5 things to know about Celtics top pick Romeo Langford

5 things to know about Celtics top pick Romeo Langford




By Trevor Hass  8:16 AM




Once considered a likely top-five pick, Romeo Langford’s draft stock slipped in the past year, and the Celtics ended up taking him 14th overall in Thursday’s NBA Draft.

Langford, who was ESPN’s No. 1 shooting guard in the Class of 2018 and Indiana’s Gatorade Player of the Year, played one college season in his home state at Indiana University before declaring for the NBA Draft. With the Hoosiers, he started 32 games and averaged 16.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.3 assists but was limited by a lingering thumb injury.

“If they would have been more on the national radar, and he would have not hurt his thumb, he probably would have been even more discussed,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said at the Auerbach Center on Thursday. “He’s a guy we were all aware of before his first game at IU.”

Here’s what you need to know about Langford.


He was the guy in the state of Indiana.

Langford graduated New Albany High School as the fourth-leading scorer in Indiana high school basketball history with 3,002 points. He led the Bulldogs to a 25-2 record, averaging 35.5 points, 9.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and three steals per game his senior season.

He reportedly considered Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, North Carolina, UCLA, and Vanderbilt, among other schools, but he decided to stay close to home.

“He’s been a good player for a long time,” Stevens said. “He’s a guy that, as far as the state of Indiana high school basketball, was probably as followed as anybody in the last 15 years.”

Not surprisingly, as an Indiana guy himself, Stevens has followed Langford closely for a while. Stevens called him a long, versatile, athletic wing who can handle the ball. He said he’s capable of playing multiple positions and thriving in the pick and roll.

“He can do a lot of things on the basketball court,” Stevens said. “He’s been well-coached, both in high school and in college, and he’s a guy that we think has a lot of things that translate to the NBA.”




Danny Ainge isn’t worried about Langford’s thumb long-term.

Langford tore a ligament in his thumb in late November at IU, but he played through the pain and didn’t miss a game all year. His shooting numbers were lower than one might expect given his talent, as he shot 44.8 percent from the field and 27.2 percent from 3-point range.


“I think that’s something he’s going to continue to have to work on to improve,” Stevens said. “I don’t think that there’s any doubt. If you picked an area he’s going to have to work on, that would be it. He’s a better shooter than he shot this year.”

Danny Ainge, the Celtics’ president of basketball operations, said he isn’t worried about the injury long term, noting that the team’s doctors will take a look at the hand when Langford arrives in Boston.

He, too, acknowledged Langford’s shooting wasn’t great in college, but he expects that trend to rectify itself with time.

“He didn’t shoot the ball as great this year,” Ainge said. “He was playing with a messed up thumb and had surgery on it.”

Langford is more of a slasher than a pure shooter, and he could help fill a void the Celtics had last year as they struggled to get to the free-throw line.


He shares an agent with Marcus Smart.


Adam Himmelsbach

@AdamHimmelsbach
Romeo Langford's agent, Happy Walters, to the Globe: “I think Smart & Rozier & those guys will toughen him up even more. That mentality, that go 1000 percent that Romeo has will be amplified with the Celtics. I think it’s great. They would’ve been one of my top 2 places for him.”

593
6:32 AM - Jun 21, 2019


He’s far from the only Indiana guy on the Celtics.

The Indiana-Boston pipeline is gaining momentum by the day. The Celtics now have: Stevens, Gordon Hayward, RJ Hunter, Langford, and Carsen Edwards.

Langford’s Hoosiers and Edwards’s Boilermakers faced off twice this year. Purdue won both meetings, but Langford pieced together a 14 point, nine-rebound performance in the second meeting, a two-point loss.

Micah Shrewsberry recently left the Celtics staff to join the Boilermakers.


He already has a basketball court named after him.

Langford has already achieved more before his 20th birthday than many people do in a lifetime.

In fact, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal, a groundbreaking ceremony for the Romeo Langford Basketball Court at Kevin Hammermsith Memorial Park took place in New Albany in 2018.

Alex Bozich
@insidethehall
· May 8, 2018
A ground breaking ceremony for a basketball court that will be named “Romeo Langford Basketball Court” will take place Friday in New Albany

View image on Twitter

Pete Palmer
@lawguyNA
Is it too early to suggest we rename Main Street as Romeo Langford Way?

