2024 NBA Draft Thread – (June 26 & 27)

[djFan71]

My list. Order after Mitchell is super flexy depending on my mood, lol.

Da Silva
Daron Holmes
Jaylon Tyson
Ajay Mitchell
Baylor Scheierman
Kyle Filipowski
Jalen Bridges
Ulrich Chomche
Jaylen Wells
Adam Bona
Keshad Johnson
Enrique Freeman
Jonathon Mogbo
Oso Ighodora
Trey Alexander
Tristan Newton

[keevsnick1]

Woah, interesting that 2 mocks have Flip falling that far. So yeah, maybe it happens.

Shannon would be very interesting for us too. Obviously, I have him ranked pretty high as well. He's kind of like my guy Jamir Watkins, who I had ranked as a lottery pick before he decided to go back to college.

Watkins I think has better playmaking, better shot blocking, better at running PnR, and is about a year younger.

But Shannon might be a little bit better shooter.

Shannon would be an intriguing piece to add. For wings off the bench, you'd have Hauser (the elite shooter, offers very little off the dribble, lacks athleticism, strength, explosiveness, decent defender but doesn't really create turnovers) and Shannon (very athletic, very explosive, strong, creates lots of turnovers on D, really good at driving to the basket and pressuring the rim) so could be a nice mix with the 2 of them off the bench.

It would kind of be a bummer to draft a wing (to Shak's point) it would block Walsh and make it harder for him to get an opportunity. But some folks on here (and on Twitter) who watched Walsh in the g league more than I did this season say he's still 2 yrs away from being able to really contribute on a contender..

It'll be interesting to see if we hear news about any more of these higher ranked guys who could potentially fall to 30th pick (Holmes, Flip, Tyson, Shannon, etc.) working out for the Celtics over the next week or so leading up to the draft. If we keep bringing in more fringe guys, I feel like that's probably a sign that pick 30 will get traded.

I would like Filipowski. He seems like a smart, glue guy type offensive player who projects to be able to shoot the three and we know how much the Celtics like that sort of guy.

He's a lacking in length for a center, only a 6'11 wingspan and 8'11 standing reach. Might hurt him on defense, but he does seem to play both hard and smart on that end.

He has a remarkably similar physical profile to Kelly Olynyk in terms of measurements, and that guy has had a long career as a rotation level guy.

Yup. Olynyk is probably the closest comp I have for Flip as well.

Not sure Flip will end up shooting it from 3 as well as Kelly O has. But Flip was a better college player (while playing in a tougher conference) as a freshman and sophomore than Kelly O was as a freshman and sophomore so Flip might have a higher ceiling.

Ya they do seem remarkably similar. Olynyk probably more of sure thing as a shooter but Filipowski a more well rounded offensive center. You do wonder how he holds up on defense but he'd be surrounded by solid defensive players here.

I like him, or Daron Holmes II. Holmes would be an ideal fit with this team if his shooting is real, but id doubt he makes it to 30. Most likely he's gone in early to mid 20's.

[Hal14]

Getting Djurisic in the early 2nd would be nice if Brad trades up (or down).

He is intriguing -- a broke man's Luka? Svi replacement with more upside?

I'm not even gonna compare him to Luka, that's not fair haha.

Djurisic is pretty unique. But maybe he's like Svi but taller and with upside to be much better. Or perhaps like a taller Bogdan Bogdanovic (perhaps a better driver and passer but not quite as good a shooter)..or like a taller Fournier with better defense..or a shorter Hedo Turkoglu..

Again, I just think Djurisic checks a few boxes that I would be looking for. And I also like the progression he's showing. Had an up and down season last year (but to be fair he was playing in a top pro league at age 18..turned 19 later in the season). And then this season started off a bit slow.

But then really came on strong during the 2nd half of the season..then played well at the draft combine scrimmages (speaking of Luka, he had a pass in the combine scrimmages that was Luka/Jokic-esque) and then dominated (and I believe won MVP) and another event he played in after the combine. And he's still just 20 yrs old..a couple yrs from now, he could be *really* good..

[brackdan70]

Woah, interesting that 2 mocks have Flip falling that far. So yeah, maybe it happens.

Shannon would be very interesting for us too. Obviously, I have him ranked pretty high as well. He's kind of like my guy Jamir Watkins, who I had ranked as a lottery pick before he decided to go back to college.

Watkins I think has better playmaking, better shot blocking, better at running PnR, and is about a year younger.

But Shannon might be a little bit better shooter.

