Gerald Green is indeed GREEN!!

[DERRENMATTS]

The McD's slam dunk competition showcased Green's amazing leaping ability. He's quick off the ground and he can rise effortlessly above the rim. He was doing Vince Carter's trick dunks with close replication (though no one can really immitate Carter).

[cfoo]

Yeah I saw that. Athletically we got as good as anyone in the draft at 18.... With Doc Rivers as his coach and the direction the C's seem to be heading it seems like a win, win.

[tjlamro]

kingjames said:

VERY cool sig TJ. I'm envious.

na man ima make a banner... thats just a fill in thing for now from ESPN... ill make something better.

[DERRENMATTS]

Yeah, I feel really good about him too. He's got shooting ability, slashing ability, fast breaking ability, and world class athleticism. He's certainly the guy with the brightest opportunity to take the future starting SG spot for us (IMO, moreso than Ricky and Allen).

Whoever our PG is, he needs to be able to throw good alley oops. We need to utilize this part of Green's game because we are lacking this part in our offense.

[Roadrunner]

I am shocked Green slipped to #18. What a great pick for the Celtics. Danny, once again, reveals his hand, at the last possible second.

[meltinjohn]

I see no future for Pierce at all seeing Danny is still confident in West to be their pg.
Who are some undraftees out there now?
Will Bynum?

[ferbo]

From the Cs site:

Danny Ainge on first round pick Gerald Green


June 28, 2005
“We’re really excited about our pick here at 18. A lot of people say this kind of stuff but we had him ranked way up in the draft. We thought he was going sixth to Portland, we found out in the last couple days that he didn’t work out in Portland, that they might pick Webster instead, we did a little research and thought man, this guy might not have a home but I thought that someone would definitely take him so I guess we’re the lucky team that got to take him. We think he has a tremendous upside and he can fly. I will say on a downside he’s 19 and he’s not ready to win in the NBA, so I would be surprised if he beat out our young guards in Delonte and Tony and Paul and Ricky. He’s just another piece for the future that has tremendous upside.”

“We said that last year. This is a kid who were not bringing in, we said the same thing last year when we drafted Al and we got Delonte and Tony later in the draft, that could contribute to our team, they were college all-Americans, we thought they could come in and play and we didn’t think that Al could play. We thought he would be a project, in training camp he proved that he was better than some of our veterans and that he earned time. We didn’t give him time because he was Al Jefferson, the 15th pick, and he had to earn it. Unless there’s something with this kid I think it is going to be harder with the competition he has with Paul, Ricky, Tony, and Delete, Marcus. I just don’t see that happening, I got two players that are at that same position right now. He gives us tremendous flexibility. There are other ways to go with our team right now, we have opportunities through free agency and trades and other things. We have always said the three D’s- Deals, Development, and Draft - and this is the best player that we thought we had a chance. Rather than get a player right now who we thought could help us win a few more games, we’re trying to get the best player available.”

“Shoot and Jump, I mean athletic, quickness, he’s the best athlete in the draft. HIGH PRAISE. He’s one of the better shooters in the draft. He does not have a great NBA understanding but I would say the same thing about some of the college players that were drafted ahead of him. It is not just about age, he’s just an inexperienced player who needs time.”

“He’s got potential I see a lot of good things, I see him make good instinctive plays, I don’t know how much coaching he’s had. But I would not say that this is the answer by any stretch, he’s too young to even evaluate that. I don’t know that much about his basketball IQ because he’s so young, but I do want to add basketball IQ still.”

“We had of the players that were drafted in the top 20, I think Antoine Wright was the only player we had workout because there was 23 players that were going in the top 15 so, no we did not work him out. I saw him in High school stuff, I saw him play in a high school game in December, and I saw him play in all the postseason high school stuff and I watched him in practice, just about the same kind of evaluation we had on Al.”

“We were begging from 12 on that he was going to be there. As soon as he bypassed Portland we were wondering… I knew Minnesota and I knew Indiana were teams that were drafting guards. Indiana feels that their ready to win right now. I mean Danny Granger was a great pick too, and when both of those guys were available at 16 we were celebrating in the draft room because we knew we had one of those two. We’re thrilled.”

