Hal’s Draft Thread

[Curmudgeon]

I'd say he projects as a better Brian Scalabrine? Why not.

Ed Najera and Brian Cardinal are also working comps. Like Scal, they didn't shoot as well, and were scrappier defensively...but Manek posted decent defensive stats too if you compare to his foul efficiency.

His statistical production didn't change a whole lot Freshman to Senior year, some will view that as a negative but I view it as a sign of consistency and upside.

OK, I give up. but who the hell is that??

https://celticswire.usatoday.com/2020/12/10/nba-boston-celtics-manek-as-goat-bird/

Does he listen toi the Monkees in his spare time? Is he Alex Caruso's lover?

[Hal14]

I really like Sengun, I think he has potential.

But my top picks for a PF are still Todd and Isaiah Jackson has really been growing on me.

Todd, to me, is projecting to be Christian Wood/Chris Bosh/John Collins type of player. Excellent range, good speed, good ball handling, good size, great rebounder. Makes zero sense he is being projected second round.
12.5ppg, 5rpg, .8apg, .5spg, .8bpg, 44% and 36% with a FT of 82%

Good writeup in draftroom

Todd is a gifted basketball talent who is a long and fluid athlete who shows great coordination for a young player of his size. We haven’t seen much of him (or the rest of the G League Ignite team) this year and so he’s a bit of a mystery man heading into the 2021 NBA Draft.

He’s got all of the physical tools and skill-set to be a modern NBA Big. He’s got nice length, excellent quickness in the open court and a promising offensive game. His size and athleticism allow him to guard at the rim and he’s got quick hands and feet, making him a capable perimeter defender for his position.

His offensive game is smooth and advanced for his age. He’s got nice form on his shot and projects as a player who can score from all three levels as his game matures.

Todd shows a lot of versatility and is able to play in the post, make plays in mid range and in the transition game. He gets above the rim with ease and can finish with either hand.

Todd doesn’t have one glaring weakness in his game but he needs to keep adding strength and continue working on his body to hold up against NBA competition.

Needs to continue to develop his skill set, work on his outside shooting and become a consistent free throw shooter.

Watch on YouTube

IMO, Offense is pretty much ideal for the celtics out of the pf spot. Ideally Todd continues to grow and forms into the center spot. Needs to work on defensive positioning.



Isaiah Jackson, 6foot10, 7foot 5 wingspan and an absolute freak athlete. He is a bigger Rob Williams who is a defensive beast.
He is a defensive, shot blocking Amare. Projecting to be more of a center than a PF.

Draftnet

Extremely athletic, agile big man that can impact the game without scoring and has a lot of physical gifts … An active big who makes plays all over the court defensively, having averaged 2.6 blocks and .8 steals per game as a freshman … Had a block rate of 12.7 at Kentucky. Is a rangy defender, and can cover a lot of ground quickly … Is a productive on ball and help side defender … Looks to get out in transition on turnovers … Is a very good rim-runner who can outrun virtually all players at his position … has tremendous lengthh with a 7’5 wingspan … Plays above the rim … Has made progress in learning to set his defender up to drive by him … Developing face up game still needs work, but is able to use his quickness to create space … Has a quick first step on face ups that allow him to beat his man off the dribble … Explosive athlete … Extremely quick to get off the floor, and has explosive second and third jumps that gives him the advantage on rebounds …70% free throw shooting gives optimism that he can ultimately develop some reliable face up skills … Solid competitor and determination … One of the youngest players in the draft having turned 19 in January …

Jackson needs to improve on his offense, needs to develop a shot.

Watch on YouTube

I would love both honestly.

Kemba/Pritchard
Fournier/Smart
Brown/Nesmith
Tatum/Todd
Timelord/Jackson

Someone gonna shoot me for this, but Todd's mechanics and game reminds me a bit of Robert Horry. very intrigued for sure.

Jackson I like, except I can't imagine him being anything but a center, and yes we need that, but Kai and Todd give me the idea that they can develop to play alongside and for RW
when necessary, while Jackson only for RW.

Edit - some of you made the Jackson point already.. sue me..

Yeah, that's why the more I think about it, watch footage and read articles, the more I think Kai Jones could be the perfect pick for us. With his versatility to play either 4 or 5 on offense and defense. Blocks shots, shoots 38% from 3. Rim runner, 6'11", athleticism for days. He would be a great pick. Him and Time Lord playing together would be awesome, or if it doesn't work out with time lord being able to stay healthy, Jones can play the 5. Also love he enthusiasm of Jones, you see his highlight reels and on a lot of those dunks and blocked shots, he'll get all pumped up afterwards and yell, i Can see that enthusiasm/passion getting contagious and then the other celtics get pumped up and pick up their intensity when he sees that. like how time lord has shown emotion and got pumped up after a big play like once, looks like Jones does it more frequently - and Jones doesn't have injury question marks.

