“There was a lot of trade discussion before the draft. I think we anticipated there to be more during the draft,” shared Boston Celtics team president Danny Ainge after the end of the 2020 NBA draft.
From the sound of things, in the lead-up to the big annual event, you might have been expecting a host of trades up and down the first round of the draft.
And while there were indeed a few — even for the Celtics, later in the first round — it was far from the draft pick flea market some of us may have been expecting.
Who is Yam Madar, Danny Ainge’s draft-and-stash guard? https://t.co/PGzE11KMQR
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) November 19, 2020
It surprised Ainge as well.
“There was a lot of discussion, but not anything that was really tempting for us in the first part of the draft,” he explained. “It was not as eventful as we thought, but we did have some discussions about moving up, and then about moving back. But as we were watching the draft unfold, and we saw that one of the guys that we identified a player we liked and wanted.”
“We just hung in there, and we’re fortunate we got our guy,” he added.
Celtics got their bench shooting – but that’s not all they were after https://t.co/fX0yke0Ykp
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) November 19, 2020
Ultimately, it worked out fairly well for Boston, even if some of the sexier mock draft darlings ended up being passed over for high-floor and stashable options.
For us at the Celtics Wire, it perhaps surprised less than with most, as in our NBA Wire editor roundtable draft, we experienced the exact same result when it came time to pull the trigger on deals.
In our simulation — as we saw in real life — the appeal of a making a selection for a player projected higher was simply too great for almost everyone to pass up.
