When Michael Carter-Williams was traded for backup wing Tony Snell on Monday, it further underscored just how disappointing the 2013 NBA draft class has been.
And that evidence was all over the court - and on the bench - in preseason action on Monday night.
The Chicago Bulls completed the trade with the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday, landing the 2013 rookie of the year for a back wing player in Snell that didn’t figure to see a lot of minutes for the Bulls this season. With Khris Middleton out for the season with a hamstring injury, the Bucks were in desperate need of depth on the wing, so they took a flier on Snell and didn’t hesitate to part with Carter-Williams, who gained little traction in Milwaukee after being acquired in a February 2015 trade that sent Brandon Knight to Phoenix.
Carter-Williams will come to Chicago and try to compete for minutes as the backup to Rajon Rondo. The Bulls also have Jerian Grant, Isaiah Canaan and Spencer Dinwiddie at point guard behind Rondo. Grant scored 12 points in 17 minutes and hit a tying jumper in the final seconds of regulation to force overtime in a 108-104 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night.
Up the road in Detroit, Giannis Antetokounmpo played with the Bucks against the Pistons and is one of the few stars to emerge from that 2013 class. Other solid contributors include Utah’s Rudy Gobert, who was impressive against the Clippers on Monday night, Oklahoma City’s Steven Adams, Atlanta’s Dennis Schroder, Portland’s Allen Crabbe (a second-rounder), and Minnesota’s Gorgui Dieng and Shabazz Muhammad.
But the poster child for the class’s weakness is Anthony Bennett, who is on his fourth team since entering the league as the No. 1 overall pick of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Bennett did not play for Brooklyn on Monday night in a 120-99 loss to the Nets.
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CELTICS 120, NETS 99
BOSTON - Isaiah Thomas went 6 for 6 from the field and scored 19 points and Al Horford played his first game for Celtics at TD Garden in an easy win over the rebuilding Nets.
Sean Kilpatrick led the Nets with 15 points in 20 minutes.
NETS: Jeremy Lin had 13 points and five assists. … Bojan Bogdanovic scored 12 points, but was a minus-35 in 22 minutes.
CELTICS: Horford scored five points in 12 minutes, receiving a rousing ovation from the home crowd. … Coach Brad Stevens played 16 players at least 10 minutes in the game. … Rookie Jaylen Brown scored 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting. … Boston turned the ball over 24 times.
UP NEXT: Boston (5-1) hosts New York on Wednesday in its preseason finale. Brooklyn (1-4) hosts the Knicks at Barclays Arena on Thursday.
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PISTONS 102, BUCKS 78
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 23 points and hit six 3-pointers to lead the Pistons over the Bucks.
Pope also had five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 21 points, six rebounds and four assists for Milwaukee.
BUCKS: Jabari Parker had 18 points and four rebounds. … Greg Monroe scored 12 points, but was just 6 for 19 from the field coming off the bench. … Matthew Dellavedova, in line to play an even bigger role with Michael Carter-Williams traded to Chicago, scored just two points on 1-for-7 shooting in 27 minutes.
PISTONS: Rookie Henry Ellenson scored 14 points, grabbed five rebounds and hit all three of his 3-pointers in 23 minutes. … The Pistons made 13 of 27 3s, outscoring Milwaukee by 27 points from behind the arc. … Andre Drummond had 12 points and 13 boards in 18 minutes and has made the Pistons look awfully smart for paying him the big money over Monroe, who has not panned out in Milwaukee.
UP NEXT: Milwaukee (2-3) hosts Indiana on Wednesday in its final game of the preseason. Detroit (3-2) hosts Toronto on Wednesday in its preseason finale.
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HORNETS 108, BULLS 104, OT
CHICAGO - Frank Kaminsky scored 14 points and hit three 3-pointers to lift the Hornets over the Bulls.
Jimmy Butler scored 15 points in 24 minutes for Chicago.
HORNETS: Nicolas Batum missed a short runner off of a steal that would have ended the game in regulation. … Marco Belinelli scored 14 points as well. … Charlotte turned the ball over just nine times. … Roy Hibbert score 11 points and had three blocks in 25 minutes.
BULLS: F Nikola Mirotic left the game with a back injury. … Line of the night from color analyst Stacey King: “I’m excited. I’ve been waiting all preseason for an overtime game.” … Doug McDermott scored 14 points, but was just 1 for 5 from 3-point range. The shooting-starved Bulls desperately need his floor-stretching range this season.
UP NEXT: Charlotte (2-3) hosts Miami on Wednesday. Chicago (3-3) heads to Omaha to play Atlanta on Thursday.
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JAZZ 104, CLIPPERS 78
SALT LAKE CITY - Rudy Gobert had 17 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks against a Clippers team resting most of its stars.
Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin all sat out. J.J. Redick played 20 minutes and scored five points.
CLIPPERS: Austin Rivers played 37 minutes and scored 15 points. … The Clippers shot just 39 percent, including just 19 percent (4 for 21) from 3-point range. … They turned the ball over 17 times and didn’t have much for Gobert in the middle with Jordan and Griffin on the bench.
JAZZ: Dante Exum scored 15 points and hit 2 of 4 3-pointers in 32 minutes, starting alongside George Hill in Utah’s backcourt. … Shelvin Mack scored 14 points and was a plus-23 in 14 minutes. … Utah shot 52 percent from the field, but only 62.5 percent (15 for 24) at the free-throw line.
UP NEXT: Los Angeles (2-3) visits Sacramento on Tuesday to finish the preseason schedule. Utah (3-2) hosts Portland in its exhibition finale on Wednesday.
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