3
7:46 PM - May 8, 2018


Langford is eager to add to his legacy in Boston, where he believes he has a real chance to contribute.

“I know what I’m capable of doing,” Langford told ESPN’s Maria Taylor. “I’ve been doing it for a long time.”



bob
MY NOTE:  Who gives a shit if he's not the only Indianan?  This isn't a High School Reunion.  Same with sharing an agent with Smart and having a basketball court named after him.  Being "the man" in a basketball-crazy state like Indiana says something.  Glad to hear about his thumb not being a long-term issue and that's what dropped him from top 5 to 14.  I just hope his thumb is ready to go ny camp.  Rookie camp is very important.  Players who miss it (e.g. Williams) are really set back in their development and has a disproportionately large deleterious effect on their rookie year..



.

I really like this pick, slithery driving ability, good handle, if he gets his shot down, could easily be a future all star type, reminds me more of Lavert than Tatum or Brown....

He sounds like another Gordon Hayward. Not the best athlete, but a really good basketball player.

Danny and Brad are in a spin cycle trying to convince themselves and fans that Romeo will be a better shooter. I am not buying it. He shot 27%from behind the arc and he is a below average Ft shooter, he looks slow to me and at the combine he did not participate in any of the agility speed tests.

This was both a reach at 14 as well as an ill advised positional selection.

They said the same things about Avery Bradley and Jalen Brown. What happened to them ? They became better shooters. Maybe playing with a broken thumb affected his shooting. Ainge has done a pretty good job drafting guards and wings.

He had a known injury back in November and it was generally accepted that it affected his shot.

That, and he refused to be operated on last November for the betterment of his team.

I plan to root for the guy.

He shot 36% from 3 and 81% FT his senior year in HS. I think torn ligaments in the thumb of his shooting hand might affect that just a little.

jrleftfoot wrote:They said the same things about Avery Bradley and Jalen Brown. What happened to them ? They became better shooters. Maybe playing with a broken thumb affected his shooting. Ainge has done a pretty good job drafting guards  and wings.

They say said what about AB?  He was a 37.5% shooter from deep after one year in college and a 38.4% shooter in the pros.

Jaylen Brown is still a developing as he slipped down to 34% this year and remains a poor shooter from the line.  

Nobody can tell me Romeo is going to be a great shooter.  The point is that if you draft a SG with the first of your picks get a damn shooter.  Don't draft somebody that you think will be a good shooter.  I watched film on him and he has bad form.

None of this matters to me.  The only thing I know is that we needed a big and Danny and Brad drafted yet another guard with a challenging shot.

16.5ppg with a torn ligament on his shooting hand!  Not to hit this too hard but that's almost Kobe-like concentration.  Remember when Kobe screwed up his finger, I think it was his pinky on his shooting hand, and still balled?  This kud likes to play and, apparently, will play pretty well through pain.  Smarty's gonna love him.






bob


.

Anybody who wants to give up on the guy because he shot a low percentage with an injured shooting hand and because he doesn't meet their individual requirements for a lottery pick is free to do so. Jaylen Brown isn't a great shooter, but he may, as Avery Bradley did, continue to improve. He is , in any case , better than the naysayers predicted after his one shitty college season, a season much worse than Romeo's. Pretending that you didn't hear all the Bradley can't shoot critiques doesn't mean that they didn't happen. Langford isn't a knock down shooter or a big. If those are you only acceptable criteria for a late lottery draft choice, I can understand your disappointment. I'm going to wait until I see him play at this level before forming an opinion.

jrleftfoot wrote:Anybody who wants to give up  on the guy because he shot a low percentage with  an injured shooting hand and because he doesn't meet their individual requirements for a lottery pick is free to do so. Jaylen Brown isn't a great shooter, but he may, as Avery Bradley did, continue to improve. He is , in any case , better than the naysayers predicted after his one shitty college season, a season much worse than Romeo's. Pretending that you didn't hear all the Bradley can't shoot critiques doesn't mean that they didn't happen. Langford isn't a knock down shooter or a big. If those are you only acceptable criteria for a late lottery draft choice, I can understand your disappointment. I'm going to wait until I see him play at this level before forming an opinion.

jrlefoot

Assuming you are addressing my comments let me say I never gave up on Romeo. Those are your words and a strawman comment. I stated that he was a 29.2 % shooter from deep and I do not believe the hand injury was the reason why.  In my mind he comes to the team with a questionable ability to shoot the three ball.  My comments about this draft are well documented. I do not believe Boston should have taken a questionable shooter with their first pick and if they were so inclined to do that I would have taken Alexander-Walker.  

