In Danny We Trust: Draft

One question: Is there something that Danny does differently than other GMs? Does he talk with them and get a feel for their inner drive… seems that would be the guage I would want to see if I could know one thing. Take Gerald Green for example, athleticism running out the ears, but an absolute lack of motivation. On the other hand, Perk had nothing but a real big body and the determination to learn what Clifford Ray and Tom Thibodeux told him. I still don’t think he is getting fair recognition for his defensive play against the pick and roll. But, back to my point, how does anyone interview a job candidate and discern whether they have fire in their belly?

Second point, inspired by Jeff’s previous column praising Doc. Is it time that Doc and his staff start getting some credit for developing young talent? Or do we have to hear it from some self-appointed authority like Stephen A Jackson before we recognize it ourselves?

In addition to drafting very well in the later slots, Danny had the stones to trade Antoine Walker who was not a good influence on Pierce.

You know… There are some impact players that come out of the 30 range in the draft. I can think of two major ones right off the top of the all-star list in Gilbert Arenas and Carlos Boozer. There are probably a few more that I just can’t remember. But it is possible. Anything is possible.

Also, I like G.Green. He might pan out in the long run, he just needs to find the right home.

A small addition to that, Trajan Langdon seemed like a bust in Cleveland and he was gone on to win Euro-League MVP and a Euro-League title and is widely considered to be one of the best players outside the U.S. Hopefully there is a home somewhere like that for Gerald Green, be it here or abroad.

danny doesn’t waste draft picks. some teams give up on their draft picks eventually but danny likes to hold to all the picks he has as possible even 2nd rounders. He tries hard to develop them even if the players themselves are not as motivated and thats what you call great management.

The choice that lands for #30 will be a good one.

Amen on that observation about trading Antoine Walker, Real Large James.

I remember when Ainge was doing game commentary for ABC, and he made it clear he thought Walker’s game was a problem for the Celtics. That’s when I knew I wanted Ainge as a GM, and was so happy when he followed up on his convictions by shipping Walker off.

And for the record, I wonder if a now older, and more mature Orien Greene might not be an excellent backup for Rondo.

How can you call for props for Gerald Green bringing home a dunk trophy after experiencing a year where the manifest importance of sacrificing meaningless personal goals like that was so strongly demonstrated? Pulleeze!

Pau Gasol is claiming rowdy Cs fans caught up with the Lakers bus and pounded it with their fists, shouted expletives, and threw rocks at the bus. Gasol then goes on to say threateningly, “I won’t forget that.” Okay, let’s circle the Christmas Day game in our calendars right now!!!

Danny had had some nice picks and obviously did a good job getting the big 3 together. But in 2006 the Celtics could have gotten Brandon Roy or Rudy Gay but decided to trade that pick for Sebastian Telfair. I was really upset when that happened. Maybe I’m being picky. But Overall Danny does a solid job.

how about Songalia? was he drafted by Danny or was that before? he is pretty effective off the bench and seemed to have picked up his game last season

This is out of context, but it’s KG and RA on Letterman after the win: http://youtube.com/watch?v=rm3JNH6HCtY

C’mon, ShowPowe. You can’t talk about the Telfair trade without mentioning the fact that you dumped off an extra year of exorbitant of salary with Raef LaFrentz in exchange for Theo Ratliff. Without Ratliff’s expiring contract, you don’t get Garnett in the next off-season. Besides, there was still a chance, in June of ’06, that Telfair might have been able to be decent point guard.

Let me throw this out….How about signing Gerald Green and putting him under the Big Three’s example. Pierce is a great player but not really a mentor type. 2nd time around might be the charm. He wasn’t a bad kid and did have raw talent. Is he any worse a gamble than a #30 pick?

Let’s definitely throw out that idea about bringing back Gerald Green. (You know, Olowokandi had a lot raw talent too.)

I thing GG and Banks were good picks all things considered. No doubting GG’s abilities: he scored twenty in a few games as a rookie or sophmore, right? He was well understood to be a project coming into the Celtics, and a decent gamble when you realize the C’s were taking home run cuts. Banks is similar, but at the same time he showed enough to get a bad a contract. But again he was a home run swing: a guy who could have put it all together to become Rondo with a jump shot. Being a good drafter doesn’t mean you don’t take risks, it means you understand the risks you are taking.

Unless someone falls to number 30 the Celtics will probably trade it for a veteran player, point guard or power forward/center. The 60th pick will be someone probably from across the globe. Unrestricted players Duhon, Pietrus, Lue, Ollie etc. Bigs Prezec, Magloire, Nesterovic, Diop who knows? I hope PJ, Posey and House come back.

