2024 NBA Draft Thread – (June 26 & 27)

[BK_2020]

The Lakers record DRAMATICALLY IMPROVED AFTER VANDERBILT JOINED THEM. And the Jazz's record dropped dramatically after Vanderbilt (and Conley) left them.

Vanderbilt is a nice role player but you are making it sound like he's the one who drove the Lakers' surge. He was one of like 5 new players who joined at the deadline. AD also missed only 2 games, which is 100% the biggest factor in their surge.
The Jazz didn't just lose Conley and Beasley to trade. Clarkson was out for essentially the entire post-deadline period. Kessler was out for many games.
Vanderbilt played 24 minutes a game for the Lakers. His MPG went down to 16.5 in the playoffs. A player who can completely shut down 1-5 will play more than that, no matter how poor your offense is.
Vando isn't some Bill Russell on skates that we can't compare Jordan Walsh to. Vando's trajectory is very much within grasp for our very own draft pick.

[Dogen]

A concise article on VVB: https://www.nbabigboard.com/p/the-mystery-man-of-the-nba-draft

Looks like a good pick up. Didn't get drafted but has a chance to impress at summer league. Fits the long (6'10") 3pt shooter that could fill a need. Looking forward to seeing his defense (not that summer league is the best place to evaluate).

[Dogen]

Jaime Jaquez, O-Max Prosper (both not available at 25 or 31), Leonard Miller, GG Jackson, and Rayan Rupert (available to pick), are the guys I'll be keeping an eye on in comparison to Walsh over the next few years as guys I thought might be good picks for Celtics.

Who are your "ones that got away" from the draft?

Edit: I'll add Gueye and Nnaji to my list. Two bigs that were selected and were Celtics for like 50 milliseconds.

[Dogen]

More Vincent Valerio-Bodon. He's 22 so has some experience (it may have worked against him in the draft).

Most videos are all about the offense. He does have some good moves and a sweet shot but I'm wondering if he can guard perimeter and front court. Here's some footage of shot blocking at 3:20 in:

Watch on YouTube

[165bows]

More Vincent Valerio-Bodon. He's 22 so has some experience (it may have worked against him in the draft).

Most videos are all about the offense. He does have some good moves and a sweet shot but I'm wondering if he can guard perimeter and front court. Here's some footage of shot blocking at 3:20 in:

Watch on YouTube

Wonder if he’s a two-way contract candidate.

[Hal14]

More Vincent Valerio-Bodon. He's 22 so has some experience (it may have worked against him in the draft).

Most videos are all about the offense. He does have some good moves and a sweet shot but I'm wondering if he can guard perimeter and front court. Here's some footage of shot blocking at 3:20 in:

Watch on YouTube

Wonder if he’s a two-way contract candidate.

I watched some of his game tape. Not a ton, but from what I saw, Valerio-Bodon is meh on defense. Had some shaky closeouts where he took a bad angle, some times here and there where he was slow footed, got beat off the dribble.

Doesn't seem like a terrible defender but not great. I did see one play where he hustled, used his length and good timing to block 2 shots on the same possession, though so there is some potential on that end.

We'll find out more in summer league.

But overall, I'm intrigued. The combination of size (6'9.5"), pretty good athleticism, and good shooting at a fairly young age (22) is definitely intriguing and absolutely worth taking the flier to see what he can do in SL. Also, decent passing, decent driving and could be at least average defensively.

Would not be shocked if he makes the team.

Or, we could give him a 2-way. But IDK, you typically don't see international guys on a 2-way, since they can make so much more $ overseas. So we'll see..

[CelticsPride18]

More Vincent Valerio-Bodon. He's 22 so has some experience (it may have worked against him in the draft).

Most videos are all about the offense. He does have some good moves and a sweet shot but I'm wondering if he can guard perimeter and front court. Here's some footage of shot blocking at 3:20 in:

Watch on YouTube

Wonder if he’s a two-way contract candidate.

I watched some of his game tape. Not a ton, but from what I saw, Valerio-Bodon is meh on defense. Had some shaky closeouts where he took a bad angle, some times here and there where he was slow footed, got beat off the dribble.

Doesn't seem like a terrible defender but not great. I did see one play where he hustled, used his length and good timing to block 2 shots on the same possession, though so there is some potential on that end.

We'll find out more in summer league.

But overall, I'm intrigued. The combination of size (6'9.5"), pretty good athleticism, and good shooting at a fairly young age (22) is definitely intriguing and absolutely worth taking the flier to see what he can do in SL. Also, decent passing, decent driving and could be at least average defensively.

