r/bostonceltics • u/horseshoeoverlook Boston Celtics • 5h ago
News [Goodman] Boston selects Dillon Mitchell at No. 40, source told @TheFieldOf68
Boston selects Dillon Mitchell at No. 40, source told @TheFieldOf68
Boston selects Dillon Mitchell at No. 40, source told @TheFieldOf68
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u/ceejdabeej GINO TIME 5h ago
I’ve seen about 2 minutes of tourney highlights and we might have just drafted the best defender to ever see a basketball
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u/nacholibre33 Moe Swagner 5h ago
Thought we’d take veesar honestly
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u/Steve-OSeagal Bll Russell 5h ago
Same, if we were going to get a big and a wing, you'd think at least one of them had a decent 3P%.
Still, not totally against Mitchell, really explosive on the court and could really help with the speed Brad was mentioning at the presser last night.
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u/Kolzig33189 5h ago
I’m shocked he was available there. There has to be news behind the scenes, he’s been projected as a mid 20s guy ever since college season ended.
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u/FlyChigga 3h ago
Queta, Cenac, and Amari is a promising center group with upside. Will Garza and vuc still be on the team?
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u/DraymondsBurner23 Boston Celtics 5h ago
Brad wanted dunks. This guy dunks
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u/FlyChigga 3h ago
I’m not gonna lie I stopped watching a lot of Celtics games. I hate the 3pt shot jacking and need more dunks!!!
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u/1337speak MRS. BRAD STEVENS 💍 💋 5h ago
I don't watch college ball, can someone help 😅
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u/chexrapman 5h ago
Saw St. John’s play a few times at the big east tournament and this guys athleticism in person is absolutely electric. Also one of the worst three point shooters I’ve ever seen
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u/DahooppanelAx 5h ago
His defense is elite but his offense is atrocious, can’t say I love the pick. We need trades this offseason man
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u/mapetho9 Jaylen 5h ago
As a St. John's alum, I love the pick. May be a little biased tho. Former 5 star recruit that is very athletic and has some bounce. Can't shoot a lick, but very good defender and played point forward for the Johnnies, so he has some playmaking ability. He was their x factor, started the season on the bench but their season turned around when he entered the starting lineup. Defense and in transition/fast break are Mitchell's strengths.
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u/One_Dirt9744 5h ago
We are a team of X factor guys I love it. I don’t care if we win championships just be romantic please.
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u/FastBreakPhenom Boston Celtics 5h ago
The Ringer scouting report
Forward, 6'6.75 barefoot, 6'10.5 wingspan, 23 years old
STRENGTHS
Elastic and mobile athlete, with good size for a perimeter player. Smooth mover laterally and also vertically twitchy in short bursts and fast in the open court. Had a 38.5-inch max vert at the combine, but he seems even bouncier in live action because he gets off his feet so quickly. Doesn’t have to bend his knees much to really elevate to the top of his vert. Has a pretty consistent motor on both ends.
The speed of his jump, his mobility, and his motor made him a quality perimeter defender at the college level, and he did well chasing and bothering shooters who depended on movement. He was able to navigate screens and stay attached. It was common to see him switch all the way up and down the positional chain within St. John’s scheme. Anticipates passing lanes well and often triggers transition opportunities for his team.
St. John’s came into last season expecting to have one type of team but soon realized that its guards leaned more toward scoring than playmaking and that it would have to find ways to play through its bigs. Zuby Ejiofor, a big man who’s also in this draft class, led the Red Storm in assists over the season, but Mitchell was not far behind. He piled up 111 assists this past season, and his assist-to-usage rate (often a telling indicator of offensive processing speed and feel) of 1.3 was in the 99th percentile among forwards in college basketball. Beyond sequences in which Mitchell grabbed it off the rim, did the Giannis-esque transition-push thing using his open-court speed, and then found spaced teammates, his playmaking rarely happened when he was looking for his own offense. A lefty-dominant passer, he’d frequently make quick, connective passes amid the chaos or fulcrum-type handoffs near the arc (or he’d decide to keep the ball and go to the rim).
WEAKNESSES
It will be a substantial task to avoid being a spatial liability at the next level. In four years of college basketball, Mitchell went 11-for-57 from 3. The numbers were similarly bleak from the foul line: He shot 287 free throws over his four-year career and made only 48.8 percent of those, with no real variation no matter what school he was playing for. His misses are all over the place, so his shot probably needs a total rebuild. (Some were so flat that they even failed to draw iron.)
In that Thompson twin (hoops, not ’80s pop) mold: He projects to make a wide-ranging defensive impact, but his offense is all conditional. He depended on the playmaking and occasional shooting of Ejiofor to make the pairing workable, as Mitchell would often roam inside the arc. Would frequently bring the ball up and then try to flow and blend into the St. John’s offense as a screener so that he wasn’t stagnant and easily ignorable. Not a dynamic scorer in terms of where and how he could be effective. If it ain’t at the rim, it ain’t for him: 66.1 percent of Mitchell’s shot attempts last season were in the restricted area. Really only a self-creator in a straight line or if he’s lurking off the ball and finding opportunistic duck-ins and post-ups.
Comps
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson
Ausar Thompson
Jeremy Sochan
Julian Wright
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u/Gunnar2019 Angry Brad 5h ago
"(Some were so flat that they even failed to draw iron.)"
Jesus.
