When the second round of the 2026 NBA Draft began, the Boston Celtics already had a name in mind: St. John's forward Dillon Mitchell.
Mike Zarren effectively said as much during his post-draft press conference via Zoom on Wednesday night. (The full press conference can be viewed below on CLNS' YouTube channel.)
"We actually were thinking about moving up to get Dillon," Zarren told reporters. "And it sort of became clear over time that we thought he’d get to us, so we didn’t have to do that."
Mitchell ended up sliding down to the Celtics at pick No. 40. An athletic freak, Mitchell was one of the best perimeter defenders in college basketball last season.
That's not an opinion exclusive to here, either. That was a blanket statement from Zarren.
He and the Celtics have been following Mitchell for years. From his two seasons at Texas to his one at Cincinnati to finishing his collegiate career with the Red Storm last year.
“We’ve been watching Dillon for a long time," Zarren said. "I first saw him-- There was a game, Gonzaga was at Texas, and I went to that game to scout him and some other people in that game. And also to meet a young grad assistant who was working for Texas at that time, named Parker Sexton, who is now on our scouting staff. And instantly, Dillon’s leaping ability almost quite literally jumped off the court. And he had a great game. He was really raw back then. But his athleticism stood out. It took him a few years to sort of grow from there.
"We followed him another year at Texas, and then at Cincinnati, and then this past year at St. John’s. I think, I don’t know if you guys know the coach there, but he can really coach. And I think Dillon sort of found more purpose there. He became one of the best perimeter defenders in college basketball. He’s long. He can move. And then the other thing we noticed this year that really improved was his passing skills on offense. He’s still a prospect; he’s got some work to do, but, man, his athleticism and leaping abilities are really, really impressive, in addition to his defensive instincts. So, he’s got a hell of a future ahead of him.”
Mitchell is an elite defender, an unbelievable athlete, and a new-and-improved playmaker. So, why was he merely a second-round pick?
Well, right now, he's a non-shooter. He shot just 1-of-15 from beyond the arc last year.
But when asked if Mitchell will have to make an impact without a 3-point shot or develop one, he chose both options.
“So, both of those things, actually. It’s not an or," Zarren said. "He can be successful even when he’s not shooting the ball, but he’ll get better at his shot. We don’t have any doubt about that. If you watch enough, you’ll see he’s got the ability to get better there. So, like any young player, there's things to work on. That’s one for him. But we’re really excited about Dillon.”
We don't have any doubt about that.
That's quite the statement to make about a guy who was as bad a 3-point shooter as Mitchell was in college. It's not only a testament to the Celtics' belief in Mitchell, but a vote of confidence in their elite player development team.
Mitchell and Chris Cenac make up Boston's 2026 NBA Draft class. Cenac drew some online comparisons to former Boston big man Robert Williams III, and Zarren sees it. Though the two are different players.
“Yeah, you didn’t even mention Louisiana. [Or pick number.] Or pick number, yeah. But yeah, I do [see it]," Zarren said. "They’re both super, super athletic, young bigs with untapped potential. Rob was a little bit longer in school I think, but maybe slightly bouncier, but they’re both real athletic. Chris maybe not quite the college shot-blocker Rob was, but he’s got other skills Rob didn’t have. But they’re both guys with huge, huge potential at that position. And we’ve been lucky enough to watch some good young bigs develop here. Rob, Neemi, and some others.
"So, hopefully Chris will be the next in the line of those. We’re really excited about him. But it’s early in his career, and so, we’ll have to see. But Rob Williams would not be a bad pathway – not talking about health-wise, obviously, Rob’s had some challenges there – but in terms of play, he’s become a really good NBA player, and Chris will be, too.”
There are no set-in-stone plans for where the two youngsters will spend the upcoming campaign, but one thing is clear: The Celtics are thrilled with who they ended up with.
“No, we just drafted those two guys, and we feel really great about both of their NBA prospects," Zarren said. "But we don’t have any specific times about how they’ll spend the year yet. I think both of these guys are real athletic. That’s going to be a good addition to the team. I’m happy to talk about each of them individually. But there isn’t some already-planned-out way that the season is going to go coming up at this point.
"We’re really excited about both guys, though, we’ve been following both of them for a long time.”
More from Mike Zarren
On whether or not Jaylen Brown has told the Celtics if he wants to be in Boston or not: “I think Brad addressed all of that stuff last night, so I think we’ll just leave those questions with his answers from yesterday, but appreciate the question.”
