ESPN’S JEFF GOODMAN: ‘I WOULD GO WITH BUDDY HIELD’ WITH CELTICS’ NO. 3 PICK

WEEI

By Nicholas Frazier

Jeff Goodman

ESPN basketball insider Jeff Goodman checked in with WEEI’s Rob Bradford and Mike Giardi this past weekend to talk about the Celtics’ draft options and what president of basketball operations Danny Ainge should do going forward. To hear the interview, go to the WEEI audio on demand page.

During his time on the show, Goodman provided brief scouting reports on the top players available in this year’s NBA draft. The Celtics have a whopping eight picks this year, including the third overall pick. Goodman said he was unsure of whom Ainge will select with the No. 3 pick, but he offered his best guess.

“Gun to my head, if it stays the way it is, I think he goes with Buddy Hield or Jamal Murray, one of those two. I would go with Buddy Hield,” Goodman said. “I’m not overly objective about Buddy Hield, I’ve spent a ton of time with him, I went down to the Bahamas and spent some time with his family before the Final Four. I just love the kid’s work ethic, I love how he’s developed at Oklahoma in four years, I love how he can really shoot the basketball, and now he can score off the bounce, and those are two things the Celtics need desperately. I think his upside is high because of how much he’s gotten better. He can help the Celtics now because he is 22 years old. He is high character. Lon Kruger, the Oklahoma head coach, told me multiple times [that] he’s the hardest worker he’s ever had in his career, and Lon’s been doing this for 35 years.

Added Goodman: “So those are the two guys that fit the most. Jamal Murray, the freshman at Kentucky who’s very good but not a great athlete, a really good shooter, a combo guard from Canada, had a great year this year. The X factor in all of this is, can you trade the pick?”

When asked about possible trade scenarios for Boston, Goodman was not in favor of Ainge trading up for the presumptive No. 2 pick, Duke power forward Brandon Ingram.

“I wouldn’t do it,” Goodman said. “I love Brandon Ingram, but what you’d have to give up to go from three to two is not worth it, it’s not worth giving up a ton, and I’m not even sure the Lakers would do it. To me, Brandon Ingram fits what the Lakers need desperately. They can play small-ball with him, he played the four this year at Duke. It’s just not going to happen.”


Following are more highlights from the interview. For more Celtics news, visit the team page at weei.com/celtics.

On the possibility of the Celtics trading up to get LSU power forward Ben Simmons: “I love Ben Simmons, but you’re not getting him. You’re not getting the No. 1 pick away from Philly. Ben Simmons has superstar potential. I don’t know if he’s going to be a superstar, I don’t know if he’s going to be one of the top five or so players in the league, but he’s just so unique in a sense that what he can do at 6-foot-9, 6-foot-10 athletically, seeing the floor. … I’ve seen this kid play for three or four years. He doesn’t shoot the ball at all yet, which is interesting because [with] most kids, if you say, ‘Hey, you can’t shoot, you can’t shoot, you can’t shoot,’ they try to show you they can shoot, right? This kid never tried that this year. All he did — and he told me this, he said, ‘Well, it’s a higher-percentage shot for me if I’m around the basket than if I take perimeter shots.’ So we don’t know if he can shoot or not. I’ve talked to several NBA guys, they say his shot is not broke, that they can fix it, or with repetition he’ll get better. … I’m not comparing him to LeBron [James]. He’s not going to be LeBron. But at 6-foot-10 he’s got the court vision of LeBron, he’s not the defender of LeBron. Ben Simmons, if you can get to No. 1, I would package all three of these picks and a player to get to No. 1 to get Ben Simmons.”

On trading next year’s draft picks to try to get Simmons or Ingram: “I wouldn’t trade next year’s pick. I would absolutely no way trade next year’s pick. Next year’s draft is loaded. … On paper, it’s stronger at the top. There’s a kid Harry Giles coming into Duke this year, he’s coming off another knee surgery. But you know, knee surgeries aren’t that big of a deal these days, and this one’s not as bad as the one his sophomore year where he tore his ACL/MCL. But Harry Giles is going into Duke, to me he can be a franchise player if he stays healthy, like a Chris Webber/Alonzo Mourning type. And next year’s draft has great point guards. There are scenarios here, I would not trade next year’s pick no matter what.”

