NBA Draft

Marc D'Amico

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The Boston Celtics used their lone 2021 Draft pick Thursday night, No. 45 overall, to draft 18-year-old Juhann Begarin out of France.

The selection of Begarin marks the second consecutive Draft during which the C’s have used their second-rounder to select a young prospect from overseas. Last year, they selected Yam Madar, who has quickly become a highly-regarded international prospect, with the 47th overall pick.

“We really like Juhann,” Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens said following the Draft. “I think that he’s a guy that’s a big, strong, versatile guard that can guard up (one position) with his strength and athleticism.”

Stevens then shared his takeaways from a recent visit Begarin made to Boston’s practice facility.

“He came in for a workout the other day. We got to see him up close, and we’ve been paying attention to him for a long time,” Stevens commented. “He’s a guy that we think, at his age, and his body, and his physical abilities, and the way that he works and the time that he’s put in thus far, he’s gonna have a really long career ahead of him.”

Stevens said that “the most likely avenue” for Begarin is that he will continue to play overseas next season, although that decision has not been finalized. Likewise, no decision has been made as to whether or not Begarin will be a part of Boston’s Summer League roster that is set to begin play Aug. 8.

Regardless of the outcome of those decisions, Stevens believes that the competitive level of Begarin’s French league will serve as a strong developmental environment for the young guard should he continue to play as a draft-and-stash pick overseas.

“I do think that it can be very, very beneficial,” the coach-turned-executive said of Begarin continuing to play overseas. “And that level of basketball is awfully good, and the coaching in all the different countries and all the different places around the world, as we see, awfully good. And so great preparation for next steps should that be the avenue that Juhann follows, and certainly what Yam has done.”

Begarin hails from Les Abymes, Guadeloupe – the same French commune and island as former Celtic wing Mickael Pietrus. He began playing professionally in 2017 with Centre Federal Du Basket-Ball of the French NM1 league at the age of 15. He remained there for two seasons before moving on to Paris Basketball of the French LNB Pro B league for the last two seasons, where he began to gain traction as an NBA prospect.

Begarin, who stands in at 6-foot-5 and 192 pounds, is coming off of a strong season with Paris Basketball, where he averaged 11.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game while playing an average of 26.6 minutes per game over 39 contests. He is an improved shooter who connected on 45.6 percent of his shots and 34.2 percent of his 3-pointers this past season. During one stretch of the season, he logged five consecutive double-digit scoring performances while helping to elevate his squad to the French LNB Pro A League.

The selection of Begarin is the first made by new Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens. Stevens traded away Boston’s first-round pick, No. 16. overall, in the Al Horford-Kemba Walker deal just days after taking over his new position.

The next order of business for Stevens and the Celtics is to finalize their Summer League roster, including a decision on Begarin’s status, prior to the group’s first practice Aug. 3. The team will then dive head-first into free agency, which begins Aug. 2.

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Celtics Select 18-Year-Old French Guard Juhann Begarin at No. 45

Boston Celtics

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BOSTON, MA – The Boston Celtics selected Juhann Begarin in the second round (45th overall), marking the team’s lone selection in the 2021 NBA Draft.

Begarin, 18, was selected by the Celtics after averaging 9.3 points on 45.6% shooting, 3.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.2 steals in 52 games over two seasons with Paris Basket of the Pro B League (2019-20 – 2020-21).

The Abymes, Guadeloupe native averaged 11.9 points on 45.9% shooting (36.4% 3-PT) in 33 games this past season, including three games of 20+ points. He produced double-digit scoring in five consecutive games during the team’s seven-game winning streak from May 25 through June 11, helping elevate Paris Basket to the French Pro A League.

celtics-draft-juhann-begarin-in-second-round-of-2021-nba-draft

Celtics Draft Juhann Begarin in Second Round of 2021 NBA Draft

Taylor Snow

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BOSTON –  One week prior to being selected by the Boston Celtics in the 2020 NBA Draft, Aaron Nesmith already had green running through his mind.

