Quick Cs draft thoughts

I usually love the NBA Draft, but I just couldn't get up for it this year. Maybe it's a hangover from losing to the Lakers. Maybe it's because I had to watch on DVR since it starts at 4:30 out here. Maybe it's because I just don't think it's that good of a draft class -- especially relative to all the hype it's gotten over the past couple of years.

I'll probably have some more draft stuff tonight or over the weekend, but here's what I think about Boston's two picks:

#19 overall: Avery Bradley, PG, Texas. I didn't like this pick much, but I'm starting to come around to it. The safe selection was James Anderson, a smooth SG with a sweet stroke out of Oklahoma State who was snapped up with the next pick by the San Antonio Spurs (given that franchise's draft history, it's a good bet Anderson will turn out to be a fine NBA player). With Ray and Tony's futures with the team uncertain, a backup wing who can shoot it fills a need nicely.

But Danny Ainge doesn't always play it safe in drafts, and I kind of agree with him here. I know very little about Bradley, just that he came into college with huge expectations -- I think some people had him ranked ahead of John Wall -- and was disappointing on a Texas team that imploded mid-year and finished well below its potential. On the Celtics, Bradley would spell Rajon Rondo -- let's not forget that no matter how young Rondo is, backup PG is a need, too -- and maybe even get a little time alongside him if he turns out to be a scorer.

Ainge has a rep for falling in love with guys that not everyone else is enamored with. Sometimes it works out (Rajon Rondo) and sometimes it doesn't (J.R. Giddens). Anderson was the safe pick, the pick you make when there isn't someone you love available. I think Ainge loved Bradley, and swung for the fences by with him. Time will tell.

#52 overall: Luke Harangody, PF, Notre Dame. Harangody's an interesting player to me, in part because I've been relatively silently singing his praises since his freshman year with the Irish, when he averaged 11/6. Heading into that season, there was a ton of talk about North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough, and I thought there was no reason that Harangody couldn't produce similarly, at least offensive. He averaged a double-double that year, then nearly 23/12 as a junior, before putting up like a 22/9 last season with a few injuries.

The comparisons to Hansbrough aren't great since Harangody's got a bit more of a traditional post game than Hansbrough, who somehow scores most of his points on the interior by contorting his body so that it is parallel to the backboard, then releasing the ball well below his shoulder. I'm not in love with Harangody's post game, but he's got a little polish there. His outside shot is bizarre -- he has a very low release point and he, I swear, jumps two or three feet backwards when he shoots it -- but it goes in often enough that it can be counted as a weapon in his arsenal.

He's a pretty good rebounder with a big frame; give him some time with an NBA training staff and he could really fill out into one of the stronger players in the league. His defense needs a ton of work, however -- he's not a shotblocker and I think he gets pushed around at times. If he can get stronger and play defense with the same intensity he plays offense, he'll at least not be a total liability on that end.

Is Harangody a future NBA starter, which is the minimum you'd expect from a guy who basically averaged a double-double for three years in a conference like the Big East. Probably not. Is he the kind of guy who would've grabbed some minutes from Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace in Game 7 against the Lakers, possibly winning us a championship? Absolutely. And for that, he's well worth the 52nd pick.