Assorted Celtics Thoughts Ahead of the Draft

Last year, I went crazy on a series of Boston Celtics' related posts.

This year, with a new GM and coach in place, I'm a little less inclined to spew out thousands of words... especially since a lot of what I wrote still remains true (Smart, the Jay's and Grant Williams are untouchable... Rob Williams is growing on me, and we need role players).

I've been wrong a ton when it comes to the NBA draft, but this year, there are only a few guys I really want to add (which is weird... I LOVED last year's draft class).

Evan Mobley isn't going to make it to the Celtics, unless they trade a Jay (bad idea), so he's off the board.

I love me some Davion Mitchell as a combo-guard complement to Marcus Smart.

I'd be all-in on Herbert Jones if he fell to 45.

I can't get enough on Bones Hyland, if he were there.

There's a rumor that Jarret Culver can be had for a secodn round pick. I'd do that immediately, ahead of drafting any of the above players (except Mobley).

I'd also look at a deal for Delon Wright (if Culver doesn't work out... Wright and Smart would be a strong pair of combo guards to start, possibly making Evan Fournier, assuming he resigns, a perfect 6th man, who essentially backs up 3 positions. Add in a Jeff Green signing for the veteran's minimum, and I'm good to go.

Starters:Smart, Brown, Tatum, Williams, Williams

Bench: Pritchard, Wright/Culver, Fournier, Nesmith, Green, Horford, Fall

Let's go to war.

2021 MLB Draft Diary Day 2

Coming into day 2, I'm feeling ok. Stovall and Abbott make for a nice start to the draft for me, even if neither of them was taken in the real world.

There are 13 players left on my board, and I'm hoping to get as many as possible... no need to shuffle the order.. let's just see how many of these guys slide to me.

• Baez- Went 54 to Cardinals
• Morisette- Went 52 to the Marlins
• Mcdonough- Joins my franchise at pick 62!
• Stephenson- Stephenson is the pick at 71
• Steinmetz- Went 77 to Arizona
• Hill- Went 44 to Rockies
• Zavala- Went 38 to Rangers
• Kopps- Joins my franchise at pick 99
• Lonsway- Joins my franchise at pick 129
• Bibee- Goes to Indians at 156
• Kokx- joins my franchise at pick 160
• Abel- Joins my franchise at pick 190
• Ward- Joins my franchise at pick 220

10:29am PT- The Rangers are having themselves a draft with Leiter and Zavala.The Rockies just took Jaden Hill. This is the second year in a row Colorado and I agree on a pitcher (Sam Weatherly last year). In both cases, the landing slot is less than optimal, in my mind, due to the Coors effect.

10:32- Morisette goes to Miami. They're having a really good draft with Watson and Cody.

10:37- The Cardinals took Baez (they seem to share my love of NE HS Bats... and to be honest, between Mcgreevy and Baez, they're having an amazing draft so far (possibly my favorite).

10:47- Tyler McDonough is walking through the door (this is the second year in a row I've drafted him... excited to bring him in...again). Now looking out a few picks, and really hoping for Stevenson or Steinmetz to be there (given how the draft is going... part of me is hoping it's Steinmetz to make this a super balanced start with two pitchers and two hitters, one HS and one college for each category).

11:02- I just realized Stovall is still on the board, and I'm starting to worry that he might be headed to LSU. This would be the second year in a row that a high pick of mine went to college instead of being drafted (last year was Tanner Witt, Tyler McDonough, Colby Halter and Braiden Ward... yikes)

11:08- Stephenson is the pick. I'm loving the speed demon part of his game, and thrilled to add him into the system.

11:32- Steinmetz is off the board, heading to Arizona. Good pick for them, but now I'm starting to wish I'd added a couple more upside players here.

ll:35- Call the Kopps! Both in the shadow draft, and in real life (love when that happens).

12:01- My fears over Stovall not getting drafted are confirmed:

He said he was going to college this afternoon. https://t.co/ppB5hMs16u

— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) July 12, 2021

and, I'm starting to get this feeling/concern about Stephenson too.

12:11- Seth Lonsway is coming aboard. That's pretty exciting... now we just need to teach him where it's going.

