2024 NBA Draft Thread – (June 26 & 27)

[Hal14]

Ok, so this might be pretty farfetched but Bronny James made his college debut yesterday. He missed the 1st part of the season after having cardias arrest during the summer.

Not sure if that will scare scouts away from drafting him..or maybe he just goes a little bit lower in the draft if there's health risks.

BUT he made a few plays in that game yesterday that reminded me of Marcus Smart. And it's not just that 1 game - he was getting comparisons to Marcus (or even Jrue) before this season.

Seems like Bronny is gonna go late 1st round at the earliest - possibly in the 2nd round. 

Perhaps we take Bronny. Groom him to be a long term Marcus replacement and a backup combo-guard 3&D type of guy. Picture Pritchard but with way more athleticism and better D. He slides in to Pritchard's backup guard spot, long term.

And LeBron has a player option this summer. He was quoted saying that he wants to play with Bronny in the NBA. What if we take Bronny with the 30th pick, LeBron declines his player option and signs here to a team-friendly deal as a FA? I know, it is farfetched. Because if there's a chance that the team that drafts Bronny can get LeBron to sign there for cheap would probably make Bronny go higher in the draft - too high for us to get him - especially with 2024 being a weaker draft in the 1st round.

But you never know..

If Lebron signs a vet exception contract to play with him I doubt Bronny makes it out of the top 5-10 picks (no matter how good he is)

FWIW, Bobby Marks thinks teams won't reach that high for Bronny..

https://lakersdaily.com/lakers-former-nba-exec-cant-see-teams-especially-lottery-ones-targeting-bronny-james-just-to-lure-lebron/

[Smart2Nesmith43]

Here's who the Celtics picked up with their first round picks since Brad Stevens took over as GM:
2021: Al Horford
2022: Derrick White
2023: Malcolm Brogdon
2029: Jrue Holiday
I'm fine trading the picks away every year if that's the kind of guys the Celtics are getting back.

Its not exactly a one for one though,you also had to give up a lot of depth for Jrue. And like I said It’s not like Im upset with the moves however I am concerned a bit with the depth and youth going forward. You have to extend Holliday coming up and with Tatum’s super max coming up we are going to see some changes being made. And with every title team you do see some contributions coming from rotational guys like the Leon Powes or Glen Davis’s types which we don’t really have at this time. This team isn’t getting anything from the min signed guys. I would just really like to see Brad hit on a prospect, and he has a better chance the higher he drafts.

That GS pick is looking better and better by the day too. At the moment tankathon has it sitting 11th drafting Clingan. They really could use some youth up front going forward so hopefully they can do something with their remaining picks. I however don’t feel better seeing every pick traded away turn into guys like Sengun, Bane, ect…

1/ The Bane trade was prior to Stevens taking over the front office so that's not on him.

2/ What the other team does with the pick after the Celtics send it out doesn't affect the value of what they gave up. Good on Memphis for turning the 30th pick into something a lot more valuable in Desmond Bane. That has nothing to do with Boston though, especially since there's no guarantee they would have picked the same player if they had kept the pick.

3/ Weird that you don't mention the Spurs picking up Wesley or the Pacers picking up Strawther (before trading him again to the Nuggets) with the selections the Celtics gave up. I wonder why ?

4/ To go back to your original point that the Celtics need to draft some young guys because they'll run out of rotation players otherwise I don't agree. Just because you pick a young guy in the draft that doesn't mean that he'll stay longer on your team than the veteran you acquire by sending out the pick in a trade. Take the Kemba/Horford trade. There's already 7 first rounders from the 2021 draft that have changed teams (none of them for anything of value) or washed out of the league altogether and a few more will join them at the end of the year. By advanced metrics, Horford has outplayed every single guy from that draft class since they entered the league.It's a good reminder that young players don't impact winning. That's kind of a big deal when you are trying to win like the Celtics are. Using the picks like Stevens does it, allows you to bring in a guy with a much higher baseline that's probably going to stay on the team just as long if not longer than the average mid to late first round pick (which let's face it is the best picks the Celtics are going to have going forward).