I have a perfect right to my individual preferences about a player just like everyone else.  

Pretending that you didn't hear of all the Bradley can't shoot critiques. Really.. Just because it influenced your opinion without knowing the facts has nothing to do with me.  You will never find one post, or one comment by me where I criticized Avery's shooting.  I was only trying to point out that Avery was a pretty good shooter coming out of college although you ran with the herd. Any opinion to the contrary defies the facts.  He was a PG/SG coming out, I might add and he shot the 3 ball well.

You have been reading all the predraft posts and I am certain that my opinion in terms of preference was clearly expressed so do not pretend you did not know that.

I am often wrong about a lot of things but rarely do I miss on a shooter.  

I am not going to apologize for wanting a big and I am not going to apologize for wanting knock down shooters.  Yes that is my criteria.  

You say you are going to wait to see him play before forming  an opinion but that is obviously not true because you have already formed an opinion as I have.

Momma always told me to draft the best player remaining. In the mock draft polls Langford was picked to go as high as 6, with only one picking him below 12 at 16. And that was with a questionable shooting hand. Before college he was considered one of the top five or ten recruits in the nation. Langford was a gift horse. Drafting a big (6'10"+) who can be a productive rotation player to fill the shoes of AH/AB in 19/20 seems like a real crapshoot. How many centers drafted to playoff teams at 14 or lower played that role in their first year? And also, if DA is going to trade for a good big he might have to give up one of his guards. Langford could be nice to have if you have to lose Brown or Smart in a trade.

Convincing argument atcross. Hope he plays well in summer league.

In this HS highlights (i.e., pre-thumb) I note that many of his 3pt-ers are from well outside the HS 3pt line. I'm no expert on shot mechanics but I'm not seeing a problem. But it is a highlights reel. I would note that his ability to slash was so much more than HS players could handle that he could get to the basket at will. His HS stats suggest he's a terrific scorer, regardless of his shooting. This kid was very visible in IN so I'm sure Brad got to see a lot of him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4oLn2GDoLw

Romeo was one hell of a hs bball player.
He had a great 3 point shot. He really could slash to the basket and score. Now I see why Danny likes him.

atcross wrote:Momma always told me to draft the best player remaining. In the mock draft polls Langford was picked to go as high as 6, with only one picking him below 12 at 16. And that was with a questionable shooting hand. Before college he was considered one of the top five or ten recruits in the nation. Langford was a gift horse. Drafting a big (6'10"+) who can be a productive rotation player to fill the shoes of AH/AB in 19/20 seems like a real crapshoot. How many centers drafted to playoff teams at 14 or lower played that role in their first year? And also, if DA is going to trade for a good big he might have to give up one of his guards. Langford could be nice to have if you have to lose Brown or Smart in a trade.

Did you not see the aggregate mock draft?  He was ranked 19th overall.  Cameron Johnson was ranked 23 and I stated many times that I though he was the best pure shooter in the draft.  Did your momma tell you about him.  He went # 11.  

My top preference was Sekou Doumbouye.  I thought there was an outside chance that he may be available at 14.  And he was and Danny slept on him.

I do not expect rookies to come in and light the world on fire.  Drafting bigs late works for a lot of teams but never the Celtics.  That is because I think Danny does not do a good job in evaluating bigs.  This crapshoot only applies to teams that shoot craps.  Danny shoots craps and comes up snake eyes all the damn time.

I find it amusing that anyone would look at a guys' highschool numbers as evidence that a player is going to be a good shooter.  36% from deep is not a great HS stat.  But we have a collection of flimsy arguments before us.  Oh his thump injury was the reason for his poor shooting.  That did not stop him from putting up 125 three points shots.  Maybe he should have passed the ball more or taken less 3 point shots.  but then again he had more turnovers than assists but do not bother looking at that.  His team went 17-15  19-16 if you include the 3 NIT games.  

