Celtics Rookie Press Conference

by **bobheckler** Fri Jun 24, 2016 4:34 pm

A. Sherrod BlakelyVerified account
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Celtics Rookie Press Conference ClvRPxMWYAAl_my

From left to right: Jaylen Brown, Guerschon Yabusele, Ben Bentil, Ante Zizic, Abdel Nader.
Demetrius Jackson couldn't get to Boston in time for the presser.

Adam Himmelsbach
@AdamHimmelsbach about 21 minutes ago
Brad Stevens: "There's a lot of versatile guys here sitting in front of you...we're excited about what they bring to the table."

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Jay King
@ByJayKing about 19 minutes ago
Ainge said Celtics have had initial discussions with reps for Zizic/Yabusele. Not sure about draft-and-stash or summer league availability.

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Adam Himmelsbach
Adam Himmelsbach
@AdamHimmelsbach about 19 minutes ago
Danny Ainge said he isn't sure if the Celtics' two European players will be at summer league.

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Gary Washburn
@GwashburnGlobe about 17 minutes ago
Ben Bentil: "It's like I'm back home when the #Celtics called my number. It was exciting for me."

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Gary Washburn
@GwashburnGlobe about 16 minutes ago
Jaylen Brown: "I'm very happy to be here. I'm going to go to work for this city." #Celtics

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Adam Himmelsbach
@AdamHimmelsbach about 16 minutes ago
Jaylen Brown: "I'm gonna go to work for this city. I'm gonna play passionate and leave it out on the floor every night."

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Jay King
@ByJayKing about 16 minutes ago
Jaylen Brown: "I'm going to go to war for this city."

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Jared Weiss
@CLNS_JaredWeiss about 14 minutes ago
Brown on education: "Growing up, I couldn’t play basketball, couldn’t go outside until I finish my homework.” #Celtics

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Ben Rohrbach
Ben Rohrbach
@brohrbach about 13 minutes ago
Ainge just burned Scalabrine so hard: "I would trade you for a good secretary right now and even when you were playing for us at times."

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Scott Souza
@Scott_Souza about 9 minutes ago
#Celtics Brad Stevens: at the end of the day there weren't a lot of trades made across the league, but that doesn't mean weren't calls.

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Jay King
@ByJayKing about 7 minutes ago
Ainge said a lot of trades that have been done -- or were denied -- "potentially prohibit your plans in free agency." Flexibility a factor.

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Scott Souza
@Scott_Souza about 6 minutes ago
#Celtics top pick Jaylen Brown: a lot of times players go to college to show how great they are, I went there to learn.

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Jay King
@ByJayKing about 6 minutes ago
Stevens is excited about Jaylen Brown's defensive versatility: "Should be transferrable right away."

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Jared Weiss
@CLNS_JaredWeiss 4 minutes ago
Ainge: “Every one of these guys are grown men that can play physically in the NBA.” #Celtics

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Ben Rohrbach
@brohrbach 2 minutes ago
Ange really hinting at why the Celtics didn’t take Dragan Bender, talking at length about how all of their picks are physically mature.

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Adam Himmelsbach
@AdamHimmelsbach 2 minutes ago
Jaylen Brown: "I want to be a top 5 player in the league one day. I've said that before and I'm sticking to it."

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Jay King
@ByJayKing 2 minutes ago
Stevens: "Ben (Bentil) almost had 50 against Butler the last time he played."

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Jay King
@ByJayKing 3 minutes ago
Yabusele known for his offense, but Stevens said he's really impressed by the big fella's lateral movement. More defensive versatility there

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Scott Souza
@Scott_Souza 2 minutes ago
#Celtics coach Brad Stevens on Guerschon Yabusele: He doesn't need to improve his range. Can shoot 3. He can play the 4 or 5.

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Jay King
@ByJayKing 2 minutes ago
Stevens said Rozier, Mickey, Hunter and Young are all expected to play summer league.

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Adam Himmelsbach
@AdamHimmelsbach 2 minutes ago
Brad Stevens says he thinks James Young will play summer league.

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(MY NOTE: This will be his 3rd year and he's still going to summer league. Embarrassing!)

Jay King
@ByJayKing 2 minutes ago
Zizic on Celtics scouting him in Europe: "When Danny come, I was really bad."

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Jay King
@ByJayKing 1 minute ago
Zizic said he believes he's ready for the NBA now. Seems his preference to come to Boston immediately.

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Scott Souza
@Scott_Souza now
#Celtics Ante Zizic on Dino Radja: He's my idol ... I mean I'm his idol (was the first one).

