The Boston Celtics have a lot of rookies this season — seven, in fact — and have as many as four draft picks in the 2020 NBA Draft.
You don’t need to be a general manager or math expert to realize a 15-man roster with 11 players with a season or less experience isn’t exactly an optimally constructed team, which is a roundabout way of saying the Celtics are going to have to make some moves to avoid wasting draft assets.
Some players aren’t likely to come back. Others may choose to leave. Trades may be made — to consolidate players, draft assets, or both. But there’s one other possibility in team president Danny Ainge’s toolkit that he may dust off despite it not working out so well last time around.
That time of course would be when he drafted French big man Guerschon Yabusele, who, while an interesting prospect, failed to develop into the prospect hoped for once he arrived stateside.
But this time, the bulk of the Celtics draft assets are in the late first round, with a second rounder likely still in range for a quality prospect, with some luck.
Who might be a good option to spend a season or two overseas while the team takes some more time sorting out who’ll stick from it’s current, colossal class of rookies?
Drawing from HoopsHype’s “Ranking the Top 20 international prospects eligible for 2020 NBA draft“, we’ll take a look at several prospects already “stashed” abroad.
Marko Simonovic — small forward — MEGA (Serbia)
Simonovic is a 20-year-old, 6-foot-10 Serbian wing who can score in bunches.
He connects 41.7 % of the time from beyond the arc, and is especially suited to being the roll man in the pick-and-roll according to Hoops Hype’s Bryan Kalbrosky.
His free throw percentages have been all over the place, ranging from 85.7 % to 53.8 %, and he’s going to need to put on muscle at the next level. But, he’d be worth kicking the tires on if available with Boston’s second rounder, owed them by the Atlanta Hawks and projected to be 46th overall.
Theo Maledon — point guard — ASVEL (France)
A hair under 19, Maledon is a rangy point guard with good court vision and solid if imperfect jumper.
At 6-foot-4, the French floor general could use some more heft, needs to improve his shot selection and fouls much too often in limited minutes.
Even still, he’s very young, and these latter two issues may simply be a matter of needing more reps; already a solid playmaker, the rest may come with time.
Leandro Bolmaro — forward — FC Barcelona (Spain)
A 19-year-old, 6-foot-7 floor general with solid defensive skills and excellent court vision, Bolmaro could blossom into something really special if he irons out the kinks in his game.
He’s a bad shot, hitting on just 27.9 % of his shots from deep and 42.4 % overall, turns the ball over often despite limited playing time, and should probably rebound more than 1.7 per game given he’s taller than some forwards in the NBA.
But he is young, and has some aspects to his game players his age often have difficulty with (defense and shooting), so some time to mature a bit overseas might be the best outcome for both.
Abdoulaye N’Doye — guard — Cholet Basket (France)
With a 7-foot-2 wingspan despite standing 6-foot-7 N’Doye ought to be higher on most mocks than he has been.
A 22-year-old from France, his age shouldn’t off-put; he shot 42.9 % from beyond the arc with Cholet this season, and 52.2 % overall, with solid passing and defensive skills.
He’ll need to boost his shot attempts from the free throw to the 3-point line, but his biggest issue is he may not want to wait to come over the NBA, as this is already his second entry into the draft.
Aleksej Pokusevski — forward — Olympiacos (Greece)
The prospect with the greatest odds to blossom into a star of these players, it’s quite possible the Serbian big man isn’t even available by the time Boston’s on the clock.
But if he is, the Celtics should pounce, even if he doesn’t plan on getting stashed — his quick feet and fluid motion for a true 7-footer hints at a potentially lethal player with the right improvements to his game.
His incredibly slight frame is perhaps chief among them at just 201 pounds, but finishing, shooting, and defense also loom as areas to improve.
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