There are plenty of reasons to look at this pick as questionable including the need for a quality big man.

dboss wrote:

jrleftfoot wrote:Anybody who wants to give up  on the guy because he shot a low percentage with  an injured shooting hand and because he doesn't meet their individual requirements for a lottery pick is free to do so. Jaylen Brown isn't a great shooter, but he may, as Avery Bradley did, continue to improve. He is , in any case , better than the naysayers predicted after his one shitty college season, a season much worse than Romeo's. Pretending that you didn't hear all the Bradley can't shoot critiques doesn't mean that they didn't happen. Langford isn't a knock down shooter or a big. If those are you only acceptable criteria for a late lottery draft choice, I can understand your disappointment. I'm going to wait until I see him play at this level before forming an opinion.

jrlefoot

Assuming you are addressing my comments let me say I never gave up on Romeo. Those are your words and a strawman comment. I stated that he was a 29.2 % shooter from deep and I do not believe the hand injury was the reason why.  In my mind he comes to the team with a questionable ability to shoot the three ball.  My comments about this draft are well documented. I do not believe Boston should have taken a questionable shooter with their first pick and if they were so inclined to do that I would have taken Alexander-Walker.  

I have a perfect right to my individual preferences about a player just like everyone else.  

Pretending that you didn't hear of all the Bradley can't shoot critiques. Really.. Just because it influenced your opinion without knowing the facts has nothing to do with me.  You will never find one post, or one comment by me where I criticized Avery's shooting.  I was only trying to point out that Avery was a pretty good shooter coming out of college although you ran with the herd. Any opinion to the contrary defies the facts.  He was a PG/SG coming out, I might add and he shot the 3 ball well.

You have been reading all the predraft posts and I am certain that my opinion in terms of preference was clearly expressed so do not pretend you did not know that.

I am often wrong about a lot of things but rarely do I miss on a shooter.  

I am not going to apologize for wanting a big and I am not going to apologize for wanting knock down shooters.  Yes that is my criteria.  

You say you are going to wait to see him play before forming  an opinion but that is obviously not true because you have already formed an opinion as I have.

                                                                                                                                                        Disagreeing with your nonstop negativity regarding Langford is not the same thing as saying you don't have " a perfect right " to your opinion.  Contrary to your assertion, I haven't formed an opinion on the player except that yours is  overly harsh. You are the one who seems to think that since you " rarely miss" about a shooter, others must just accept your  opinion as gospel.  You have a strange way of expressing your never giving up on a player, the drafting of whom you have lamented nonstop. Speaking of strw man arguments, nobody said that you ever criticized Avery's shooting. I realize your opinion is important , but I wasn't referring to you when I said AB's shooting ability was ( widely) questioned. For a guy who can throw out insults about running with the herd in response to a perfectly polite post, you sure are sensitive.

dboss wrote:

atcross wrote:Momma always told me to draft the best player remaining. In the mock draft polls Langford was picked to go as high as 6, with only one picking him below 12 at 16. And that was with a questionable shooting hand. Before college he was considered one of the top five or ten recruits in the nation. Langford was a gift horse. Drafting a big (6'10"+) who can be a productive rotation player to fill the shoes of AH/AB in 19/20 seems like a real crapshoot. How many centers drafted to playoff teams at 14 or lower played that role in their first year? And also, if DA is going to trade for a good big he might have to give up one of his guards. Langford could be nice to have if you have to lose Brown or Smart in a trade.

Did you not see the aggregate mock draft?  He was ranked 19th overall.  Cameron Johnson was ranked 23 and I stated many times that I though he was the best pure shooter in the draft.  Did your momma tell you about him.  He went # 11.  

My top preference was Sekou Doumbouye.  I thought there was an outside chance that he may be available at 14.  And he was and Danny slept on him.

I do not expect rookies to come in and light the world on fire.  Drafting bigs late works for a lot of teams but never the Celtics.  That is because I think Danny does not do a good job in evaluating bigs.  This crapshoot only applies to teams that shoot craps.  Danny shoots craps and comes up snake eyes all the damn time.

I find it amusing that anyone would look at a guys' highschool numbers as evidence that a player is going to be a good shooter.  36% from deep is not a great HS stat.  But we have a collection of flimsy arguments before us.  Oh his thump injury was the reason for his poor shooting.  That did not stop him from putting up 125 three points shots.  Maybe he should have passed the ball more or taken less 3 point shots.  but then again he had more turnovers than assists but do not bother looking at that.  His team went 17-15  19-16 if you include the 3 NIT games.  

There are plenty of reasons to look at this pick as questionable including the need for a quality big man.

