Re: Celtics Draft Workout Thread

by **swish** Wed Jun 18, 2014 11:18 pm

I would be very surprised if Danny doesn't already have a pretty good idea as to the position that the players are best suited and what their limitations are at those positions. And just how many of those players could be used in future trades and be long gone in the very near future ? So why worry now about how they play as a unit next year when they might not even be on the roster in a year or two.- that is unless you expect them to be a serious contender next year.

swish

by **Sam** Wed Jun 18, 2014 11:59 pm

Swish,

Simple.

Because the team is likely to get younger rather than older in the next year. And it's important to indoctrinate younger players especially, early in their careers, in the right way to play. And the right way to play involves functioning as a unit rather than as a bunch of individuals.

The possibility that some of their teammates may change over the next year or two is no reason not to indoctrinate them in the right habits as soon and as thoroughly as possible. The right habits can persevere regardless of changes in teammates.

They don't have to develop new habits every time they get a new teammate. A blockout on a rebound is a blockout on a rebound regardless of teammates' identities. The same is true of setting screens, spacing the floor, operating a motion offense, swinging the ball, hedging on defense, and myriad other good habits. And good habits include helping teammates to succeed. That's part of what's called "playing as a unit."

In two years, if the roster is still changing, would you then defer instruction on how to play as a unit for yet another two years? And, if the cast of characters is still changing then, would you defer instruction for yet an additional two years? At what juncture should a coach say: "Okay, I don't think there will be any more changes for a while, so I can finally start teaching them how to play as a unit now. I just hope they won't trip over their beards in the process."

Moreover, playing as a unit exposes players to a feeling of rhythms that rag tag basketball can't approximate. Most (if not all) players feed off the rhythms of a game in playing their roles within the context of a unit. Some of them are "rhythm shooters" whose catch-and-shoot instinct can be disrupted if their rhythm is disrupted. Rhythm is also very important in the confluence of timing of passes and timing of players' cuts to the basket. Basketball at its best is all about the rhythms of the unit, and why oh why wouldn't it make sense to introduce players to the importance of unit cohesiveness early in the game? Never was this more evident in recent years than in the just-completed championship finals. The rhythms were palpable, beautiful to watch, and obviously effective.

Furthermore, teaching young guys how to play as a unit yields benefits even if they're going to be traded at some point, because they'll be more valuable having had that indoctrination.

If Brad were to refrain from an early emphasis on playing as a unit, he shouldn't be fired. He should be shot!

Sam

by **bobheckler** Thu Jun 19, 2014 10:24 am

Kevin O'Connor's, of Celticsblog, scouting report on Tavares.

Celtics Draft Workout Thread - Page 5 27y5qgj

Here is Walter Tavares in his own words, courtesy of SuperSport:

"My defense game is my strongest asset. Offensively, I have been gradually improving."

"I feel prepared for the NBA now. I am confident I’ll do well during the workouts especially because I am eager to learn the NBA playing style and, more importantly, I am a hard worker."

"I speak reasonable English. I understand the language, and I can have informal conversations. I don’t think the language will be a problem for me during the workouts. Basketball is a universal language. I am determined to play at the highest level."

"I don’t know what a good draft selection is for me. For now the most important thing for me is to play in the NBA. Whether it is this coming season or the following season, I won’t give up to get a chance in the league."

Here's the rest of Kevin O'Connor's comments on Tavares, from Celticsblog.

Why Would Boston Draft Tavares?

Upside: From reading my scouting report, I'm sure you got the impression that Walter Tavares has massive upside. It's rare to see 7-footers with quick feet like he has and for a guy that first picked up a basketball in 2010, he is right on track in terms of being able to learn the game. Sure, the Celtics might have to wait a few years for him to make an impact, but it might be worth it assuming he has a strong work ethic.
Size: There's always a chance that Tavares is more NBA-ready than he appears to be and could make an impact as a rookie. Even though it's unfair to expect him to play over 20 minutes per game due to his conditioning, it's not unreasonable for him to receive some in-game action as a defensive and rebounding-oriented player. The Celtics need size and he'd provide plenty of that.

Pick-and-Roll Option: Even though Tavares is an extremely raw offensive player, he has already shown potential as a threat in the pick-and-roll. He has good hands and can finish strong at the rim. Pairing him with a talented point guard could get him plenty of easy looks, which he didn't necessarily have playing in Spain.

Should Boston Draft Tavares?

Walter Tavares is exactly the type of player I'd like to see the Boston Celtics draft; I think selecting him at #17 would be silly, but trading down or acquiring a late first round pick would be perfect. Perhaps, Phoenix at #27 or Oklahoma City at #29 would be willing to make a swap for one of Boston's many future firsts.