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Jay King
@ByJayKing 1 minute ago
Brown thought he had bad yr at Cal. that's why he wanted to work out against anyone. "Now I'm in Boston and ready to rip someone's head off"

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Jay King
@ByJayKing 1 minute ago
Brown: "I'm overly confident." Believes everyone will see he's worthy of the pick.

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(MY NOTE: Some GMs and scouts were turned off by this. Thought it came across as "arrogant". Me? I like it.)

Ben Rohrbach
@brohrbach 1 minute ago
On @Celtics live feed, Ainge said there were no stars turned down in trade offers yesterday, only role players, so there’s that.

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Jay King
@ByJayKing now
Ainge on lack of trades: it's not because we're not trying, and it's not because we overvalue our players

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Scott Souza
@Scott_Souza 1 minute ago
#Celtics Danny Ainge: we had opportunity to acquire players, but weren't enough of upgrade to give up free agency flexibility.

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Scott Souza
@Scott_Souza about 5 minutes ago
#Celtics Danny Ainge on boos last night: I just felt bad for Wyc. If they wanted to boo, they should have booed me. I would have loved it.

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Scott Souza
@Scott_Souza 1 minute ago
#Celtics Danny Ainge also said boos shouldn't be a reflection on Jaylen Brown: Give it a year and then judge me.

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bob

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by **arambone** Fri Jun 24, 2016 11:18 pm

Brown, Frenchie, and Zizic all look like mountains of coiled muscle.

Yabusele is 270 lbs but lean and mean. That's a whole lot of muscle.

by **arambone** Fri Jun 24, 2016 11:24 pm

And Brown and no-show Jackson are two of the NBA's very best athletes, from Day 1.

Brown looks every bit of 6'7 too. Guys that tall are almost never that strong, that lean (5% body fat) and that athletic.

Brown can probably reach 12' with a running start. Maker reached 12'3".

And the craziest thing of all, which I didn't notice until the day before the draft, is that Brown leaps freakishly not just off two feet, and not just off one foot, but off of EACH foot.

I was always a better one foot jumper than two, but I always jumped much better off my right leg than the left. Brown can effortlessly sky off either foot or both feet.

Being able to leap equally well off either foot, and being able to finish with either hand means he's going to be one of the very deadliest transition players in the league. In league history, perhaps.

by **arambone** Fri Jun 24, 2016 11:27 pm

Yabusele could probably be a Mr Olympia contestant if he wasn't a basketball player. Like a Ronnie Coleman.

by **arambone** Fri Jun 24, 2016 11:34 pm

by **arambone** Fri Jun 24, 2016 11:35 pm

Only problem is Yabusele looks like he's 6'7.

by **worcester** Sat Jun 25, 2016 9:57 am

Gus will eat Sully's lunches, and then Sully will lose 30 lbs.

by **Shamrock1000** Sat Jun 25, 2016 10:34 am

Other than overall mass, Yabusele's frame is nothing like Sully's. This kid is a beast.

by **mulcogiseng** Sat Jun 25, 2016 11:15 am

One of the funner things about the day after the draft is that we are now learning so much more about these guys Danny has drafted. Sully, Johnson and Zeller are probably gone. Jerebko will get resigned. Both Gus Sayley and Ziziz want to play now. I say give them a chance and see if they can make it. I think they can and they will make this team better right away, no matter how much they play in games. Practice will be even tougher this year. And that's a good thing. Got to love that great big chip on Brown's shoulder. I'm hoping that in a few years we will find that Young has found himself a place to play and contribute ala Gerald Green but it's buhbye for now Hope Gus and Zizic can play summer ball so we can get a "glimmer" Has summer league ever seen a starting five that just got drafted by the same team? lol

by **worcester** Sat Jun 25, 2016 11:23 am

I see Young and maybe Sully departing now - Zeller and Johnson will be here another year as the kids mature. Also, why disrupt continuity? Johnson might be gone in a trade for a star free agent. Otherwise he stays. Below is the roster I see until October. Those in bold likely to be gone or in D league.
That gives us 15 on the active roster. Do those in D league count toward our active 15 man roster?

