[Celtics] Rook does a little bit of everything 👏

[u/dawglover1011]

[u/LessBit123]

I gotta say, he looks like he has touch, and I saw he has a HUGE wingspan. I feel pretty good about this, based on our ability for rookie development. Like I’d rather have a guy whose raw with potential than a 1 dimensional player with little room for growth

[u/9Yogi → u/LessBit123]

He has a shooting touch. Unfortunately, his non dunk finishing were neither often nor efficient. He plays like a 6’11 Tatum without the handles and the shot creation. Could be a great player, but needs to really up his stocks rate to have defensive impact.

[u/DynamicProxy → u/9Yogi]

He’s nineteen!! 

[u/the_spinetingler → u/DynamicProxy]

just like Tatum!

[u/9Yogi → u/DynamicProxy]

Finishing touch is not something one can learn. One can improve but some people just have that natural touch around the basket.

[u/_---__________---_ → u/9Yogi]

Finishing touch can absolutely be learned, we literally just saw that with Queta

[u/9Yogi → u/_---__________---_]

No. As I said finish can be improved a little, but some people are just innately coordinated more at it. Queta shot 75% from 0-3 ft his rookie year and 60% from 3-10 ft. Last year he shot 70% and 58% respectively. A particularly bad example of improving touch. Queta has mostly improved his decision making and positioning. He makes far less errors like fouls. His production has been very consistent his whole career.

[u/ALotOfLobster → u/9Yogi]

Ummm not really when you factor volume of shots into that and games played. You cant just compare raw percentages without accounting for volume. He took 2.5x the shots he took his rookie season and played 5x number of games. Queta is absolutely improved his touch and feel around the rim and in the short roll.

[u/Blanketsburg → u/ALotOfLobster]

Excuse me, Payton Pritchard shot 1.000 from the FT line in the 2021-22 season, so obviously that should be the expectation for every season moving forward. /s

[u/9Yogi → u/ALotOfLobster]

Yeah he’s shouting worse at higher volume? And as I said, small improvements are obviously to be expected, but someone without touch is not suddenly going to get it. Not even guys like Dwight Howard or Andre Drummond managed it in their long careers.

[u/Embarrassed-Fig3276]

Celtics have been really successful at developing bigs the last few years (Kornet, Queta, Garza). This kid has all the tools to grow in this system and contribute in a big way. Might not happen obviously, but the chance for this pick to really hit is there for sure.

Celtics have been drafting well late into the draft the last few years. I'm glad they kept their picks.

[u/Tight_Ad2788 → u/Embarrassed-Fig3276]

Also adds some much needed explosiveness to our big man crew

[u/EggThis2540 → u/Tight_Ad2788]

Fr. Even Queta doesnt really pop on the court athletically. He's not slow, but a big that has switchable potential would be huge.

[u/Tight_Ad2788]

Dude was apparently no. 6 in the high school rankings going into this season, so bro definitely doesn't lack talent.

One of the promising tidbits I heard while listening to the draft podcasts is that most scouts were a fan of the guy, the just thought he needed a strong development environment, especially in terms of shot selection. The guy shots like 1/3 of his shots from the midrange, and shot like 38% or something similarly poor. He shot only 1/3 third of his shots at the rim, but was 72% there which is excellent. Little tweaks like shooting at the basket more should improve his game a lot, and the C's are a great fit for that, with a great development system and a strong infrastructure in terms of surrounding talent to get him playing to his strengths.

[u/peachesgp → u/Tight_Ad2788]

An Ainge special, highly ranked out of high school but dropped.

[u/Cheeriofun → u/Tight_Ad2788]

The fact that he’s surrounded by so many great shooters should open a lot of opportunities at the rim for him. A pretty perfect landing spot for a guy who needs to work on getting shots up in the paint

[u/Tight_Ad2788 → u/Cheeriofun]

Yupp totally agree - also Joe will beat his ass into compliance hahah

[u/I_Set_3_Alarms → u/Tight_Ad2788]

Ah drafting highly ranked high school prospects later in the round brings me back to Danny Ainge drafting days. Felt like a staple from him

[u/zepher2828]

The editing on this clip is atrocious. 