I have a handful of other bigs projected to go in the same area ranked higher than Tavares, but it's like splitting hairs when assessing each prospect since I value them close to equally. Tavares certainly has more upside than the likes of Jarnell Stokes, Mitch McGary, and Nikola Jokic; it's just the element of risk is higher with him.

As I said above, Walter Tavares fits exactly what the Celtics need in a defensive specialist at the center position. Picking him with a late first round pick is truly a low risk/high reward spot and the Celtics can afford to take a risk on a player no matter what happens earlier in the draft. With steal potential, they should attempt to make a move for him if he had a successful workout with the team on Wednesday.

bob
MY NOTE: This is the first time I've seen a number put on Tavares' wingspan, international players aren't measured. 7'8 1/2"! By comparison, Embiid's is 7'5", Vonleh (who may not be as tall but has an impressive wingspan) is 7'4 1/2".

He has 'project' written all over him, but is he another Fab Melo? Fab took up basketball late too and then had the misfortune, development-wise, of playing in the back of Boeheim's zone and never developed good skills on PnRs. Tavares is playing pro ball in a tough league against seasoned pros.

Use #17 on him? I'd say no. A late first rounder purchased from OKC or such, sure. Draft-and-stash if we get Asik. If not, then bring him in. There is no better coach in the NBA to teach him than Brad Stevens. That's another advantage Tavares would have over Fab.

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by **bobheckler** Thu Jun 19, 2014 11:10 am

6/19/14

The Celtics continue their due diligence in working out players who will be available in this year's draft. Today, they will bring in 6 more players including:

Jordan Adams UCLA
Jabari Brown Missouri
Markel Brown Oklahoma State
Khyle Marshall Butler
Xavier Munford Rhode Island
Devin Oliver Dayton

Of these 6 players only Jordan Adams is considered by Chad Ford to have a chance to be drafted in the first round and some drafts have him going late in the first round. Jabari Brown and Markel Brown are projected to go in the second round or undrafted. Khyle Marshall, Xavier Munford, and Devin Oliver aren't even listed on Ford's Draft Prospect list, so they may go late in the second round or undrafted. Once again, this gives credence to the rumors that Danny is looking to trade back into the second round.

bob
MY NOTE: Jordan Adams, 6'5", 210#, 6'10" wingspan. Strong, and appears to handle contact very well. Gets a lot of his offense moving without the ball. Is #1 among draftexpress Top 10 prospects in steals. They say he is VERY disruptive on defense.

You know, I'm not a college sports fan. I think college is where you go to learn things, like Triple A ball, and the pros, whether it is sports or an accounting firm or the police force (as opposed to police academy), is where you go to actually prove you can do it, but I have been enjoying watching these videos. It's because the Celtics have better draft picks this year than usual AND that these draft picks have a good chance of making the team since we need help and/or depth at almost every position except PF. Sure, we might trade them away, but they're looking at A LOT of players that will not be taken sixth or seventeenth, that tells me Danny has some interesting ideas rumbling around inside his head and that makes following these kids a little more relevant and interesting. We also know that Danny can be very patient and not make a deal that HE considers to be a bad one. My evidence for that was that he passed on trading for Asik last year even though he knew we desperately needed a center, just because he thought Morey's asking price was exorbitant. It pains me to think this, but it wouldn't be beyond Danny for him to NOT trade for Asik until the trade deadline in February, just to ratchet up the pressure on Morey and drive down the price. That makes players like Tavares more interesting, because him and Vitor might be what we have to work with. This kid Adams, a replacement for Avery Bradley because Bradley's gone somewhere in a trade (maybe Asik?). I haven't felt anywhere NEAR this much interest in the draft since 2007.

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by **Sam** Thu Jun 19, 2014 12:06 pm

I'm not a big fan of waiting to make moves, whether it involves acquiring late first-round draft picks or delaying until the trade deadline. My reasoning is simple. There's always the risk that another team will beat you to it.

Sam

by **Sam** Thu Jun 19, 2014 12:09 pm

The thing that gives me greatest long-term hope about Tavares is his footwork. There are a lot of long players out there, but so many of them are heavy-footed and laterally challenged. I'd consider taking him with #17 (if it's not traded) and, if a sharpshooting wing is still on the board, trading for a shot at him.

Sam

by **bobheckler** Sat Jun 21, 2014 11:51 am

Jay King @ByJayKing about 6 minutes ago
Glenn Robinson has worked out for 15 or 16 teams. "This was by far my toughest."