-- Ben Bentil F 21 6-9 235 Providence D league
0 Avery Bradley PG 25 6-2 180 Texas $7,730,337
-- Jaylen Brown F 19 6-7 225 California
99 Jae Crowder SF 25 6-6 235 Marquette $6,796,117
30 John Holland SG 27 6-5 205 Boston University
28 R.J. Hunter SG 22 6-5 185 Georgia State $1,148,640
-- Demetrius Jackson G 21 6-1 201 Notre Dame D league
8 Jonas Jerebko PF 29 6-10 231 $5,000,000
90 Amir Johnson PF 29 6-9 240 $12,000,000
55 Jordan Mickey PF 21 6-8 235 LSU $1,170,960
-- Abdel Nader F 22 6-6 230
41 Kelly Olynyk C 25 7-0 238 Gonzaga $2,165,160
12 Terry Rozier PG 22 6-2 190 Louisville $1,824,360
36 Marcus Smart PG 22 6-4 220 Oklahoma State $3,431,040
7 Jared Sullinger C 24 6-9 260 Ohio State $2,569,260
4 Isaiah Thomas PG 27 5-9 185 Washington $6,912,869
11 Evan Turner SG 27 6-7 220 Ohio State $3,425,510
-- Guerschon Yabusele F 20 6-7 260
13 James Young SG 20 6-6 215 Kentucky $1,749,840
44 Tyler Zeller C 26 7-0 253 North Carolina $2,616,975
-- Ante Zizic F 19 6-11 250

by **arambone** Sat Jun 25, 2016 11:30 am

Do those in D league count toward our active 15 man roster?

Yes, unless the Celtics work out an agreement with the kid that they won't sign him this year, and he'll spend a year in dleague while the Cs maintain his rights. Grizz did this with Andrew Harrison, and another team did it with Dakari Johnson last year.

by **bobheckler** Sat Jun 25, 2016 11:46 am

Now that I've had a day or two for the dust (in my shell-shocked skull) to settle and think about this, I think I've got a little better handle on Danny's draft strategy.

Danny likes Jaylen Brown. There's no way around that. He wanted Brown. To walk away from Brown he needed to field an offer that really moved the needle and none came. Wyc said that "people were trying to rip us off" with laughable offers. Danny said that there were offers that came close but they were for role players and would limit his flexibility in free agency. Put all that together and what does all that say? It says that people thought the Celtics had too many picks and needed to shed a few so they low-balled us by offering mediocre talent and that Danny is big-game hunting and isn't interested in more role players. That's all fine with me.

Why Brown? Aside from being uber-athletic and all, with what sounds like a wonderfully aggressive mindset, we need depth at 3. James Young is a bust and Evan Turner is an unrestricted free agent. Ok, so aside from the fact that some people preferred the sure thing in Buddy, Brown is a reasonable pick at 3. Danny didn't want the physically unprepared Dragan Bender, nor the defensively-challenged Jamal Murray nor the athletically-challenged one-position player Hield. Marquese Chriss is intriguing but we have enough players like him. The NBA is heading towards a position-less model, with a player or two of one-position players (e.g. Bogut and Ezeli) but everybody else can play multiple positions and once you get past Ben Simmons nobody in the top half of the lottery can play more positions than Jaylen Brown.

Why Frenchie (since that seems to be his new nickname)? And why #16?! If Danny really likes the kid he could easily have picked him at #23 but also almost anywhere in the 2nd round. Why 16th? Zizic is talking as if he's ready to come to the NBA now and compete, he doesn't want to be a draft-and-stash, while Frenchie has said that'd be ok with him. Huh? Well, here's my thoughts on that: Danny was underwhelmed by the picks in the #16 range, he sees them as future role players and he's big-game hunting now. He is trying to strike gold again as in the summer of '07 with landing two stars and then filling the roster around them with good veteran players who want to play with/for a super team with 3 all-stars on it. If he can get good veterans like Eddie House and James Posey why draft unproven rookies for those roles? So, he drafts Frenchie. If Sully gets a better offer than the qualifying offer, then Danny can match it and keep him or match it and do a sign-and-trade. If Sully is gone, then he brings in Frenchie sooner rather than later and for less than Sully. If Danny keeps Sully then Frenchie can stay in Europe and there's no harm no foul. Frenchie specifically mentioned that he was asked by the Celtics if he would be willing to play small ball 5. An under-sized 275# small ball 5. Who does that sound like to you? Frenchie is "Sully insurance". But why @ 16? Precisely because he is willing to stay overseas. He stays off the books then, like Dario Saric is not in Philly's salary list even though they own his rights and so he cannot go to any other NBA team besides them.

In Zizic's case, he is more NBA ready and the need for a player like him on the Celtics, especially with Zeller being a free agent after an underwhelming season, is more real and immediate. By taking Zizic with #23 (he was projected to go somewhere in the mid-20s anyway, so #23 isn't a big stretch) he has to pay him less than if Danny took him with #16. The #16 pick, who in our case may not play for us, will make $3.86M next year. The #23 pick, who is more likely to play for us next year, will make $2.86M next year. That's $1M less salary by picking draft-and-stash Frenchie #16 and more NBA-ready Zizic #23 and not vice versa. That, in my mind, is why Danny picked them in that order. It flies in the face of normal thought, but that's our Danny. He was the one who came up with the novel idea of trading Gary Payton to Atlanta and then, when Atlanta immediately waived him, re-signing him. They changed the CBA so that other GMs couldn't pull that stunt. Danny in his own crafty way, and supported by Capology genius Mike Zarren, is an innovator. Before this Thursday we had Philly getting the rights for Dario Saric, knowing he was going to be in Europe for another year or two, but be willing to wait because he is such a talent. I cannot think of anybody who thought of using a quality pick like 16 for a draft-and-stash in a weak draft year, before Danny. True draft-and-stashes are usually 2nd rounders. Not anymore, thanks to Danny, not in weak draft years.