Salary cap etc info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Salary_Cap

RE: TheShowPowe…

true, but the Telfair trade included trading LaFrenz and acquiring Theo Ratliff. Ratliff’s contract expired a year earlier than LaFrenz’s which enabled Danny to trade for KG. Looking at it from this angle makes the Telfair trade well worth it.

echo, echo, echo

Ratliff was the Huge EXPIRING contract….without him,there was NO CHANCE of getting KG—-it made the salaries match.

What’s done is done. DA does a solid job, regardless . ’Nuff said. =)

And, he’s a gazillion times better than Chris Wallace, right?

Chris Wallace’s draft:
Let’s see, Kedrick Brown, trading Joe Johnson, with the 10th and 11th picks, oh yeah in 2001 select Jerome Moiso (I was there to actually witness that), and the list goes on. Josip Sesar with the 46th pick attained in the trade with Seattle, etc. Oh yeah, don’t forget Joe Forte, the guy who kept getting arrested, or DUI w/e.

I remember, when Forte was selected, the guy on TV said “he had a good coach who trained him well at NC” or something along those lines…

You can’t say there was “NO CHANCE.” For example, i’m pretty sure Minny would have taken an AJ, Roy, Raef package (and we’d get to keep our two extra picks). Or a predraft trade of Wally, the #5 pick and Al. Ratliff helped, but to say there was “NO CHANCE” is incorrect.

I hear you, but in the first case you’d be losing Roy, just like if you didn’t draft him. The final outcome is the same: we get KG, we lose Roy; in the second trade we get KG and keep Roy, but don’t get Ray Allen. So, and that is my point, you guys cannot count the Telfair trade as an error. To get KG Danny had to pay a high price. He just decided to do it taking a shot at Telfair. Can you imagine what would have happened if Bassy would have ended being a starting-caliber point guard? He saw an opportunity and tried to get the most out of it. It was a win-win situation. It just didn’t work.

There can be jewels at the bottom of the barrel. Manu Ginobili was drafted #56, Gilbert Arenal..in the 30s

go get them Danny, go and find our jewel

There will be a good player at #30 – The question is whether danny stays there or moves it for a high second round draft and a future first.

Richie Hendrix, George Hill, Ryan Anderson, Hickson, Hardin, Spreights, Ibaka, Lee, Wheeler, etc. Best player available even though I’d really like them to go for a young big with some height. With Perk out, we really needed someone that could match up with the 6-10- 7’2 guys out there. I think we never did find that big SF that Ainge/Rivers wanted but we’re definately going to have to aquire someone to replace Pollard and perhaps PJ Brown and have very little money to do it with. McDyess may sign with us since he picked Detroit over Boston a few years back only because he though Detroit was closer to a title than Boston but he has a lot of respect for Danny. Here’s where Scal’s contract really hurts us for what we need in the height department. Team has to make up their mind on Posey and Tony Allen since resigning Posey to the mid level hurts us trying to sign our second round picks to multi-yr deals which allowed us to keep guys like Powe and big Baby. We can find a backup veteran point in free agency if Cassell doesn’t return and we should find it easier to “recruit” fringe veteran role players now that we won the title.

GET US A CENTER!!

We need more size and if not that, then a swingman/2 guard type that can score. Lee, Douglas-Roberts, etc. Someone who eventually will take over for Ray. As for a power 3, as anyone heard anything on the kid Dove from Oklahoma State? No idea what is draft status is but he looked like a 6’9" athletic kid who was defensive wiz in college.

  If I was Danny, I would make every effort to trade up far enough to draft Hibbert. If it took our first , plus either Powe or BBaby, I would do it. Perk is a bit small for a NBA center and is also injury prone. Hibbert is a legitimate 7’2" center, can block shots and rebound a bit. He is not a great athlete, but neither is Perk. Hibbert has had the good Georgetown coaching and has no character issues. He will definitely be a better backup/occasional starter then Pollard. And while I admired what PJ Brown did for us, I dont think he ever got his feet off the ground. Hibbert can do that. As far as replacing Cassell, there are always journeymen point guards out there. House did a nice job as a replacement. AND, many of the Celts, including Danny, are very high on Pruitt as both the backup for RR and Ray Allen.

If the draft goes anything like the DraftExpress mock, I’d be thrilled with landing JJ Hickson. He’d be a lottery pick next season if he stayed another year in college. A beast of a player down low.

I’ll say this the team loves Gabe and it’s one reason why the team will let Eddie House walk. Gabe can spread the court and he has work hard on his defense because he know’s that the only way he will get on the court. But the love the kids game and the way he works

As far as James Posey goes the team that the Cs should be worried about getting him the Cleveland. But I have a feeling that James Posey will end up back in Boston with a 2 million dollar pay raise.