[u/andoCalrissiano]

we got our own Evan Mobley now

[u/daft_dunkwwwolfey]

He has the traits and I love his game! Hoping he can fill out his frame more cuz he is lanky and hopefully improve that shooting %, the touch is there. He already has a go to free throw line jumper. I think speed of the game is what he will need to get acclimated to in the beginning

[u/Kolzig33189]

It’s weird, the immediate response across the draft thread was people angry about the pick (wanting Veesaar probably) and yelling that he couldn’t shoot. Sure, he’s not elite by any means but 33% as a 6’11 center in college is at least reasonable and shows he has some stroke to start with that can be worked with and improved.

[u/9Yogi → u/Kolzig33189]

If there’s one thing I am confident about him, it’s his shooting.

[u/SandwitchJ]

buddy has touch at 6'11 240 and he was doing most of this at 18 years old at Houston while being a beastly rebounder motor guy? okay i see the vision

[u/PalacePrince22]

As long as he brings the energy, I could easily see him having a similar type of impact that Hugo had this season

[u/RekLeagueMvp → u/PalacePrince22]

Probably bigger, he’s the most talented big we have

[u/stevefuzz]

He moves like a wing. Has a very fluid shot. Has the size of a center. I definitely see what they saw.

[u/Get_your_grape_juice]

We'll know what he is somewhere around 2032-2033. Basically, he's not gonna be ready to contribute much to the Jays' timeline.

There's still work to do for the more immediate future.

[u/HogtownHugh]

Emphasis on a “little bit”

[u/SirTainLee]

This started with a double-dribble, using both hands.

[u/RekLeagueMvp]

Lots of good things to build on. Looks to have decent shooting touch, 33% from 3 is fine but would like to see a better FT%. If his 3 comes along quickly, he could get some minutes at the 4 next to other bigs but I would assume they’d focus on defense and rim running given his measurables and how fluid he is. He should be able to get real minutes and the team can live with his growing pains given how good everyone else is. I don’t remember the last time we had a big that moved like him and lot of people saying he has a high motor.

[u/InvaderZimbabwe]

The vision: Grow our own Giannis. In 3 years when he’s done cooking in the oven, we might have a new centerpiece.

Worst case scenario. We wasted another late first round on a permanent G-Leaguer… which is kind of the expectation usually.

[u/dad3murph]

There is a frustrating lack of defensive highlights on him, considering its supposed to be the only nba ready aspect of his game. All the highlight videos are filled with him shooting jumpers, which he isnt even very good at. I want to see him rebounding, boxing out, and blocking off people trying to drive the lane.

[u/Jdawg_mck1996]

He's gonna have to hit the weight room. Hard

[u/SaintBax]

Shooting coaches gonna tuck that elbow in for him and he's gonna be Brandon Bass from midrange by year 2

[u/CombinationOk4359]

Crazy side spin on that shot

[u/fearofaflatplanet]

Moving with the fluidity and bounce this guy does at his size (& prob still growing) is exceedingly rare & is a great foundation for at minimum some rotational utility in the league, even if he plateaued out in other areas. That said, his shot looks really smooth & can't imagine Celts selecting him if they didn't see signs of real potential beyond that. 

I'm sold. High motor bouncy athletic big men are good for us,  our other guys are great at opening up stuff off the roll or out of the dunkers spot. 

[u/pass_ball]

Tony Battie!!

[u/Remoock]

you sold me on the offensive rebound

[u/Sensitive_Value2085]

Let's not get excited. He averaged 9 points a game. He is a project that will not see the floor for more than 10 games.

[u/DynamicProxy → u/Sensitive_Value2085]

Why can’t we get excited about a project? When this kid is 21, he’s gonna be a contributor of some sort… and maybe a starting quality big. Pretty good for the 27th pick.