Last Wednesday, during a pre-Draft Zoom call with the media members from across the country, the 6-foot-6 Vanderbilt product was asked out of the blue whether he saw a potential fit with the Celtics, to which he lit up and replied: “That team has a very bright future and I think I could step right in and make life easier for guys like Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, et cetera. Just giving those guys more space and more room to operate I think is going to really help elevate their game and help make life easier.”

Little did Nesmith know at that moment that his dream would soon become reality.

On Wednesday night, the Nesmith family gathered around a television to take part in the virtual Draft, for which Aaron dressed fittingly in a green plaid suit. At 9:30 p.m., commissioner Adam Silver emerged onto the screen and made the announcement that would change the 21-year-old wing's life: “With the 14th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, the Boston Celtics select Aaron Nesmith from Vanderbilt University.”

For a moment, Nesmith simply stared at the TV in shock, before erupting into tears of joy and collapsing into his father's chest.

“It’s a dream come true,” he told ESPN’s Malika Andrews shortly after the announcement. “Every kid dreams of this moment since they’re like eight years old.”

Nesmith was one of three players selected by the Celtics Wednesday night, along with 26th overall pick Payton Pritchard out of Oregon, and 47th overall pick Yam Madar out of Israel. The two first-rounders, in particular, should help Boston address one of its biggest offseason needs: shooting.

Nesmith, who described himself to his new Celtics fan base as “an absolute sniper,” shot an absurd 52.2 percent from 3-point range on 8.2 attempts through 14 games before his 2020 season was cut short due to a foot injury. Vanderbilt head coach and former NBA All-Star Jerry Stackhouse referred to him as “one of the best shooters I’ve seen” at the collegiate level.

C’s president of basketball operations Danny Ainge believes such shooting ability should translate straight to the NBA level, claiming that Naismith “could come in the gym and out-shoot most of our guys right this second.”

Because of that elite shot-making ability, Nesmith reiterated that he should be able to “make life easier for the creators of the offense – Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kemba Walker.”

On top of that, he claims to be “a guy that is always going to be there to work hard, to earn his stripes and to do it on both sides of the floor.”

Such hard work is also what the Celtics hope to get out of Pritchard, a scrappy four-year point guard out of Oregon. The reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year averaged 20.5 points, 5.5 assists, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game for the Ducks this past season, while earning both the Lute Olson Award as the nation’s most outstanding non-freshman, and the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard.

Pritchard, who also shot the ball well from deep at a clip of 41.5 percent, is hoping to come in and impact the team immediately with his toughness and competitive spirit.

“I can really shoot it, dribble, pass, but I think the biggest thing that I bring to the Celtics is just a competitive nature,” said the 6-foot-2 floor general. “I’m a winning-mentality type of guy that fights for everything, works for everything.”

Being a former NBA scrapper himself, Ainge developed a great fondness for Pritchard throughout the point guard's four-year tenure in Eugene, Oregon.

“He’s a guy I think can play in any system. He can play with any players,” said Ainge, who also happens to be a native of Eugene. “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.”

While Ainge hopes to see his two first-rounders make an immediate impact, he views his second-round selection, Madar, as more of a work in progress.

“He’s a player we watched over in Israel play quite a bit, and we’ll see how it works out,” Ainge said of the 19-year-old point guard. “The plan will probably be to keep him overseas for at least another year and we’ll evaluate him from there, but we’re anxious to watch his growth and development as a player.”

The Celtics also had been scheduled to make a third first-round pick at No. 30, but Ainge opted to trade it to Memphis in exchange for future picks. His reasoning behind the move was that “we didn’t want to bring more than two rookies in this year.”

As for those two rookies, both Nesmith and Pritchard appear ready and able to contribute, with the hope of boosting the C’s this coming season with their shared combination of elite shooting and competitive spirit.

nesmith-pritchard-hope-to-impact-cs-with-shooting-competitive-spirit

Nesmith, Pritchard Hope to Impact C’s With Shooting, Competitive Spirit

BOSTON – The Boston Celtics addressed a glaring need during Wednesday night’s NBA Draft by selecting two of the most accomplished shooters out of the prospect pool.