“There were some surprises, I think the draft is so unique in that there is not a great deal of separation. I mean its really in the eye of the beholder, with so many of these players and needs coming into play, you could see as the draft was going on, you didn’t see that teams were taking the best athlete or the best player, I think that there were some needs being filled. I’m trying to think if there were any shocks, no, I was not shocked at Charlie Villanueva he’s a heck of a player. Diogu was not a shock either he’s a fantastic college player that was two-time Pac-10 player of the year, he is a great rebounder.”

“They (Portland) wanted to get him really bad you should have heard our phone ringing with about two picks to go. We had everybody drooling to get Gerald Green. Sometimes you start to say, dang, is there something wrong? And then you find out that the team that coveted him from the beginning, Portland, is calling and offering some of their picks. Houston where he lived, they start calling and trying to get him, these are the people that knew him the best throughout this whole evaluation process.” INTERESTING ABOUT GETTING CALLS TO TRADE.

“I think there were some deals that would have been consummated under certain conditions, we were tempted to make some deals if things didn’t happen our way and that’s why we were really excited when we saw Granger and Green still on the board after 16.”

“No, we never saw Gerald Green dropping below tenth.”

[ferbo]

aND ANOTHER:

Head Coach Doc Rivers on first round pick Gerald Green


June 28, 2005
“Honestly, we had a bunch of names and Green was not one of them, not because we didn’t like him but we just didn’t think that he’d be available. We were pretty much sure, positive, that he would be gone before we had a chance to pick him and we kept getting more and more excited. Honestly, after it got down to 16 and Granger and Green were still on the board we felt pretty good about where this draft was going to go for us. We need to keep trying to get more athletic. It’s nice having a sizeable three, you put Paul at two ,and a three with size and a two every night has to guard Paul Pierce, that’s going to make Paul even more dangerous .” DOESN'T SOUND LIKE HE IS THINKING OF TRADING PP.

“For me, it’s good that I’ve coached high school kids. Last year, some of the mistakes that I made with Al, hopefully I won’t make with this guy so it will help me with that….different positions, so, yeah, I like it, I love the pick. I’m more excited about the draft now than I was 45 minutes ago.”

“I was joking around, but I tell (ESPN’s) Mike Tirico that we’re going to win the NCAA title next year. Then we’ll keep getting better and hopefully we’ll win the NBA title someday. I don’t know if it makes it any tougher. To me, the kid has talent. Obviously, he has a lot to learn. The upside to that is that we would learn him in our way…we won’t have to break any habits for the most part, so I don’t think that it ads any more pressure.”

“He’s young, he has a lot to learn about the game. The things that again stand out…he’s a freak athlete, he really is. But he also shoots the ball well, and he has very good range, handles the ball, does a lot of good things. He has shown that he’s a thinker on the floor, so an athlete who can think is something that any team would like. He looks like he has great feel. Now, in high school obviously it’s tough to tell if anybody has good feel, because you’re just a better athlete than anybody else on the floor, but he’s also shown well in the All-Star games. He looked like THE dominant player in those games, so, when you put those two things together, you’re just excited. Why he slid I could care less and I really don’t care.”

“The first thing, and I hate to do this to this kid, to be honest, because Tracy McGrady is a phenomenal player and obviously if this kid turned out to be that then we’re on our way, there’s no doubt about that. But he does, he absolutely remind me of him, so again I have an advantage because I have coached him as well.” INTERESTING COMPARISON.

“No, I expect more, you know, honestly. I haven’t seen him yet. But, with Al (Jefferson) we didn’t expect much. And Al surprised us. We probably will expect more out of this kid, but if I don’t think he’s ready it’s not going to bother me. I’ll let him mature. We’re not going to ruin this kid by just throwing him in there. But if he is ready, he will play.”

“It really is (important) and we have to get the right type of veterans…It’s great to have athletes, that’s great. And it’s great to have youth. But we need guys who can show them how to do things the right way, and do it every day in practice, do it every day off the court, do it every day on the plane, do it every day, every day. And it’s very important for them, especially us. I think we’re different because of that. We have so many young guys on our basketball team. So I think it’s vital that we bring in the right people. And I’ll make this clear: we don’t want to bring in guys who can’t play. We need guys who can play. We need veterans that can play.”

