Great Players who we let get away

[celticfan42487]

looking at the draft history, the only real blunders were billups and Joe Johnson trade.

And only the disator of 2001 was there a completely horrible pick. People in the second round, everyone missed out on.

And we did about average with Tony Allen and West. Would of been amazing if we got someone like Kevin Martin at that pick though.

Joe Johnson is great, does everything. More of a PG/SG then a SG/SF kinda player like Pierce... but that's why they would of worked so well together...

And man the Joe Morisio draft.. whatever his name is... that draft was bad from 10 on.

[BigCelticket]

Big Al Jefferson says hello!

If we're talking about great players, then I'm not sure these two qualify, but I think both Ryan Gomes and Delonte West are going to have long, fruitful NBA careers.

I don't regret any of the recent moves we've made since we got to hang # 17 in the rafters, but I can't help but wonder what our team would look like if we had stuck diligently to the youth campaign instead of trading for established vets.

C- Perkins
PF- Jefferson
SF- Pierce
SG- Joe Johnson
PG- Billups

And then the depth would come in waves-

Powe, Baby and Ryan Gomes would be the bigs off the bench.
And Rudy Gay playing the wing off the bench. (Taken at #5 in lieu of R. Allen trade)
Delonte, TA and Rondo at the guards.

I know it's just playing with hypotheticals, but it would have been interesting to see a unit like the above one coming together. Again, I'm not second guessing Danny. Although I can't say the same for Rick Pitino and Chris Wallace.

Umm, without Ray Allen we wouldn't have Big "Beast" Baby.

[sam_I_am]

In 1978 the Celtics had 2 #1 picks. With the #6 pick they selected junior eligible Larry Bird. He stayed in college and the Celtics went on to have the worst record in basketball. They should have had the #1 pick following that season as there was no lottery which they most definitely would have used to select Magic Johnson.

Imagine Bird and Magic joining the Celtics at the same time. Obviously, that would have been a disaster for the NBA in retrospect.

What happened to that pick? I believe they traded it for Bob McAdoo years earlier. Should that be mentioned as worst trade in Celtics history? I was too young back then so I don't really know what actually happened....

[campybatman]

Just to add to that... In accordance to this site, Chicago could've had Bird if not for the previous draft rules of the time.

Fresh off leading Michigan State to the 1979 NCAA National Championship, Earvin "Magic" Johnson was the top prize of that summer's NBA Draft. Where the charismatic playmaker would call home as a pro came down to who would win a simple coin flip for the right to pick first-the Chicago Bulls, who had posted the worst record in the Eastern Conference during the 1978-79 season, or the Los Angeles Lakers, who, by virtue of a trade, held the first pick of the New Orleans Jazz, who stumbled their way to the worst record in the East.

Chicago requested the honor of calling the flip and the Lakers agreed; so, after Commissioner Larry O'Brien tossed a coin in the air, then Bulls General Manager Rod Thorn immediately woofed "heads," to go along with the final results of a fan poll. Unfortunately for broken-hearted Bulls fans, the coin landed tails up, and the Lakers were suddenly on their way to capturing five NBA titles in the '80s.

Pair that misfortune with Boston taking advantage of a then league rule by selecting and signing, before the 1979 Draft commenced, Larry Bird as a junior eligible player in June, 1978-a full year before Bird actually left Indiana State University. Bird's inking with Boston meant the Bulls didn't have a shot at grabbing him either. Instead, with the No. 2 pick, Chicago chose UCLA All-American forward David Greenwood, who turned out to be a decent pro but was far from the player that Johnson or Bird were.

http://niketalk.yuku.com/topic/23972/t/ ... ordan.html

[sully00]

Chauncey Billups shot 37%, 38%, 33% from the field his first 3 seasons with nothing to show from the the 3pt line which was supposed to be his best skill. This included missing most of that 3rd year to injury. Under the old rules that was the end of his rookie contract. He signed a deal with MINN and turned it around a little in the second season but that was five years into the league Kenny Anderson was no great shakes in Boston but he was much better than Billups was during the time he was here.

In defense of OB who I believe chose to trade JJ and killed the idea of Agent 0, remember who he is and understand they are two of the worst defenders in the NBA. Hell they aren't even bad they just don't do it.

Brandon Roy, who I had no love for at all coming out of college, and Kevin Martin, who was on Boston's radar but went with TA and Delonte, was a much bigger gaff than any of these guys.

[celticfan42487]

Yeah, even now I keep thinking.. Roy wasn't suppose to be this good.

He was suppose to be at the level of a minor star on a team. Not an all-star.

Joe Johnson wasn't either.

They're both PG/SGs that happen to have top tier scoring ability on top of it. And they were both more polished then your typical rookie [much more in Roy's case].

[MyInsatiableOne]

Brandon Roy, yes...TA and Delonte being that much worse than Kevin Martin? Not sure I agree...

[celticfan42487]

Also, one thing to consider.