Boston used the 14th overall pick to select sharpshooting guard Aaron Nesmith out of Vanderbilt, and then selected Oregon guard Payton Pritchard with the 26th overall pick.

Nesmith, a self-proclaimed “sniper,” is regarded by many as the top shooting prospect in the entire 2020 Draft pool. He shot a mindboggling 52.2 percent from 3-point range on 8.2 attempts per game before his season was cut short due to injury after 14 contests.

Nesmith’s shooting ability is borderline extraordinary, as ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas outlined on his network’s broadcast of the Draft.

“There’s nobody better catch-and-shoot in this Draft. Nobody better shooting off of screens,” Bilas said. “He’s got 1.4 points per possession in jump shots off of screens. That is ridiculous.”

Pritchard is not quite on Nesmith’s level with regard to 3-point marksmanship – truthfully, not many are – but he is indeed an accomplished shooter in his own right.

Pritchard connected on 41.5 percent of his 3-pointers this past season while attempting 6.8 shots from long distance per game. He shot 38.0 percent from beyond the arc over his four-year career at Oregon, which featured Pac-12 Player of the Year honors this past season.

Pritchard’s resume extends well beyond his shooting and conference Player of the Year honors as well. He also earned the 2020 Lute Olson Award as the nation’s top non-freshman, the 2020 Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard, and he was a consensus first-team All-American.

By adding two established shooters like Nesmith and Pritchard, the Celtics addressed a significant need on their roster. Last season, not a single role player on their team shot better than 37.8 percent from 3-point range. Only one player overall, Jayson Tatum, shot better than 38.3 percent from long distance.

The lack of 3-point marksmanship certainly affected the playmaking abilities of the team’s top scorers in Tatum, Kemba Walker and Jaylen Brown. There is less room to operate and break defenses down when shooters are not surrounding those stars.

Nesmith and Pritchard have the ability to open things up for that trio and the rest of the roster merely by standing on the court. Their shooting ability demands respect, which could very well provide the team’s top players with more shooting, driving and passing lanes.

Shooting is one skill that translates well from the collegiate ranks to the NBA ranks. It also just so happened to have been a skill the Celtics needed and found during the first round of the 2020 NBA Draft.

celtics-address-need-by-drafting-two-gifted-shooters-during-first-round

Celtics Address Need by Drafting Two Gifted Shooters During First Round

BOSTON – Over the last several weeks, the Boston Celtics have been narrowing down their draft board through a series of Zoom interviews and a select number of in-person workouts.

Not only did those meetings provide the Celtics’ front office with various insights on this year’s draft prospects, but they also allowed the NBA hopefuls to envision their eventual fit with the Celtics if they were to be selected by Boston later this evening – a topic of which several prospects have spoken over the past week.

Below, we’ve highlighted nine of those potential draftees and what they had to say about their meetings with the C’s.

The Celtics could look to add some scoring depth at the point guard position in this draft, and 20-year-old Cole Anthony out of the University of North Carolina could be a solid option to turn toward.

The 6-foot-3 son of former NBA player Greg Anthony averaged 18.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game for the Tar Heels during his freshman season, despite missing the middle portion of the campaign due to a meniscus tear.

Anthony, whom ESPN had ranked as the No. 2 overall player of the high school class of 2019, claims his injury didn’t allow him to completely showcase his abilities because he was only 100 percent healthy for the first month of the season. As a result, his stock may have dropped a bit, with some mock drafts projecting him as a mid-first rounder. That could lead to him being a steal on Draft night.

Anthony recently met with the Celtics over Zoom and said his discussions with the team went “very well.” He added that he would love to join a team like the Celtics, whom he noted is knocking at the door of a championship.

“Just stepping into a team like that and potentially having a role, that would be awesome just because I know they’re super talented, they’re young."

The idea of possibly learning from another score-first point guard in Kemba Walker also excites Anthony.

