2006 Draft - Rajon Rondo vs Marcus Williams

[wetsthebed]

I was wrong about Rondo. It is kind of weird, he was hyped out of HS and then was unimpressive (IMO) at Kentucky.

If I remember correctly, didn't Tubby play Rondo off the ball a lot at Kentucky? That was probably a big part of why he was unimpressive in college.

[buckner1976]

I was wrong about Rondo. It is kind of weird, he was hyped out of HS and then was unimpressive (IMO) at Kentucky.

If I remember correctly, didn't Tubby play Rondo off the ball a lot at Kentucky? That was probably a big part of why he was unimpressive in college.

Yes he did. Patrick Sparks did a lot of the ballhandling and play initiating on that team. Rondo didn't really have the scoring instincts nor the jumpshot to really make that backcourt work. I remember not being all that impressed with Rondo either.

As for Williams, I am so surprised it did not work out in Golden State. I figured that would be a perfect place for him.

[GuyClinch]

I remember a few Sergio fans - but I don't remember this "Marcus Williams" crowd. I liked Rondo because he was at least very fast. But I didn't imagine he would be this good. This whole argument is rather like a Malcolm Gladwell book. It's like "see random unknown person" I told you so. I am so smart.

[LongTimeFan]

Guy:

I see the argument as important in the Giddens comment way. Or DA over paid for the third best player out of the draft .

We got to be chmapions because DA could draft well, develope the talent and then deal to concentrate the talent. Players like Pruitt, Baby, Giddens and Walker develope better with our support and belief.

So the constructive aspect of this debate or argument is that we gain confidence in the process, which improves the chances the process will continue to work. This is a reasonable bet in that it has worked and we have a championship, all predicated on DA drafting well.

7th pick & cash becomes third best player and expiring contract that gets Garnett and people are nitpicking our GM? They are going to nitpick Walker or Giddens or whoever, and that is going to hurt the team.

[sunshinekids99]

There was a strong Marcus Williams group on the board that didn't want Rondo at all. I think Rondo has pretty much silenced that group.

.

Got to admit I was one of the leaders of that group. I thought Marcus Williams was going to be a Mark Jackson clone. I thought he could be an assist machine with an nice outside shot. It also didn't help the fact that I'm a UCONN fan.

As for Rondo, I knew he was an athletic freak. But I thought he lack of a shot would limit anything he could do with that athleticism. I also didn't think he defense was going to translate over to the NBA as well as some scouts thought it would.

I'm loving the fact that I was wrong. And I can't say a whole lot wrong with Rondo anymore.

[tlee324]

Sun: If I'm not mistaken, Williams had a pretty high turnover number in college, which alarmed me out the gate.

Guy: LOL. I guess if you don't recall it, then it didn't exist...

I actually was a Brandon Roy guy all the way, and if I'm not mistaken, so was Sully at the time. I didn't know much about Rondo at all, but knew Ainge had him in for workouts more than usual than anyone else at the time, and I personally trusted his judgment after the move was made.

In general, I am pretty smart, though.






Also glad we didn't trade Pierce for Adam Morrison either, which was a request by a poster at the time.

[GuyClinch]

Guy: LOL. I guess if you don't recall it, then it didn't exist...

LOL. I guess if you recalled it - (despite being not one of the Marcus Williams people) it DID exist. <g> If you can find some "Marcus Williams vs. Rondo" thread filled with Williams supporters post it. I am betting you can't.

Ego fulfilling arguments about "I told you so" are weak sauce. They are even worse when they are about arguments that didn't really happen. What's next an attack of all the McCain supporters on this board?.. Like the two of them.

[Mahoney_jr]

I was a Rondo guy before the draft '06. But I thought it would be a reach to pick him with #7. When Danny made the trade and managed to get Rondo with #21 I was pretty satisfied how the draft went.

Two more things on that:

#1 I didn't expect Brandon Roy be THIS good. He was my 2nd favourite player to Rondo from the obvious Top 10. But I thought he would be more injured than on the floor in the NBA.