On how hard caps and aprons affect team building: “Yeah, I mean, I think, like any other rule, we go into an offseason and a whole season knowing what the consequences of any given transaction will be. I think we sort of have a track record of planning for those rules over the last few years. And we’ve sort of knew – I think I said at this very press conference last year – that we sort of knew that there was a window because of the second apron. And so, for each transaction we might evaluate, we got to look at the consequences of it. And it’s just another rule. We’ve had cap rules forever. The cap went in in 1983. And so, the rule looks thicker now, and there’s more things that we got to take into account, but we got a bigger staff and some smart people here. So, for anything we might think about doing, you just say, ‘Okay, is it worth imposing those restrictions on us?’ And that’s how we go. I know that’s not– Each thing that we think about doing is different. But we’re never like– We’ve never been told that there’s some specific thing you have to do. It’s always about winning. And so, we just have to take into account the consequences of any transaction we might engage in, and the first apron sure does impose– You know, there was a lot of talk at the time the CBA went in about the second apron, and we were always thinking, ‘Well, the first apron’s pretty significant, too. A lot of things trigger it.’ So, you just have to know.”
On having Isaiah Thomas back in the organization (as a scout): “Super, super cool to have him here. And really to watch him see this side of it. He’s brand new, just starting. So, not too much to do yet. He has some knowledge of this year’s draft class, but I think we’ll get the full benefit of his experience, which is different than the experience of anyone else in that room, more next season. This is more of a learning experience for him. But it was really fun to see him make the pick tonight, be on the other side of the– I don’t know what you guys saw, but he actually was the one who called in the Dillon Mitchell pick. So, that was fun. And he was cool as a cucumber. It must have been the fourth quarter, I guess, when he made that pick. But really, IT’s just one of the best people to be around. And his smile and joy for everything is infectious. And so, just so fun to have him back in the building. Really, really neat. I was sort of sorry we didn’t have pick 60. That would have been fun if [that happened]. Make that pick. But not today.”
IT stamp of approval ☘️ pic.twitter.com/RgPttlwt8Y
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) June 25, 2026
On how the second round shook out and if the Celtics considered any other moves: “I don’t think cost-efficiency enters into it, it’s just assets that you’re moving around to do it and roster spots that you’re thinking about, but we actually were thinking about moving up to get Dillon. And it sort of became clear over time that we thought he’d get to us, so we didn’t have to do that. But there's a lot of good players in this year’s draft – most years’ drafts – but particularly this year’s draft. So, there was certainly maneuvering going around, like there is most years, but we were reasonably focused on Dillon, and it was exciting that he was there for us at 40.”
On how the new lottery rules and team-building affect the value of young players on cheap contracts and draft picks: "A lot of questions in there. I think the one thing I can say pretty clearly is that the value of draft picks has changed. So, a team’s record is not, anymore, as directly – it’s a little bit connected – but it’s not super connected to the draft-pick slot going forward for at least the next few years. So, some picks will be more valuable as a result of that, and some picks will be less valuable as a result of that. And so, you just have to take that into account. We’ve all been in the mindset of how good or bad is a team going to be next year says a lot about their pick, and now, it’s going to say less. So, that matters a lot. I think the cap rules say more about the value of young players on rookie-scale or second-round contracts than the new draft system does. But yeah, you got to take all that stuff into account when building a team. And so, we spent a lot of time talking through those things and evaluating the new rules. And the league has said there will probably be more rule changes to the draft coming, so we’ll have to sort of evaluate what those could be and act accordingly. Not an easy thing, thought, when you’re used to the draft being a very specific way. This change is more drastic than some of the previous ones, where the lottery odds just shifted a little bit.”
On if future NBA expansion affects the Celtics' current-day decision-making: “We don’t know if the rules for an expansion draft will be the same as they were last time. But one thing that’s always clear in any expansion situation is that the more good contracts you have, the more good contracts you’ll have left after someone gets picked in an expansion draft. So, it actually doesn’t affect us too much right now. You have to keep that in mind, obviously, but the more good players you can have on your team under contract, the more of them will be left if some get picked. We’ll know more details as that gets closer, if it even happens. I think the one thing you left out is that the commissioner has been pretty clear that the board might not vote to have expansion. So, we’re prepared for it. But I don’t know how that’s going to go yet. And it’s sort of the same thing on the future of the draft. I’ve been talking about those rules publicly for a long time, so it’s interesting and fun for me to see, and I think good overall, I’ve said this, for the league to be removing at least perceived incentives for teams to not be as good. So, I think good, exciting changes are potentially coming to the league on a bunch of fronts. And we’ll do our best to be ready for all of them. But until we know more details, we can’t say much more.”