Should the Celtics Draft Drake Powell? | 2025 NBA Draft Celtics Scouting

Should the Celtics Draft Drake Powell? | 2025 NBA Draft Celtics Scouting

all right we’re here with another Celtics draft scouting video today we’re looking at UNC wing Drake Powell uh he’s mocked late first uh maybe actually late lottery really uh to late first I should say in most mock drafts kevin Oconor of Yahoo has him on his big board ranked at 16th comping him to Male Bridges and Isaac Coro i’ll share my screen here so you guys can take a look at what I’m looking at uh I’ve seen some mocks where he falls into the Celtics range at 28 i’ve seen some where he goes like I said Lake Glover like I said KOC uh ranks him at 16 crafty finisher team defender uh I didn’t put up monster stats at UNCC was primarily a role player didn’t really uh play heavy minutes uh I’m not saying he is like Deon Booker but think of the Devin Booker type where it’s like he was a six-man he came off the bench like um I think Drake Pal started but he he wasn’t like the primary focal point of the offense uh he he’s like the Devin Bookers and Patrick Williams and Scotty Barnes of the world like a player who’s not necessarily the star but um he’s got the measurables 6’6 roughly 7 foot wingspan he’s a lanky defender uh he’s a pretty good finisher a decent enough shooter and we’ll take a look at him today yeah I know you were pumped up about him when you did the Houdini preview for him so I can’t wait to get my first real look into him learning along with the rest of the viewers but you know the archetype makes a lot of sense for filling a role with the Celtics and said it in this Fleming video said it in previous videos i just get excited about these guys that are role players in college because I just think when you come to Boston with the way things are set up right now that’s what they’re going to ask you to do and if you’re prepared to do it and you’re willing to put like yourself second behind the team that is a bonus in being a Celtic yeah he’s a great defender no ceilings says his the goods are locked down defender prepare for liftoff and relentless motor he’s a very athletic player his pros are defensive versatility physical play finishing cons are his aggressiveness on ball creation and shooting his three-point percentage is pretty good but he he’s not the best three-point shooter overall so that’s where some of the concerns come in um we can take a look at the highlights though and see what we think go from there i don’t hate Drake Pal i don’t love Drake Pal i think he’d be a pretty good Celtics target he’s only 19 so he’s coming into the league pretty young as well but sounds like another guy let’s take a look his free throw percentage for context was only 64.8% so that’s that’s where some of the shooting worries come in see what I think of the form nice move off the dribble quick to the rim the shot form is a little clunky i mean we haven’t seen it yet he he when I watched him he looked much more comfortable getting to the mid-range and shooting than shooting threes which is maybe a concern um but uh he he is comfortable getting downhill man that first step is nasty no one um he he is a consistent thing you’ll see is he never puts his like arms down like if he’s going to finish at the rim his arms stay like as vertical as possible like he keeps the ball all the way as possible above his heads every time good fundamentals he kind of has like a Bridges type looking shot to me eh not so much on the catch and shoot but off the dribble a little bit the mid-range shot is so different than his three-point shot his three-point shots very rigid it he like shoots differently from each spot he like like it’s it’s just kind of awkward so as somebody who for a long time felt like he had a mid-range and three-point shot variance in terms of my form I can tell you not a good thing my I was not confident in my three-point shot when I was changing the way I would shoot it it works for some people right like Devin Booker has a different mid-range than his three-point shot like some players do have it differently but you can just tell how much more comfortable Drake Powell is scoring inside than he is from the outside which maybe is a concern um I don’t know i I don’t know what I think about Drake Powell i think the defense is obviously there he’s a pretty good playmaker it’s the shot that worries you right and the fact that he wasn’t a high volume player at North Carolina like Rashir Fleming you talked about role players he was a role player but he averaged like 13 eight and two in a stock and a half and or a block and a half and a steal and a half drake Pal averaged seven points and three rebounds and one assist and less than a block and less than a steal so it was like he he didn’t really have the stats of a role player as much as maybe you would like for these role player type guys um he’s not bad i still think he could be pretty good it’s just the three-point shot is is concerning yeah I I don’t love what I’m seeing form-wise fleming’s form is a lot more encouraging it’s smoother it looks super cool to watch the arc on um Pal’s shots doesn’t look bad though i will say that he’s got a good form to it i think he has good athleticism and a good burst to the rim but you might be able to talk yourself into that kind of thing with Jordan Walsh too like oh man looks pretty good when he drives to the basket he can dunk sometimes he’s long and probably has the right physical tools to be a good defender if the Celtics were to draft Drake Pal I just feel like it would be kind of redundant with Walsh and also Shyman being ahead of him like I really only think a wing would make sense if you feel like they truly give you a different look than those guys or they are better than those guys and I don’t know if that’s the case here well I think Drake Pal would be a more intriguing target than Jordan Walsh i think there’s much more of an offensive game there like Jordan Walsh isn’t creating like this he was never doing like you can see the flashes of creation for Drake Pal i do think there is a world in the right situation if Pal has the room to grow where he turns into like a really really good player with his shot creation and everything i