Hal’s Draft Thread

[Celts17Pride]

I want jalen johnson nice pf for boston.

Would be nice

[Celts17Pride]

I’m hoping Jalen Johnson slides to our spot.

Ainge needs to go up and get him

[Bleeding Green]

I’d be shocked if Brown lasted anywhere near the second round tbh

Yeah idk, he's a super raw power forward who had a pretty crappy college season. If you draft him in the first round, be ready for him to be pretty terrible for at least the first few seasons. I think he's definitely the kind of guy that falls down draft boards.

I think the opposite really. Guys like Brown tend to rise come closer to draft time. Look at Patrick Williams just last year, wound up going what? 5th overall after being projected as a mid to late first for much of the process. Brown has NBA size, NBA athleticism and can shoot it from deep. Someone is gonna gamble on him and why not us? If he hits, he’s exactly what we need

Yeah maybe you're right. Brown looks much, much more raw than Pat Williams did.

Can he shoot? He's a bad FT shooter and bad 3p shooter. I don't trust this organization to develop such a player where one of his biggest flaws is shot selection. This coaching staff has shown me zero ability to curtail the awful shot selection of even the worst players on the roster.

[reload141]

Josh. Giddey.

He should be our pick

[Hal14]

I want jalen johnson nice pf for boston.

He has talent and fits a need. One thing I was wondering is, like Tatum when he was on Duke, did JJ perhaps underachieve a bit for whatever reasons? I mean no one expected how much better Tatum would shoot and score based on his college productions.

My understanding is that he had a foot injury which is why his numbers aren't off the charts.

Johnson would be a perfect fit for the Celtics. Back when all of those John Collins trade rumors were swirling around I really wanted us to try and get him because I felt like (and still do feel like) a 4 is our biggest position of need. Obviously our backup 4's are bad (Grant, Parker, Ojeleye) and Tatum is decent at the 4 but he really is more of a natural 3. Ideally we would get a guy at the 4 with more size, more rebounding, more rim protection and better at scoring inside than Tatum. That guy just might be Jalen Johnson.

Oh, by the way the dude is also a really good passer, very willing passer with good court vision - often times when has the ball he looks to find an open teammate FIRST and then look for his own shot. That passing ability would really help our ball movement problems. Plus the dude is a high flyer, athletic, fast as hell, can handle the ball/shoot it/lead the break like a guard but can rebound, finish inside and block shots like a 4.

He's like John Collins but with better passing, better rim protection and better ball handling.

And it's almost fate for him to come here - went to Duke like Tatum and has the same first name as Jaylen Brown, just 1 letter off with the spelling..

Unfortunately he's slated to get picked around the 8 spot and as of now we would be picking around 16th. Maybe we can trade up to get him?

Watch on YouTube

[Homerclease]

Yeah idk, he's a super raw power forward who had a pretty crappy college season. If you draft him in the first round, be ready for him to be pretty terrible for at least the first few seasons. I think he's definitely the kind of guy that falls down draft boards.

I think the opposite really. Guys like Brown tend to rise come closer to draft time. Look at Patrick Williams just last year, wound up going what? 5th overall after being projected as a mid to late first for much of the process. Brown has NBA size, NBA athleticism and can shoot it from deep. Someone is gonna gamble on him and why not us? If he hits, he’s exactly what we need

Yeah maybe you're right. Brown looks much, much more raw than Pat Williams did.

Can he shoot? He's a bad FT shooter and bad 3p shooter. I don't trust this organization to develop such a player where one of his biggest flaws is shot selection. This coaching staff has shown me zero ability to curtail the awful shot selection of even the worst players on the roster.

He was hovering around 40% from deep for over half the year and went into a bad slump toward the end. 33% on decent volume isn’t bad, better than Jaylen Brown in college.

[Homerclease]

I want jalen johnson nice pf for boston.

He has talent and fits a need. One thing I was wondering is, like Tatum when he was on Duke, did JJ perhaps underachieve a bit for whatever reasons? I mean no one expected how much better Tatum would shoot and score based on his college productions.

My understanding is that he had a foot injury which is why his numbers aren't off the charts.

Johnson would be a perfect fit for the Celtics. Back when all of those John Collins trade rumors were swirling around I really wanted us to try and get him because I felt like (and still do feel like) a 4 is our biggest position of need. Obviously our backup 4's are bad (Grant, Parker, Ojeleye) and Tatum is decent at the 4 but he really is more of a natural 3. Ideally we would get a guy at the 4 with more size, more rebounding, more rim protection and better at scoring inside than Tatum. That guy just might be Jalen Johnson.