Reply Retweet Favorite

MY NOTE: I love that the Celtics let it be known that you had better be well-conditioned if you're coming here. Good message to send, Brad.

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by **bobheckler** Sat Jun 21, 2014 2:55 pm

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4713439/notebook-draft-prep-enters-final-stretch

Notebook: Draft prep enters final stretch
June, 21, 2014
JUN 21 12:45PM ET
By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

WALTHAM, Mass. -- The Boston Celtics wrapped up group workouts on Saturday and have now auditioned at least 60 players since the start of the month in preparation for next week's draft.

CELTICS PRE-DRAFT WORKOUTS
A look at the nine group workouts the Boston Celtics held this month. These are only the workouts that media were invited to attend; individual players were auditioned as well without media present.

Saturday, June 21
Chane Behanan – Louisville
Niels Giffey – Connecticut
Glenn Robinson III – Michigan
JaKarr Sampson – St. John’s (NY)

Thursday, June 19
Keith Appling – Michigan State
Dave Dudzinski – Holy Cross
Jermaine Marshall – Arizona State
Shabazz Napier – Connecticut
Markel Starks – Georgetown
Tyler Stone – Southeast Missouri

Monday, June 16
Keith Appling – Michigan State
Dave Dudzinski – Holy Cross
Jermaine Marshall – Arizona State
Shabazz Napier – Connecticut
Markel Starks – Georgetown
Tyler Stone – Southeast Missouri

Friday, June 13
Julius Randle* – Kentucky
Jordan Clarkson – Missouri
Gary Harris – Michigan State
Zach LaVine – UCLA
Elfrid Payton – Louisiana-Lafayette
Marcus Smart – Oklahoma State
Nik Stauskas – Michigan

Thursday, June 12
C.J. Fair – Syracuse
Aaron Gordon – Arizona
Jerami Grant – Syracuse
Luke Hancock – Louisville
Geron Johnson – Memphis
Doug McDermott – Creighton

Wednesday, June 11
Isaiah Austin – Baylor
Sam Dower - Gonzaga
Artem Klimenko – Avtodor (Russia)
Javon McCrea – Buffalo
Daniel Miller – Georgia Tech
Noah Vonleh - Indiana

Wednesday, June 4
Clint Capela – Chalon (France)
Michael Dixon – Memphis
Eric Moreland – Oregon State
Adreian Payne – Michigan State
Victor Rudd – South Florida
Akeem Williams – UMass-Lowell

Tuesday, June 3
Kyle Anderson - UCLA
DeAndre Daniels - UConn
Cleanthony Early - Wichita State
P.J. Hairston - North Carolina/Texas Legends (D-League)
K.J. McDaniels - Clemson
T.J. Warren - North Carolina State

Monday, June 2
Bryce Cotton – Providence College
Kadeem Batts – Providence College
Chaz Williams – UMass
Deonte Burton – Nevada
Nick Johnson – Arizona
Russ Smith – Louisville
Xavier Thames – San Diego State
Kendrick Perry – Youngstown State
Kyle Casey – Harvard
Reger Dowell – Texas-Arlington
Semaj Christon – Xavier
Tim Frazier – Penn State

(* Went through individual workout)

The Celtics will attempt to bring back a handful of players this week in hopes that one last glance cane help finalize their draft board. Who will those players be? "I can’t share those guys with you," said team director of player personnel Austin Ainge with a smile.

A team can bring a player in for private workouts a maximum of two times before the draft. Why bring a player back again?

"Sometimes it’s bringing in a head-to-head matchup and see who wins," said Ainge, who last week relayed how Rajon Rondo separated himself in that situation. "Sometimes it’s just the guy that we had in, we really liked and he played horrible in our workout. We want to just give him another chance because everyone has bad days and we want to feel a little more comfortable about it. There’s all sorts of scenarios for bringing a guy back."

Ainge did offer some insight about how the next six days will play out leading up to Thursday's draft.

"We’ll have a lot of meetings," said Ainge. "We’ll try to go through every trade, draft, and free-agency scenario, because free agency happens very quickly after the draft. So we’ll try to be prepared with all of our rankings and kinda ‘What if?’ scenarios."

Ainge was asked if the Celtics were able to bring through everyone they would have wanted to get a look at before the draft.

"We’d love to see everybody, but yeah, there’s a few guys that either felt they were going before our picks, or in between our two picks, that we weren’t able to get in. But we’ve seen everyone [during college or overseas game action]. Workouts aren’t everything. But it is always best to have them in."