Doumbouye is 6'9" and considered a SF/PF. I know in today's league 6'8" is considered a small ball center but we have a 6'9" center in DT. And we have a 6'10" leaper project. AH and AB were very experienced centers. So Doumbouye couldn't replace the experience or the height. We need an experienced true center. To get that center we have to go FA or trade, not draft. If you think Doumbouye would have been a better pick that's one thing. But if you want to fill the void left in bigs by AH and AB leaving that pick doesn't seem to meet the need.

jrleftfoot wrote:

dboss wrote:

jrleftfoot wrote:Anybody who wants to give up  on the guy because he shot a low percentage with  an injured shooting hand and because he doesn't meet their individual requirements for a lottery pick is free to do so. Jaylen Brown isn't a great shooter, but he may, as Avery Bradley did, continue to improve. He is , in any case , better than the naysayers predicted after his one shitty college season, a season much worse than Romeo's. Pretending that you didn't hear all the Bradley can't shoot critiques doesn't mean that they didn't happen. Langford isn't a knock down shooter or a big. If those are you only acceptable criteria for a late lottery draft choice, I can understand your disappointment. I'm going to wait until I see him play at this level before forming an opinion.

jrlefoot

Assuming you are addressing my comments let me say I never gave up on Romeo. Those are your words and a strawman comment. I stated that he was a 29.2 % shooter from deep and I do not believe the hand injury was the reason why.  In my mind he comes to the team with a questionable ability to shoot the three ball.  My comments about this draft are well documented. I do not believe Boston should have taken a questionable shooter with their first pick and if they were so inclined to do that I would have taken Alexander-Walker.  

I have a perfect right to my individual preferences about a player just like everyone else.  

Pretending that you didn't hear of all the Bradley can't shoot critiques. Really.. Just because it influenced your opinion without knowing the facts has nothing to do with me.  You will never find one post, or one comment by me where I criticized Avery's shooting.  I was only trying to point out that Avery was a pretty good shooter coming out of college although you ran with the herd. Any opinion to the contrary defies the facts.  He was a PG/SG coming out, I might add and he shot the 3 ball well.

You have been reading all the predraft posts and I am certain that my opinion in terms of preference was clearly expressed so do not pretend you did not know that.

I am often wrong about a lot of things but rarely do I miss on a shooter.  

I am not going to apologize for wanting a big and I am not going to apologize for wanting knock down shooters.  Yes that is my criteria.  

You say you are going to wait to see him play before forming  an opinion but that is obviously not true because you have already formed an opinion as I have.

                                                                                                                                                        Disagreeing with your nonstop negativity regarding Langford is not the same thing as saying you don't have " a perfect right " to your opinion.  Contrary to your assertion, I haven't formed an opinion on the player except that yours is  overly harsh. You are the one who seems to think that since you " rarely miss" about a shooter, others must just accept your  opinion as gospel.  You have a strange way of expressing your never giving up on a player, the drafting of whom you have lamented nonstop. Speaking of strw man arguments, nobody said that you ever criticized Avery's shooting. I realize your opinion is important , but I wasn't referring to you when I said AB's shooting ability was ( widely) questioned. For a guy who can throw out insults about running with the herd in response to a perfectly polite post, you sure are sensitive.

Either you have an opinion or you don't.  Apparently you do have an opinion because you think I am being overly harsh about Romeo.  That's your opinion.  But you do not have an opinion.  whatever.

It matters little to me if you agree with me or not.     Apparently you are running with the herd.  That is a rather mild insult if you ask me but I'm the one who is being overly sensitive.   

Dude this is just a conversation about the draft.

When the season starts I will be watching the Celtics just like i have since 1960.  I will also be rooting for every single player on this team including the very questionable #14th pick Romeo Langford.

atcross wrote:

dboss wrote:

atcross wrote:Momma always told me to draft the best player remaining. In the mock draft polls Langford was picked to go as high as 6, with only one picking him below 12 at 16. And that was with a questionable shooting hand. Before college he was considered one of the top five or ten recruits in the nation. Langford was a gift horse. Drafting a big (6'10"+) who can be a productive rotation player to fill the shoes of AH/AB in 19/20 seems like a real crapshoot. How many centers drafted to playoff teams at 14 or lower played that role in their first year? And also, if DA is going to trade for a good big he might have to give up one of his guards. Langford could be nice to have if you have to lose Brown or Smart in a trade.

