The Celtics had a late-night Thursday at the NBA Draft after selecting guard JD Davison with the 53rd pick in the second-round.
Davison, who turns 20 years-old on October 3, played one season as a freshman at the University of Alabama. The 6-foot-3 guard played 33 games (six starts) while averaging 8.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists in 25.8 minutes per contest. Davison also averaged 2.9 turnovers per game.
Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens spoke about the team's only selection in the 2022 Draft, calling Davison an explosive playmaker.
"He's a guy that we've seen all year long. Very young, very explosive, that's pretty obvious," Stevens said of the Alabama product. "Has the ability to get inside the paint and make plays and has some things he'll have to improve on, but he's a good competitor."
While the Celtics didn't bring Davison in for a workout, Stevens says they have kept an eye on him over the past year, which is how they know his strengths and what he needs to improve on pretty well.
"We spent a lot of time scouting him in person this year… We saw several games live as a staff," said Stevens. "We're very well-versed with who he is and what he brings to the table, and what he needs to work on."
Stevens admitted that the Celtics draft "was about finding a guy we can invest in and put a lot of time in to," when it comes to 19-year-old Davison.
"He had some incredible games and he also had some games where he looked like a freshman, but he always competed," said Stevens. "We do think he's got a good feel as far as getting the ball out of his hands quickly."
The former C's coach turned president of basketball operations addressed the pre-draft rumors of the team looking to move up into the first-round or early second-round. Stevens says the asking price for those higher picks was too high for Boston to seriously take any possible trade talks into consideration.
"The cost for moving up was just too much for where we are, whether that was the 20s or even the 30s or low 40s, we got a list of guys we were comfortable with and as the day continued, we had a couple of guys that were still on our board to choose from," Stevens said.
"We talked about moving up, but parting with significant players on our team, or using our TPEs and other assets, wasn't something we wanted to do right now," Stevens added.
Speaking of the several trade exceptions Boston currently has, such as one at $17.1 million (set to expire in mid-July), Stevens noted that he doesn't feel pressured to use any of them right away as many smaller TPEs don't expire until early 2023 and that the Celtics may already have potential targets in mind come this summer.
"We've talked about that for a while. We know who fits in that TPE and who might be available. Now, it's about cost," Stevens stated. "We decided tonight that we didn't find anything we were ready to use the TPE on. But things are just getting started."
One quick tidbit to consider with the offseason underway -- the NBA hasn't released an official date for the start of Free Agency, but it's reported that it could begin on June 30 at 6 PM EST.
Joel Pavón
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