Oh, by the way the dude is also a really good passer, very willing passer with good court vision - often times when has the ball he looks to find an open teammate FIRST and then look for his own shot. That passing ability would really help our ball movement problems. Plus the dude is a high flyer, athletic, fast as hell, can handle the ball/shoot it/lead the break like a guard but can rebound, finish inside and block shots like a 4.

He's like John Collins but with better passing, better rim protection and better ball handling.

And it's almost fate for him to come here - went to Duke like Tatum and has the same first name as Jaylen Brown, just 1 letter off with the spelling..

Unfortunately he's slated to get picked around the 8 spot and as of now we would be picking around 16th. Maybe we can trade up to get him?

Watch on YouTube

If Jalen falls to 16 then debate over, there should be literal fire on the floor from them running the card up there so quickly. A top 5 talent that is exactly what you’re looking for from a roster construction standpoint would be a dream. I think the talent level is just plain too high and he gets nabbed in the low teens

[Hal14]

He has talent and fits a need. One thing I was wondering is, like Tatum when he was on Duke, did JJ perhaps underachieve a bit for whatever reasons? I mean no one expected how much better Tatum would shoot and score based on his college productions.

My understanding is that he had a foot injury which is why his numbers aren't off the charts.

Johnson would be a perfect fit for the Celtics. Back when all of those John Collins trade rumors were swirling around I really wanted us to try and get him because I felt like (and still do feel like) a 4 is our biggest position of need. Obviously our backup 4's are bad (Grant, Parker, Ojeleye) and Tatum is decent at the 4 but he really is more of a natural 3. Ideally we would get a guy at the 4 with more size, more rebounding, more rim protection and better at scoring inside than Tatum. That guy just might be Jalen Johnson.

Oh, by the way the dude is also a really good passer, very willing passer with good court vision - often times when has the ball he looks to find an open teammate FIRST and then look for his own shot. That passing ability would really help our ball movement problems. Plus the dude is a high flyer, athletic, fast as hell, can handle the ball/shoot it/lead the break like a guard but can rebound, finish inside and block shots like a 4.

He's like John Collins but with better passing, better rim protection and better ball handling.

And it's almost fate for him to come here - went to Duke like Tatum and has the same first name as Jaylen Brown, just 1 letter off with the spelling..

Unfortunately he's slated to get picked around the 8 spot and as of now we would be picking around 16th. Maybe we can trade up to get him?

Watch on YouTube

If Jalen falls to 16 then debate over, there should be literal fire on the floor from them running the card up there so quickly. A top 5 talent that is exactly what you’re looking for from a roster construction standpoint would be a dream. I think the talent level is just plain too high and he gets nabbed in the low teens

Exactly. That's what I'm seeing too. top 5 talent and just what we're looking for from a roster construction standpoint. No way he drops to 16th, which is why it might be a good idea to try and trade up to get him. Maybe you trade Smart? Is that giving up too much to move up from 16th to the 6-8 range?

Latest mock draft I've seen has Warriors picking 7th. The trades and transactions board on this site was really buzzing around trade deadline with warriors fans wanting their team to trade for Smart..

Plus, by trading Smart, you free up cap space to resign Fournier.

[playa-hater]

I want jalen johnson nice pf for boston.

He has talent and fits a need. One thing I was wondering is, like Tatum when he was on Duke, did JJ perhaps underachieve a bit for whatever reasons? I mean no one expected how much better Tatum would shoot and score based on his college productions.

My understanding is that he had a foot injury which is why his numbers aren't off the charts.

Johnson would be a perfect fit for the Celtics. Back when all of those John Collins trade rumors were swirling around I really wanted us to try and get him because I felt like (and still do feel like) a 4 is our biggest position of need. Obviously our backup 4's are bad (Grant, Parker, Ojeleye) and Tatum is decent at the 4 but he really is more of a natural 3. Ideally we would get a guy at the 4 with more size, more rebounding, more rim protection and better at scoring inside than Tatum. That guy just might be Jalen Johnson.

Oh, by the way the dude is also a really good passer, very willing passer with good court vision - often times when has the ball he looks to find an open teammate FIRST and then look for his own shot. That passing ability would really help our ball movement problems. Plus the dude is a high flyer, athletic, fast as hell, can handle the ball/shoot it/lead the break like a guard but can rebound, finish inside and block shots like a 4.

He's like John Collins but with better passing, better rim protection and better ball handling.

And it's almost fate for him to come here - went to Duke like Tatum and has the same first name as Jaylen Brown, just 1 letter off with the spelling..

Unfortunately he's slated to get picked around the 8 spot and as of now we would be picking around 16th. Maybe we can trade up to get him?

Watch on YouTube

Just taking a quick look so far, but JJ appears to be a pretty good at everything Glue type of player Boston truly needs. And "IF" he is truly going into a top 10 pick, that's when Boston should consider something like Smart + their first to a team like GS (Mining pick)

I don't know what other asset Boston may have to trade up.

