Robb: Celtics hope to solve a pressing need with Aaron Nesmith and Payton Pritchard picks

The Celtics have had more cracks at first-round picks than any team in the NBA over the last six NBA Drafts with 11 selections over that span. The excessive number of selections has led to mixed results for the team over the years, particularly when the team was not picking in the top-5 of said drafts. Danny Ainge had nailed those picks in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown but the extra bites at that first-round apple had produced some underwhelming (RJ Hunter, Guerschon Yabusele, Ante Zizic) results with the jury remaining out on recent picks that showed plenty of potential but showed limitations on the offensive end with perimeter shooting (Rob Williams, Grant Williams, Romeo Langford).

With the team’s treasure chest of extra draft picks set to run out on Wednesday night, Boston’s front office adapted their plan from simply nabbing the best player available to address a weakness the reared its ugly head during the postseason on countless occasions: 3-point shooting.

“Typically you want to draft the best player and not worry about positions, but we’ve all heard the rhetoric before and that’s true. But there are times when you need to draft for specific needs, especially when we’re drafting in the positions that we’re drafting this year and with the draft that we have this year,” Ainge said last month.

For the first time since arguably the Big 3 era, Ainge brought aboard a top-tier shooting weapon to the fold with Aaron Nesmith at No. 14.

“He can come in the gym and outshoot most of our guys right this second,” said Ainge. “I’m guessing Jayson Tatum will have a little dispute with that.”

Nesmith has one job when he comes in and he already knows what it is as he attempts to provide some firepower to a Boston bench that ranked in the bottom of the pack in scoring all season long.

“Shooting, instant floor space, making life easier for those guys who are really heavy creators on offense,” Nesmith said. “Like Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kemba Walker, just making their life easier. While on the defensive side of the floor, being able to contribute with my size and my length and my ability to guard multiple positions.”

Whether Nesmith could hold his own on the defensive end remains unclear at the NBA level, but he will command plenty of attention from defenses after knocking down 52 percent of his 3-point attempts in an abbreviated sophomore season at Vanderbilt.

That should provide a needed boost to Boston’s second unit immediately, a unit that ranked 28th in 3-point shooting (31.8 percent) and 29th overall in ppg (29.5). Semi Ojeleye and Brad Wanamaker were the two top perimeter shooters within that unit in the regular season but neither is an option that puts any fear into defenses. With Edwards and Langford both struggling with their outside shots in their rookie seasons, there was no clear internal answer for improvement in this department. That set the stage for bringing aboard Nesmith and Oregon point guard Payton Pritchard at No. 26 (42 percent from 3 in his senior year at Oregon).

“He brings a great intensity, even as a freshman, and watching his development into his senior year where he had to carry much more of an offensive load,” Ainge said. “But he’s a guy I think can play in any system. He can play with any players. I love how he pushes the pace. He’ll make guys run. He’s playing with the ball in his hands. He gets the ball up the court very quickly, and I think that’ll be a help to get the rest of the players up the court very quickly. He has that kind of leadership ability with the ball in his hands. He’s a fun player, and I’m very excited to get him.”

After years of bringing aboard guys that needed to hone their shots at the pro level (Smart, Brown, Rozier, Ojeleye, Langford) or were never efficient in college at a high volume (Hunter, Edwards), Ainge prioritized that part of the game after watching his team get bested by a Heat team that had shooting all over the floor in the East Finals.

“Well, listen: shooting is big,” Ainge said. “As we saw in the playoffs this year and throughout the season, you’ve got to be able to make shots. Our guys have become better shooters as they get into the NBA, and that’s generally a rule; it doesn’t always work out that way, but we got two really good shooters that we added and that’s a great feeling.”

Addressing one key need does not necessarily make the Celtics’ draft night a complete success just yet. Nesmith and Pritchard both have questions about their athleticism and defense, which could limit their impact within Brad Stevens’ rotation if their shooting does not translate as well the NBA 3-point line. Nesmith is also coming off a right foot injury that resulted in surgery and a premature end to his season at Vanderbilt back in January so he hasn't played competitive basketball in 10 months.

Other shooting prospects with more defensive upside were available ahead of the Celtics' top spot at No. 14 but Ainge declined to package picks to move up in a draft that saw no trade movement among the top 15 picks.

“There was a lot of trade discussion before the draft, so I think we anticipated there to be more during the draft,” Ainge explained. “There was a lot of discussion, but not anything that was really tempting for us in the first part of the draft. 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 as a player that we liked and wanted, we just hung in there and we were fortunate that we got our guy.”

Ultimately, when the Celtics did make a trade, it was a very underwhelming one, dealing out of the No. 30 slot due to simply not having a desire for third rookie on a roster. The selection at No. 30 (Desmond Bane) will be sent to Memphis in exchange for two future second-round picks and a potential looming salary dump of Vincent Poirier or Enes Kanter (if he opts in) into a trade exception (league sources indicated details were still being finalized on Thursday). The Celtics gave up No. 24 in the 2019 NBA Draft and Aron Baynes for the No. 30 pick this year so turning that selection into two second-round picks is not a good example of strong asset management. No. 47 was used on Israeli point guard Yam Matar in what will end up being a draft-and-stash, leaving the Celtics with two rookies to add to an already crowded depth chart heading into free agency.

“We were just trying to take the best players available and we felt like we got two really good players – great people, mature kids,” Ainge said. “Aaron is a terrific shooter and has great size and felt like he was the best guy that we could get right there. And Payton is a fun player, a four-year college player that can step right in and play in the NBA, in my opinion, and another terrific shooter, ball handler. It’s a fun group. But yeah, I really didn’t want to add four rookies with our four draft picks. I think two is about the right number.”

Both Pritchard and Nesmith should help Ainge put together a more well-rounded roster heading into free agency and help them punish the countless zone defenses that the Heat and Raptors threw at them last postseason. With Langford (wrist surgery) expected to be sidelined for at least training camp and Gordon Hayward’s future in Boston remaining murky at best, both could be set for big roles for Day 1 as Ainge attempts to get his late first-round drafting record back on the right track.