[Smart2Nesmith43]

Even after Wemby went first and my guy Coulibaly went seventh during the last draft, it's still hard to process ESPN currently mocking more frenchmen than US players in the top 6 (Alex Sarr at 1, Zaccharie Risacher at 2 and Tidjane Salaun at 6). It beats the years of having to get excited about the likes of Doumbouya though.

[fallguy]

Our future young depth is going to come from offloading a big salary guy, probably Jaylen, and turning him into younger players and picks. I've never been in the 'Wyc is cheap' camp but I don't think he's paying the full freight for this team over multiple years with Tatum, Jrue and White all due for big extensions.

[Hal14]

Even after Wemby went first and my guy Coulibaly went seventh during the last draft, it's still hard to process ESPN currently mocking more frenchmen than US players in the top 6 (Alex Sarr at 1, Zaccharie Risacher at 2 and Tidjane Salaun at 6). It beats the years of having to get excited about the likes of Doumbouya though.

Yeah those 3 guys are coming along nicely this season overseas. And Ajinca looks like he could be a 1st rounder too.

It's a good era for French basketball, that's for sure.

[Parliament10]

How is it, that we have 13 Picks over the next 7 Drafts; and a Team like the Spurs has 34 Picks, in the same time frame?
Brad's got to get some Ainge Mojo, in him.

Though, we do have 4 Picks in this next Draft (2024).

[bigfoot_cryptozoology]

Bad news Celtics fans,
It seems that Zach Eddy is rising in the draft which is too bad because as I've advocated many a time here I think he would be a good player to get to at least be able to put a body a niche on Wemby.

I like the guy I think they'll have a productive NBA career and be a lot better than many of you assume in fact, the same ones that question Eddy, will be the people who endorse Hauser as quality bench player for the playoffs when there's no evidence of. Hauser can play well for certain games but if you can't produce on the road that is an issue meanwhile Eddie has really improved as a player and is rising in the draft and some scouts look at him as unstoppable scoring down below and he really is as long as you get the ball to him in the right position close to the hoop how is he going to be stopped he's going to score a lot of points, he might not defend all that well but he's going to score his points.

[snowman]

This is the player I would love to see Boston get in the draft. Would be a good Horford replacement in a couple years.

Armando Bacot PF
Current Team: North Carolina
Born: Mar 6, 2000 (23 years old)
Height: 6-11 (211cm) Weight: 240 (109kg)

[bigfoot_cryptozoology]

This is the player I would love to see Boston get in the draft. Would be a good Horford replacement in a couple years.

Armando Bacot PF
Current Team: North Carolina
Born: Mar 6, 2000 (23 years old)
Height: 6-11 (211cm) Weight: 240 (109kg)

NC players seem to bring mixed blessings -- not as good as they are heralded to be -- but he seems solid, whether actually available to the Celtics?

[Hal14]

This is the player I would love to see Boston get in the draft. Would be a good Horford replacement in a couple years.

Armando Bacot PF
Current Team: North Carolina
Born: Mar 6, 2000 (23 years old)
Height: 6-11 (211cm) Weight: 240 (109kg)

Good rebounder. Decent defender. He plays with a toughness/edge to him. Can finish around the hoop decently well. But is a non-shooter so I'm not seeing the Al comparison and w/ his mobility and lack of shooting, he's more of a 5 imo than a 4.

Idk, this early it's hard to tell what direction the C's might go in this draft. We have Walsh who we're developing as a wing. At the wing we also have the jays and Hauser.

In the backcourt it'll be tough for anyone we draft to get minutes, behind Jrue, White and Pritchard (plus both Jays can play guard)..we have JD and he can't get mins even though he's basically dominating the G league - not sure any guard we get would be better than JD.

I think the best bet is to draft a PF/C type. Ideally someone who can shoot. It remains to be seen whether Kornet or Queta will be on he team next year. Horford only has 1 yr left on his contract after this one and will be 38 next season. KP has injury concerns.

One guy I have on my radar right now for the Celtics is Lefteris Mantzoukas (yes, he's Greek). He's a guy who will likely be available in the 2nd round. He's a PF who could potentially play some small ball 5. He's in the mold of Grant Williams/Georges Niang/Maxi Kleber.

