If you can’t beat ’em, draft the guy who learned all their big man’s tricks?
That’s not exactly how the old chestnut goes, but if the Boston Celtics follow the path laid out in Rookie Wire’s latest draft, they’ll be getting one of the more promising frontcourt prospects in the 2020 draft.
Who has reportedly been modeling some of his game on Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo’s.
That big man would be Washington’s Isaiah Stewart, a 6-foot-9 unit of a center who can rebound and protect the rim with a high motor. And while he doesn’t yet have a reliable jumper, he has flashed signs in his free throw percentage (77.4%) and form of being able to develop one.
Boston Celtics deal up for a big splash in new B/R mock draft https://t.co/DAW0dw6JeX
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) October 23, 2020
He’s also not content to sit on his laurels while he waits for the draft, as he related to HoopsHype’s Bryan Kalbrosky:
“I’m a guy that likes to work on every single part of my game. I could probably list a hundred things I’ve been doing. But the main thing has definitely been my shooting. I have come a long way but I’m definitely shooting at a good clip right now. I’m just getting better at it every single day. We have also been working on passing, working on my IQ and being able to play in the short roll.
I watch a guy like Bam Adebayo who makes a lot of great passes in the short roll. He has a great IQ. I see how he is able to impact the game in that way. He is patient and he can read the defense and he doesn’t get sped up. The past college season, I was double-teamed and triple-teamed a lot. I needed to learn how to make better reads out of the high post.”
The former Husky put up 17 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks in 32 games in his sole season with Washington, a former top-five recruit whose fit with the Huskies style of play may have tarnished his stock somewhat.
New mock sees Celtics draft a big, a stash and a floor general https://t.co/shnb8maAl1
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) October 22, 2020
While we’re critical on the idea of taking Stewart 14th overall as Rookie Wire’s latest mock envisions the Celtics doing, we’re very much open to Boston doing so with one of their two latter firsts at Nos. 26 or 30.
But if that jumper does come along at even a league-average clip from downtown and Stewart ends up being taken in-between the Celtics range of selections, such a play might be one the franchise regrets considerably.
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