JD Davison

It was late Thursday night when former Alabama basketball player, JD Davison heard his name called by the NBA, as he was drafted by the Celtic.

What happens for Davison next, after accepting a deal with the Celtics, is he will play on Boston’s Summer League team. That minimum for the 2022-23 season is around $1M. Boston selected Davison on the basis of his considerable potential. If he plays a full NBA season, he will earn no less than a mandated minimum. At the higher end of the second-round selections, contracts include some guarantees. NBA second-round contracts allow a broad range of compensation to be negotiated by teams.

The Celtics waited a long time to make their lone selection at No. 53 overall in the 2022 NBA Draft.

Davison was regarded as one of the best athletes in the draft class, and the 6-foot-3 guard showed that at multiple points in the season. But he fell deep into the second round to the Celtics. Up-and-down college career: Davison certainly had moments where he shined, including a career-high 20-point performance against Gonzaga and a game-saving block against Houston. But there were also duds throughout the season, where he looked like a freshman playing at the college level. Boston president Brad Stevens will have at least some options through free agency and the trade market, though it’ll be interesting to see how he upgrades the roster. Of course, there wasn’t too much shine for the Celtics in the draft this season. They traded the No. 25 overall selection to the Spurs as part of the Derrick White deal at the trade deadline.

JD Davison was an SEC All-Freshman Team selection this past season for the Crimson Tide, averaging 8.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists despite only ...

More than any other player, I thought Davison made a substantial mistake leaving college for the NBA Draft. He has upside to play in the NBA at some point, but ...

There was a lot on his shoulders. Took his time and showed a lot of maturity. Right now, however, Athlon goes with the slightly safer pick considering Alabama’s collection of top-end talent on both sides of the ball and championship track record under coach Nick Saban. And how do you use that to improve? Nate Oats will run it back this year with a completely overhauled roster that he seems high on, likely to be led by two potential one-and-dones in PG Jaden Bradley and wing Brandon Miller. He’ll be able to put some heat on us with his speed on both ends of the floor that I’m looking forward to.” Having said that,TreVeyon Hendersonleads an elite run game for the Buckeyes. The scarlet and gray will still score its fair share of points. Ohio State brought in former Oklahoma State defensive coordinatorJim Knowlesto fix things on that side of the ball, but will Knowles singlehandedly turn around the defense? Jaden Shackelford and Keon Ellis went undrafted, which just goes to show that in hindsight the talent on last season’t roster probably wasn’t as good as projected. He’s a two-way contract player all the way for me, the kind of guy who is worth a developmental flier but not actual substantial investment at this stage – something that he would have received had he stayed in school at Alabama. He’s not going to have, barring anything crazy here, he’s not going to have a ton of pressure to come in and impact us right away or move the needle for us right away. More than any other player, I thought Davison made a substantial mistake leaving college for the NBA Draft. He has upside to play in the NBA at some point, but his skill set and tools are so raw.

The Celtics selected JD Davison in the NBA Draft, not utilizing future assets or the trade exception on Thursday night keeping a forward-facing focus.

We have the ability to do some small things in free agency with the taxpayer mid level and then obviously the ability to add some minimums. If that thing vanquishes because we don’t find the right deal, then we still have two other TPEs to use toward the trade deadline. We know who fits into our trade exception and who we may be able to target around the league,” Stevens said. The Celtics explored opportunities to move up in the NBA Draft on Thursday, before deciding to maintain their future assets and select Alabama guard JD Davison with the No. 53 overall pick. That gives Stevens, as he noted after the draft, flexibility following Summer League, including the ability to evaluate the team’s two free agent two-way players in Thomas and Ryan, who Davison could potentially replace or bump up into a full NBA contract. Little more than that appears professional right now, Sam Vecenie considering the guard years away from impact, which is fine given Boston’s needs, roster and the outlook for a player who turned 19 in the fall.

Former Alabama men's basketball guard JD Davison joined the Crimson Tide as a highly sought-after five-star recruit. It wasn't much of a shock when he declared ...