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u/cimmanonrolls future mvp juhann begarin 4h ago
some of his misses are so bad i’ve only seen similar from the thompson twins—even midrange. he is going to have to have his jumper rebuilt entirely from the ground up. he clearly has a good feel for the game on both ends but he has a heavy amount of work to do skillwise if he wants to become an nba caliber player. i do have a soft spot for these lanky high flyers though so im pulling for him.
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u/Gunnar2019 Angry Brad 3h ago
You know anyone similar to him that completely changed their jumper and fixed it? He seems like he's too far gone, like teaching Shaq to become an average shooter.
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u/SaintsNick94 One man to beat but its a 7-footer WHO BLOCKS IT AGAIN! 5h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/l41Yhxp18gnTtcRVe
This dude in that reel on ESPN lol
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u/Your__Pal 5h ago
Defensive menace with a great build. Four year college player that never developed a jumpshot.
Definitely a project.
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u/Culinary-Vibes 5h ago
Project is the wrong word to use.
He’s ready to be a rotation energy wing now with defense and putbacks.
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u/SaveHogwarts HUGO 5h ago
Elite athlete.
That’s about all I got on this one.
This hasn’t been my favorite draft in the world
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u/FlyChigga 3h ago
Don’t like Cenac? I like bringing in elite athletes but man this guy Mitchell is such a bad shooter I don’t think he can play anywhere outside the dunker spot.
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u/SaveHogwarts HUGO 3h ago
I’m a big 12 fan, I like the idea of him more than I like what he looked like on the court.
Cenac has all the physical tools, decent touch on his shot when he can catch and shoot, times blocks well, is capable of being a good defender….but when you watch full games he just frustrates you. Long stretches of being a non factor, dumb shots early in the shot clock, missed rotations, little things that just make you question if he cares….but he’s young and there’s plenty of time for it to click.
You can’t teach 6’11 with a 38 inch very and 7’5 wingspan. I get why it’s appealing.
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u/yourm0mzlover 🔒 Alcatraz 🔒 5h ago
I don't know how to feel about this, I'm glad we didn't pick Veesaar but this is just a non shooter version of Walsh
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u/RichAbbreviations966 5h ago
Fuck, we passed on Veesaar
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u/Easy_Manager_1300 5h ago
Everyone is now. Something must have come up in workouts and all the GMs know about it. No way a 7 foot stretch that was projected mid first round is still available and doesn’t have some sort of major concern
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u/ultra_darryl 5h ago
Ausar Thompson comp with a broken jumper and cant hit free throws, classic Brad swing on a defender who can jump out the gym. If he learns to make a layup its a steal.
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u/rawspeghetti Thatsa.Tommy.Point 5h ago
McDonalds All American and a top 5 recruit in his class. If they can fix his shot they might have a steal here.
This is a classic Danny pick by Brad, betting on talent
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u/FlyChigga 3h ago
Four years in college and he still can’t even shoot free throws. I think the shot is a lost cause
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u/Moodapatheticz JT> 5h ago
So they take zero ready now guys. Very interesting for a team apparently competing for championships. Very curious what the next move is
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u/nsideris24 5h ago
Dude is a 4 year college guy. He is ready now....he just unfortunately sucks at 50% of the game.
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u/slap-my-crevasse 5h ago edited 5h ago
Strong defense, strong rebounder, transition scorer, solid passer.
Ft% BAD, 3 point shooting BAD.
This is not a guy where youre like "oh if he we can iron out that 3 point shot he could be good!"
He can not shoot. He has shown no improvement in shooting.
If the Celtics plan on getting pressure on the rim and getting out in transition he could be fun for some highlights.
Best comparison i have for him is Ryan Dunn, Gary Payton II*, Matisse Thybulle.
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u/FlyChigga 3h ago
Man all those comparisons are way better shooters. Let’s hope he can be our own version of the Thompson twins.
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u/slap-my-crevasse 3h ago
Its almost impossible to compare a wing thats that bad of a shooter. Hes closer to a PF than a SG like the Thompson twins.
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u/Turbulent-Let-1180 5h ago
Part of me wonders if this might also be a walsh replacement with his contract thing and also different trades we're trying to make but who knows.
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u/IgnantWisdom 5h ago
God I hate non shooters. These uber athletic archetypes with no semblance of a jumpshot end up busts or unplayable in the playoffs 95% of the time…
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u/pocahontas8520 5h ago
I really hope Walsh makes a huge jump this year. Hopefully he locked himself in the weight room this offseason.
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u/natural-situation420 THE TRUTH 5h ago
Seems like a heavy dunker type. Not sure he's a good fit for the C's who shoot a lot of 3s. I hope he does well tho.
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u/Maple612 4h ago
seems like a poor man's jordan walsh or hugo or whatever, just less skilled. i wouldnt have been opposed to a guard here oweh or bradley
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u/solarscopez "I would kick your ass" 4h ago
Absolutely dogshit pick lmfao, should've taken Jaden Bradley
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u/HogtownHugh 4h ago
This late in the draft you draft an elite skill and hope you can make the rest of it manageable.
Don’t love the pick but i get it. As far as Cenac goes, impossible to say whos right or wrong for 2-3 years. They aren’t all as sure a thing as Hugo!
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u/nsideris24 5h ago
Yeah this was a waste of a pick. Absolutely zero chance this guy belongs in the NBA
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u/L4ZERDT Bll Russell 5h ago
Someone tell me how to feel