Danny Ainge crushed a pair of home runs by drafting Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
He also might have struck out swinging in 2019.
The Boston Celtics were mentioned in heavy trade speculation leading up to the 2019 NBA Draft thanks to their surplus of picks — then and for the future — but they wound up adding four rookies when the dust settled last June: Romeo Langford, Grant Williams, Carsen Edwards and Tremont Waters.
Each has debuted for Boston during the 2019-20 season, which currently is on pause amid the coronavirus pandemic, but the jury still is out on whether any will make a significant impact with the organization.
In fact, a scout for an Eastern Conference team recently told Celtics Blog’s Keith Smith that Boston’s 2019 draft class leaves much to be desired.
“I think they stink,” the scout said, according to Smith. “Well, that’s a little harsh. I mean they’re fine, but there isn’t anyone special in the whole bunch.
“(Grant) Williams is a backup role player for his whole career. That’s fine, but whatever. The Indiana kid (Romeo Langford) can’t shoot. How can you be a shooting guard if you can’t shoot? Carsen Edwards will be a G-League All-Star for years. The best of the bunch is Tremont Waters. He can play. I think he’s eventually a pretty good backup point guard. So, great. A bunch of backups. You need backups, but none of these guys are special.”
Maybe this is some gamesmanship from an intraconference rival. Maybe it’s sour grapes. Or maybe there’s some legitimacy to the scout’s evaluation. Obviously, it’s hard to deduce much from less than one full season.
Ainge sure did set the bar high with his selections of Brown and Tatum, though. And if the aforementioned quartet from 2019 — Langford, Williams, Edwards and Waters — fails to contribute in the years ahead, it’ll be fair to wonder whether the Celtics should have been more aggressive in trying to unload their draft picks for veteran talent.