Would not be shocked if he makes the team.

Or, we could give him a 2-way. But IDK, you typically don't see international guys on a 2-way, since they can make so much more $ overseas. So we'll see..

Getting better on close outs is fixable. The important thing is his lateral agility. Is it poor from what you have seen?

[165bows]

38. Boston— Jordan Walsh: A++++

Jordan Walsh would have been an A pick at 25th overall as one of the best picks on the board, and this grade gets a + for every additional 2nd rounder that Brad Stevens scooped in 4 trades.

He ended up getting

—2024 Mavs 2nd (probably in the 40s)
—2025 best of WAS/DET/GSW 2nd (probably early 30s)
—2026 best of NOP/POR/NYK/MIN 2nd (probably 30s)
—2027 Atlanta 2nd (who knows where)

That is a monster haul when I had Jordan Walsh vying with Julian Phillips for best player available at the pick he traded down from.

This is why more pulls are better. The difference between 25 and 38 was trivial, because he got possibly the best player available at 25, and then another two future picks of similar value and two other ones that could be decent in their own right. These trades net multiplied the value of #25 by 4x or something insane.

Sometimes teams need to consolidate so there’s a limit to how much this can be done, but this is such a sharp way to run a team and steal free value from the clueless teams like Detroit.

https://deanondraft.substack.com/p/2023-draft-grades-pick-by-pick

[cloverleaf]

The Hungarian Hooper should be fun.

[Hal14]

Wonder if he’s a two-way contract candidate.

I watched some of his game tape. Not a ton, but from what I saw, Valerio-Bodon is meh on defense. Had some shaky closeouts where he took a bad angle, some times here and there where he was slow footed, got beat off the dribble.

Doesn't seem like a terrible defender but not great. I did see one play where he hustled, used his length and good timing to block 2 shots on the same possession, though so there is some potential on that end.

We'll find out more in summer league.

But overall, I'm intrigued. The combination of size (6'9.5"), pretty good athleticism, and good shooting at a fairly young age (22) is definitely intriguing and absolutely worth taking the flier to see what he can do in SL. Also, decent passing, decent driving and could be at least average defensively.

Would not be shocked if he makes the team.

Or, we could give him a 2-way. But IDK, you typically don't see international guys on a 2-way, since they can make so much more $ overseas. So we'll see..

Getting better on close outs is fixable. The important thing is his lateral agility. Is it poor from what you have seen?

From what I've seen it's decent - especially for a dude of his size (6'9.5"). Not bad but not great.

There's definitely some potential there with this guy. Very intrigued to see how he looks at summer league.

[BostonCouchGM]

One trade too many in my opinion, but I think it was still a strong (and hilarious) draft.

Loved Brad's first move. Drop back 6 spots to pick up two second round picks and unlock the $5m MLE. There were plenty of guys that looked like they'd still be available at #31 that I would have taken at #25, so it seemed like a no brainer given all the other elements it added in terms of the future 2nds and MLE.

Second trade was great too. Nnaji was a guy I would have really liked, even at #25, so bit disappointed to see us move back but the value was really strong getting #34 and #39. There were still plenty of good options left so didn't feel like we'd entirely miss the boat ending up at #34 and could take a big swing at #39.

Third trade got me a little worried. I didn't like the idea of being left at the back of the queue in terms of choice for those early 2nd round guys. There were still enough intriguing guys that you could be confident you were getting a solid lottery ticket but I would have rather had more choice than taking the leftovers. I was pumped when we landed Walsh and Gueye though and thought Brad nailed all 3 trades.

Walsh was clearly a guy they liked for #35 and I had last season said it'd be nice to have a defensive specialist on the wing, so solid albeit not exciting choice. Gueye has boom/bust written all over him. Could end up being nothing, could end up being the next Pascal Siakam. That's exactly the kind of player I want to see drafted in this range by my team. With the addition of a third two-way contract loved seeing us move back and get an exciting lottery ticket.

Then the final trade comes through and took the excitement out of the draft for me and left it just being a relatively boring yet effective draft.

The picks we've landed seem like they're decent, which is a big positive. It's not like we've got the Bucks 2024 pick. Dallas is the worst, but best of Detroit/Washington 2025 could be really high, likely Portland's 2026 post-Dame, Atlanta's 2027 is far enough out that you don't know. So that's nice and Brad obviously looked around at what 5 second round draft picks can you get you at the deadline and thought he should load up which makes sense.

