Did the C's make mistake not drafting McNeeley | The Boneyard

Did the C's make mistake not drafting McNeeley

Joined
Sep 2, 2015
Messages
1,227
Reaction Score
5,702
Time will only tell, but a lot of people think Charlotte got one of the steals of the first round getting McNeeley when the did.
They took another SF who is smaller, may be a little more athletic, but did not shoot well last year. Both have a lot of projected upside, but I think
with the NBA game being what it is and the way the C's like to play offense, McNeeley would have been the pick.
I wonder if they thought there was no chance he'd fall that far for them to draft and didn't really put the work in scouting him as much as they did and pretty much
had their mind made up going into the draft. I think McNeeley is going to be a better pro than Gonzalez and I don't think Hugo even sees the NBA hardcourt for 2 to 3 years.

What do you guys think?
 
In the sense that they’ll look back and kick themselves for not drafting McNeeley, no. After next season they’ll still have Tatum, Brown, and whatever random shooters they’ll find to surround them with. They’ll be fine

In the sense that McNeeley could have been one of those movement shooters and instead they drafted a Euroleague wing that nobody has ever heard of, probably!
 
What's weird is the guy the Celtics drafted Hugo seems like a Spanish AJax. Energy, hustle, size and athleticism but not great shooting.

The Celts did have some very good Ray Allen years and the last couple good years of Kemba's career, but I've given up hope for them ever drafting a UConn star.

They desperately need centers though, so maybe Samson has a chance when they pick at #47 or whatever.
 
McNeeley will probably be a good player but he didn’t have the kind of year you want a 5* projected one and done to have. I think it’s fair to say that he’s a little bit of a wildcard right now. I won’t be surprised if he’s great or if he isn’t. I understand teams passing on him.
 
What's weird is the guy the Celtics drafted Hugo seems like a Spanish AJax. Energy, hustle, size and athleticism but not great shooting.

The Celts did have some very good Ray Allen years and the last couple good years of Kemba's career, but I've given up hope for them ever drafting a UConn star.

They desperately need centers though, so maybe Samson has a chance when they pick at #47 or whatever.
I'm not sure if SJ spreads the floor enough for them and again, his rebounding, including in-zone rebounding numbers are not great.
 
Hugo will probably be very good – he's dominant in age-group play and has years of schooling now with Real Madrid, which is one of the best teams in the world. I understand the pick.

But I will always believe they blew it by not taking McNeeley. He's a more athletic Hauser with better playmaking chops on a rookie scale contract.

Hope he kills it for the Hornets.
 
Time will only tell, but a lot of people think Charlotte got one of the steals of the first round getting McNeeley when the did.
They took another SF who is smaller, may be a little more athletic, but did not shoot well last year. Both have a lot of projected upside, but I think
with the NBA game being what it is and the way the C's like to play offense, McNeeley would have been the pick.
I wonder if they thought there was no chance he'd fall that far for them to draft and didn't really put the work in scouting him as much as they did and pretty much
had their mind made up going into the draft. I think McNeeley is going to be a better pro than Gonzalez and I don't think Hugo even sees the NBA hardcourt for 2 to 3 years.

What do you guys think?
It is a long shot for anybody to make it in the NBA. Most players drafted late in first round don’t make it, and many never even get a chance at any meaningful playing time. So it’s a long shot for McNeeley. He certainly could become a great pro player, but realistically every player the Celtics could have picked will end up not making it. But for McNeeley he made the first round which is critical as he will get guaranteed money regardless of whether he make it or not.
 
What's weird is the guy the Celtics drafted Hugo seems like a Spanish AJax. Energy, hustle, size and athleticism but not great shooting.

The Celts did have some very good Ray Allen years and the last couple good years of Kemba's career, but I've given up hope for them ever drafting a UConn star.

They desperately need centers though, so maybe Samson has a chance when they pick at #47 or whatever.
Lmao I actually thought the same thing. Hugo game is a lot like AJax. Should have taken him over Walsh last year.
 
Time will only tell, but a lot of people think Charlotte got one of the steals of the first round getting McNeeley when the did.
They took another SF who is smaller, may be a little more athletic, but did not shoot well last year. Both have a lot of projected upside, but I think
with the NBA game being what it is and the way the C's like to play offense, McNeeley would have been the pick.
I wonder if they thought there was no chance he'd fall that far for them to draft and didn't really put the work in scouting him as much as they did and pretty much
had their mind made up going into the draft. I think McNeeley is going to be a better pro than Gonzalez and I don't think Hugo even sees the NBA hardcourt for 2 to 3 years.

