Celtics got their bench shooting – but that’s not all they were after

Coach Brad Stevens shed some light on the team’s method in the 2020 NBA draft.

You may have noticed that shooting is a common threat between the Boston Celtics two first-round draft picks Aaron Nesmith and Payton Pritchard, and given the lack of it on Boston’s bench last season, you’d be forgiven if you thought that was the only thing the Celtics were looking for in this draft.

Nesmith may well be the best shooter in the draft, and his fellow 2020 draftee Pritchard is not that far behind him, both possessing efficient, tight jumpers that look NBA-ready on day one.

Shooting however, was not, according to head coach Brad Stevens, he only thing the team was after when speaking to the media at the end of the first round.

“I think you’re always looking for shooting, you’re always looking for guys that can put the ball in the basket,” explained the former Butler head coach.

“We were evaluating several guys across the draft with different strengths that brought different things to the table when 14 came up. We felt best about Aaron and before he broke his foot this year, he had a great year. He can run off screens and shoot the ball; the worker that he is, the amount of time he puts in his game, his size gives him some positional versatility.”

“As he becomes more comfortable and how we defend will hopefully allow him to guard a couple of positions,” added Stevens. “Those are all positives, but the shooting is his thing.”

A lot of the attention was focused justifiably on Nesmith who shot over 50% in his sophomore season from beyond the arc, but the Oregon guard is no slouch himself.

“Peyton is a knockdown shooter as well that can do a lot of things with the basketball,” explained Stevens.

He also pushed back again against the night’s draft rubric solely being based on shooting.

“Shooting is certainly important; it certainly is a high priority. But I wouldn’t say that everybody that we were high on in this draft would be considered a great shooter. We were more looking for what we thought were the best fits at the time. We feel very, very good about the two picks in the first round and look forward to getting those guys here … they don’t get the the the benefit of a summer league and some nice pre-season two-on-two workouts before the season usually kicks off to get themselves ready.”

“It’s going to be full steam ahead here soon,” he noted.

And with little time to prepare and a title not beyond their reach, readiness was certainly at least one of the criteria used in selecting these two prospects.

Now, we all await the decisions of veterans Gordon Hayward and Enes Kanter — or whatever Danny Ainge and company have planned instead if they are already expected to leave.

The deadline is today, at 5pm ET.

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