“Being able to play with someone like that and learn from them would be awesome and a blessing," he said. "That would be pretty cool.”

The Celtics have had an affinity for 3-and-D wings in recent years, and Josh Green is a player who perfectly fits that mold. The Australian-born shooting guard prides himself on the defensive end, where he has proven to be excellent in off-ball coverage.

“I love playing defense,” Green told reporters via Zoom Monday afternoon. "It’s one of the parts of the game, not a lot of players enjoy playing defense, but for me, I get joy out of it.”

The 6-foot-6 University of Arizona product got to display his defensive mindset during an in-person workout with the Celtics, an organization for whom he has developed a great appreciation.

“Boston has a great tradition,” said Green, who turned 20 years old Monday. “It was really good being able to meet with them and talk with them. I think overall it’s an awesome situation, very nice people, and they’ve got a lot of goals coming in the future and it would be awesome to be a part of that.”

RJ Hampton – Guard, New Zealand Breakers

RJ Hampton is one of the youngest players in this year’s draft class, but he’s also one of the most prepared players to enter the NBA level. The 19-year-old, who was once considered to be one of the top high school recruits in the nation, took an unconventional path to the draft by reclassifying in high school to graduate a year early before bypassing the college game to play professionally overseas.

After playing last season for the New Zealand Breakers of the National Basketball League, Hampton believes he is more mature and ready for the NBA Draft than he would have been if he had taken the standard one-and-done college route.

Hampton has also had the opportunity to grow over the last few months in working out with former NBA players, including four-time All-Star Penny Hardaway and sharpshooting specialist Mike Miller.

Hampton, who has been widely projected as a mid-first rounder, recently worked out for the Celtics, with whom he seemingly had great interactions.

“Austin Ainge was there, Danny Ainge was there and coach Brad Stevens,” he said Nov. 11. “I think the conversations went well. I worked out for them — I feel like the Celtics are a great team, a great organization.”

Another youngster with professional experience who has worked out with the Celtics is French point guard Theo Maledon, a projected first-rounder.

The soft-spoken floor general made a loud impression in his home country two summers ago when he signed his first pro contract just after his 17th birthday. Maledon racked up the accolades during his lone professional season with ASVEL, being named the Pro A League’s “Best Young Player,” while also helping to lead his team to a league championship.

Maledon has rapidly developed into a strong shooter, which he was able to show off to the Celtics’ brass during a recent individual workout.

“Coach (Stevens) was there and Danny Ainge was there too,” Maledon described of the experience Thursday afternoon. “It went well. I think it was a very good workout.”

If Boston seeks to add shooting during this Draft, there may not be a better option than Vanderbilt flamethrower Aaron Nesmith.

Before suffering a right foot injury in early January, the sophomore wing had been on track to log one of the most prolific and efficient long-range shooting seasons in college history, averaging 23.0 PPG while shooting an absurd 52.2 percent clip from 3-point range on 8.2 attempts per game.

Nesmith, who met recently with the Celtics, recognizes that Boston could benefit from his floor-spacing presence if they were to select him Wednesday night.

“I think it would [fit] very well,” he told reporters on Nov. 11. “They’ve got a good, good core group of guys; really talented and they’re all very young. Going forward, that team has a very bright future and I think I could step right in and just make life easier for those guys – guys like Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, et cetera, and just giving those guys more space and more room to operate I think is going to really help elevate their game and help make life easier.”

If the Celtics were to trade up in Wednesday’s Draft, USC big man Onyeka Okongwu could be a potential addition for their frontcourt.

The 6-foot-9, 245-pound prospect has drawn comparisons to Miami Heat big man Bam Adebayo, whose interior impact, as we all know, dealt a devastating blow to Boston during the Eastern Conference Finals. Add Okongwu into the mix, and the Celtics would instantly have a player who could potentially match up against a physical and skilled big man such as Adebayo.

Okongwu averaged 16.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game for the Trojans this past season. And like Adebayo, the 19-year-old big man has been developing his ball-handling skills, which he claims he has worked on “every single day” this offseason.