just don’t know that’s what he’ll have the opportunity to do in Boston so I think that’s where some of the concern is um we can look at the playmaking though as well we’ve looked at all these scoring we can check that out from what I remember he was a pretty good playmaker like he he was a pretty aware uh passer in terms of who’s where um a lot of them are pretty basic passes but he at at the very least having a role player who knows how to make those bases basic passes is a good thing um there’s there’s no detrimental part to his playmaking game i don’t think it’s like otherworldly but he he can pass the ball tell you what I’m a sucker for bounce passes so that backtoback bounce pass in transition was just like wow what a what a set of eyes this guy has for passing um the he’s making the right reads i think the transition playmaking is a little overrated in these compl compilations just because it’s like that’s the obvious play and once you get the guy to commit you make the pass like I’m not an athlete i’m not skilled with the ball but I can get the guy to commit to me and then find my teammate like you should everybody that is on the floor should be able to do that the ones where he’s making good reads passing out of a jump shot hitting the guy with a pocket pass on the drive to the cup that’s a little bit different that’s the more impressive stuff and I can get it excited about that like even here like it’s fine the the top of the key passes are just kind of part of the offense it’s not like he made one two reads and hit the third option as the defense was rotating as we see in some of these prospects um but you can’t complain about what you’re seeing he he’s doing what he’s supposed to do in situations exactly he can pass it’s just nothing crazy he was only.7 turnovers a game but also he was 1.1 assists per game like it’s he he wasn’t a passer he was there to shoot the ball to score the ball sometimes and play defense so we can look at the defense too because I think that’s what a lot of people are excited about uh when it comes to Drake Pal all right he is a freak wow okay he’s He’s a freak athlete like that’s part of what you get i I think the the good part about Drake Pal is he is going to be a really good wing defender allah Jordan Walsh allah adiero but he also has some hope of an offensive game like there is significantly more hope offensively in my opinion for a guy like Drake Pal than there was for Jordan Walsh and like than there is in my opin i definitely like his burst to the to the blocks he gets off the ground fast is a good rim protector in that sense on the help good recovery there on the drive keeping the guy in front of him i almost feel like uh they should have put this first like they should they should rank the skill sets for these prospects so if the guy is really known for playmaking then you just see a bunch of the passes and reads first if they’re a knockdown shooter or scorer that’s the first thing defense first for a guy like Drake Powell because we we can watch highlights all day but knowing what set of highlights was the most consistent staple of their impact is the important part yeah Drake Pal for context uh 65.25 without shoes at the combine 7 foot flat uh wingspan so pretty good pretty good 8 foot seven standing reach weighed in at 200 lb so he’s he’s definitely skinny but uh he’s a free Catholic like that this is this is what he does he is a great wing defender he’s probably going to be a great wing defender in the NBA the question is just can the shot become consistent can he smooth out excuse me smooth out the form a little bit uh to the point where he’s comfortable taking the shots because there is a part of me that worries that he looks a little uncomfortable taking threes right now which is not a good thing yeah it takes him a while to get into the shot too like if you’re thinking of an NBA kick out and the defense going into rotation there might not be a whole lot of time for Pal to be comfortable in his shot he might still get it off but it might be rushed and it might lead to him shooting a lower percentage closing out he almost prefers to drive and then make something happen from there which is not ideal but it’s it’s not like the end of the world i’m just saying like that’s you look at it and you’re like just shoot the That’s a big muscle memory thing i feel like any I mean you know when you play basketball and you maybe you do like between the legs before you shoot the ball and then you feel way about it like like Tilman is not used to shooting and he said that on the record he’s like yeah it’s it’s a weird thing like I’m not used to shooting the ball so I don’t shoot the ball look what happened i’m not saying Drake Pal’s gonna be Tilman but it is a very clearly a mental thing that can happen to people who are not used to shooting the ball consistently jack’s draft Xavier Tilman no but then again like look at Derek White like Derrick White hasn’t wasn’t a shooter early on in career but he learned how to like fake the confidence at the very least so there there are you know cases for both things i I do think the problem or not the problem but like Drake Pal will have to learn and it will be a sink or swim if whether or not he can be a consistent fire the catch and shoot three uh but the defense is very clearly there uh and having a winged defender of this type of this caliber who is at least a capable offensive player could be valuable for the Celtics i I just think and and we’ll get to the tier list after we look at the draft comps from sleepers but there are just other guys that are projected to be on the board that I would feel better about the Celtics picking in terms of being ready to help them than Drake Powell sure I get that 100% uh we can look at sleepers what they think i think a lot of people are high on Drake Pal i think he’s excuse me a very much a draft community darling uh at the moment uh strengths athleticism shooting defensive potential mid-range game weaknesses playmaking defending the interior and shot creation all right uh one word precipice and upside people love the upside of Drake Pal because I think he didn’t really get the chance to show it as much at UNCC which is a decent swing one for floor