Tanner Bibee goes off the board to Cleveland, who could turn him loose. That opens up the door for Kokx to be there for me at 160, and I see him as a tremendous sleeper. This could be OK.

12:34- Yep... Got my guy (Kokx).

Lonsway goes to the Giants, which is a pretty great landing spot for him. I think they do a great job developing pitchers.

1:12pm- Welcome aboard Kevin Abel. I know it's a long shot, but this is a big game pitcher (clutch?) I'm thrilled to add to the system, and someone I have super high hopes for over the long term.

1:15- I'm heading into the 7th round, looking to tack on Braiden Ward, and the calling it a draft (I'll let the real Padres handle the real draft). I need to figure out some way to deal with the guys who don't sign... since I seem to find 1 or 2 (or 4) of them every year.

1:28pm- Abel goes to the Reds at pick 210. Tough ballpark for him to thrive in, but I love their pitching approach.

1:36pm- Unrelated to my board, I think the Indians pick of Jack Leftwich is a really good one. They do great things with big arms... wouldn't surprise me is this ends up, in hindsight, being the steal of the draft.

1:37pm- Welcome aboard Braiden Ward.

This is almost a little weird, because it means I am out of big-board... the rest of the draft falls to the real-life Padres, which is cool, but it makes the draft a little liess interesting for me personally.

As always, it will be fund to see what happens with these players.

2021- Draft Diary

A reminder- here is the list for my big board:

• Frelick- Went 15th to Brewers
• Leiter- Went 2nd to Rangers
• Rocker-Went 10th to the Mets
• McLain- Went 17th to Reds
• Lawler- went 6th to Diamondbacks
• Watson- Went 16 to Marlins
• Stovall- Stovall joins my roster with the 27th pick.
• McGreevy- Went 18 to Cardinals.
• Abbott- Abbott falls to me with the 35th pick
• Petty- Went 26 to Twins
• Baez
• Morisette
• Mcdonough
• Bruns- Went 29 to Dodgers
• Stevenson
• Steinmetz
• Hill
• Zavala
• Kopps
• Lonsway
• Bibee
• Kokx
• Abel
• Ward

This year, I'm adding an extra pick (35th, since Tanner Witt didn't sign last year).

5:47pm PT- This draft has been weird so far. Watson is falling like crazy, while Frelick and McLain are also still available. Is there a chance one of them slips to me? I would have thought Watson to the Giants would have happened, but they went Bednar.

5:53pm- Frelick goes to Milwaukee. Great pick for them, and I see a lot of similarities in the way the Brewers draft and the players I seem to like (Keston Hiura being another example, for better or worse)

5:59pm- Watson is off the board, going to Miami. He might be a tough sign, but in their shoes, I'd be willing to go under slot with my next couple picks to be sure I get Watson done (Kopps would be my second round pick).

6:05- McLain goes to Cincinatti, where I think he'll do well. At this point, I'm hoping to sneak out of today with Stovall and McGreevy, which feels like an amazing start to the draft.

6:12- The Cardinals had other thoughts, taking McGreevy, where he will, inevitably, become a monster.

6:14- The NBA finals go to half-time, and I'm going to go hang with my wife and kiddo for a bit.

7:12- I dont seem to have missed too much. Petty went off the board earlier than I would have liked, but that was OK, because it means Stovall falls to me.

7:21- Bruns goes to the Dodgers, and in real life, I'm thrilled to see his development.

7:48- Abbott falls to the 35th pick. Yes, I'd rather have Tanner Witt, but in reality, Abbott has the potential to be a really good pitcher, and I'm happy to see him join my franchise. Now I'm holding my vreath to see what happens with the last 2 picks of day 1.

7:52- No one more falls off my list.

On to tomorrow.

2021 MLB Draft Big Board

This year is a weird one, for any number of reasons (pandemic, different information than is typical based on timeframes, deeper draft, etc).