Not sure if Jones will still be on the board at 16, though. One mock I saw had him even going as high as 7th to Toronto. I've seen mocks with him going anywhere from 7-20..

[return2glory]

Boston should take a look at Jackson as a big like a few others have mentioned here.

We need size with talent. But if we decide to go wings, Duarte and Juzang are 2 wings I like.

[CelticFaninLBC]

Unless they plan to trade a wing or let Fournier walk to avoid the luxury tax, they need to either draft a big, or a pg/combo guard, and select from the following.

Isaiah Jackson, Kai Jones, Jalen Johnson, Tre Mann Jared Butler, Ayo Dosunmu, Jaden Springer, Greg Brown and Usman Garuba.

[playa-hater]

I really like Sengun, I think he has potential.

But my top picks for a PF are still Todd and Isaiah Jackson has really been growing on me.

Todd, to me, is projecting to be Christian Wood/Chris Bosh/John Collins type of player. Excellent range, good speed, good ball handling, good size, great rebounder. Makes zero sense he is being projected second round.
12.5ppg, 5rpg, .8apg, .5spg, .8bpg, 44% and 36% with a FT of 82%

Good writeup in draftroom

Watch on YouTube

IMO, Offense is pretty much ideal for the celtics out of the pf spot. Ideally Todd continues to grow and forms into the center spot. Needs to work on defensive positioning.



Isaiah Jackson, 6foot10, 7foot 5 wingspan and an absolute freak athlete. He is a bigger Rob Williams who is a defensive beast.
He is a defensive, shot blocking Amare. Projecting to be more of a center than a PF.

Draftnet


Jackson needs to improve on his offense, needs to develop a shot.

Watch on YouTube

I would love both honestly.

Kemba/Pritchard
Fournier/Smart
Brown/Nesmith
Tatum/Todd
Timelord/Jackson

Someone gonna shoot me for this, but Todd's mechanics and game reminds me a bit of Robert Horry. very intrigued for sure.

Jackson I like, except I can't imagine him being anything but a center, and yes we need that, but Kai and Todd give me the idea that they can develop to play alongside and for RW
when necessary, while Jackson only for RW.

Edit - some of you made the Jackson point already.. sue me..

Yeah, that's why the more I think about it, watch footage and read articles, the more I think Kai Jones could be the perfect pick for us. With his versatility to play either 4 or 5 on offense and defense. Blocks shots, shoots 38% from 3. Rim runner, 6'11", athleticism for days. He would be a great pick. Him and Time Lord playing together would be awesome, or if it doesn't work out with time lord being able to stay healthy, Jones can play the 5. Also love he enthusiasm of Jones, you see his highlight reels and on a lot of those dunks and blocked shots, he'll get all pumped up afterwards and yell, i Can see that enthusiasm/passion getting contagious and then the other celtics get pumped up and pick up their intensity when he sees that. like how time lord has shown emotion and got pumped up after a big play like once, looks like Jones does it more frequently - and Jones doesn't have injury question marks.

Not sure if Jones will still be on the board at 16, though. One mock I saw had him even going as high as 7th to Toronto. I've seen mocks with him going anywhere from 7-20..

With the way Boston's luck is, Kai will gone right before we pick. and while my top 5 is still a work in progress, Kai is a lock as a top choice for me for reasons you described.

[Hal14]

Someone gonna shoot me for this, but Todd's mechanics and game reminds me a bit of Robert Horry. very intrigued for sure.

Jackson I like, except I can't imagine him being anything but a center, and yes we need that, but Kai and Todd give me the idea that they can develop to play alongside and for RW
when necessary, while Jackson only for RW.

Edit - some of you made the Jackson point already.. sue me..

Yeah, that's why the more I think about it, watch footage and read articles, the more I think Kai Jones could be the perfect pick for us. With his versatility to play either 4 or 5 on offense and defense. Blocks shots, shoots 38% from 3. Rim runner, 6'11", athleticism for days. He would be a great pick. Him and Time Lord playing together would be awesome, or if it doesn't work out with time lord being able to stay healthy, Jones can play the 5. Also love he enthusiasm of Jones, you see his highlight reels and on a lot of those dunks and blocked shots, he'll get all pumped up afterwards and yell, i Can see that enthusiasm/passion getting contagious and then the other celtics get pumped up and pick up their intensity when he sees that. like how time lord has shown emotion and got pumped up after a big play like once, looks like Jones does it more frequently - and Jones doesn't have injury question marks.

Not sure if Jones will still be on the board at 16, though. One mock I saw had him even going as high as 7th to Toronto. I've seen mocks with him going anywhere from 7-20..

