These 12 players participated in Celtics pre-draft workouts on Monday and Tuesday
Maybe some future Celtics.
With three first-round picks in this year’s NBA Draft — No. 14, 20, and 22 — and another second-round pick at No. 51, the Celtics are staying especially diligent regarding their scouting leading up to June 20.
Director of player personnel Austin Ainge said that Boston has hosted 70-plus prospects at the Auerbach Center since their season came to an end last month, with many more to come. Between Monday and Tuesday, 12 more players were scheduled for pre-draft workouts — six on each day.
“We do like a lot of guys in this draft and there are scenarios when we would have three [first-round] guys and keep them all,” Ainge told Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe. “It’s certainly manageable on a 15- or 17-man roster now with two-way [contracts] to have some rookies.”
On Monday, the Celtics held a six-player workout with Virginia’s Ty Jerome, Tennessee’s Admiral Schofield and Jordan Bone, Syracuse’s Oshae Brissett, Illinois State’s Milik Yarbrough, and Jacksonville State’s Jason Burnell.
Ty Jerome says the competitiveness of the Celtics draft workout made it his favorite one yet.
— Tom Westerholm (@Tom_NBA) June 3, 2019
Jerome was a key contributor on the Cavalier team that won the national championship, while Schofield and Bone played prominent roles on a No. 2-seed Volunteer squad that was knocked out by Purdue in the Sweet Sixteen. Jerome and Schofield are projected to be late first-round picks while Bone is projected to be selected somewhere in the second round.
“It’s just great to be able to go out there and show them that I can move, I can guard, I can run, I can jump, and do different things, and especially shoot the ball well,” Schofield told reporters after his workout. “Also, just go out there and compete, get better. I think this is my third workout. So every workout, just try to get better, take little things from certain workouts and take them to the next one and just continue to get better. Just try to raise my stock as high as I can.”
New: Admiral Schofield had a draft workout with the Celtics today. That was cool for him because he’s been a Marcus Smart admirer for 7 years. “If the Celtics draft me I’d have to get right under Marcus Smart’s wing and have him teach me.” https://t.co/axT36NnypR
— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) June 3, 2019
For Tuesday, Boston scheduled workouts with USC’s Kevin Porter Jr., Arizona State’s Lu Dort, Kentucky’s Tyler Herro, Iowa State’s Talen Horton-Tucker, Virginia Tech’s Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and South Dakota State’s Skyler Flatten.
Alexander-Walker, who shot 47.4 percent from the field and 37.4 percent from deep for the Hokies last season, is projected in some NBA mock drafts to be selected near the tail-end of the lottery. Herro, another great shooter who was terrific for John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats last season (46.2 FG%, 35.5 3FG%), would be another potential first-round pick.