The Celtics own picks Nos. 6 and 17 in this year's draft. The team did not expect to get a look at any of the draft's four top names, including Joel Embiid (whose recent foot surgery adds a layer of intrigue to this year's drat), Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins, and Dante Exum. Some foreign players expected to go in the lottery -- like Croatia's Dario Saric -- were unlikely to visit as well.

Asked if the team would consider purchasing a second-round pick after auditioning many prospects pegged to go in the second round or undrafted, Ainge said the team will explore all options.

"We’ll be active," said Ainge. "It’ll just depend on a million different scenarios -- if there’s a guy left that we still very much like, what positions we draft with the first couple picks, and whatever other trades throw monkey wrenches."

He added: "We have a lot of guys that we like. And we’ll only get to draft one, two, three -- depending on how it ends up. [The scouting process] is valuable information, even if they don’t end up on our roster at the very beginning. A lot of times you have to make decisions on trading for young players that haven’t had a chance to play at all on their teams and you rely heavily on your draft evaluation. Say a first-year player didn’t get a chance to play on a good team, you can still kinda rely back on that information you gathered at this point."

• THREE'S NOT A CROWD: The Celtics were thin on numbers Saturday morning while auditioning bodies, including Michigan's Glenn Robinson III. "Guys came in and played hard. We had one guy kinda tweaked his hamstring, so it got down to only three guys and I think they wore them out pretty good," said Ainge. "It’s never ideal to have three guys."

• SMILING SAMPSON: For a guy that's been criss-crossing the country as part of 11 team workouts, St. John's JaKarr Sampson maintained his trademark smile and has embraced the pre-draft process. He's got two more workouts before he finds out if his name will be called on draft night.

• ROAMING ROBINSON: Robinson III believed that Boston was workout No. 15 or 16 as he attempts to reestablish himself as a late first-round pick. "I’m getting towards the finish line," he said. "I think only one or two more to go. But I’ve had fun and just wanted to go out and compete and show all my skills." A workout veteran, he did dub Boston one of the toughest to endure, pointing as many have to the team's grueling three-minute sprint drill to cap the workout.

bob
MY NOTE: I count 59 players, and I don't see Tavares' name and we know they brought him in too. 60 players. Plus they're going to ask some of them back for 2nd workouts. Say what you will, they sure are putting the time and effort in. For someone who preaches "preparation, preparation, preparation", Brad Stevens must be in full glory mode right now.

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by **worcester** Sat Jun 21, 2014 6:19 pm

Whatever happens I just hope we don't trade the #1 picks we got from the Nets in 2015 and 2017. Neither are lottery protected, and I can see them becoming lottery picks easy.

by **Sam** Sun Jun 22, 2014 3:23 pm

I could swear I've seen this report (along with others) at least 20 or 30 times over the years, with just the names and draft positions changed but the triteness still in place. The only "old faithful" I missed in this one involved selecting the best player available.

I notice Austin is a little more quiet since he shot off his mouth in a manner Danny didn't appreciate and had to correct.

Sam

by **bobheckler** Wed Jun 25, 2014 1:33 pm

I think this ends any "And with the 6th pick in the draft the Boston Celtics select Julius Randle of The University of Kentucky" dream some people might be harboring.

Chad Ford: Randle skipped a potential 2nd workout w/ Celtics today for this -> MT @Julius Randle: Meeting with @GQMagazine today to discuss style Twitter

bob

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by **kdp59** Wed Jun 25, 2014 1:35 pm

LOL..Randle probably islooking froward to Laker land..TMZ and all that stuff.

Cool

by **Sam** Wed Jun 25, 2014 2:39 pm

Good. Trade the pick, Danny.

Sam

by **bobheckler** Wed Jun 25, 2014 3:34 pm

Julius Randle ✔ @J30_RANDLE
Meeting with @GQMagazine today to discuss style, tune in for possible fashion tips #NBADraft2014 #DraftWeek #JR30 #GQ

Chad Ford ✔ @chadfordinsider
Follow
Randle skipped a potential 2nd workout w/ Celtics today for this -> MT @J30_RANDLE: Meeting with @GQMagazine today to discuss style
11:43 AM - 24 Jun 2014

bob
MY NOTE: Chad Ford says not to jump to conclusions, that the appt with GQ might have already been booked. So what? Are you kidding me? He is being asked back for a second workout for the #6 pick when he's unlikely to be picked higher than that and he can't break his manicure appt because he doesn't have his suit ready yet for tomorrow?

Un-freaking-believable, both Randle's priorities and Ford's idiotic support of it.

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