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Former Alabama men's basketball guard JD Davison will begin his NBA career with the Celtics, and Twitter is already chiming in on what it...

Former Alabama men’s basketball guard JD Davison joined the Crimson Tide as a highly sought-after five-star recruit. Tonight, Davison found out he will start his professional career with the Boston Celtics. It wasn’t much of a shock when he declared for the 2022 NBA draft after spending only one season at the collegiate level.

Boston selected Davison with the 53rd overall pick in Thursday night's NBA draft.

But at the same time, he can grow, develop and focus his attention on improving, and I think that that’s really an important place to be for a young player. “Well, I think we’re in a position roster-wise where we’ve got to evaluate the backend of our roster and decide on the guys who are here, decide on who we can add, again, via trade or via free agency. But we’re in a position roster-wise where we can focus on the development of a young player or two, too, and I think that that’s important. I went to a practice in October and watched him practice at Alabama. We saw several games live as a staff, so we’re very well-versed in who he is and what he brings to the table and also what he’s gotta work on. And some of that comes with experience, but we do think he’s got a good feel as far as getting the ball out of his hands quickly and finding the right people, especially on spot-ups. And again, the ability to get into the paint is a hard thing to be able to do in this league, and so whether in transition or off of a ball screen, off an action, to be able to get into the paint.

Nobody knows what JD Davison's NBA career will look like. But his athleticism is certainly not in question.

Rare is the athlete who can make an entire arena go wild the way that Davison did in Tuscaloosa last season against Auburn. He shot 46.3 percent from the field and 30.1 percent from 3-point range. Expectations will be reasonable for the 19-year-old guard, who was selected with the 53rd overall pick by the Celtics in the NBA Draft on Thursday evening.

The former Crimson Tide standout was the only player picked by Boston in Thursday night's NBA Draft.

He’ll be able to compete for minutes just like everybody else, but at the same time he can grow, develop and focus his attention on improving, and I think that’s a really important place to be for a young player. He had some incredible games, and he had some games where he looked like a freshman. We’ve got a really good team, but he’ll be able to put some heat on us with his speed on both ends of the floor.” And, obviously, I think played in a really good program for really good coaches, so we’re looking forward to getting him up to Boston. … Has some things he’ll have to improve on, but has a lot of physical tools. “Has the ability to get inside the paint and make plays.

JD Davison seems pretty excited to be joining the Boston Celtics after they selected him in the second round of the 2022 NBA Draft.

He's likely to be on Boston's Summer League roster next month. Davison seemed pretty excited about joining the reigning Eastern Conference champions, judging by some of his tweets after the pick was official. Davison is an athletic guard who averaged 8.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists in 33 games for the Crimson Tide last season.

Alabama beat writer Tony Tsoukalas believes Celtics draft pick JD Davison could be "an absolute steal." Read more on Boston.com.

Now, he averaged 25.8 minutes, so you would almost call him a starter, but the fact that he was willing to come off the bench, there was never a problem with JD. He never pouted. TT: I think the big thing for him is tapping into that potential. I think he would say that he underperformed for Alabama last year, but I think he’s a kid that has a ton of potential. Do you think he’ll be able to stay patient in the NBA and understand he may not log heavy minutes right away? I don’t know how it’s going to translate to the NBA. You see a lot of these kids that are super great and are raw that never really put it together, but as far as athletic ability, and the gifts that he has, getting him at No. 53 in the second round is an absolute steal. Marcus Smart is the Defensive Player of the Year, so comparing him to that might be a stretch, but he has the abilities and the athleticism to be a top defender. As far as being a ball-distributor, and even a ball-handler, I think he’s a capable point guard. He’s a tough guy that can bang bodies in the NBA. I think you could see him making a step like Smart did in his second year. He excelled at a 2A high school in Alabama, and he was able to overpower games with his athleticism. Tony Tsoukalas: He’s a guy that’s a top 20 talent in last year’s recruiting class, and a guy I think a lot of people expected to be a lottery pick, but he struggled to find consistency. Between the expectations and the transition, he really kind of struggled.