Shannon would be an intriguing piece to add. For wings off the bench, you'd have Hauser (the elite shooter, offers very little off the dribble, lacks athleticism, strength, explosiveness, decent defender but doesn't really create turnovers) and Shannon (very athletic, very explosive, strong, creates lots of turnovers on D, really good at driving to the basket and pressuring the rim) so could be a nice mix with the 2 of them off the bench.

It would kind of be a bummer to draft a wing (to Shak's point) it would block Walsh and make it harder for him to get an opportunity. But some folks on here (and on Twitter) who watched Walsh in the g league more than I did this season say he's still 2 yrs away from being able to really contribute on a contender..

It'll be interesting to see if we hear news about any more of these higher ranked guys who could potentially fall to 30th pick (Holmes, Flip, Tyson, Shannon, etc.) working out for the Celtics over the next week or so leading up to the draft. If we keep bringing in more fringe guys, I feel like that's probably a sign that pick 30 will get traded.

I would like Filipowski. He seems like a smart, glue guy type offensive player who projects to be able to shoot the three and we know how much the Celtics like that sort of guy.

He's a lacking in length for a center, only a 6'11 wingspan and 8'11 standing reach. Might hurt him on defense, but he does seem to play both hard and smart on that end.

He has a remarkably similar physical profile to Kelly Olynyk in terms of measurements, and that guy has had a long career as a rotation level guy.

Yup. Olynyk is probably the closest comp I have for Flip as well.

Not sure Flip will end up shooting it from 3 as well as Kelly O has. But Flip was a better college player (while playing in a tougher conference) as a freshman and sophomore than Kelly O was as a freshman and sophomore so Flip might have a higher ceiling.

Zags generally play a pretty tough non conference schedule. Didn’t look at the Kelly O years specifically.
They seems similar players but Kelly has some ball handling skills as well.

[djFan71]

Spoiler:

Ok, so the more I think about it..and the more I watch this celtics team play playoff games (and NBA finals games) and also watch other playoff games, the more I think that I don't want to draft anyone with this pick who is a non-shooter.

A big reason for our success (and the success of other teams like OKC and DEN) is having all 5 guys who can shoot, pass and put the ball on the floor.

The exception is guys like Gobert, Lively, Gafford and to some extent Kornet, who compensate for their lack of shooting by providing enough value on offense (catch lobs, set screens, score from dunker's spot, score off put-backs, etc.) and on defense (rim protection).

With that in mind, these are the types of players I would be targeting with this pick if I'm Boston:

-A big..either a true 5 man or a guy who can play some small ball 5 mins but also play the 4. But either way, I'd prefer someone who can shoot or at least catch lobs (like Jesse Edwards)..but I think we all know that it might be a good idea to add a big, with Al's age, KP's injuries & Kornet and Tillman hitting free agency..

-A wing. I think a wing who can not only shoot but also *create* shots, for themself and others would be ideal. I just think that so much of the shot creation burden falls on the Jays. Off the bench, everyone (for the most part) is either shooting specialist or a defensive specialist. We don't really have a "wing scorer" / shot creator specialist. And I think sometimes that causes our offense (when the bench unit is in) to be kind of stagnant and can have some stretches where the buckets are hard to come by. And then the other team goes on a run, or we have to put 1 (or both) of the Jays back in..and they don't end up getting enough rest, so then they're less effective/efficient when they're in the game.

Also, Hauser lacks strength, speed and athleticism. Pritchard lacks size and athleticism. Both of them sometimes struggle with on ball defense.

So a wing who can shoot, create, and has more strength/speed/athleticism would be nice.

Who's that guy? Could be someone like Terrence Shannon Jr, Jaylen Wells, Jaylon Tyson, Nikola Djurisic, Ja'Kobe Walter. Off the top of my head, those are the main ones I think of. Perhaps Kevin McCullar Jr as well. Before they decided to return to college, I would've included Hunter Sallis and jamir Watkins in there.

Doesn't seem like Brad wants this type of guy though, since we didn't really have anyone like this on this year's team off the bench (unless you maybe count Banton but his shooting was not good enough so I don't really count him for this) and we haven't had any of these guys in for a pre-draft workout.

We did work out Dillon Jones and Judah Mintz, who can both create shots for themselves and others pretty well. But both of them have concerns about their shooting (and to a lesser extent, concerns about their defense too).

Reports are saying we're bringing in 6 guys for a workout today. I'm very curious if any of the guys I just named (Wells, Djurisic, Tyson, Walter, McCullar, Shannon) are among the guys coming in today.

Walter I know is a long shot since he's projected in like the 11-21 range.