So that's why, in my opinion, we got these initially incomprehensible draft picks. Yabu-who-ey? WTF?! Danny plucks some guy so far down the list he's sitting in the crowd?! Are you kidding me?! Yeah, that's right. Danny bought Sully insurance which he might never need to use and preferred doing that than drafting another role player that will make the team (and he will have to consume cap space on) but will not move the needle, and used the cheaper #23 pick on a player that actually might make the roster.

Demetrius Jackson was a projected 1st round pick. Taking him when/where he was picked was a steal. He will compete for a roster spot. I don't know if he'll earn one, we have a few guards already, but he will push Rozier. Jackson is another IT on offense. Unfortunately, it looks like he might be another IT on defense too but you don't know what will happen. There have been inquiries by GMs about Rozier, maybe Brad likes Jackson's uptempo offense more than he needs Rozier's defense. Either way, that was a very good choice @ #45.

bob

.

by **worcester** Sat Jun 25, 2016 12:04 pm

Bob, Astute analysis as always.

by **tjmakz** Sat Jun 25, 2016 12:13 pm

arambone wrote:
Do those in D league count toward our active 15 man roster?

Yes, unless the Celtics work out an agreement with the kid that they won't sign him this year, and he'll spend a year in dleague while the Cs maintain his rights. Grizz did this with Andrew Harrison, and another team did it with Dakari Johnson last year.

These players would have to sign a D-League contract, which is about $35,000.
If a player can't make the Celtics roster, they have 3 options.
1-Play in Europe
2-Sign a D-League contract
3-Become a free agent

by **bobheckler** Sat Jun 25, 2016 2:20 pm

David Pick @IAmDPick BOSTON: Ante Zizic was FIBA Center of the Year. I love this kid. Has huge offer in Europe, but wants to go to NBA. 7:12 PM - 23 Jun 2016 31 31 Retweets 32 32 likes

bob
MY NOTE: A reminder, or heads-up, that Zizic is not just "a big", was FIBA Center of the Year. He was projected to go #26 by DX, #28 by NBADRAFT.NET and #28 by MYNBADRAFT.COM, #28 by CBSSPORTS. So, all the major mock drafters had him going in the 2nd half of the 1st round, and #23 was our last first round pick.

PER DX:
Ante's 25.7 PER in the Adriatic League is the second highest in league history since 2001 for a player under the age of 21. He is leading the league in rebounding, and scoring over 20 points per-40 minutes on tremendous efficiency (68% true shooting percentage). While the Adriatic League is not considered the strongest competition in Europe, it has produced over 50 NBA draft picks throughout the years, so it is obviously a league the NBA takes seriously.

.

by **arambone** Sat Jun 25, 2016 3:44 pm

Great posts Bob.

by **cowens/oldschool** Sat Jun 25, 2016 3:52 pm

arambone wrote:Great posts Bob.

bob is the best

by **RosalieTCeltics** Sat Jun 25, 2016 5:10 pm

Thanks Bob, I am looking forward to Summer League. Young? Still on the team? Why? Third year in summer league, seems like they are giving him one last shot.

The one thing I did like about Brown was his intelligence. He carried himself very well in his first interview and seemed very self confident. I like that. Much different than Young, who still walks around with his head down. He has been a big disappointment after much ado when he was drafted. As we are well aware, talent will not buy you anything if you do not work hard and improve and he has done little of either. Sad, came out much too soon. Two years later, with talent and experience, he could have been a 1-2-3 pick

Rosalie

by **arambone** Sat Jun 25, 2016 5:45 pm

I suspect Young might be playing on the summer league team as a favor from the Celtics, so he can audition for other teams. I could be wrong, and he does have ever improving size/strength for SF in the NBA, and we could certainly use a decent shooter on the SF depth chart, but I'm not sure the Cs still believe in him. I'm not sure I do either, but I'm still convinced he can shoot it when his confidence is right. He seemed to fall apart when he didn't stick with the Cs rotation last year, and shot about half as well from 3 in the DLeague as he did the year before.

by **worcester** Sat Jun 25, 2016 6:20 pm

He shot .231% from three in the NBA last year. A very small sample size. His confidence is blown.

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