2017 NBA Draft: Biggest winners and losers
By Max Holm
Biggest Loser #2: Danny Ainge and the Boston Celtics
We joke about how Danny Ainge loves to flaunt about all the assets he has and then never makes a deal. Looking at what Minnesota gave up to get Jimmy Butler, a top-10 or top-15 player in the league, should be a punch in the gut to the Boston Celtics.
Ainge said they were never really close to the deal, but judging on the trade that went down, how exactly did the Celtics not get Butler? There are certainly a lot of moving pieces right now, as the team looks to add both Gordon Hayward and Paul George, but this is a big risk to walk away from the draft without a star who was available for a low price.
While the Celtics did a good job of balking on the asking price for Kristaps Porzingis, they shouldn’t feel good about taking Jayson Tatum No. 3 overall. It appears from this selection that Ainge didn’t see much of a difference between Tatum and Markelle Fultz, which is a mistake.
In addition to that, Tatum is a terrible fit as a player who needs the ball to be most effective. Passing on talent like Jonathan Isaac and Josh Jackson, who don’t need the ball, could come back to haunt him. So might skipping out on Fultz.
If Tatum becomes the centerpiece of a deal for Paul George or someone else, we can look at this selection differently. Could Ainge have selected Tatum because that’s what another suitor preferred for a big trade? That would’ve been very risky. On the positive side, Kadeem Allen and Semi Ojeleye were nice second picks.