So ultimately Walsh, the $5m MLE, 4 decent future 2nds for minor deadline deals for #25. Pretty good manoeuvring even if it's not thrilling stuff.

yep. He got too cute. I didn't mind the trade backs but once we had two picks with some intriguing talent still on the board he should have drafted a couple of them. I'm not mad at the Walsh pick though there were other guys I'd have taken, but I am disappointed that we didn't use the 2nd pick.

Vukcevic
Jackson
Gueye
Lewis
Tyson
GG Jackson

all the above were worth drafting and would have made the roster. Some actual upside too with potential at being major contributors. But Brad didn't see that and chose to kick the can down the road. Oh well. Let's just hope we don't regret it like we do with the 2020 draft (Bane) and even more disastrous 2019 draft (passed on Poole, Claxton, Keldon Johnson multiple times)

Eh, there was no sense in making 2 draft picks. A veteran team that's a contender doesn't need 2 rookies. Hard enough for 1 rookie to try and make the team and somehow scratch and claw for some minutes.

And as for your list, Walsh is a better prospect than all of those guys imo, except GG. And I had GG ranked just barely ahead of Walsh, on the same tier. But that's just BPA. In terms of fit/need for this Celtics team, Walsh is by far a better fit than GG. Walsh is a much better defender, much better ball mover, higher motor, etc.

Grant might be leaving. PP wants out. We just traded Muscala and Gallo. Horford is old. Timelord constantly injured. Brown may leave. Brogdon is injured. Don't tell me we didn't need to draft a 2nd player lol. And I like Walsh, it's debatable if any of those guys are better than him but that's not really the point, we ALSO could have had one of them as well. I don't care if it's another stash. Just bring in more talent. Our cap situation should we be extending Porzingis will require us to have a slew of cheap players. That's what that additional 2nd round guy could have been. And he would have been developed and ready to contribute by the time we're maxing Jaylen and then Jayson. So yeah, we desperately needed to use that second pick and we'll regret it. Guaranteed.

[ThePigeon]

yep. He got too cute. I didn't mind the trade backs but once we had two picks with some intriguing talent still on the board he should have drafted a couple of them. I'm not mad at the Walsh pick though there were other guys I'd have taken, but I am disappointed that we didn't use the 2nd pick.

Vukcevic
Jackson
Gueye
Lewis
Tyson
GG Jackson

all the above were worth drafting and would have made the roster. Some actual upside too with potential at being major contributors. But Brad didn't see that and chose to kick the can down the road. Oh well. Let's just hope we don't regret it like we do with the 2020 draft (Bane) and even more disastrous 2019 draft (passed on Poole, Claxton, Keldon Johnson multiple times)

Eh, there was no sense in making 2 draft picks. A veteran team that's a contender doesn't need 2 rookies. Hard enough for 1 rookie to try and make the team and somehow scratch and claw for some minutes.

And as for your list, Walsh is a better prospect than all of those guys imo, except GG. And I had GG ranked just barely ahead of Walsh, on the same tier. But that's just BPA. In terms of fit/need for this Celtics team, Walsh is by far a better fit than GG. Walsh is a much better defender, much better ball mover, higher motor, etc.

Grant might be leaving. PP wants out. We just traded Muscala and Gallo. Horford is old. Timelord constantly injured. Brown may leave. Brogdon is injured. Don't tell me we didn't need to draft a 2nd player lol. And I like Walsh, it's debatable if any of those guys are better than him but that's not really the point, we ALSO could have had one of them as well. I don't care if it's another stash. Just bring in more talent. Our cap situation should we be extending Porzingis will require us to have a slew of cheap players. That's what that additional 2nd round guy could have been. And he would have been developed and ready to contribute by the time we're maxing Jaylen and then Jayson. So yeah, we desperately needed to use that second pick and we'll regret it. Guaranteed.

You are right
We need to form a pipeline of cheap players we can develop on the team or in Main. We need more 2nd rounders (cheaper than 1st rounders) and UFDA to develop
Brad is asleep right now. I thought we would have at least one more two way signed, preferably a big

Maybe Brad is introducing and easing more experienced players in Main - Kissoonlal, Valentine, Shayok, Snell

[zoyathedestroya]

We had two second rounders (from the 25th pick). Turned them into five. I’m not a math genius or anything, but I think that’ll help fill the pipeline of cheap, young talent. We still have Begarin and Madar we’ve yet to roster.

