Boston Celtics: Swingmen In For First Celtics Draft Workout

The Boston Celtics will commence their individual pre-draft workouts with a group of talented swingmen coming into Boston on June 3. The group will appear at the Celtics’ practice facility in Waltham, Mass., in what will be the first in a number of workouts the team will hold between now and the June 26 draft.

The Celtics currently hold the sixth and 17th draft picks in the first round of the 2014 draft and the first workout group appears focused on the latter of those two selections. According to Jeff Goodman of ESPN, the likes of N.C. State’s T.J. Warren, UCLA’s Kyle Anderson and Clemson’s K.J. McDaniels highlight a list of intruiging options for the Celtics who appear focussed on adding to their wing depth in a draft deep on talent at the two and three.

Joining McDaniels, Anderson and Warren according to Goodman are Wichita State’s Cleanthony Early, Connecticut’s DeAndre Daniels and P.J. Hairston, who spent last season in the D-League after attending North Carolina.

T.J. Warren had an impressive sophomore season at North Carolina State, taking over as the primary scorer and becoming a much more aggressive player at the offensive end. Warren averaged 25.9 points per game shooting at .525 from the field and managed to make a solid jump in his free throw shooting going from .542 as a freshman to .690 this season. He also contributed 7.1 rebounds and 1.8 steals to go along with his high scoring.

Kyle Anderson is one of the most intruiging players in the entire 2014 draft class. Despite his 6’9″ frame, Anderson essentially ran the offense for UCLA and shows the vision and playmaking ability that is usually reserved for much smaller players. Anderson averaged 14.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.8 steals while he also showed a dramatic improvement from the three point line converting at .483 for the season.

K.J. McDaniels made a tremendous leap at Clemson in his junior year, bumping up his scoring by over 7 points a game and improving his overall efficiency despite the extra load offensively. McDaniels averaged 17.1 points and 7.1 rebounds but his impact was truly felt on the defensive end. McDaniels averaged 2.8 blocks per game which is exceptional from a wing player along with 1.1 steals.

Wichita State’s Cleanthony Early had great year with the Shockers and led his team to the No.1 seed coming into the NCAA tournament. Early averaged 16.4 points and 5.9 rebounds while also showing an accross the board boost in his shooting efficiency. Early took nearly 5 three pointers a game converting at .375 and his improved shooting carried over to the charity stripe where he knocked down 4.2 free throws a game at .844 percent.

DeAndre Daniels played a crucial part in the Huskies’ NCAA championship run and the junior forward has the effort and outside shooting to become a solid role player in the NBA. Daniels averaged 13.1 points, six rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game while also knocking down 1.3 threes at .417 shooting. His defense and outside shooting was huge for Connecticut throughout the NCAA tournament.

Lastly, P.J. Hairston left the NCAA after an indefinite suspension and instead decided to test himself in the NBA D-League. The 21 year old Hairston joined the Texas Legends and did not take long to impress against the new level of competition. Hairston averaged 21.7 points per game in his 26 games, knocking down 2.8 threes per game and showing the ability to get to the free throw line, where he converted 4.9 makes at .870 shooting. Hairston needs to improve his all-round game but his scoring ability cannot be questioned.

Overall it is an impressive first group for the Celtics to bring in for this workout and one of the six very well could be the pick when it comes to deciding the 17th pick on draft night. Currently, the six players are scattered from as high as 12th on the Hoops Habit Mock Draft through to 34th and it would appear that the majority of these players will be available when the Celtics’ name is called for the second time.