#2 I believe that Ainge was not allowed to pay for Rondo. Wyc would have payed for a pick if the team is winning, but in 2006 it was not opportune to trade cash for a 1st rounder in Boston. That's just my point of view, though. I have to admit that I was kind of puzzled that we ended as the only team trading pick for pick with PHO while esp. the Blazers traded cash.

[tlee324]

Guy: Unfortunately, the threads don't go back that far.

So I guess we'll just have to take into account that there's a person on this thread that actually said he was a part of that group.

LOL.


Merry Christmas.

[tlee324]

I was a Rondo guy before the draft '06. But I thought it would be a reach to pick him with #7. When Danny made the trade and managed to get Rondo with #21 I was pretty satisfied how the draft went.

One of the many things I love about the draft is seeing a few years later how differently teams would have picked after seeing these guys play. It turned out to be a great move on Ainge's part, and it was dependent primarily--some will argue solely--on how Rondo turned out.

#1 I didn't expect Brandon Roy be THIS good. He was my 2nd favourite player to Rondo from the obvious Top 10. But I thought he would be more injured than on the floor in the NBA.

Agreed. At the time, I thought he was hands down the best player in the draft, but I didn't expect him to be as good as he is today. I was not expecting a good turnout of Morrison at all, and guys like Shelden Williams, Andrea Bargnani, and Tyrus Thomas looked inferior to Roy... I thought Roy would move up in the draft in the same manner Dwayne Wade did, but Portland had a really good night in that draft. They could afford to take the big man with potential in Aldridge (who is turning out to be a good, productive player), and take the polished all around guard in Roy.

The other player I didn't expect to turn out that well in that lottery group was Gay, but he proved me wrong too. Very talented athlete. It turned out to be a pretty decent draft from top to bottom.

[hickfromfrenchlick]

Another UConn fan here. I thought neither guy deserved to be picked in the top-10.

I probably liked MW over RR but Rajon won me over soon after he got there. Warts and all, I recognized his speed, athleticism, defensive capability, and playmaking ability.

As for MW, like another poster explained, he's never really been given a shot. Playing behind Kidd and Harris and then being shipped to GS and directly into Nelson's doghouse.

Of course his defense has never been his strong suit. That would be fine, if he contributes offensively. I think his outside shot needs for him to fall for him to be dangerous. And he hasn't shown that yet. I do think, if given minutes, he can show that.

His passing skills are not in doubt. He is a FANTASTIC passer in both the half and full court. As in, Kidd-like. And while he's not the fastest guy in the world, he, like Pierce, has a knack for using his first step and his body to get where he's going. (And to whoever said his college TOs were high, that's a function of a high-flying offense and a lot of passes in transition -- his A/TO was not bad at all.)

I'm a little puzzled that he hasn't gotten a chance. I hesitate to say it has something to do with character, but who knows. Now that GS isn't going to pick up his contract, he'll have the chance to pick a team that can offer him some minutes to show what he's got.

I still wouldn't throw away the Mark Jackson comparisons. How good would Rondo be right now if he'd been riding pine this whole time? Not on the cusp of making the All Star Game, that's for sure.

[TheOGJabroni]

I was wrong about Rondo. It is kind of weird, he was hyped out of HS and then was unimpressive (IMO) at Kentucky.

If I remember correctly, didn't Tubby play Rondo off the ball a lot at Kentucky? That was probably a big part of why he was unimpressive in college.

Yes he did. Patrick Sparks did a lot of the ballhandling and play initiating on that team. Rondo didn't really have the scoring instincts nor the jumpshot to really make that backcourt work. I remember not being all that impressed with Rondo either.

As for Williams, I am so surprised it did not work out in Golden State. I figured that would be a perfect place for him.

I remember how strange that offense was. I was a huge fan of Rondo going into Kentucky and thought Sparks' shooting with Rondo's athleticism and playmaking would work incredibly well. Instead their positions were switched for whatever reason, and their play together was incredily putrid.