Over the last decade, Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge has made plenty of both exceptional and terrible selections. We’ll look back at the hits and misses.
The Boston Celtics have perpetually been known to build their team through their excellent drafting process. A process that has been highlighted by steals like Larry Bird at six, John Havlicek at seven, and Paul Pierce at 14.
Especially today, it is universally accepted between general mangers, that teams win through free-agent splashes, along with a strong core around them. This is brought an unprecedented level of attention to free agency, but the recently overlooked draft has become a secret weapon for the Celtics.
This is only possible because of Boston Celtics’ general manager, Danny Ainge, who has had unmatched success in terms of scouting and accumulating picks, most notably in the infamous 2013 trade with the Nets, where he acquired four picks, in what now seems like a robbery. Now, in 2020, the Celtics are amongst the top teams in the NBA, due to the overabundance of young blossoming talent from the draft.
Over the last 10 years, the Celtics have made a total of 13 selections ranging from Jayson Tatum to Fab Melo. Today I will be looking at each of the picks and examining if there were possibly better players that filled the Celtics needs, or if they made the right selection.
The replacement players had to have been on the radar of both analysts and the Celtics themselves. So note, late second-round picks like Nikola Jokic would not be realistic replacements, but players that were on the top of most boards, filling positional needs, with decent attention, could be selected.
Let’s go to the 2019 draft, to look at the other potential options that the Boston Celtics had. Although there is not a lot of evidence of what Romeo Langford, will, or could do in the NBA. By using his rookie season, the question can still be asked: was he the right guy?