With the way Boston's luck is, Kai will gone right before we pick. and while my top 5 is still a work in progress, Kai is a lock as a top choice for me for reasons you described.

Yeah seems like a 50/50 at this point whether Jones will still be there at 16. I'd be pumped if we got him..

[Hal14]

Boston should take a look at Jackson as a big like a few others have mentioned here.

We need size with talent. But if we decide to go wings, Duarte and Juzang are 2 wings I like.

I like Jackson. What really impresses me is how nimble/agile/quick/athletic he is for a kid who's 6'10"..combined with good defense, rebounding and shot blocking.

The downside with Jackson is he can't play the 4 because he has literally no 3 point shot (shot 0/2 from 3 this past season) and can't dribble drive from the perimeter and can't play the 5 because he's only 206 lbs so needs to bulk up more, put some weight on - otherwise will likely get pushed around by bigger/wider/bulkier centers. I don't believe there's a regular rotation center in the league who's only 206 lbs. Nicolas Claxton is 215 lbs and he's not even that good. I suppose Claxton is pretty good player for where he got drafted (31st overall) but this is the 16th pick we're talking about here. People say they think Time Lord will get pushed around by guys like Embiid and he's 237 lbs.

I think we can do better than Jackson, and I'm hearing he hasn't signed with an agent so might return to Kentucky for another year anyways.

Edit: watching more footage of Jackson and starting to change my mind. On one hand, yeah 206 lbs might be too small for a good NBA center. But on the other hand

a) he's 19, and over the next couple years can bulk up, but he has things you simply can't teach - the insane athleticism, coordination, agility, nimbleness and timing + tenacity on blocks, timing + tenacity on put-backs and dump downs. and
b) so what? yeah, 206 lbs might be small for an NBA center, but look at quick he is and imagine all of these 250 lbs centers trying to keep up with his quickness, and not just his quickness but his combination of quickness, athleticism and tenacity. Those bigger centers who are 250+ lbs will be too slow to keep up with Jackson. Jackson is like a track athlete with basketball skill out there, at 6'10", I love it.

He's now officially moved into my group of guys I'd like to see the Celtics maybe grab at 16, along with Giddey, Johnson, Jones, Sengun and Garuba..

[playa-hater]

With the exception of a bigman, I dont ever want to see a non shooter on the court ever again. Just looking at the playoffs..half.court offense dominates...shooters shooters shooters..

[Hal14]

With the exception of a bigman, I dont ever want to see a non shooter on the court ever again. Just looking at the playoffs..half.court offense dominates...shooters shooters shooters..

So that rules out Giddey and Garuba..

[playa-hater]

With the exception of a bigman, I dont ever want to see a non shooter on the court ever again. Just looking at the playoffs..half.court offense dominates...shooters shooters shooters..

So that rules out Giddey and Garuba..

??? Giddey has fine looking shooting mechanics, potential..he will be fine..

[playa-hater]

For the record, I have mentiond once before that I was a shooting coach and trainer.. And since I'm a bit drunk right now,I will declare, I arrogantly consider myself an expert on knowing about shooting and what I need to see.. So on that note Giddy will be more than fine.

[aporel18]

With the exception of a bigman, I dont ever want to see a non shooter on the court ever again. Just looking at the playoffs..half.court offense dominates...shooters shooters shooters..

So that rules out Giddey and Garuba..

Garuba isn't a guard, and he's developing a 3-point shot. We'll see.

[Hal14]

With the exception of a bigman, I dont ever want to see a non shooter on the court ever again. Just looking at the playoffs..half.court offense dominates...shooters shooters shooters..

So that rules out Giddey and Garuba..

Garuba isn't a guard, and he's developing a 3-point shot. We'll see.

I consider "big man" to be a 5.

I see Garuba as a natural 4, who can sometimes play small ball 5. He's 6'8" and doesn't jump that high and 7'2" wingspan. Definitely undersized at the 5.

You need either your 4 or 5 to be able to shoot the 3 in the modern NBA.

I like Garuba, how hard he plays, his strong build, he's arguably the best defender in the draft. Would like him more if he had better perimeter skills (ball handling, dribble drive moves, 3 point shooting)..but then again, if he had better perimeter skills, he probably would get picked before the 16 spot.

[playa-hater]

So that rules out Giddey and Garuba..

Garuba isn't a guard, and he's developing a 3-point shot. We'll see.

I consider "big man" to be a 5.

I see Garuba as a natural 4, who can sometimes play small ball 5. He's 6'8" and doesn't jump that high and 7'2" wingspan. Definitely undersized at the 5.

You need either your 4 or 5 to be able to shoot the 3 in the modern NBA.

I like Garuba, how hard he plays, his strong build, he's arguably the best defender in the draft. Would like him more if he had better perimeter skills (ball handling, dribble drive moves, 3 point shooting)..but then again, if he had better perimeter skills, he probably would get picked before the 16 spot.

which is why I am not high on him. a non center without perimeter skills is a no with better players probably available.