Okongwu said Friday that he could fit in with any team, “due to my versatility defensively and my offensive upside and potential,” and especially with a team like the Celtics, with whom he met recently over Zoom.

“Playing with Boston, you’ve got players like Kemba Walker, [Jaylen] Brown and [Jayson] Tatum,” Onyeka said. “I definitely feel like if I was ever to be drafted by Boston, I’d definitely fit in with that young core that they have.”

Maryland product Jalen Smith is someone who is already well-versed in Celtics culture, having grown up idolizing C’s Legend Kevin Garnett.

Like KG, this 20-year-old big man provides a strong shot-blocking, rebounding presence, while also possessing the ability to shoot from the perimeter. He averaged 15.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game last season for the Terrapins while earning First Team All-Big Ten and Big Ten All-Defensive First Team honors.

Smith is also a strong ball-handler for his size, which he believes could benefit a team like the Celtics who tend to favor versatile bigs in their system.

“I feel like I’d be able to fit in very well [on the Celtics], obviously being a versatile big, being able to affect a team on the defensive end and on the offensive end,” he said Thursday afternoon.

“Being able to help not clog the paint up for the guards, being able to help them open up space for driving lanes, and being able to hit an open shot. And just being that defensive anchor for the team and making sure that I’m always holding down on that end and allowing the offensive players on the other end to go to work.”

Another big man who feels as though he would fit well with the Celtics is 19-year-old University of Washington product, Isaiah Stewart.

At 6-foot-9, 250 pounds, Stewart is built like a semi-truck and he has a motor to match. During his lone season with the Huskies, the interior specialist averaged 17.0 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game, while making 57.0 percent of his field-goal attempts.

Stewart, whom ESPN had ranked as the No. 3 high school recruit for the class of 2019, revealed Monday that he has been paying extra close attention to the Celtics of late, and views Boston as an ideal landing spot.

“I’ve had a Zoom interview with the Celtics and it went great,” said Stewart, a projected late-first to mid-second-round pick. “It was a great Zoom interview and a great organization, a great coaching staff.”

He added, “I know Coach Brad Stevens had success with centers that’s similar to me. I watched them in the bubble and I feel like I’d be able to fit in pretty easily with them just the way my game is. With them having Jayson Tatum Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, they already have some superstars and I just feel like what I do could fit in pretty easy and help the team win games and get them over that hump.”

We mentioned earlier about Boston’s love for 3-and-D wings; well, there may not be a better such option among this draft class than Florida State wing Devin Vassell.

The 6-foot-7 19-year-old averaged 12.7 points per game while shooting 41.5 percent from 3 during his sophomore season, all while showcasing an elite defensive skill set that should enable him to carve out an NBA role immediately.

Vassell was one of the 10 players who worked out in person with the Celtics and he also met with them over Zoom.

“I think it all went really well,” Vassell, a projected first-rounder, said of those meetings. “The workout went really well, the Zoom call went really well.

“They showed some interest, and it was just a blessing and a great opportunity for me. I think that anywhere that I go I’ll be able to fit in and help a team right away. So me being able to talk to them to show them what I’ve been working on over these six or seven months of quarantine, I think really helped.”

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nba-hopefuls-discuss-potential-fit-with-celtics-ahead-of-draft

NBA Hopefuls Discuss Potential Fit with Celtics Ahead of Draft

BOSTON – This year’s pre-Draft process has been unlike any other for scouting staffs across the NBA due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There were fewer college games from which to draw information, there were limited in-person meetings and workouts with prospects, and there has been an unprecedented eight-month gap from the last time most of these prospects have played in a competitive basketball game.

For the Boston Celtics’ basketball operations staff, such changes have required several adjustments to be made leading into Wednesday night’s Draft, of which assistant general manager Austin Ainge detailed Monday afternoon during a Zoom teleconference call with the media.

The most notable difference for Ainge and the rest of the crew has been the lack of in-person meetings. Typically, the team hosts several dozen prospects for workouts and interviews, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, each team has only been allowed 10 such meetings.