“We’ve listened to a lot of stuff. It’s been an interesting draft. I thought of all the drafts I’ve been involved in, the least amount of calls were made back and forth around the league. I think this is a draft that people really believe that at the 20th and 21st pick, that kid can be as good as the 10th pick in the draft. And so people were pretty comfortable with staying where they were. The action was up front, and it was really the action between (Deron) Williams and Chris Paul. Other than that, I think everybody said, ‘oh, I’m just waiting around.’” EXPLAINING HOW THINGS WORKED OUT.

“This youth that we’ve talked about, this’ll be in their second year. I think all those guys will be better this year. I don’t want to put pressure on, but I think Tony Allen will have a breakout year. LOOK AT THIS!!! I just feel that, I believe that. I think he learned a lot, especially down the stretch. I thought the Indiana experience, even though for him it was probably horrific, I think it was probably the best thing that’s ever happened to him in his basketball life, going up against Reggie Miller and just watching that whole series, and how the that thing evolved. I think it was great for him to experience that. With his athleticism, his ability to play the game, I really expect that he will have a jump-out year. So, we will be young, obviously, if we don’t bring veterans in, but I think we will.”

"BRING VETERANS IN..." I THINK BOTH DA AND DOC THINK SOME CHANGES ARE AHEAD.

“Paul has enough pressure, as far as I’m concerned; actually I think we’ve put probably too much pressure on him. I don’t know if it adds any more than it was last year. I don’t know if that’s possible, to be honest. But I do know, and we did see, every time we add talent to our team, Paul Pierce becomes a better basketball player. It was the same thing for me in Orlando, when we were adding talent around Tracy (McGrady). Tracy was better, Tracy was happier. When we lost talent, when Grant Hill went down, and Pat Garrity went down, and we didn’t have talent. Tracy couldn’t play better and he was unhappy. I think in the NBA, the stars, it’s very difficult when they’re left alone and don’t have a lot of help. And I think we’re starting to add players around Paul to make him happier and to make our team better.”

[BCHISTORIAN]

“This youth that we’ve talked about, this’ll be in their second year. I think all those guys will be better this year. I don’t want to put pressure on, but I think Tony Allen will have a breakout year. LOOK AT THIS!!! I just feel that, I believe that. I think he learned a lot, especially down the stretch. I thought the Indiana experience, even though for him it was probably horrific, I think it was probably the best thing that’s ever happened to him in his basketball life, going up against Reggie Miller and just watching that whole series, and how the that thing evolved. I think it was great for him to experience that. With his athleticism, his ability to play the game, I really expect that he will have a jump-out year. So, we will be young, obviously, if we don’t bring veterans in, but I think we will.”


so guys, stop trying to come up with tony allen trade scenarios!

[CelticsLoyalist]

Reason why we got Green? Villenuava! Had he not gone so early in the draft, it wouldn't have changed the lanscape for all picks after him. Also, Ike jumped up to 9 which is where they thought he had a slim chance of getting due to height concerns. Ike has amazing potential IMHO. I almost wish he slipped to us.

Suprises, Gomes landing so far in the second rd. I picked him to hit late 1st early 2nd.

[mev17]

And let's not forget Gomes, who was a projected first rounder falling to us at #50. Lightning indeed struck twice for us in this draft.

[Deleted]

wow... Gerald Green.

I wanted to trade up to draft him. Holy !!!GREENIAC!!!! What a draft. Thank you Danny Ainge!

[DERRENMATTS]

The reason why he slipped was because teams had promises made to players and never in a million years expected that Green would fall that far. Lucky for us, we didn't make that commitment to any player. Had teams not made promises, I'm certain Green would have been swooped up in the lottery.

[ferbo]

Maybe DA really is the Leprachaun.

[tjlamro]

k my avatar and signature is done... i cant take all the credit cause i got this from a wallpaper that someone made... i just made it into a sig and edited stuff so its not all mine but mostly haha