Papile Interview

Hey guys

I just wanted to let you know that I was listening to an interview with Leo Papile on 790 the score today at around 530 and he had some VERY interesting stuff to say.

First of all, it has been obvious for a while but the Celtics will pretty much definitely take the 11th pick from Denver. The Celtics absolutely love the talent in the draft and feel like they can get a bunch of quality players to put around Pierce and Walker. Now his insights on who they liked.

The first guy he was asked about was players that possibly should have stayed in school and they highlighted Omar Cooke. Papile went off about how he loves this guy. He has been scouting him since his high school days and has had AAU teams that have played against him. It sounded as tho if he were there at 21 he will be wearing Celtics green next year. They said that he is making a strong push to be the first point guard drafted and Papile feels he is a jumpshot away fro9m being a star. He said that he feels he has star quickness and passing ability much like Jason kid and he called him a "we player" that makes his teammates better.

Secondly they asked if the Celtics were going to draft for need and draft a point guard and a big man. He said that they are going to draft the best athelete available. They feel the point guard system by commitee worked well enough last year that they weren't going to reach for a point guard with one of their top picks. THIS MEANS NO TINSLEY. He also said that he doesn't feel that there are any big men who warrant a pick at 10 or 11. He said that Woods' body is too frail to go through an 82 game season (they weighed him in at 242) despite the fact that he has a nice touch and good quickness. He said that Heywood was too slow to play NBA defense and has no range on his jumpshot. He said that the two will go in the 12-18 range which means neither will be Celtics next year.

What he said he did want was an athletic wing player who could score. He said the league is ruled by Kobe Bryant types and he wanted a wing scorer with great athleticism of his own. He said that these types of players can be found around these picks and will be there when he picks. He talked a lot about Joe Johnson from Arkansas and hee seemed like he loved him. He said he thinks he can come right in and be a potent NBA scorer right now. He loves his size and quickness and he said he even has the ability to play the point or two guard. It sounds like he will definitely be the pick if he is there and from many reports he will be if Gasol gets taken before him.

He said they really like Gasol. However, he said he wasn't really interested in a trade unless it was a really good deal for the Celtics because he thinks there will be a lot of equal talent in between the 6 through 11th picks. I think there may be a lot of rumors but I think in the end the Celtics love what they can get from the three picks and will stay with all three.

Guys they won't draft from hearing him talk. He said that Murphy and Bradley He said Murphy and Bradley are not good enough defensively to guard pro power forwards and therefore will not be guys that can play 40 mins a game. He sounded like he liked Bradley more than Murphy and said he will go before him but he said they both will go in the "12 to 18 range." Since the Celtics don't pick in here that means no Troy and no Mike. He said Woods and Haywood will go in here as well.

He said he like Forte as well but it sounded like he wasn't going to reach with him at the first two picks and he wouldn't be there at 21. He said he thinks the best two players in the draft are Chandler and Browne. He says that Chandler reminds him of a young Lou Alcinder. He said Brown reminds him of a young Spencer Haywoode who was one of the all-time great amateurs but for a bunch of reasons was a pro flop. He says Browne won't be a flop tho. This is interesting considering Chandler could fall to 10.

From all of this I got that Papile wants a really athletic swing man. He said he quote "wants a guy that plays in the stratosphere" He says the Celtics have a lot of skill players but very little rim-rocking athletes. He was still bitter that the Celtics couldn't get Shawn Marion or Tracy McGrady. He won't make that mistake again.

I think that the Celtics, from hearing this will draft in about three different scenarios. I think that if Johnson is there he is the 10th pick automatically. They would love to get Gasol at the 11th but he probably won't be there although anything could happen. I bet that Gasol and Johnson are their dream two but that is very unlikely. One or the other is. If Gasol is there I say that they take Richard Jefferson with the other pick since Johnson is gone. They would be EXTREMELY happy with a Gasol/Jefferson combo. If Gasol is gone then I think they go with Johnson and Randolph. He didn't talk about him too much but he did say he liked him and a lot of reports say he had a great workout with them. I would like that duo as well. The final scenario would be Chandler drops and Johnson and Gasol are gone. Papile would be jump through the roof if that happened. He would grab Jefferson with the 11 and still get his athletic high riser to add to the next Abdul Jabbar. Any three of these I think would be great. The favorites are definietley:
1)Chandler
2)Gasol
3)Johnson
4)Jefferson
5)Randolph
6)Forte

I think that with the 21 Cooke is almost definitely ours and if he isn't Gerald Wallace will almost certainly be ours. There are very few more athletic or with more high rising ability. A real Papile guy. They might even take him over Cooke but he didn't really talk about him (probably keeping him a secret).

Sorry this is so long but I think it definitely gave me a lot of insight into the C's plans and I am real excited we won't be adding more slow unathletic stiffs to our team or average players because they fill a need. I can't wait to see the high flyers on the Celtics. I am excited about this draft after hearing this interview and Celtic natio