Adding onto that limitation was the fact that all 10 of those meetings and workouts operated on an individual basis, as opposed to a normal draft workout which allows several prospects of the same position to battle it out against each other.

“It helps to have guys in and put them in situations that we didn’t get to see in college,” Ainge said of the importance of the pre-draft workout process. “If a guy is not a great shooter, we have him shoot a lot. If a guy is not great at running pick-and-rolls, we put him in a lot of pick-and-rolls. If a guy, we’re worried about his closeouts, we put him in closeout drills. These types of things are helpful to get a little more info and we weren’t able to do that this year.”

As a result, the basketball operations team has resorted to watching hours upon hours of film. In some ways, this has been a positive from a scouting standpoint, because the long lay-off actually allowed scouts to dive far deeper into film reels than ever before.

What that film does not include, however, is the prospects’ off-court personality traits and ethics.

In-person meetings hold great value to the Celtics, as it allows the basketball operations staff to take players out to lunch or dinner and get to know them more on a personal level. Austin’s father and boss, Danny Ainge, has said that he never would have acquired Rajon Rondo during the 2006 Draft had he not met face-to-face with the Kentucky product. Their in-person meeting allowed Ainge to dissect Rondo’s character, of which Ainge obviously approved to the point where he felt that the point guard was a must-have in that year’s Draft.

Since each team was only allowed to physically meet with 10 prospects leading into this year’s Draft, the basketball ops staff had to be extra strategic in the selection process. The rest of the meetings were done over Zoom.

“It was hard to be honest,” the younger Ainge said of that process. “Everyone on my staff saw some guys more than others. Due to the limits of personal time and travel, there’s one guy I saw only twice and wanted to see again, and others Mike Zarren saw five times and didn’t get to see another guy. It was hard to balance all those things. We did the best we could and picked some guys we didn’t see as much as a staff, or we thought might have had more potential to improve over an eight-month layoff in some cases.”

Despite all of the obstacles they faced this year throughout the pre-Draft process, the Celtics feel confident heading into Wednesday night knowing that they did everything in their power to learn as much about this year’s draft class as possible.

“We'll do the best we can,” Danny Ainge said last Wednesday afternoon. “That's why we scout all year, and watch players throughout the course of the season, and try to prepare for this moment.”

austin-ainge-details-uniqueness-of-this-years-pre-draft-process

Austin Ainge Details Uniqueness of This Year's Pre-Draft Process

BOSTON – Now that the Boston Celtics know that they own the Nos. 14, 26, 30 and 47 picks in the 2020 NBA Draft, you might be wondering who they might wind up with should they go on to use those picks. We’re glass-half-full people here at Celtics.com, so we’re going to give you the best-case scenarios.

Below is a breakdown of the top five players in NBA history who have been chosen at each of Boston’s slots, the top selections the Celtics have made at those accompanying slots, as well as the last five players who were drafted at those slots.

It’s time to dream big! That’s what the Draft is all about, isn’t it?

Boston acquired this pick during a Jan. 12, 2015 three-team trade with Memphis and New Orleans. This was the trade that sent forward Jeff Green from the C’s to the Grizzlies, and now five years late, we know that it netted Boston a lottery pick.

This selection is Boston’s own pick after logging the fifth-best win percentage in the NBA this season.

Pick No. 30 – via Milwaukee (acquired from Phoenix)

Boston acquired this pick during a July 6, 2019 trade with the Phoenix Suns. This trade sent center Aron Baynes and the draft rights to guard Ty Jerome to Phoenix in exchange for this conditional pick and a traded player exception.

Pick No. 47 – via Brooklyn (acquired from Charlotte)

Boston acquired this pick during a July 6, 2019 trade with the Charlotte Hornets, during which the team acquired Kemba Walker and sent out Terry Rozier. Charlotte sent the least favorable of its owned 2020 second-rounders to Boston in the trade.

previewing-what-the-celtics-could-find-in-the-2020-draft

Previewing What the Celtics Could Find in the 2020 Draft

ROXBURY, Massachusetts – The scent of freshly-cut wood emanated from a glossy floor, and the sound of high-pitched cheers bounced off of sun-soaked walls.