Djurisic is very intriguing to me. He checks a lot of boxes. Good size at 6'8". He can handle the ball like a guard. Actually played a bit of PG this season (as did Tyson and in small doses Shannon did as well). Djurisic is good at creating shots for himself and for others. Can run PnR, can drive it to the rim, has a decent "bag". Can shoot it pretty well. Has pretty good strength and athleticism. The defense is just okay. He's not a bad defender but not a good one either. I think we can coach him up to be playable on that end - especially since he's still pretty young - only 20 yrs old.

And it seems like a good chance Djurisic will still be there at 30. A mock I just saw (today's bleacher report mock) has him going 42nd to Charlotte. Seems like that 35-45 range is where I see him going a lot of the times. But I have him as the 19th best prospect in this draft. Perhaps we could trade down from the 30th pick and snag him in that 35-45 range..saving some money, getting some assets..and if we take him in the 2nd round, that gives us the flexibility of not having to give him a guaranteed contract - since he's an overseas player, we could even stash him for a year or 2, if we're thinking he';s not quite ready yet or if the roster is so deep/talented that there isn't really any mins for him right away.

Agreed on avoiding non-shooters and adding creators. Creator is why I want a tall PG/combo and was in on Sallis early and like Tyson and Mitchell. Does Wells have that level? I was thinking less so for him. I think if you can get that tall 4/5 shooter that's the best place to backfill the pipeline, but failing that a combo/wing shooter/creator is where I look.

[redslastlaugh]

Love it! Chomche is such a wildcard, such a mystery man, I have no idea how the team views him internally. Brad could have him the 15th best player in the draft or the 65th… but anyway, good list.

My list. Order after Mitchell is super flexy depending on my mood, lol.

Da Silva
Daron Holmes
Jaylon Tyson
Ajay Mitchell
Baylor Scheierman
Kyle Filipowski
Jalen Bridges
Ulrich Chomche
Jaylen Wells
Adam Bona
Keshad Johnson
Enrique Freeman
Jonathon Mogbo
Oso Ighodora
Trey Alexander
Tristan Newton

[djFan71]

Love it! Chomche is such a wildcard, such a mystery man, I have no idea how the team views him internally. Brad could have him the 15th best player in the draft or the 65th… but anyway, good list.

My list. Order after Mitchell is super flexy depending on my mood, lol.

Da Silva
Daron Holmes
Jaylon Tyson
Ajay Mitchell
Baylor Scheierman
Kyle Filipowski
Jalen Bridges
Ulrich Chomche
Jaylen Wells
Adam Bona
Keshad Johnson
Enrique Freeman
Jonathon Mogbo
Oso Ighodora
Trey Alexander
Tristan Newton

Chomche is my close your eyes as the fastball comes hurtling at you and swing as hard as you can type pick, lol.

[Hal14]

Agreed on avoiding non-shooters and adding creators. Creator is why I want a tall PG/combo and was in on Sallis early and like Tyson and Mitchell. Does Wells have that level? I was thinking less so for him. I think if you can get that tall 4/5 shooter that's the best place to backfill the pipeline, but failing that a combo/wing shooter/creator is where I look.

Wells' shot creation ability, I wouldn't say it's elite. But I would say it's good - especially for a kid who's only 20 yrs old - and also considering he was playing D2 ball prior to this season..and was barely even getting any playing time this season during the first 7 or so games.

And also for a guy his size (about 6'7.5") he can handle the ball pretty well, and has some moves, a bit of a "bag".

Most of the shot creation I saw from him this season was creating space for his mid range or 3 pt jumper. But here we see him get to the rim and finish there:

Read on Twitter

It would not shock me if he one day averages 15+ PPG in the NBA.

[Curmudgeon]

Reports are that the Celtics have worked out Ryan Dunn (Virginia), Justin Edwards (Kentucky), Enrique Freeman (Akron) and
Judah Mintz (Syracuse)

[Smart2Nesmith43]

-A wing. I think a wing who can not only shoot but also *create* shots, for themself and others would be ideal. I just think that so much of the shot creation burden falls on the Jays. Off the bench, everyone (for the most part) is either shooting specialist or a defensive specialist. We don't really have a "wing scorer" / shot creator specialist. And I think sometimes that causes our offense (when the bench unit is in) to be kind of stagnant and can have some stretches where the buckets are hard to come by. And then the other team goes on a run, or we have to put 1 (or both) of the Jays back in..and they don't end up getting enough rest, so then they're less effective/efficient when they're in the game.