6'9" wide bodied guy, doesn't have the best athleticism or quickness. But he is pretty quick. Good feel for the game, basketball IQ. Decent defender, can score off the dribble a little bit, battle for rebounds. But the main sell with him is the combination of size (6'9") + strong, wide bodied frame + shooting (56.3% from 3 on the season) + experience playing 3 years now in the EuroLeague (total of 51 EuroLeague games and counting)..that's a lot of EuroLeague experience for a guy who's still only 20 yrs old.

He was also a standout player for Greece at the FIBA U20 tournament last summer.

I also like the flexibility he comes with. If he looks good in summer league and looking like a guy who could potentially contribute for us as a rookie, then you give him a rookie deal. But if not, then of course he's a guy who you could just stash overseas and he would continue playing for one of the top overseas teams in highly competitive leagues.

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[brackdan70]

This is the player I would love to see Boston get in the draft. Would be a good Horford replacement in a couple years.

Armando Bacot PF
Current Team: North Carolina
Born: Mar 6, 2000 (23 years old)
Height: 6-11 (211cm) Weight: 240 (109kg)

NC players seem to bring mixed blessings -- not as good as they are heralded to be -- but he seems solid, whether actually available to the Celtics?

With one exception a few decades back

[bigfoot_cryptozoology]

This is the player I would love to see Boston get in the draft. Would be a good Horford replacement in a couple years.

Armando Bacot PF
Current Team: North Carolina
Born: Mar 6, 2000 (23 years old)
Height: 6-11 (211cm) Weight: 240 (109kg)

NC players seem to bring mixed blessings -- not as good as they are heralded to be -- but he seems solid, whether actually available to the Celtics?

With one exception a few decades back

Brackdan, Bacot seems to have fallen greatly into the category of Eddy and others, viewed as not ready or too limited,
and yet he seems greatly productive and worth a look, but I can't find him listed on several Draft Sites.

Once in several lifetimes...

[threrf23]

I have liked Bacot when I have watched him, going back to I think the tourney his freshman year. He has produced consistently throughout his college career.

However, "he lacks overwhelming athleticism and has seen his body and conditioning ebb and flow. More finesse than power and dependent on positioning rather than brute force, he’ll have a steeper learning curve than some of his peers as he figures how his game translates to the next level." Quote is from here and maybe outdated, but I have observed similar.

I think Vin Baker is maybe a good comp?

[165bows]

Gimme Reed Sheppard.

[ConstableGeneva]

Read on Twitter

[Hal14]

Gimme Reed Sheppard.

I mean, that'd be great. I'd love to get him but he's probably going lottery.

[bigfoot_cryptozoology]

Tyler Kokek, that's who Tankathon has the Celtics drafting. The Rhode Island point guard connection and the ability to score makes for a somewhat intriguing basketball player and he seems older than the average draftee it's a possibility that he could really turn out to be something good and he has some good size at 6-3.

[BK_2020]

Tyler Kokek, that's who Tankathon has the Celtics drafting. The Rhode Island point guard connection and the ability to score makes for a somewhat intriguing basketball player and he seems older than the average draftee it's a possibility that he could really turn out to be something good and he has some good size at 6-3.

He looks to be a small guard who can't shoot who also turns it over a gazillion times per game. Surely we can do better.

[bigfoot_cryptozoology]

Kokek, that's who Tankathon has the Celtics drafting. The Rhode Island point guard connection and the ability to score makes for a somewhat intriguing basketball player and he seems older than the average draftee it's a possibility that he could really turn out to be something good and he has some good size at 6-3.

He looks to be a small guard who can't shoot who also turns it over a gazillion times per game. Surely we can do better.

At 30?

47% FG; 36% 3-points; 5.1 Rebounds; 6.4 assists; 1.8 steals; 2.4 A/T ratio; 13.8 points.
Seems like a solid all around player who does things well on many levels.
And that Mazzulla RI connection...

[bigfoot_cryptozoology]

Also if they struck it big with Kokek,
they could move out from DREW,
let's say, if the Celts don't win the Title this season
they make him the starter and get what they can for Holiday?