[Parliament10]

Eh, there was no sense in making 2 draft picks. A veteran team that's a contender doesn't need 2 rookies. Hard enough for 1 rookie to try and make the team and somehow scratch and claw for some minutes.

And as for your list, Walsh is a better prospect than all of those guys imo, except GG. And I had GG ranked just barely ahead of Walsh, on the same tier. But that's just BPA. In terms of fit/need for this Celtics team, Walsh is by far a better fit than GG. Walsh is a much better defender, much better ball mover, higher motor, etc.

Grant might be leaving. PP wants out. We just traded Muscala and Gallo. Horford is old. Timelord constantly injured. Brown may leave. Brogdon is injured. Don't tell me we didn't need to draft a 2nd player lol. And I like Walsh, it's debatable if any of those guys are better than him but that's not really the point, we ALSO could have had one of them as well. I don't care if it's another stash. Just bring in more talent. Our cap situation should we be extending Porzingis will require us to have a slew of cheap players. That's what that additional 2nd round guy could have been. And he would have been developed and ready to contribute by the time we're maxing Jaylen and then Jayson. So yeah, we desperately needed to use that second pick and we'll regret it. Guaranteed.

You are right
We need to form a pipeline of cheap players we can develop on the team or in Main. We need more 2nd rounders (cheaper than 1st rounders) and UFDA to develop
Brad is asleep right now. I thought we would have at least one more two way signed, preferably a big

Maybe Brad is introducing and easing more experienced players in Main - Kissoonlal, Valentine, Shayok, Snell

Probably doesn't make sense to sign many/any Two-Ways, right off the bat.
We can add a number of players to our Summer League team. I don't think that there's a max roster limit.

Then after that, we can have up to 6 x Exhibit 10's at any one time. I think that the Two-Way Battles come after that.
Remember, that this year we can Roster up to 3 x Two-Ways. And the Offseason (Full) Roster Limit is 20-Players.

Read on Twitter

[cl2117]

Probably doesn't make sense to sign many/any Two-Ways, right off the bat.
We can add a number of players to our Summer League team. I don't think that there's a max roster limit.

Then after that, we can have up to 6 x Exhibit 10's at any one time. I think that the Two-Way Battles come after that.
Remember, that this year we can Roster up to 3 x Two-Ways. And the Offseason (Full) Roster Limit is 20-Players.

This confuses me a bit. Seems like some other teams have already loaded up on two-ways and exhibit 10's.

For example Sixers already signed three two-ways and an exhibit 10, Bucks and Lakers have a pair of each. Other teams haven't done much/anything yet, so it's not like we're alone, but it just confuses me what the differing approaches are about. For me logic would dictate that it makes sense to at least get 1 or 2 signed early on to avoid missing the boat on all the best UDFA's (assuming you don't have guys already in place for those two-way slots, in which case it makes sense to not jump in early).

Maybe suggests JD and/or Walsh don't make the 15 man, or Yam maybe comes over, or maybe I'm not reading into it correctly. Maybe we're just not an appealing destination. But I feel like it's a positive thing to have already taken a flyer on one of the better UDFA's just so you're not scraping the bottom of the barrel later on.

[Homerclease]

yep. He got too cute. I didn't mind the trade backs but once we had two picks with some intriguing talent still on the board he should have drafted a couple of them. I'm not mad at the Walsh pick though there were other guys I'd have taken, but I am disappointed that we didn't use the 2nd pick.

Vukcevic
Jackson
Gueye
Lewis
Tyson
GG Jackson

all the above were worth drafting and would have made the roster. Some actual upside too with potential at being major contributors. But Brad didn't see that and chose to kick the can down the road. Oh well. Let's just hope we don't regret it like we do with the 2020 draft (Bane) and even more disastrous 2019 draft (passed on Poole, Claxton, Keldon Johnson multiple times)

Eh, there was no sense in making 2 draft picks. A veteran team that's a contender doesn't need 2 rookies. Hard enough for 1 rookie to try and make the team and somehow scratch and claw for some minutes.

And as for your list, Walsh is a better prospect than all of those guys imo, except GG. And I had GG ranked just barely ahead of Walsh, on the same tier. But that's just BPA. In terms of fit/need for this Celtics team, Walsh is by far a better fit than GG. Walsh is a much better defender, much better ball mover, higher motor, etc.