If we drafted Roy. And commited to a top 7 draft pick salary...

We might not of spent the money and/or traded our pick to get Rajon Rondo or spent the money to get Leon Powe.

Because we already got a big fish, and we might of wanted to see how that worked out instead of trading a future first for Rondo.

Also remember Roy was a PG/SG. And Pierce already has good ball handling abilities. So we'd probably just pay up to keep Delonte West.

[MyInsatiableOne]

Hmmm...intriguing. I'm so glad we have Rondo, but would a backcourt of Roy and Delonte have been so bad?

[sully00]

Brandon Roy, yes...TA and Delonte being that much worse than Kevin Martin? Not sure I agree...

Are you serious? I am pretty big Delonte honk but I think the guy dropping 25 a game shooting 41% from 3 might be a little bit better than Delonte and his 11ppg, but that is just me.

[chakdaddy]

Billups was an absolute nomad until he got to Detroit, I actually thought the Pistons were nuts for signing him to such a big contract. He had some promise, I remember his biggest plus I thought was how he got to the line a lot and knocked down foul shots. Sure we should have had a little more patience, but getting Anderson for him wound up being more than Toronto, Denver, Orlando, or Minnesota got for him. But giving up on Billups seems very minor compared to the other misses. JJ was a particular travesty given how much promise he had shown already. Gee, a rookie regressed a little bit and hit a wall, I guess he'll never amount to anything, we'd better trade him.

I remember being upset when Mercer was traded for Alvin Williams, but that got rescinded because Williams or someone flunked the physical. Then it was better getting Fortson for him. Why did Mercer flame out so badly, I thought he was decent.

Here's a rarely mentioned bad trade - dumping Eric Williams the first time. That could have really burned us if he hadn't blown out his knee.

[MyInsatiableOne]

Brandon Roy, yes...TA and Delonte being that much worse than Kevin Martin? Not sure I agree...

Are you serious? I am pretty big Delonte honk but I think the guy dropping 25 a game shooting 41% from 3 might be a little bit better than Delonte and his 11ppg, but that is just me.

Are we talking about Kevin Martin? He's good, no doubt...dude is always hurt (then again so is Delonte)...I dunno, Martin's game never "wowed" me the way it has some others on here, maybe I haven't seen him enough...

[xAusTiN]

Big Al Jefferson says hello!

If we're talking about great players, then I'm not sure these two qualify, but I think both Ryan Gomes and Delonte West are going to have long, fruitful NBA careers.

I don't regret any of the recent moves we've made since we got to hang # 17 in the rafters, but I can't help but wonder what our team would look like if we had stuck diligently to the youth campaign instead of trading for established vets.

C- Perkins
PF- Jefferson
SF- Pierce
SG- Joe Johnson
PG- Billups

And then the depth would come in waves-

Powe, Baby and Ryan Gomes would be the bigs off the bench.
And Rudy Gay playing the wing off the bench. (Taken at #5 in lieu of R. Allen trade)
Delonte, TA and Rondo at the guards.

I know it's just playing with hypotheticals, but it would have been interesting to see a unit like the above one coming together. Again, I'm not second guessing Danny. Although I can't say the same for Rick Pitino and Chris Wallace.

First off if you kept Billups then who said you would have had the same draft picks? You get what im saying? One man can make a team bad or good or w/e, so if you were to keep Billups im saying you would have had a different record most likely and you wouldnt have the same draft picks, so if you kept billups no Johnson, Jefferson, Delonte, Powe, etc..... you get what im saying?

[campybatman]

What about Minnesota? They'd drafted Ray Allen and traded his draft rights for Marbury, drafted Brandon Roy and traded his draft rights for Randy Foye and drafted OJ Mayo and traded his draft rights for Kevin Love. You certainly can say that Minnesota lost out on those first two moves. The third one is too early to tell. But, I'll go ahead and say they've lost out here as well. Mayo would've really helped offensively for their back court. While Love may prove to be a solid young player but is another power forward to a better power forward in Al Jefferson. See, this is what happens when you draft for need and your choices turn out to be a mistake down the road. I mean I'll give them Marbury, but you can't say that they wouldn't mind having Roy as their longterm solution at shooting guard instead of having Mike Miller or Corey Brewer not as a solution but a temporary option.

[Fencer reregistered]

Red was known as being a shrewd drafter but he pulled plenty of clunkers.

Red was the most brilliant drafter of All-Time.
From 1950 (his arrival) until 1993, the Celtics were only below .500 3 times in 43 years.

Looking at the period 1950 thru 1986,
there were maybe 3 occurences where Red didn't take the best player available,
(plus two instances where he already had a position well covered and
was obviously looking help for elewhere.)

So you're suggested that every really good non-Celtic was drafted before Red was up, except in those cases where Red took somebody even better? Give or take a couple of counterexamples like 1963, 1964 or 1976?

Hmm. That's not as ridiculous as it first sounds ...