On possibly trading Marcus Smart: “The other option here is, can you trade Marcus Smart? Can you get enough value for Marcus Smart, who they kind of tinkered with dealing last year at this time, and then draft Kris Dunn? Point guard from Providence, he’s had a couple of shoulder injuries, he’s a redshirt junior, been in college for four years, had a really good last two seasons when he was healthy. He’s better than Marcus Smart, he’s faster, he has better court vision, he defends in the same manner, he’s just as tough. You can’t draft Kris Dunn, to me, unless you moved Marcus Smart first, because then you’d have three point guards that are very similar in Kris Dunn, Marcus Smart, and Terry Rozier. They’re all shot-challenge, athletic, tough, defensive-minded point guards.”

On international power forward Dragan Bender: “[He’s] 7-foot-1, played for Maccabi Tel Aviv [in Israel], from Croatia, probably going to take some time [to develop], but certainly a guy that’s in the mix right now, with [Knick forward Kristaps] Porzingis’ way he played this year and his success in New York. Certainly it becomes more hip to take that international guy.”

On California small forward Jaylen Brown: “Kid out of Cal, big strong wing, in the Stanley Johnson mold, Stanley Johnson was a rookie in Detroit this year, not a great shooter. He fits because they need a big strong wing, right? But if you could have anything that they need right now it would be a younger Paul Pierce. Jaylen Brown’s got that body, but he doesn’t have the ability to score the ball, he doesn’t have the high IQ yet in terms of decision-making with the ball and driving to the basket. He was kind of a mess last year at Cal at times, but I think he’ll be in the mix.”

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Interesting stuff. The way he talks about next years draft reaffirms what scouts and mocks are saying about it. I would totally be ok with getting say, the Pelicans pick at 6 and a top 3 protected 2017 1st rd pick with all the talent through like picks 10-12 next year. 

Rockets will prob fall out of the playoffs since Howard is likely going elsewhere. Utah will DEF be in the playoffs. The Grizz will too unless they lose Conley Jr. Same with Dallas, they always are. So You'll have the Pelicans, Wolves, Blazers and Nuggets fighting for 2 playoff spots. The Kings, Suns and Rockets will likely suck The Lakers are a wild card depending on FA.

So that NO pick could easily fall into the #8-12 range next year and be a future all-star. At the worst it would be a pick in the 12-16 range, be a ready to contribute big like Ivan Rabb or a project with crazy upside like France's 7'2" Johnathan Jeanne. It would also make parting with a top 7 pick from the Nets more bearable, in case they decide to trade a future all-star who is only 19 for a current one in that 24-28 age range.

Ram wrote:Interesting stuff. The way he talks about next years draft reaffirms what scouts and mocks are saying about it. I would totally be ok with getting say, the Pelicans pick at 6 and a top 3 protected 2017 1st rd pick with all the talent through like picks 10-12 next year. 

Rockets will prob fall out of the playoffs since Howard is likely going elsewhere. Utah will DEF be in the playoffs. The Grizz will too unless they lose Conley Jr. Same with Dallas, they always are. So You'll have the Pelicans, Wolves, Blazers and Nuggets fighting for 2 playoff spots. The Kings, Suns and Rockets will likely suck The Lakers are a wild card depending on FA.

So that NO pick could easily fall into the #8-12 range next year and be a future all-star. At the worst it would be a pick in the 12-16 range, be a ready to contribute big like Ivan Rabb or a project with crazy upside like France's 7'2" Johnathan Jeanne. It would also make parting with a top 7 pick from the Nets more bearable, in case they decide to trade a future all-star who is only 19 for a current one in that 24-28 age range.

The Pelicans need many quality players over the next few years. I don't think they care much about moving from #6 to #3. They will most likely will be a high lottery team next year even if they had pick #1.
As most of us see it right now, the difference between picks 3 to 6 is very little this year. New Orleans will get to draft Bender, Hield, Murray or Dunn.

tjmakz wrote:

Ram wrote:Interesting stuff. The way he talks about next years draft reaffirms what scouts and mocks are saying about it. I would totally be ok with getting say, the Pelicans pick at 6 and a top 3 protected 2017 1st rd pick with all the talent through like picks 10-12 next year. 

Rockets will prob fall out of the playoffs since Howard is likely going elsewhere. Utah will DEF be in the playoffs. The Grizz will too unless they lose Conley Jr. Same with Dallas, they always are. So You'll have the Pelicans, Wolves, Blazers and Nuggets fighting for 2 playoff spots. The Kings, Suns and Rockets will likely suck The Lakers are a wild card depending on FA.

So that NO pick could easily fall into the #8-12 range next year and be a future all-star. At the worst it would be a pick in the 12-16 range, be a ready to contribute big like Ivan Rabb or a project with crazy upside like France's 7'2" Johnathan Jeanne. It would also make parting with a top 7 pick from the Nets more bearable, in case they decide to trade a future all-star who is only 19 for a current one in that 24-28 age range.