Grant might be leaving. PP wants out. We just traded Muscala and Gallo. Horford is old. Timelord constantly injured. Brown may leave. Brogdon is injured. Don't tell me we didn't need to draft a 2nd player lol. And I like Walsh, it's debatable if any of those guys are better than him but that's not really the point, we ALSO could have had one of them as well. I don't care if it's another stash. Just bring in more talent. Our cap situation should we be extending Porzingis will require us to have a slew of cheap players. That's what that additional 2nd round guy could have been. And he would have been developed and ready to contribute by the time we're maxing Jaylen and then Jayson. So yeah, we desperately needed to use that second pick and we'll regret it. Guaranteed.

I wanted to keep Gueye. Not a big fan of punting that pick 4 years down the line to ATL. Thought that kid had some nice tools to develop but it wasn’t meant to be. Don’t think he would’ve provided any sort of immediate impact but a guy like Gueye is exactly the type I prefer to roll the dice on with a second

[ThePigeon]

Grant might be leaving. PP wants out. We just traded Muscala and Gallo. Horford is old. Timelord constantly injured. Brown may leave. Brogdon is injured. Don't tell me we didn't need to draft a 2nd player lol. And I like Walsh, it's debatable if any of those guys are better than him but that's not really the point, we ALSO could have had one of them as well. I don't care if it's another stash. Just bring in more talent. Our cap situation should we be extending Porzingis will require us to have a slew of cheap players. That's what that additional 2nd round guy could have been. And he would have been developed and ready to contribute by the time we're maxing Jaylen and then Jayson. So yeah, we desperately needed to use that second pick and we'll regret it. Guaranteed.

You are right
We need to form a pipeline of cheap players we can develop on the team or in Main. We need more 2nd rounders (cheaper than 1st rounders) and UFDA to develop
Brad is asleep right now. I thought we would have at least one more two way signed, preferably a big

Maybe Brad is introducing and easing more experienced players in Main - Kissoonlal, Valentine, Shayok, Snell

Probably doesn't make sense to sign many/any Two-Ways, right off the bat.
We can add a number of players to our Summer League team. I don't think that there's a max roster limit.

Then after that, we can have up to 6 x Exhibit 10's at any one time. I think that the Two-Way Battles come after that.
Remember, that this year we can Roster up to 3 x Two-Ways. And the Offseason (Full) Roster Limit is 20-Players.

Read on Twitter

Agree. But - if you battle other teams for good prospects - you offer a two-way contract off the bat (Sonogo, Tshiwbwe, Tubelis, Terquavion Smith etc)

[Smart2Nesmith43]

Probably doesn't make sense to sign many/any Two-Ways, right off the bat.
We can add a number of players to our Summer League team. I don't think that there's a max roster limit.

Then after that, we can have up to 6 x Exhibit 10's at any one time. I think that the Two-Way Battles come after that.
Remember, that this year we can Roster up to 3 x Two-Ways. And the Offseason (Full) Roster Limit is 20-Players.

This confuses me a bit. Seems like some other teams have already loaded up on two-ways and exhibit 10's.

For example Sixers already signed three two-ways and an exhibit 10, Bucks and Lakers have a pair of each. Other teams haven't done much/anything yet, so it's not like we're alone, but it just confuses me what the differing approaches are about. For me logic would dictate that it makes sense to at least get 1 or 2 signed early on to avoid missing the boat on all the best UDFA's (assuming you don't have guys already in place for those two-way slots, in which case it makes sense to not jump in early).

Maybe suggests JD and/or Walsh don't make the 15 man, or Yam maybe comes over, or maybe I'm not reading into it correctly. Maybe we're just not an appealing destination. But I feel like it's a positive thing to have already taken a flyer on one of the better UDFA's just so you're not scraping the bottom of the barrel later on.

Miami can sign a bunch of guys right after the draft because of their reputation for developping UDFAs so that's a bit of an outlier that can't be replicated.
Sixers love to rush to sign guys before discarding them for the next shiny thing before giving them a real shot. For instance they cut Michael Foster from his two way just a month into the season last year. That's a great way to destroy relationships with agents over very marginal prospects. Not worth it.
Bucks and Lakers have zero youth in the pipeline so that makes them attractive to UDFAs. They also don't have to wait to see how the main roster shapes up and keep two ways open for their young guys in case there isn't room for them to get a regular contract.

The top UDFAs aren't coming to Boston regardless, they'll pick situations where they have a much higher chance of getting playing time. So there's no reason to rush on the Celtics part. They can wait to see how free agency unfolds before making decisions on their two ways. They can also wait to see how summer league goes and sign guys that do well there even if they played on someone else roster.