What do you guys think?
I mean Boston's brass and scouts are right next store they had to see a lot of McNeeley over the season
 
I don't think the Celtics made a mistake. Just look at his game logs.

  • 16 of 27 games with 15 pts or less.
  • 7 of 27 games with 10 pts or less.
  • 8 rebounds or more 9 times.
  • Pretty poor assist numbers. 15 games with 2 or less.
  • 61 assists to 50 TOs.
  • Post season totals with 31.6 FG% and 4 for 24 (16.7%) from 3.
  • After his ankle injury, his FG% dropped from 42.9% to 34.5% and his 3pt FG% dropped from 37.9% to 26.6%.
How many games in there did he really dominate? 5? 7?

DateHome/AwayOppMPFGFGAFG%3P3PA3P%2P2PA2P%FTFTAFT%ORBDRBTRBASTSTLBLKTOVPFPTS
11/06/2024HSacred Heart2761154.5%3650.0%3560.0%3650.0%010102102018
11/09/2024HNew Hampshire292633.3%1333.3%1333.3%5683.3%38110001210
11/13/2024HLe Moyne3251050.0%3837.5%22100.0%22100.0%1230112115
11/19/2024HTexas A&M–Commerce285955.6%010.0%5862.5%11100.0%2242000311
11/25/2024NMemphis313933.3%2450.0%1520.0%2450.0%1344100410
11/26/2024NColorado336966.7%4666.7%2366.7%44100.0%0111102120
11/28/2024NDayton30090.0%040.0%050.0%00044510110
11/30/2024HMaryland Eastern Shore2741233.3%1812.5%3475.0%77100.0%0551000216
12/04/2024HBaylor3651338.5%2728.6%3650.0%55100.0%2681031117
12/08/2024ATexas352450.0%1250.0%1250.0%22100.0%279300327
12/14/2024NGonzaga3771353.8%2728.6%5683.3%101283.3%1784000126
12/18/2024HXavier214850.0%1250.0%3650.0%55100.0%0334000414
12/21/2024AButler3751338.5%33100.0%21020.0%4580.0%1457002117
01/01/2025ADePaul253742.9%2540.0%1250.0%11100.0%156211529
02/07/2025HSt. John's (NY)3041526.7%2922.2%2633.3%81080.0%011110103018
02/11/2025ACreighton38122254.5%51050.0%71258.3%91090.0%28101102338
02/15/2025ASeton Hall3951435.7%1333.3%41136.4%002793016411
02/18/2025HVillanova3951241.7%1520.0%4757.1%99100.0%0772002220
02/23/2025ASt. John's (NY)3521315.4%060.0%2728.6%101283.3%2793104314
02/26/2025HGeorgetown3551050.0%3650.0%2450.0%44100.0%0334202417
03/01/2025AProvidence3551050.0%2540.0%3560.0%2366.7%0333003214
03/05/2025HMarquette3141822.2%3933.3%1911.1%001233002211
03/08/2025HSeton Hall281616.7%020.0%1425.0%22100.0%336210324
DateOppMPFGFGAFG%3P3PA3P%2P2PA2P%FTFTAFT%ORBDRBTRBASTSTLBLKTOVPFPTS
03/13/2025NVillanova324850.0%1333.3%3560.0%3475.0%1670003112
03/14/2025NCreighton3262030.0%050.0%61540.0%11100.0%0440100213
DateOppMPFGFGAFG%3P3PA3P%2P2PA2P%FTFTAFT%ORBDRBTRBASTSTLBLKTOVPFPTS
03/21/2025NOklahoma3221315.4%1812.5%1520.0%3475.0%066100038
03/23/2025NFlorida3661637.5%2825.0%4850.0%88100.0%0223201122
 
McNeeley had some tough luck. It looked like he was coming into his own leading up to the DePaul game.

He shot 38% from three before the injury and 26% from three after.
From 2-point land he was 47% before and 42% after.
These numbers were aggregated for me on AI.

The injury seemed to have hurt his shooting numbers significantly.
 
Hugo will probably be very good – he's dominant in age-group play and has years of schooling now with Real Madrid, which is one of the best teams in the world. I understand the pick.

But I will always believe they blew it by not taking McNeeley. He's a more athletic Hauser with better playmaking chops on a rookie scale contract.

