Ainge looking good in Kevin O'Connor's 2016 redraft

[guava_wrench]

https://theringer.com/reevaluating-the-2016-nba-draft-class-46df7c76e2b2#.l3mog0dvo

Kevin O'Connor has Ainge nailing all 3 picks. Is there a touch of homerism? I prefer to think we just nailed the 2016 draft.

[Moranis]

good sign he move up both Zizic and Yabu, but I have no real gauge if that was the right move. 

[Ed Hollison]

Wish he would have actually weighed in on Yabs and Zizic, but he didn't get far enough down the list for that.

[chilidawg]

Just can't separate Zizic and Zubac.  I'm glad we got the one with more Z's.

TP for the link.

[iadera]

I can't wait to see Zizic. We don't have to worry for our rim-protection next year, IMO.  I expect him to explode. Something like Jokic this year. It's not just that he's talented, but also very strong physically and mentally.

[indeedproceed]

There was a podcast (IIRC) where Mike Malone (DEN coach) was talking with I think WOJ, but he said right after summer league, 'We had just stolen the Celtics guy at 15 and we feel pretty good about that, we think he's going to be a player' (this is probably a very badly remembered quote so, apologies).

Anyways, I think the Yabusele pick is one that nobody among the analysts knows what to do with. Zizic is for sure a 'hit' if draft picks were battle ships. He's a year and more younger than Yabusele and he's producing elite numbers in a man's league. I'd put Zizic over Zubac and Dunn on this list (but behind Brogdan). But Yabusele? He played well in China, but that doesn't mean much to me.

Guy	MPG	FG%	PPG	REB Per G
Guy 1	27.6	54.6%	17.37	10.57
Guy 2	30.3	52.7%	20.86	9.42

Here are two 6'9, 260 lbs players from China in 16-17. One is Yabusele, the other is 35 year old Carlos Boozer. Which is which? Does it matter? All I am saying is I have no idea if Yabusele is a 'hit' but I have my doubts.

[nickagneta]

Guy	MPG	FG%	PPG	REB Per G
Guy 1	27.6	54.6%	17.37	10.57
Guy 2	30.3	52.7%	20.86	9.42

Here are two 6'9, 260 lbs players from China in 16-17. One is Yabusele, the other is 35 year old Carlos Boozer. Which is which? Does it matter? All I am saying is I have no idea if Yabusele is a 'hit' but I have my doubts.

So Yabusele is as good as a washed up, injury ravaged ex NBA player when playing in the Chinese league. Not sure that fills me with confidence regarding Yabusele as a prospect either.

[chambers]

Homer to the max. Gershon we haven't seen anything of. He's beating up Chinese stiffs.
Ingram has been questionable. I don't think Murray has been that great either.

[indeedproceed]

Homer to the max. Gershon we haven't seen anything of. He's beating up Chinese stiffs.
Ingram has been questionable. I don't think Murray has been that great either.

I think Murray has been the only guy who looks like he can be a prolific scorer in the draft so far. He might be the only guy who looks like he can be an elite scorer off the bounce, tries hard on defense, can run the pick and roll. Can legit play both guard positions. Very good player.

[Eddie20]

Interesting stuff when you consider he has Hernangomez #8 and Zubac #11. Ainge drafted Yabu at #16, but the rumor is that the Celtics would've taken Hernangomez instead if he was there (Hernangomez went 1 spot ahead). Also, we had the #31 pick and we traded the rights to Deyonta Davis to the Grizzlies. Instead we could've taken Zubac who went #32 to the Lakers.

So essentially we could've had a draft class of Brown, Hernangomez, Zizic, Zubac, Jackson, and Nader. With Zubac and Hernangomez replacing Mickey and Young.

[Roy H.]

Guy	MPG	FG%	PPG	REB Per G
Guy 1	27.6	54.6%	17.37	10.57
Guy 2	30.3	52.7%	20.86	9.42

Here are two 6'9, 260 lbs players from China in 16-17. One is Yabusele, the other is 35 year old Carlos Boozer. Which is which? Does it matter? All I am saying is I have no idea if Yabusele is a 'hit' but I have my doubts.