[Hal14]

He has talent and fits a need. One thing I was wondering is, like Tatum when he was on Duke, did JJ perhaps underachieve a bit for whatever reasons? I mean no one expected how much better Tatum would shoot and score based on his college productions.

My understanding is that he had a foot injury which is why his numbers aren't off the charts.

Johnson would be a perfect fit for the Celtics. Back when all of those John Collins trade rumors were swirling around I really wanted us to try and get him because I felt like (and still do feel like) a 4 is our biggest position of need. Obviously our backup 4's are bad (Grant, Parker, Ojeleye) and Tatum is decent at the 4 but he really is more of a natural 3. Ideally we would get a guy at the 4 with more size, more rebounding, more rim protection and better at scoring inside than Tatum. That guy just might be Jalen Johnson.

Oh, by the way the dude is also a really good passer, very willing passer with good court vision - often times when has the ball he looks to find an open teammate FIRST and then look for his own shot. That passing ability would really help our ball movement problems. Plus the dude is a high flyer, athletic, fast as hell, can handle the ball/shoot it/lead the break like a guard but can rebound, finish inside and block shots like a 4.

He's like John Collins but with better passing, better rim protection and better ball handling.

And it's almost fate for him to come here - went to Duke like Tatum and has the same first name as Jaylen Brown, just 1 letter off with the spelling..

Unfortunately he's slated to get picked around the 8 spot and as of now we would be picking around 16th. Maybe we can trade up to get him?

Watch on YouTube

Just taking a quick look so far, but JJ appears to be a pretty good at everything Glue type of player Boston truly needs. And "IF" he is truly going into a top 10 pick, that's when Boston should consider something like Smart + their first to a team like GS (Mining pick)

I don't know what other asset Boston may have to trade up.

Yup. That's what I'm thinking too. You trade Smart to the Warriors for their 1st round pick.

Latest mock draft i saw has the warriors with the 7th pick. and it has Johnson being drafted 8th.

Smart for the 7th pick straight up seems fair enough. I don't think we should also have to trade our 16th pick - Ainge can turn around and trade the 16th pick in a separate deal.

But there's been a lot of rumors about the warriors possibly wanting Smart. The warriors have another 1 or 2 years left to try and make another title run with Curry/Thompson/Green and Smart has another couple of good prime years left. Smart would fit in on the warriors - he'd be able to be a defensive stopper, guard the opposing team's best scoring guard so that Curry can focus on scoring.

Meanwhile, we would build around a young core of Tatum, Brown, Johnson, Robert Williams, Pritchard and Nesmith. And by trading Smart, we clear up space to be able to resign Fournier..

[playa-hater]

My understanding is that he had a foot injury which is why his numbers aren't off the charts.

Johnson would be a perfect fit for the Celtics. Back when all of those John Collins trade rumors were swirling around I really wanted us to try and get him because I felt like (and still do feel like) a 4 is our biggest position of need. Obviously our backup 4's are bad (Grant, Parker, Ojeleye) and Tatum is decent at the 4 but he really is more of a natural 3. Ideally we would get a guy at the 4 with more size, more rebounding, more rim protection and better at scoring inside than Tatum. That guy just might be Jalen Johnson.

Oh, by the way the dude is also a really good passer, very willing passer with good court vision - often times when has the ball he looks to find an open teammate FIRST and then look for his own shot. That passing ability would really help our ball movement problems. Plus the dude is a high flyer, athletic, fast as hell, can handle the ball/shoot it/lead the break like a guard but can rebound, finish inside and block shots like a 4.

He's like John Collins but with better passing, better rim protection and better ball handling.

And it's almost fate for him to come here - went to Duke like Tatum and has the same first name as Jaylen Brown, just 1 letter off with the spelling..

Unfortunately he's slated to get picked around the 8 spot and as of now we would be picking around 16th. Maybe we can trade up to get him?

Watch on YouTube

Just taking a quick look so far, but JJ appears to be a pretty good at everything Glue type of player Boston truly needs. And "IF" he is truly going into a top 10 pick, that's when Boston should consider something like Smart + their first to a team like GS (Mining pick)

I don't know what other asset Boston may have to trade up.

Yup. That's what I'm thinking too. You trade Smart to the Warriors for their 1st round pick.

Latest mock draft i saw has the warriors with the 7th pick. and it has Johnson being drafted 8th.

Smart for the 7th pick straight up seems fair enough. I don't think we should also have to trade our 16th pick - Ainge can turn around and trade the 16th pick in a separate deal.