Hope he kills it for the Hornets.
Not nearly the shooter Hauser is
 
I wish we got to see Liam on the previous two teams. Still think we burdened him with too much on ball creation when he came in as an off ball ace.

Will the Celtics regret drafting him? Probably not, but could he turn into a really solid starting wing? I think so.
 
I think they should have taken McNeeley, but as I learn about Hugo, he was projected near the top of the lottery before the season began. Had he played in college there's a good chance he would have gone that high. If you look at potential, I'd say Liam is higher likelihood of becoming a solid rotation guy. Low likelihood all-star. Hugo could bust, but he could also become a genuine star.

I guess the answer is that both Boston and Charlotte got two of the steals of the draft.
 
They already have Baylor Scheierman picked about the same time last year. Good teams don't draft what they drafted the year before.
I liked Scheierman at Creighton but that's quite the slight to Liam.
 
In my ignorant opinion, the advent is NIL has not yet been totally priced into the NBA draft system.

Ago, you declared for the draft for the $$$,$$$. Mainly because there was no $$,$$$ option available if you stayed in NCAA.

Things are different now (very much). Wait one more year? Prove more? Develop more? Enter the draft next year with more, more, more?

I just don't think the best approaches have been proven out yet.

And the players' representatives have a steep learning curve ahead. Optimizing NIL v draft position is a very large and very gray area right now.
.
 
What's weird is the guy the Celtics drafted Hugo seems like a Spanish AJax. Energy, hustle, size and athleticism but not great shooting.

The Celts did have some very good Ray Allen years and the last couple good years of Kemba's career, but I've given up hope for them ever drafting a UConn star.

They desperately need centers though, so maybe Samson has a chance when they pick at #47 or whatever.
The kid Gonzalez was projected top 5 a year ago. Real Madrid is way better than any G League or college team this kid could have played on. He was sitting on bench because he was 18 and the players on Real Madrid are good.

Stevens drafted athleticism here and this guy has been essentially a professional since he was 9.
 
I don't know the Celtics situation all that well but I did read that a couple teams, due to the apron would likely draft euro players and keep them overseas for a couple years instead of having a low minutes guy in their roster with a guaranteed contract.

It's possible that even with the two contract dumps (Holiday, Porzingas) they didn't want another contract counting against the apron.
 
I stayed to watch the draft up until the Celts pick. I was disappointed they passed on McNeeley. But Hugo seems to have a terrific upside. I may get hammered for saying this, but McNeeley was not my favorite Husky. He was less than impressive when he came back from his injury and in my opinion I felt he was a selfish player. I hated to see him go however and perhaps I would have felt differently after year two.
 
I stayed to watch the draft up until the Celts pick. I was disappointed they passed on McNeeley. But Hugo seems to have a terrific upside. I may get hammered for saying this, but McNeeley was not my favorite Husky. He was less than impressive when he came back from his injury and in my opinion I felt he was a selfish player. I hated to see him go however and perhaps I would have felt differently after year two.

No issues with your opinion or him being a lesser favorite player, but surprised about seeing him as selfish. I can’t think of a single reason to think that.
 
No issues with your opinion or him being a lesser favorite player, but surprised about seeing him as selfish. I can’t think of a single reason to think that.
LM not innately selfish but plenty of times in second half of year sans Creighton he put head down thinking he had to do too much. He was a hard watch with the countless off balance drives flipping up a wild shot. He’ll always have the Creighton game but rest of his stay was pretty uninspiring. He shot 31% from the field, 23% from 3 post injury outside of that Creighton game. He averaged 1 assist a game in the 4 post season games. Creighton game may have gotten to his head a bit as he became an inefficient volume shooter.
 
LM not innately selfish but plenty of times in second half of year sans Creighton he put head down thinking he had to do too much. He was a hard watch with the countless off balance drives flipping up a wild shot. He’ll always have the Creighton game but rest of his stay was pretty uninspiring. He shot 31% from the field, 23% from 3 post injury outside of that Creighton game. He averaged 1 assist a game in the 4 post season games. Creighton game may have gotten to his head a bit as he became an inefficient volume shooter.

He definitely didn’t play or shoot lights out, but I will reiterate nothing about him or his play was selfish. So if anyone thought that, my opinion is they are way off and don’t really know how basketball works.

Sorry (shrug face).
 

Online statistics

Members online
215
Guests online
2,539
Total visitors
2,754

Forum statistics

Threads
163,958
Messages
4,376,674
Members
10,168
Latest member
CTFan142


.
..
Top Bottom