Bill Simmons Expresses Celtics Draft Day Disappointment, Discusses Ben Affleck's Tom Brady Rant
BOSTON (CBS) -- With a solid basketball team on the court, a brilliant young coach, and a stockpile of assets, many Celtics fans had very high hopes for Thursday night's NBA Draft.
While the exact fallout from the night won't be known for years, it's safe to say that most C's fans were feeling let down by the events of the evening. The Celtics drafted Jaylen Brown at No. 3 and made two picks that are likely "draft and stash" picks in the first round. There were no fireworks, no big trades, no acquisitions of established star players, and so there was much disappointment.
The letdown was such that Bill Simmons called in to Toucher & Rich on Friday morning from the West Coast, waking up early to get some things off his chest about draft night.
More than anything, Simmons seemed very upset that he wasted so much time last season watching Nets games, hoping for a superstar in the draft.
"He's going to help next year," Simmons said of Brown, noting that the C's had no replacement for Jae Crowder defensively when Crowder was hurt or on the bench. "From that vantage point, Jaylen Brown's going to help. He'll be one of the best eight players on the team. It's just tough. I probably watched bits and pieces of 65 Nets games last year. It feels like, all that time we spent, I spent for Jaylen Brown, who might not be able to shoot? That's the part that hurt."
In his last appearance on Toucher & Rich, Simmons preached patience to the fan base, saying there would be no miraculous move this summer that launched the C's into title contention. Still, the comparison he drew for Brown won't get anyone excited.
"I watched him last year, because he was on the radar. He's very reminiscent of Jeff Green," Simmons said in a moment that won't make any Celtics fans feel great. "He's the guy that will jump up, grab some unbelievable breathtaking rebound, go the length of the floor at full speed -- and you're just going, wow, this guy's an incredible athlete, oh my God! And he goes up and he soars between two guys for a layup ... and he misses it. That's who Jaylen Brown is right now."
Simmons said the weakness with Brown is quite apparent: "He just can't make the ball go in the basket."
"From what I saw from Jaylen Brown, is he can do everything but score," he said. "Now can he fix that? He's 19. He's got this off the charts IQ, everybody says he's basically brilliant. But why not trade down? A bunch of people traded down, they traded their pick, they traded sideways. Why not just trade down to No. 7 and pick up some assets?"
All of that being said, Simmons did not think the Celtics should have made any of the proposed trades that were reported, such as the Nerlens Noel proposal from Philly or the Jimmy Butler proposal from Chicago. According to Simmons, the Celtics may be able to really cash in on the Nets' first-round pick next year.
"Next year's draft is much better than this year's draft," he said. "Next year's draft is going to be one of the three best drafts of this decade. You don't trade that pick unless you get like Blake Griffin. You don't trade that pick unless you're getting a top 10 player in the league."
Before hanging up, Simmons made sure to reference the instantly famous moment of Ben Affleck ranting and raving about DeflateGate on Wednesday night on the new HBO Show, "Any Given Wednesday."
"Thank me for defending Brady to America!" he pleaded.
"You didn't do it," Fred replied. "You had that psychopath Affleck do it."
That led to Fred and Rich to ask the question that all of America was wondering: Was Affleck drunk?
"No!" he answered emphatically. "It was 10:30 in the morning.He got fired up. it was like anybody in Boston talking about DeflateGate. That's what he turned into."
Simmons also discussed the still-intriguing allure of DeMarcus Cousins, the surprise of the Celtics' drafting Guerschon Yabusele, and the missed opportunity of not moving up to draft Domantas Sabonis. Listen below!