The Pelicans need many quality players over the next few years. I don't think they care much about moving from #6 to #3. They will most likely will be a high lottery team next year even if they had pick #1.
As most of us see it right now, the difference between picks 3 to 6 is very little this year. New Orleans will get to draft Bender, Hield, Murray or Dunn.

Good points. I based my comment on 3 things:

1. New Orleans must fall in love with a particular player it feels will not be there at #6. Dunn seems the most likely candidate as he has the most potential to be a superstar. Bender is the dark horse as it is likely he doesn't make it past Phoenix at #4.

2. New Orleans was a playoff team in 2015 who most likely feels that is where they will be again in 2017 and that their pick next year will be in the 13-19 range. The protection can be top 7 if they want but I doubt they see themselves as one of the worst 7 teams again. 

3. NO has a history of doing such moves. In 2013 they traded pick #6 to Philly (who selected Nerlens Noel) along with a top 7 protected pick in 2014 for Jrue Holiday. The 2014 pick ended up being #10 and Philly swapped it to Orlando who picked Elfrid Payton for #12 and picked Dario Saric. 

I'm not saying such a move would be a wise one for NO. Just that they have done similar ones in the past and teams get a lil nutty when they fall in love with a player. In 2013 the Hornets wanted to become better and were in the process of finding players to accommodate the skills of Anthony Davis so he would see the team has promise and had established talent to play well with him. They traded for Ryan Anderson a year earlier to spread the floor for him. Omer Asik a year later to be his tough guy/banger protector and not make the Brow be a full-time center. They wanted Holiday to be the push the pace PG that got him the ball. At the time McLemore, McCollum and Caldwell-Pope were the best prospects on the draft board and NO already had a shooter in Eric Gordon. Noel was going to miss a year with an ACL injury and was a similar player to Davis. So they made the trade. Looking back they could have reached for Steven Adams in '13 (the Asik type they wanted), drafted Payton in 2014 (push the pace pass to Davis PG) and saved some serious $ to use elsewhere and kept their 2015 1st rd pick #18 that Houston ended up using on Sam Dekkar. Without Asik/Holiday but the still young/learning Adams/Payton maybe they don't get the 8th seed in 2015 and that pick is higher. Who knows?

Anyhow, that trade down with the Pelicans is probably too much value coming back to the C's and they (hopefully) learned their lesson from 2013. But, the point is that some teams in the 6-10 range would be willing to make such a move. The Kings and Bucks are more likely trade down partners. Each club would probably kill for Dunn or Murray and both players will almost certainly be gone by the time they draft 8th and 10th.

Ram wrote:

tjmakz wrote:

Ram wrote:Interesting stuff. The way he talks about next years draft reaffirms what scouts and mocks are saying about it. I would totally be ok with getting say, the Pelicans pick at 6 and a top 3 protected 2017 1st rd pick with all the talent through like picks 10-12 next year. 

Rockets will prob fall out of the playoffs since Howard is likely going elsewhere. Utah will DEF be in the playoffs. The Grizz will too unless they lose Conley Jr. Same with Dallas, they always are. So You'll have the Pelicans, Wolves, Blazers and Nuggets fighting for 2 playoff spots. The Kings, Suns and Rockets will likely suck The Lakers are a wild card depending on FA.

So that NO pick could easily fall into the #8-12 range next year and be a future all-star. At the worst it would be a pick in the 12-16 range, be a ready to contribute big like Ivan Rabb or a project with crazy upside like France's 7'2" Johnathan Jeanne. It would also make parting with a top 7 pick from the Nets more bearable, in case they decide to trade a future all-star who is only 19 for a current one in that 24-28 age range.

The Pelicans need many quality players over the next few years. I don't think they care much about moving from #6 to #3. They will most likely will be a high lottery team next year even if they had pick #1.
As most of us see it right now, the difference between picks 3 to 6 is very little this year. New Orleans will get to draft Bender, Hield, Murray or Dunn.

Good points. I based my comment on 3 things:

1. New Orleans must fall in love with a particular player it feels will not be there at #6. Dunn seems the most likely candidate as he has the most potential to be a superstar. Bender is the dark horse as it is likely he doesn't make it past Phoenix at #4.

2. New Orleans was a playoff team in 2015 who most likely feels that is where they will be again in 2017 and that their pick next year will be in the 13-19 range. The protection can be top 7 if they want but I doubt they see themselves as one of the worst 7 teams again. 