[JediMasterRevan]

Need a pg

[aporel18]

So that rules out Giddey and Garuba..

Garuba isn't a guard, and he's developing a 3-point shot. We'll see.

I consider "big man" to be a 5.

I see Garuba as a natural 4, who can sometimes play small ball 5. He's 6'8" and doesn't jump that high and 7'2" wingspan. Definitely undersized at the 5.

You need either your 4 or 5 to be able to shoot the 3 in the modern NBA.

I like Garuba, how hard he plays, his strong build, he's arguably the best defender in the draft. Would like him more if he had better perimeter skills (ball handling, dribble drive moves, 3 point shooting)..but then again, if he had better perimeter skills, he probably would get picked before the 16 spot.

spot on, if he already had those offensive skills polished, he'd probably go top 3, or maybe not, some GMs would pick the Bagleys and Aytons of the NCAA before him.

I'd like the Cs to pick him, he doesn't jump that high but he jumps 2,3,4 times to hunt the ball. Is undersized like a Draymond Green, but he's already a better defender and a comparable passer. He needs to polish his 3 point shoot and also to protect himself to finish under the basket, but his basketball IQ is better than advertised. And of course, his dribble needs some work, but those things can be developed. His tenacity and motor can't be teached o transplanted.

That said, and although I'm a fan of Usman (also a Luka fan), I'd take Kai Jones before him, because of Jones length and skills, but either one can form a great frontcourt with Tatum and TimeLord in the short term.

After those two, the big I'd pick is Filip Petrusev, he's growing as a player this year, on both sides, and he'd be a steal in the second round (his stock will probably rise in the next weeks, though):

Watch on YouTube

[BillessuR6]

Garuba isn't a guard, and he's developing a 3-point shot. We'll see.

I consider "big man" to be a 5.

I see Garuba as a natural 4, who can sometimes play small ball 5. He's 6'8" and doesn't jump that high and 7'2" wingspan. Definitely undersized at the 5.

You need either your 4 or 5 to be able to shoot the 3 in the modern NBA.

I like Garuba, how hard he plays, his strong build, he's arguably the best defender in the draft. Would like him more if he had better perimeter skills (ball handling, dribble drive moves, 3 point shooting)..but then again, if he had better perimeter skills, he probably would get picked before the 16 spot.

spot on, if he already had those offensive skills polished, he'd probably go top 3, or maybe not, some GMs would pick the Bagleys and Aytons of the NCAA before him.

I'd like the Cs to pick him, he doesn't jump that high but he jumps 2,3,4 times to hunt the ball. Is undersized like a Draymond Green, but he's already a better defender and a comparable passer. He needs to polish his 3 point shoot and also to protect himself to finish under the basket, but his basketball IQ is better than advertised. And of course, his dribble needs some work, but those things can be developed. His tenacity and motor can't be teached o transplanted.

That said, and although I'm a fan of Usman (also a Luka fan), I'd take Kai Jones before him, because of Jones length and skills, but either one can form a great frontcourt with Tatum and TimeLord in the short term.

After those two, the big I'd pick is Filip Petrusev, he's growing as a player this year, on both sides, and he'd be a steal in the second round (his stock will probably rise in the next weeks, though):

Watch on YouTube

Pretty much agree with what you wrote. Garuba will be a terrific defender and I think he will develop a three point shot. I do have him as a small ball 5, though. Do not know if he will be quick enough to play at the 4 so successfully.

Petrusev, might just be the new Vucevic. I would certainly take him in the twenties...he is perfect for the modern NBA...

Kai Jones? Have only seen clips of him...unbelievably athletic but his defense is bad. Also, with Timelord here do we need another guy like him? Of course, if Williams can only play half of games then, yes. Can Jones develop a three point shot?

[Celts17Pride]

Need a pg

Wouldn’t be shocked if Ainge drafted the future point guard of the Boston Celtics in this year’s draft.

[playa-hater]

Need a pg

Wouldn’t be shocked if Ainge drafted the future point guard of the Boston Celtics in this year’s draft.

This may be right, but then drafting PP , then no one at 30 and then draft another PG in Yam with not a single bigger player (4 or 5) to develop is so damn bad. (Jaden McDaniels comes to mind)

[JediMasterRevan]

Davion Mitchell is a danny and Brad wet dream IMO.

Defends relentlessly, can hit the outside shot, can set teammates up.
And with Browns and Tatums marked improvement this year in playmaking the team could be a switch all defense and also about anyone could bring ball up and initiate offense.

Mitchell
Smart
Brown
Tatum
Timelord

Plenty of playmaking, shot making, iso play, defense, hustle, transition.