I find that there's a pretty clear top 4 for me, and it doesn't include a HS short stop:

• Sal Frelick- This guy seems like a Johny Damon clone. He's a quality hitter, has good speed, and plays a quality CF.
• Jack Leiter-The strongest pitcher in this draft, in terms of highest floor (with a high ceiling).
• Kumar Rocker- The highest upside of any pitcher in this draft. I think he has a higher upside than Leiter, but I also think he's got a lower floor.
• Matt McLain- He's easily an up the middle player (SS possibly, but CF or 2b as a fall back).

From there, I swerve a bit into the high school hitter pool, with:

• Jordan Lawler- He's been falling on draft boards and predictions, and is no longer seen as the top SS in the draft. I actually think this is mainly prospect fatigue more than anything else.
• Khalil Watson- I love this guy's upside.

I'm picking as the Padres, which means those 6 guys are super likely to be gone, and hey, that's OK (it means the major league team didn't suck this year).

There are 5 college players I'm pretty smitten with, and 4 HSers.

On the college side, I really like:

• Mike McGreevy- This guy is a pitcher's pitcher, coupling good stuff with tremendous command.
• Andrew Abbott- I know he's probably going to end up in the bullpen, but boy, he's got great stuff.
• Cody Morissette- He had a down year (at one point, he was being comp'd to Chase Utley... which... wow!) That said, I see a lot of Joey Wendle in his game.
• Tyler McDonough- Poor man's Ben Zobrist? I mean, if there is a way to land Morisette and McDonough, it would be a great pair of chess pieces that could both be used all over the diamond.
• Seth Stevenson-The Temple JC product has top of the scale speed, could stick at SS, and fits into what I'm trying do to here. I find that a mix of line drive hitters and speed demons (little pirahnas) is the way I want to build.

In terms of high schoolers, there are 4 players I'd target:

• Chase Petty- This guy has a chance to be an ace... even if HS pitchers are risky as can be.
• Peyton Stovall- I think this guy will be the best hitter to come out of this draft.
• Josh Baez- Baez is a complete departure from the player type I seem to be most interested in, but he's got super star upside, and fits into the one demographic I can't resist... New England players who are committed to Vanderbilt (see Diaz, Isan)
• Maddux Bruns- He doesn't always know where it's going, but his stuff is tremendous, and I get a weird "Jon lester" vibe from him.

The rest of the draft has a few guys I like, but the 15 guys above are my top targets.

I'd be happy to add any of the following, in order:

• Jacob Steinmetz- He's a NY guy originally, who's been successful in Florida. He's rising up boards, but is a guy I'd love to add to my franchise.
• Jaden Hill-I don't know what to make of his health, but if I'm adding him as a 4th or 5th player in a draft (assuming a couple of my top 15 are already on my roster), I'm loving him as a flyer.
• Aaron Zavala- He's way too low to actually make it to me, but he's a patient hitter who makes contact (possible 2 hitter?).
• Kevin Kopps- I don't know if he is a starter, opener, headliner, multi-inning RP who handles the 6th and 7th (or 7th and 8th)... I just know the guy can pitch more than one inning, and will get his opportunitities.
• Seth Lonsway- The best curve ball in the draft?
• Tanner Bibee- I'm a sucker for the top players in the Big West... this year, Bibee fits the bill
• Connor Kokx-The Lpnog Beach State product hits the heck out of the ball, runs well, and has a chance to be a really good sleeper
• Kevin Abel- He's been injured, and he's more famous due to a tremendous run a couple years ago... but he's a big game pitcher (clutch even?), and this late in my list, he's a nice get.
• Braiden Ward- He's a burner who can hit a bit, and will definitely play CF as a pro. Sure, he might end up a 5th OF (pinch runner, defensive replacement), but that's OK with me.

Combining everything into one full board:

• Frelick
• Leiter
• Rocker
• McLain
• Lawler
• Watson
• Stovall- (I'm doing a game theory thing here... I like Petty a little bit better, but I think Petty's more likely to be available with my second pick than Stovall is)
• McGreevy
• Abbott
• Petty
• Baez
• Morisette
• Mcdonough
• Bruns
• Stevenson
• Steinmetz
• Hill
• Zavala
• Kopps
• Lonsway
• Bibee
• Kokx
• Abel
• Ward