3. NO has a history of doing such moves. In 2013 they traded pick #6 to Philly (who selected Nerlens Noel) along with a top 7 protected pick in 2014 for Jrue Holiday. The 2014 pick ended up being #10 and Philly swapped it to Orlando who picked Elfrid Payton for #12 and picked Dario Saric. 

I'm not saying such a move would be a wise one for NO. Just that they have done similar ones in the past and teams get a lil nutty when they fall in love with a player. In 2013 the Hornets wanted to become better and were in the process of finding players to accommodate the skills of Anthony Davis so he would see the team has promise and had established talent to play well with him. They traded for Ryan Anderson a year earlier to spread the floor for him. Omer Asik a year later to be his tough guy/banger protector and not make the Brow be a full-time center. They wanted Holiday to be the push the pace PG that got him the ball. At the time McLemore, McCollum and Caldwell-Pope were the best prospects on the draft board and NO already had a shooter in Eric Gordon. Noel was going to miss a year with an ACL injury and was a similar player to Davis. So they made the trade. Looking back they could have reached for Steven Adams in '13 (the Asik type they wanted), drafted Payton in 2014 (push the pace pass to Davis PG) and saved some serious $ to use elsewhere and kept their 2015 1st rd pick #18 that Houston ended up using on Sam Dekkar. Without Asik/Holiday but the still young/learning Adams/Payton maybe they don't get the 8th seed in 2015 and that pick is higher. Who knows?

Anyhow, that trade down with the Pelicans is probably too much value coming back to the C's and they (hopefully) learned their lesson from 2013. But, the point is that some teams in the 6-10 range would be willing to make such a move. The Kings and Bucks are more likely trade down partners. Each club would probably kill for Dunn or Murray and both players will almost certainly be gone by the time they draft 8th and 10th.

I think New Orleans could be one of the top 5 worst teams next season.
They have Anthony Davis who is a star and Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans who are ok players.

I expect Milwaukee to take Poeltl at #10 so they can move Monroe to PF.

Some team might be interested in trading up to #3 but I am not sure who.
I think Phoenix will be happy with Bender, Minnesota will be happy with Dunn at #5 and New Orleans will be happy with whoever Boston doesn't take out of Hield and Murray. They need a SG to replace Eric Gordon.

If Boston trades the #3 pick, I doubt it will be trading down. I think they would trade for an established player.

tjmakz wrote:
I think New Orleans could be one of the top 5 worst teams next season.
They have Anthony Davis who is a star and Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans who are ok players.

I expect Milwaukee to take Poeltl at #10 so they can move Monroe to PF.

Some team might be interested in trading up to #3 but I am not sure who.
I think Phoenix will be happy with Bender, Minnesota will be happy with Dunn at #5 and New Orleans will be happy with whoever Boston doesn't take out of Hield and Murray. They need a SG to replace Eric Gordon.

If Boston trades the #3 pick, I doubt it will be trading down. I think they would trade for an established player.

I would prefer Boston trade for an established player with #3. I'm just providing some scenarios in which they could target someone likely to go 6-10 and they'd add an asset by trading down to get him when they are already temped to just take him 3rd. Poeltl and Brown are the two guys I'm thinking about in this case. 

The Pelicans very well could be one of the 5 worst teams in the league. But if Davis returns to health and reclaims his status as one of the 5 best players in the league I do not see that happening. 

It has been well noted that the Bucks want to add a guard who can score and defend PG's but not necessarily play PG/dominate the ball or distribution duties as they moved Giannis to PG on offense late last season and it worked very well for them. Giannis will still have to be defending a forward though (like Magic did with Coop and Scott defending the guards) so there still will be a traditional lineup with 2 guards, 2 forwards and a center. Monroe is a center, he is not a PF as everyone saw the attempt to make him one and play him alongside Drummond fail. Giannis and Parker (their 2nd best player) each deserve 34-36 mins a game at the forward spots. John Henson deserves 22-26 mins at both PF and C and Monroe 28-32 mins at center. That leaves them with some leftover mins at SF they probably give to Middleton if they keep Mayo and have Middleton/Mayo share the SG mins. I just don't see them needing Poeltl. Maybe they could give all the backup SF mins to Parker, play Henson exclusively as a PF (he's been listed as a center for the last 2 years) and then have Poeltl backup Monroe. That is a way less attractive option than adding an electric guard who pushes Michael Carter-Williams to a backup role. That is what they need most and Dunn would be perfect for them, with Murray the 2nd best option.