This was the setting for a day that four young men and 80 children will never forget.

Four days after the Celtics selected Romeo Langford, Grant Williams, Carsen Edwards and Tremont Waters in the 2019 NBA Draft, the four draftees were already in Boston to carry on a nearly decade-long tradition that has garnered admiration from around the league.

Since 2011, the Players’ Choice Grant has stood as one of the marquee programs within the Boston Celtics’ community engagement department. Each season, members of the team vote on a location to receive a $50,000 professional-grade renovation, courtesy of the Shamrock Foundation. Months later, it is the newest members of the team – the draftees – who immerse themselves into the Boston community by unveiling the completed project during their first day as Celtics.

This year’s draftees completed their introductory press conferences and immediately made their way over to the Tobin Community Center in Roxbury to celebrate the renovation of the gymnasium with 80 Boston Celtics Youth Foundation members. To the youth members, this was an opportunity to closely interact with and listen to NBA players. For the athletes, it was an opportunity to be introduced to their new city while making an impact on young lives.

“It’s amazing, just being able to see I have this type of impact with just the slightest thing of having my own time and just being here,” said Edwards, the No. 33 overall pick out of Purdue. “Because I can remember times where I was in situations at basketball camps and saw guys that I looked up to and wanted to be one day. So to see that I’m near that, where people can look up to me and see that I have an impact, is amazing.”

Williams, too, basked in the opportunity to put smiles on so many faces in his new city.

“These kids, you never know what they’re going through,” he told Celtics.com. “If you can improve one kid’s day even for just an hour, that can change their emotion, their feeling for the entire week, or even how they treat people in life.”

Doing so was a motivating factor behind the creation of the Players’ Choice Grant program. It allows one season’s players to select the renovation site where so many smiles will be generated, and the incoming draft class gets to carry the program on and deliver those smiles. At its core, the program serves as a passing of the proverbial baton from one roster to the next class of Celtics when it comes to involvement in the community.

This year’s renovation at the Tobin Community Center incorporated the following upgrades: a refurbished court with new designs and an NBA 3-point line, a wireless shot clock system, six new backboards and rims, and new wall graphics. The facility had a new-gym smell and a brand-new look for all of the youth to soak in during the event.

After the players were introduced to the BCYF members, the entire group got to know each other by playing a large rock-paper-scissors tournament and exchanging handshakes that included a few hand slaps and a finishing hip-bump. Williams, who stands in at 6-foot-7 and nearly 240 pounds, joked about the exchange with kids who were less than half his size.

“I was trying to hold back,” he said with a laugh of the hip-bumps, “but then there were a couple of kids who were going pretty hard, so I made sure to give a little pressure, but not too much where I knocked them over so they felt it.”

The youth were then put through a series of basketball drills to promote their growth on the court. The players served as coaches who were doing everything from instructing, to passing, to setting screens for the youngsters.

Lastly, the event concluded with a question-and-answer session, during which the four newly-minted NBA players were able to relay their advice on basketball and life in general. Waters, in particular, felt compelled to take advantage of that session.

“My parents and the older adults in my life always told me that when you grow up you view the world differently,” he said. “I didn’t necessarily understand what they were saying while I was a youngin’, but now I look at [the kids] and I’m like, ‘Man, I’ve been through a lot that I can actually tell them about.’

He continued, “You’ve got to be able to appreciate your parents and just know that every day is a day for you to get better at something. It doesn’t have to be basketball every day. On that day, it could be cleaning the house. Always have the mindset of getting better and you’ll never go down the wrong path.”

The youth members of the Tobin Community Center are in a far better environment to get better on a daily basis now that the 2019 Players’ Choice Grant renovation has been completed. As it does every year, this event served as a loud-and-clear statement to the newest Celtics that this franchise is here to make a difference in the community.

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