So Yabusele is as good as a washed up, injury ravaged ex NBA player when playing in the Chinese league. Not sure that fills me with confidence regarding Yabusele as a prospect either.

It doesn't mean much either way about Yabusele's potential. Boozer was putting up 12/7 his final year in the league. If Yabu did that his rookie season, fans would think he was the second coming of Moses (Malone).

My guess is that while their production is similar, their effectiveness is based upon different attributes. Boozer has man strength and a lot of veteran savvy. Yabu is more a talented young guy learning the game.

[Alleyoopster]

Can't believe he moved Yabu up to 14. He didn't think much of his Summer League performance.


He's going to have the same problem in the NBA as he had last summer, i.e., getting swallowed up underneath the basket.  Plus, some of his pre-draft defense videos were scary bad. Hopefully, he's been working with someone to help him be more responsive.   

One thing I couldn't understand and upset me is why Danny didn't draft Zubac. Now I find out he had that serious ankle surgery. Could be a problem down the road. Maybe not drafting him will prove to be a good decision.   

[mmmmm]

Can't believe he moved Yabu up to 14. He didn't think much of his Summer League performance.


He's going to have the same problem in the NBA as he had last summer, i.e., getting swallowed up underneath the basket.  Plus, some of his pre-draft defense videos were scary bad. Hopefully, he's been working with someone to help him be more responsive.   

One thing I couldn't understand and upset me is why Danny didn't draft Zubac. Now I find out he had that serious ankle surgery. Could be a problem down the road. Maybe not drafting him will prove to be a good decision.

I think that two factors weigh in there:

1) He'd already taken Zizic who was considered to have the highest upside of the two big Zs (and I see no reason to think that has changed) and
2) Zubac probably didn't want to be stashed.

I'm not really feeling any regret about this.   Taking Zubac, say, at the #31 pick, might seem like a lost opportunity, but opportunity has costs.  It would mean we'd have had him added to the roster crunch and probably have not re-signed Zeller (another 'Z') in order to make room for Zubac on the roster, but it's doubtful to me that he would have gotten any more minutes than Zeller.  Probably less. He'd have been a rookie 2nd rounder on a playoff-bound team.  He more likely would have spent the year like D-Jax, getting minutes in Maine.   So, how impressive would he have looked in this alternate universe?  And in this alternate universe we would not have the Clippers future pick.

It is important to always gauge the scenario in which rookies are playing.   When they are on a crappy lotto team getting lots of minutes they can often look a lot more impressive than a rookie fighting to get minutes on a contender (or stashed in Europe or the D-League).   

[indeedproceed]

One thing I couldn't understand and upset me is why Danny didn't draft Zubac. Now I find out he had that serious ankle surgery. Could be a problem down the road. Maybe not drafting him will prove to be a good decision.   

With Zubac, I kind of think his recent production isn't unlike Jahlil Okafor's rookie campaign, in that he can't play defense, he is being force-fed possessions, and the team is pretty blatantly using his 'excellent play' as a means to losing lots of games.

You'll know Zizic is good if he is brought along similarly to Jaylen Brown. 

[HomerSapien]

One thing I couldn't understand and upset me is why Danny didn't draft Zubac. Now I find out he had that serious ankle surgery. Could be a problem down the road. Maybe not drafting him will prove to be a good decision.   

With Zubac, I kind of think his recent production isn't unlike Jahlil Okafor's rookie campaign, in that he can't play defense, he is being force-fed possessions, and the team is pretty blatantly using his 'excellent play' as a means to losing lots of games.

You'll know Zizic is good if he is brought along similarly to Jaylen Brown.

With Zubac, I am wondering if the reason we didn't draft him is that he outright said no to being willing to wait at least 1 year before coming over to the NBA. Based on the fact that we "reached" on Yabu and then took Zizic with the final 2016 1st rounder I think Ainge was going with only draft and stash options for the remaining picks that he used.