Also, Hauser lacks strength, speed and athleticism. Pritchard lacks size and athleticism. Both of them sometimes struggle with on ball defense.

So a wing who can shoot, create, and has more strength/speed/athleticism would be nice.

Who's that guy? Could be someone like Terrence Shannon Jr, Jaylen Wells, Jaylon Tyson, Nikola Djurisic, Ja'Kobe Walter. Off the top of my head, those are the main ones I think of. Perhaps Kevin McCullar Jr as well. Before they decided to return to college, I would've included Hunter Sallis and jamir Watkins in there.

Doesn't seem like Brad wants this type of guy though, since we didn't really have anyone like this on this year's team off the bench (unless you maybe count Banton but his shooting was not good enough so I don't really count him for this) and we haven't had any of these guys in for a pre-draft workout.

Brad Stevens has been pretty vocal about his priority being finding guys that can play next to the Jays and elevate their games. So it makes sense that he hasn't spent a lot of time trying to find lesser versions of Tatum and Brown because then you get too much skill set overlap and it's harder to build coherent lineups with that guy on the floor next to Tatum and Brown. And if he can't play with those guys then he is going to be very limited in terms of the contributions he can make to the team. Probably to the point where it doesn't really make sense to use an asset to acquire him.

I think there is real value in finding a guy that can guard wings effectively because you don't want to ask Tatum and Brown to wear themselves out guarding the best scorer on the other team or Holiday and White to guard up too much during the regular season. So a defense first wing that can space the floor and ideally drive a closeout can make sense on this roster (and I think that's what they see in Walsh). But another score first wing ? I really don't think it's at the top of the Celtics priorities nor should it be.

[redslastlaugh]

It occurs to me if we carry 14 not 15 bc of luxury tax and bring Luke Kornet, & Tillman back… they are probably punting on #30 in this draft for future assets and taking a two way guy at 54 … because the roster gonna be full since they will guarantee Queta and then bring the band back to defend the title.

Now, Brissett may not opt in. They have JD Davison and Drew Peterson who are FA. And maybe Luke and/or Xavier will leave for money. But, I am realizing, if Wyc doesn’t want a 15th man because of cost, the team may be set, I guess.

Agreed. I could see that happening. Bring back those 14 guys and leave the 15th spot open.

Certainly seems possible and makes a lot of sense.

On the other hand, it's extremely rare that a team returns that much of their roster from the previous season. But perhaps this will be the exception?

Trading 30 and drafting a 2-way guy at 54 certainly seems possible and would make sense. Perhaps at 54 they grab one of these fringe guys they've had in for a workout, like Ingram, Freeman, Flowers, Justin Edwards, Enaruna, Traore, Watson or Jesse Edwards.

If Brissett does exercise his player opt in and the team doesn’t have an available roster spot, then obviously trading out of #30 is a possibility. But also is the possibility of a first round draft-and-stash which we did twice in 2016. In that case you wonder if Djurisic, Chomche or Nunez become possibilities if they agree to wait a year overseas before coming over. I hadn’t really thought of that, but that’s one possibility to keep #30, make a pick and still play the numbers game with roster contracts.

[Hal14]

-A wing. I think a wing who can not only shoot but also *create* shots, for themself and others would be ideal. I just think that so much of the shot creation burden falls on the Jays. Off the bench, everyone (for the most part) is either shooting specialist or a defensive specialist. We don't really have a "wing scorer" / shot creator specialist. And I think sometimes that causes our offense (when the bench unit is in) to be kind of stagnant and can have some stretches where the buckets are hard to come by. And then the other team goes on a run, or we have to put 1 (or both) of the Jays back in..and they don't end up getting enough rest, so then they're less effective/efficient when they're in the game.

Also, Hauser lacks strength, speed and athleticism. Pritchard lacks size and athleticism. Both of them sometimes struggle with on ball defense.

So a wing who can shoot, create, and has more strength/speed/athleticism would be nice.

Who's that guy? Could be someone like Terrence Shannon Jr, Jaylen Wells, Jaylon Tyson, Nikola Djurisic, Ja'Kobe Walter. Off the top of my head, those are the main ones I think of. Perhaps Kevin McCullar Jr as well. Before they decided to return to college, I would've included Hunter Sallis and jamir Watkins in there.

Doesn't seem like Brad wants this type of guy though, since we didn't really have anyone like this on this year's team off the bench (unless you maybe count Banton but his shooting was not good enough so I don't really count him for this) and we haven't had any of these guys in for a pre-draft workout.

