Rumor that the Celts target for a trade-up is actually Isaac Okoro.
https://nba.nbcsports.com/2020/11/13/rumor-boston-looking-to-trade-up-to-draft-isaac-okoro/
I can't say I love that idea but do acknowledge it fits the Ainge draft profile---draft defensively talented physical players and figure out shooting later. As with all these rumors, it's totally silly season and disinformation season so who knows?
I can't find it now, but there was a Twitter thread the other day on Okoro that went through just how rare it is for guys who shot like he did in college (FT% and 3PT%) to end up as good shooters in the NBA. Basically it's Jaylen Brown and one or two other guys. If it happens, it's a massive hit because Okoro has every other tool that you'd want- with a bunch of Jaylen's strengths, but much better vision, and probably a stronger team defender, which is why Butler and Iggy get mentioned as comps too- and any lineup with Okoro plus the Jays is just unfair for opposing offenses. One of the reasons I was initially skeptical of him as an early lottery pick was an article Sam Vecenie put out in the Athletic where he interviews opposing SEC coaches about Okoro, and they were pretty lukewarm, though at least one was really high on him:
https://theathletic.com/1991892/2020/08/14/2020-nba-draft-college-coaches-poll-should-isaac-okoro-be-the-top-wing/
A lot of the skepticism from the coaches is due to the shooting, Okoro's definitely one of the kids whose killer work ethic and motor is mentioned in every scouting report, which is definitely the type of kid that Ainge likes to bet on.
This rumor has me wondering if Ainge is really focusing in on wings again, and if it's true, I'd expect that should he strike out on Okoro, we might expect Vassell, S.Bey, Josh Green and Nesmith to be targets as well. It makes sense given Ainge’s proclivities; this draft is stocked with decent PG prospects and has a decent amount of sub-starter bigs, two positions that are very easy and cheap to find. I like, for example, Malachi Flynn and Zeke Nnaji, I just don’t know how much sense it makes to draft them.
Tangentially to the Vecenie Athletic series where he interviews opposing conference coaches about potential lottery prospects, which is great and really informative, I've listened to the Ringer's podcast a couple of times, and it's straight up weird how little work Tjarks seems to put into his job. He has a superficial understanding of what seems like half of the draft class, and can't even pronounce a lot of the guys' names right, which you'd think he'd be able to do if he'd watched actual game tape or spoken to coaches about the prospects he's writing and talking about. Compare that to Vecenie, Schmitz or Givony, who obviously put in a ton of leg work and can talk about what coaches think of a kid, or how they performed at the CP3 Academy three years ago, it's really striking. I never learn anything new or hear anything though-provoking from his stuff.