Did you not see the aggregate mock draft?  He was ranked 19th overall.  Cameron Johnson was ranked 23 and I stated many times that I though he was the best pure shooter in the draft.  Did your momma tell you about him.  He went # 11.  

My top preference was Sekou Doumbouye.  I thought there was an outside chance that he may be available at 14.  And he was and Danny slept on him.

I do not expect rookies to come in and light the world on fire.  Drafting bigs late works for a lot of teams but never the Celtics.  That is because I think Danny does not do a good job in evaluating bigs.  This crapshoot only applies to teams that shoot craps.  Danny shoots craps and comes up snake eyes all the damn time.

I find it amusing that anyone would look at a guys' highschool numbers as evidence that a player is going to be a good shooter.  36% from deep is not a great HS stat.  But we have a collection of flimsy arguments before us.  Oh his thump injury was the reason for his poor shooting.  That did not stop him from putting up 125 three points shots.  Maybe he should have passed the ball more or taken less 3 point shots.  but then again he had more turnovers than assists but do not bother looking at that.  His team went 17-15  19-16 if you include the 3 NIT games.  

There are plenty of reasons to look at this pick as questionable including the need for a quality big man.

Doumbouye is 6'9" and considered a SF/PF. I know in today's league 6'8" is considered a small ball center but we have a 6'9" center in DT. And we have a 6'10" leaper project. AH and AB were very experienced centers. So Doumbouye couldn't replace the experience or the height. We need an experienced true center. To get that center we have to go FA or trade, not draft. If you think Doumbouye would have been a better pick that's one thing. But if you want to fill the void left in bigs by AH and AB leaving that pick doesn't seem to meet the need.  

Who said anything about Sekou at center?

I would have drafted him to play PF.  Anyways I posted about him early on.  The reason why I liked him is because he reminds me of Pascal Siakam. He was  hovering around the top 10 for a good while.  Yes he would have definitely been my pick at #14.

"Who said anything about Sekou at center?"

"I am not going to apologize for wanting a big and I am not going to apologize for wanting knock down shooters. Yes that is my criteria."

"There are plenty of reasons to look at this pick as questionable including the need for a quality big man."

So by big you mean what? Anyone 6'8" and over? A PF who can play the 5 in a pinch? And is that all we need? Bottom line I'm just trying to figure out if your complaint is that we didn't draft someone that could fill an obvious roster need, i.e., a true center, or just that you don't like Langford as the pick? You can have one reason or the other but not both.

Actross

If you were actively seeing a lot of predraft discussion, you would see that I wanted Boston to draft a center and a long athletic PF.

By big I mean a front line player that brings a particilar set of skills to the game like speed and quickness, defense and rebouding.  Scoring in the paint, running the floor and making outside shots.  

I am less against them drafting Romeo than I am about them not addressing their front line.  That has been a singular issue that I have had for a long time with the Celtics.

dboss your powers of deflection are impressive. I said I had no opinion on Langford and rather than responding to that you cited my opinion on something else entirely as somehow contradictory . You tout your ability to gauge shooting ability, while stubbornly refusing to consider the possibility that shooting stats (yes,in high school) obtained prior to tearing a thumb ligament might be more indicative of ability than those accrued while playing with the injury. Best of all, you cite aggregate mock draft ranking as if it was a meaningful and decisive factor. I'm thrilled to hear you will root for all the Celtics, even Langford, though. Feel free to have the last word, or not. I'll be out looking for a herd to run with.

"speed and quickness, defense and rebouding. Scoring in the paint, running the floor and making outside shots." I think you left out great court vision and a high bball IQ. So I guess you don't want perfection.

If we can keep Morris (iffy, I know) we have six players 6.8+. Yabusele and Williams are not rotation ready but Morris, Tatum, Hayward, and Theis are. I don't know that any of them check all of your boxes but I didn't see Bird in that draft. We drafted a center project last year. Centers drafted 14 and lower are almost always projects or have other problems. NBA ready centers are long gone by 14. You also said you wanted a knock down shooter. Doumbouye looks like a decent shooter but hardly Reggie Miller. So I'm confused about what you want. You want a "big" (PF) but we don't seem to be especially short of them. You want a center but I think you agreed we probably couldn't get the kind of center we need now in the draft. You want a knock down shooter but the guy you wanted is not particularly a knock down shooter.