But there's been a lot of rumors about the warriors possibly wanting Smart. The warriors have another 1 or 2 years left to try and make another title run with Curry/Thompson/Green and Smart has another couple of good prime years left. Smart would fit in on the warriors - he'd be able to be a defensive stopper, guard the opposing team's best scoring guard so that Curry can focus on scoring.

Meanwhile, we would build around a young core of Tatum, Brown, Johnson, Robert Williams, Pritchard and Nesmith. And by trading Smart, we clear up space to be able to resign Fournier..

I can't see anyone willing to give up a top 10 lottery pick for a player with one year left on his contract. Too risky. Hence throwing in a pick etc,,

[GoGreen]

Unfortunately, I think guys like Kai Jones and Jalen Johnson will be good as gone by 16. If we trade up, gonna have to give up a ton and I'm not sure the Cs have the ammo.

Garuba or Jackson feel very likely there.

[Bleeding Green]

I think the opposite really. Guys like Brown tend to rise come closer to draft time. Look at Patrick Williams just last year, wound up going what? 5th overall after being projected as a mid to late first for much of the process. Brown has NBA size, NBA athleticism and can shoot it from deep. Someone is gonna gamble on him and why not us? If he hits, he’s exactly what we need

Yeah maybe you're right. Brown looks much, much more raw than Pat Williams did.

Can he shoot? He's a bad FT shooter and bad 3p shooter. I don't trust this organization to develop such a player where one of his biggest flaws is shot selection. This coaching staff has shown me zero ability to curtail the awful shot selection of even the worst players on the roster.

He was hovering around 40% from deep for over half the year and went into a bad slump toward the end. 33% on decent volume isn’t bad, better than Jaylen Brown in college.

33 pct is bad. Just because Jaylen Brown developed a jumper after college doesn't mean much. I like Brown, but I'd rather see him go to a team that can develop such a player. I think he'll be really good, but it'll take at least a few years.

[JediMasterRevan]

I am kind of torn on Johnson.

Coach K couldnt make it work with him and Duke was better with him not on the court. No one respected his shot enough to open his game, he got injured.

I would not trade up for him, to many risks involved, much less trade a guy like MArcus to move up for him.

[Hal14]

I am kind of torn on Johnson.

Coach K couldnt make it work with him and Duke was better with him not on the court. No one respected his shot enough to open his game, he got injured.

I would not trade up for him, to many risks involved, much less trade a guy like MArcus to move up for him.

Huh? Johnson's BPM (Box Score Plus Minus) was +8.5, which is 3rd on the team at Duke.

People didn't respect his shot? Well if they didn't that's their fault, not Johnson's - dude shot 44.4% from 3

Coach K couldn't make it work with him..huh? What did you see in the video of Johnson that was posted in this thread that indicates that Johnson "couldn't make it work"? Besides, how much impact can a coach really be expected to make in just 1 season? Johnson was only at Duke for 1 year and it was a year that had less games and less practices due to COVID (not to mention Johnson's injury which kept him out for awhile)

[JediMasterRevan]

I am kind of torn on Johnson.

Coach K couldnt make it work with him and Duke was better with him not on the court. No one respected his shot enough to open his game, he got injured.

I would not trade up for him, to many risks involved, much less trade a guy like MArcus to move up for him.

Huh? Johnson's BPM (Box Score Plus Minus) was +8.5, which is 3rd on the team at Duke.

People didn't respect his shot? Well if they didn't that's their fault, not Johnson - dude shot 44.4% from 3

He shot 1.5 threes per game. a total of 18 three pointers.

And Duke won like 6 or 7 games in a row after he left the team.

There are flags is all i am saying

[BillessuR6]

Josh. Giddey.

He should be our pick

You are in Australia, right? Can you give us a scouting report on him?

I watched clips, read about him but you have probably seen him play quite a lot...how do you rate his potential, what is his ceiling in the NBA?

Thanks!

[CelticsPride18]

I think Jalen Johnson could realistically fall to 16. He has injury and character concerns. He changed HS 3 seasons in a row and opted out of Duke by mid season.

[playa-hater]

I think Jalen Johnson could realistically fall to 16. He has injury and character concerns. He changed HS 3 seasons in a row and opted out of Duke by mid season.

I think for every possible player for Boston, there should be complete background checks for sure. But at some point every team must come to a conclusion, is that player's talent enough to overcome any "character concerns"? weigh the goods and the bads

With that said, we can only judge what he looks like on the court, but trust the team and any team to follow up on all concerns with a player. As of now, he looks like a good one In my eyes.

[Patsfan1081]

Not sure is JJ would be a true 4 in the league but yeah, count me in as someone also intrigued by his skill set. Would be nice to see them trade up for the more unpolished player instead of trading back for quantity like they have recently.