one for ceiling um I think a lot of people would really bank on the shot creation coming around heat and Hawks are the top best team fits i think the Heat I like the Heat a lot for him get him a little opportunity to create five years bench starter um most likely to be on breakout list but never break out uh get Hubert Davis fired uh let’s see what’s next is next best case worst case all right yeah let’s look at best case worst case for Drake Pal according to Sleepers painful can we move on to this category best case scenario best case comp so yeah Jonathan Gavon was comparing him to this player like going back to the last summer he compared him to Herb Jones and I think a fully realized Drake Pal is like a lockdown defender who can also handle and create for others and make the most of his athleticism and like get to the free throw line all of that that that is like if Drake hits his maximum ceiling offensively i like that much better than mine i had I had Jaylen Williams i had Jayd Dub for the Thunder uh really good defender but a guy who I think has shown more off the bounce wiggle and creativity than than Pal has shown i think that may be in there or at least could be developed with Pal given the athleticism that he has shown right i like that and then worst case we see is worst case worst case I stuck with another uh another Tarheel one and done who had all the athletic tools but never put it all together nazir Little okay i went with um so Justice Winsow would have been a good one but I I wanted to rank him up earlier so I did not put Justice Winsow um I went with Zyra Smith yikes i I see it for both though like the the wing who can’t really shoot but maybe can shoot and then can’t shoot really good defender great athlete i like Drake Pal a little more i think he’ll be better than Zer Smith i think at least you have the defensive tools like Zer in my mind Zer Smith was never like an amazing defender um not as little i get a little bit more and he could just never figure it out offensively but um the question now becomes Sam where do you want to put Drake Powell on the tier list we have the tier list here we have one S tier we have two A tiers B tier Ctier D tier i I’m stuck between two and I think I’d know where I’d put him but I’ll let you go i think I would put him on the B tier i I’m not like floored by this i have not watched as much Drake Pal as the people in the video that just told you that they kind of have some hope for him good comparisons and Herb Jones and JDub right but from what I saw I just don’t see a lot of translation into how he could be a great fit with the Celtics right away or how much opportunity there’s going to be for him within the Celtics team but he is only 19 so I guess you can talk yourself into the upside there i just don’t know if you want to use I mean you might even have to trade up for him so I don’t even know if you want to trade up for a guy that’s just upside like I feel like the unless the goal for Boston has to be just hitting unless you’re really willing to buy into developing him as the shot creator like if you’re going to give him those growth minutes then I get it a little bit i think in terms of just a prospect I would have put him A or even S tier compared to the guys here but for the Celtics I it’s just I think Btier makes a lot more sense i think Rasher Fleming Danny Wolf and Thomas Sorber have a much more concrete pathway to fitting in with this current Celtics group and if anything I think Drake Pal could run into the Aaron Smith wall in Boston uh where it’s just too many guys and you’re not going to get the opportunities you sort of need to succeed um and Aaron Eith could actually be a pretty good comp for Drag Pal um except Aaron Eith was a much better collegiate shooter um I I think that’s fine i feel good i I think as a prospect he’s a lot better than the three guys in the B tier next to him but I think specifically since this is a Celtics scouting for the Celtics um I think it makes sense to put him where it is anyways let us know what y’all think down below about Drake Pal um keep leaving us comments of who to look at we have plenty of time for the draft we have two weeks i’m sure we’ll start ramping these up even more till then but appreciate youall for tuning in make sure to leave a like subscribe and attempt to take it up yeah thank you very much for listening and watching make sure you leave a like comment tell us what you think of Drake Pal tell us how wrong or right you think that we are about Drake Pal and subscribe to the channel for more draft content in the coming weeks as well as all the other stuff we’re doing new stuff comes out every day at 5:00 a.m full pods drop Tuesday Thursday Sunday during the season we do game recaps morning after each game and other videos are up in between to keep you up to date with all things Celtics you can find the two of us on Spotify and Apple too all pods and recaps are there so if you just want those go ahead and follow they will go right to your feed leave a fivestar review we’d appreciate that very very much you can email us hbtcpodgmail.com if there are prospects you would like us to look at go ahead send them in hbtcpodgmail.com our socials are at how about them’s for Twitter Instagram and Tik Tok facebook’s the name of the podcast all streams are there they’re on YouTube they’re on Twitter jack’s Twitter jacks NBA minds NBA that’s it for us bye taco come on tack taco taco’s having some fun here it is bogus these guys are ridiculous 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No Ceilings video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlm95kJQz0I&t=215s&pp=0gcJCd4JAYcqIYzv
Sleepers Media video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqBLzWrMIBA&t=691s

Sam and Jack are back with another Boston Celtics video. In this one, they do some 2025 NBA Draft scouting and take a look at North Carolina’s Drake Powell. They take a look at some highlights and discuss whether or not the Celtics should draft him. Let us know your thoughts, and as always, thanks for watching How ‘Bout Them Celtics!

Podcast Twitter: @HowBoutThemCs
Sam’s Twitter: @SamLaFranceNBA
Jack’s Twitter: @JackSimoneNBA

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