Brad Stevens has been pretty vocal about his priority being finding guys that can play next to the Jays and elevate their games. So it makes sense that he hasn't spent a lot of time trying to find lesser versions of Tatum and Brown because then you get too much skill set overlap and it's harder to build coherent lineups with that guy on the floor next to Tatum and Brown. And if he can't play with those guys then he is going to be very limited in terms of the contributions he can make to the team. Probably to the point where it doesn't really make sense to use an asset to acquire him.

I think there is real value in finding a guy that can guard wings effectively because you don't want to ask Tatum and Brown to wear themselves out guarding the best scorer on the other team or Holiday and White to guard up too much during the regular season. So a defense first wing that can space the floor and ideally drive a closeout can make sense on this roster (and I think that's what they see in Walsh). But another score first wing ? I really don't think it's at the top of the Celtics priorities nor should it be.

All of the guys I mentioned can play with or without the Jays. If both Jays are on the floor and you have someone like Jaylon Tyson for example, Tatum is at the 4, JB at the 3 and Tyson is at the 2. So the lineup works.

Tyson can shoot it well (so can hit shots off the Jays kick out passes)..

Meanwhile, one of the other guys I named (McCullar) is arguably the best wing defender in this draft class. Shannon is also a good wing defender.

Wells is an elite shooter off the catch.

And this year's Celtics team (and other teams with high powered offenses we have seen over the past few years (OKC, Indiana, Kings last year, Warriors the year before that) thrived because all 5 guys (or at least 4 of them) were a legit threat offensively to attack off the dribble, shoot or pass. The Heat and Nuggets over the past couple yrs have played a similar style of basketball - where all 5 guys on the floor are a legit threat offensively - to attack off the bounce and/or shoot from 3.

Orlando's biggest weakness this season (and the main reason why they got bounced in the 1st round) is that they didn't have enough shot creators/shooters. Cleveland struggled at times offensively because their other guys (besides Garland and Mitchell) were so limited in terms of shooting/shot creation..

IMO, a lot of the lineups we put out there (especially lineups with Brissett, Kornet, Tillman, Prichard Hauser and even sometimes D-white) are limited offensively and can be prone to scoring droughts because teams load up on the Jays and we don't have enough other guys who can put the ball on the floor and make a play.

Fair point, though..and that probably explains why there was no other shot creator wings on the team this year and it doesn't seem like we have prioritized that archetype with bringing guys in for pre-draft workouts.

It's an interesting angle to try and draft a defense-minded wing. But I just think that that player could really struggle to find playing time or be effective with the playing time he gets if he is that limited in terms of shot creation and shooting.

Plus, you mention that you think the Celtics see Walsh as that defense-minded wing anyways, so why draft one of them 2 yrs in a row?

[CelticsPride18]

Any word on the players that worked out today?

[djFan71]

Read on Twitter

Hadn't seen this posted, but it probably was. I had a brief interest, cuz big, but then moved on.

[djFan71]

I wouldn't be hating-on going full-on Creighton on draft night.
Scheireman at 30, Alexander at 54.

[playa-hater]

Looked closely at Jalen Bridges. Particularly his shooting stroke. Me likes.. Problem I am having is I don't like him enough at 30 and would be shocked if he slid to 54. The trade down crowd may be happy because then Boston could/should get him.

[playa-hater]

I wouldn't be hating-on going full-on Creighton on draft night.
Scheireman at 30, Alexander at 54.

I liked him in a brief look, but since this post + Boston having him in for a workout, makes me want to take a bigger look RIGHT NOW!!

[165bows]

I wouldn't be hating-on going full-on Creighton on draft night.
Scheireman at 30, Alexander at 54.

I liked him in a brief look, but since this post + Boston having him in for a workout, makes me want to take a bigger look RIGHT NOW!!

There you go my man.

https://open.substack.com/pub/edemirnba/p/baylor-scheierman-scouting-report?r=99bc3&utm_medium=ios

[playa-hater]

I wouldn't be hating-on going full-on Creighton on draft night.
Scheireman at 30, Alexander at 54.

I liked him in a brief look, but since this post + Boston having him in for a workout, makes me want to take a bigger look RIGHT NOW!!

There you go my man.

https://open.substack.com/pub/edemirnba/p/baylor-scheierman-scouting-report?r=99bc3&utm_medium=ios

Impressive breakdown.. seems like a gamer as well. Tough Gritty and cocky in good way. Certainly looks to do more than just shoot ALA Hauser. I don't mind him being older as well.

[CelticsPride18]

Jaylon Tyson or Daron Holmes would be dope