[Hal14]

Eh, there was no sense in making 2 draft picks. A veteran team that's a contender doesn't need 2 rookies. Hard enough for 1 rookie to try and make the team and somehow scratch and claw for some minutes.

And as for your list, Walsh is a better prospect than all of those guys imo, except GG. And I had GG ranked just barely ahead of Walsh, on the same tier. But that's just BPA. In terms of fit/need for this Celtics team, Walsh is by far a better fit than GG. Walsh is a much better defender, much better ball mover, higher motor, etc.

Grant might be leaving. PP wants out. We just traded Muscala and Gallo. Horford is old. Timelord constantly injured. Brown may leave. Brogdon is injured. Don't tell me we didn't need to draft a 2nd player lol. And I like Walsh, it's debatable if any of those guys are better than him but that's not really the point, we ALSO could have had one of them as well. I don't care if it's another stash. Just bring in more talent. Our cap situation should we be extending Porzingis will require us to have a slew of cheap players. That's what that additional 2nd round guy could have been. And he would have been developed and ready to contribute by the time we're maxing Jaylen and then Jayson. So yeah, we desperately needed to use that second pick and we'll regret it. Guaranteed.

I wanted to keep Gueye. Not a big fan of punting that pick 4 years down the line to ATL. Thought that kid had some nice tools to develop but it wasn’t meant to be. Don’t think he would’ve provided any sort of immediate impact but a guy like Gueye is exactly the type I prefer to roll the dice on with a second

Agreed. I was pretty high on Gueye as well. Exactly the type of raw but high upside big man that is a nice late 2nd round roll of the dice (low risk, high reward) to try and develop and see what he might be in a couple of years.

Oh well. It just seems like this Celtics regime is not big on taking on many young kids to try and develop at the same time. We've got Walsh and JD - they're the 2 primary guys we're trying to develop in Boston. Then we have Yam and Begarin developing overseas. Champagnie is still just 21 and they're seeing if he can become something. Plus we're giving that Hungarian wing a shot in summer league.

I think they're good with that for young guys to try and develop. Champagnie already has 2 years in the g league under his belt. Valerio-Bodon is 22 with a few yrs of pro experience under his belt so both are much further along in their development than Gueye, who is only 20 and has only been playing organized basketball for 3.5 yrs. So Gueye is more of a project, which I think the celtics don't really want to take on. Plus, there's less risk with a guy like Valerio-Bodon..not only is he older with a few yrs of pro experience but we didn't even use a draft pick to pick him up, Using a 2nd round pick is more of an investment - so more of a risk if the player doesn't work out.

[darrendaye]

38. Boston— Jordan Walsh: A++++

Jordan Walsh would have been an A pick at 25th overall as one of the best picks on the board, and this grade gets a + for every additional 2nd rounder that Brad Stevens scooped in 4 trades.

He ended up getting

—2024 Mavs 2nd (probably in the 40s)
—2025 best of WAS/DET/GSW 2nd (probably early 30s)
—2026 best of NOP/POR/NYK/MIN 2nd (probably 30s)
—2027 Atlanta 2nd (who knows where)

That is a monster haul when I had Jordan Walsh vying with Julian Phillips for best player available at the pick he traded down from.

This is why more pulls are better. The difference between 25 and 38 was trivial, because he got possibly the best player available at 25, and then another two future picks of similar value and two other ones that could be decent in their own right. These trades net multiplied the value of #25 by 4x or something insane.

Sometimes teams need to consolidate so there’s a limit to how much this can be done, but this is such a sharp way to run a team and steal free value from the clueless teams like Detroit.

https://deanondraft.substack.com/p/2023-draft-grades-pick-by-pick

Overall I think they at least addressed their most important need in the near term for a long, wing defender, now that Marcus isn't around to help the Jays. Unfortunately he won't be contributing that this season to the big club. Ideally adding significant muscle is a part of the plan. But good to see 'ole Dean likes our moves. And funny, I quipped the next morning about the Atlanta trade, joking that Brad got worn out at that point.

Interesting tidbit on Jackson-Davis:

Read on Twitter

1. Any chance C's one of them? That would have been how I would have played the 39 pick in retrospect (I wasn't awake in real-time, lol). The other role that is missing on the team, besides wing defender, is an enforcer/bully type.

2. If teams were talking to Jackson-Davis about 2-ways in the 30's, my thought that same occurred with Walsh not farfetched.