 2 years. This kid won't..

really hoping for a trade up (PP) or a sliding down "bigger player" to fall to us.

To be clear, I'm coolin' WITH Bilal Coulibaly, not coolin' ON him. And would be OK with another Euro stash.

So IF he comes out this year, and IF he is potentially there at 33/35, I'd be taking a long look at that prospect, perhaps even moving up.

A lot depends on what he wants to do after he declares, like, does he want to come over and play right away, or is he content to develop more in France? Those things may scare some teams off and cause him to drop, but for a team that's already loaded -- and looking more for vet help now -- such as the Celtics, it might be worth the wait in stacking assets overseas.