After selecting Hugo Gonzalez from Real Madrid with the 28th pick in this year's NBA Draft, the Boston Celtics entered the second round with the 32nd selection.
Some savvy maneuvering from the Phoenix Suns allowed them to leapfrog Boston, taking the latter's target, Rasheer Fleming. However, the Celtics responded well.
With Fleming off the board, they traded the 32nd pick, gaining four second-round selections. That included two in this year's draft. With those picks, Boston selected Amari Williams and Max Shulga.
The Celtics' vice president of basketball operations and team counsel, Mike Zarren, shared with Hardwood Houdini what led the organization to draft them.
What Shulga and Williams have in common
With the 46th pick on day 2, Boston opted for Kentucky center Amari Williams. The Nottingham, England, native stands over six-foot-10 and tips the scales at 255 pounds. He's a massive individual, boasting a seven-foot-six wingspan.
Discussing what he brings to the table, Zarren told Hardwood Houdini, "Amari, he's one of the best passing big men in college for a long time. He's an elite rebounder. He's a great guy. He had a wonderful career at Drexel and then stepped it up another level at Kentucky.
"When you meet him, you'll see he's got just an enormous, enormous wingspan, and as you'll see on the court, if you haven't seen already, he's got incredible vision. Those things are just key abilities in the modern NBA. Your big guys have to be able to do all sorts of things. Sometimes, we play through guys -- big guys at the post -- with the guys we have had on our roster, and Amari should fit into that pretty well."
When the Celtics selected again, they took Shulga at 57, the third-to-last pick in the draft. The [slightly over] six-foot-four sharpshooter from Kyiv, Ukraine, earned Atlanta-10 Player of the Year honors at Virginia Commonwealth University [VCU] this season.
"Max is a tough guy who can handle and shoot," said Zarren. "Elite, elite toughness. He's been all over the world. He moved to Spain when he was 13, I think, to play basketball. People may not know, [but] he was a teammate for one year of Neemy's [Celtics center Neemias Queta] at Utah State.
"Actually, when he was here for a draft workout a couple of weeks ago, I think they went out to dinner and caught up for old times, so I think that was great.
"But he's just a winner. I think they won 18 of their last 20 games or something like that. He was the A-10 Player of the Year. We've been watching both [of] these guys for a long time. They had long college careers and [were] very, very successful players everywhere they've been. So we'll see how they do at the next level, but they're both just really, really successful, winning college players."
What do Boston's second-round picks have in common? The franchise identified an elite skill they possess, high character, toughness, and a winning pedigree.
The expectation is for Shulga and Williams to join the Celtics on two-way deals. It's important to have realistic expectations for them. However, these are individuals who fit the work environment the franchise has worked diligently to cultivate. They also have the tools to use their NBA starting point as a springboard to standard contracts.