The Boston Celtics selected Jaylen Brown with the No. 3 pick Thursday night at the 2016 NBA Draft.
The 6-foot-7 forward spent one season at the University of California, Berkley, where he averaged 14.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, and earned Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors along with a spot on the First-Team All-Pac-12. He scored in double figures during 27 of the 34 games he played in, and notched the third most points (498) by a freshman in program history. Prior to his one-year stint at Cal, Brown was rated as one of the top recruits in the nation for the high school class of 2015. He averaged 28.0 PPG and 12.0 RPG during his senior season at nationally-ranked Wheeler High School in Marietta, Georgia, and was named 2015 Gatorade Georgia Boys’ Player of the Year and Georgia’s Mr. Basketball. You can read more about Brown in our Draft Profile Series scouting report.
The Celtics completed their first round selections Thursday night by drafting a pair of international bigs, Guerschon Yabusele and Ante Zizic, with the 16th and 23rd picks, respectively.
Yabusele, a 6-foot-8, large-bodied forward has been playing professionally since 2013 in his home country of France. He most recently played for Rouen Metropole Basket of the LNB Pro A, averaging 11.5 PPG, 6.8 RPG (2.6 offensive) and 1.1 steals per game this past season. The 20-year-old has also proven himself as a reliable shooter, posting a 53.9 percent mark from the field, including 42.6 percent from beyond the arc.
Zizic, a 6-foot-11, 250-pound Croatian forward, has played professionally in his home country since 2012. He played his last two seasons for Cibona Zagreb of the Croatian League and the Adriatic League. During Croatian League play this past season, the 19-year-old averaged 16.0 PPG on 70.3 percent shooting from the field, 9.8 RPG (3.1 offensive) and 1.3 blocks per game. He also excelled during Cibona’s FIBA World Cup slate, averaging 15.9 PPG on 63.4 percent shooting, 8.4 RPG and 1.1 BPG. During Adriatic play, Zizic averaged a league-best 7.8 rebounds and was named 2016 Adriatic League Top Prospect.
