No. 17 – Precious Achiuwa – forward
‘Wait, the Celtics aren’t supposed to draft here,’ you say? Correct. In this situation, Boston is seen as trading picks 26 and 30 to move up to 17, an interesting wrinkle but the wrong choice.
We say wrong choice not because Achiuwa doesn’t look to have potential — he does, and plenty — but a rookie ‘still in the early stages of his development,’ as the Ringer puts it, isn’t going to work, particularly on a team that already has multiple bigs with questionable jumpers.
Report: Boston Celtics have met with KJ Martin, LaMarr Stevens https://t.co/1qQH0iFeDi
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) October 27, 2020
With prospects like Aaron Nesmith, Josh Green and Desmond Bane slotted just after this pick, we would be furious to see a selection like Achiuwa in such a trade-up scenario when any of the other three are a much better fit for Boston’s situation, especially considering taking Hampton 14th.
In a scenario that saw No. 14 or 26 used on a prospect who would be stashed for a season like Aleksej Pokusevski or Leandro Bolmaro, taking Precious at 26 or 30 would make sense so long as a high-floor player able to help immediately were also in the mix.
But we’re low on Achiuwa here solely because of the development he’ll need to succeed — and how little chance he’d have with the Celtics.
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