Can you still win the draft after losing the lottery?
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by user Sportsbrief
Seriously? As a Celtics fan what can I possibly say after last night’s lottery nightmare coming true. My buddy Shark said this ranks right below Aaron Boone’s homerun in the “worst Boston sports moments of our life time” list. And he might be right. I’m not going to even get into that list, as I am already far too depressed, rather I will focus on the newest “kick to the groin” in Celtics history. After all we endured the longest losing streak of the franchise, 18 games, injuries to our best players, and having to watch serious minutes being given to the likes of Allan Ray, Brian Scalabrine, and Kevinn Pinkney. The Sebastian Telfair trade and the contract extension to Doc Rivers also comes to mind, but if the C’s landed the first or second pick, all of that would have been forgotten, or at least pushed to the side for now. Pierce-Jefferson-Oden/Durant… you’d be lying to yourself if that’s not a serious threat in the East. And we have been looking forward to that for months. Now Pierce-Jefferson-B.Wright/J.Wright/Yi… I don’t feel good. Look I like Leon Powe, Ryan Gomes, and Kendrick Perkins as much as the next guy, but they all shouldn’t be saying things like, “nice, I should still get a ton of minutes next year.” Wow, the 5 th pick? Really? Even big Tommy couldn’t get them into the top 2, I guess it wasn’t meant to be. I’m sure Besse and Shark will comment about the miserable state of the Celts, and I can’t blame them, I just don’t want to go there quite yet. Instead I’m going to look at the top 10 picks from the past 10 drafts, and prove to myself that you can still cash in without winning the lottery.
Let’s work our way from bottom to top.
#10
The Good: Paul Pierce ’98, Jason Terry ’99, Joe Johnson ’01, Caron Butler ’02.
The Bad: Keyon Dooling ’10, Luke Jackson ’04.
Comments: The Celtics had success picking 10 th both in ’98 and ’01, unfortunately they didn’t hold on to Johnson long enough to see him make the All-Star team. But they still have Pierce, right? For now.
#9
The Good: Tracy McGrady ’97, Dirk Nowitzki ’98, Shawn Marion ’99, Amare Stoudemire ’02, Andre Iguodala ’04.
The Bad: Joel Pryzbilla ’00, Rodney White ’01.
Comments: Sign me up for the number 9 pick. Bulls fan should be looking at this and thinking they can add another piece to the already exciting young nucleus they have. Hey if guys like T-Mac, Amare, the Matrix, and the league’s MVP fall to 9, the Celts should get someone great at 5… right? I thought this was supposed to help.
#8
The Good: Andre Miller ’99, TJ Ford ’03, Rudy Gay ’06.
The Bad: Adonel Foyle ’97, DeSagana Diop ’01, Rafael Araujo ’04.
Comments: First off its hard to say for the rookie class if they will fall into the good or bad category. I put Gay there, he was a first team all-rookie selection, and I think he will continue to get better. Larry Hughes was also an 8 th pick, but he’s so up and down, sometimes he’s good, sometimes he’s bad. The difference between one pick can be huge. Look at Foyle ahead of T-Mac, Hughes ahead of Dirk, Chris Wilcox ahead of Amare, with just four teams in front of Boston hopefully those teams will screw up too.
#7
The Good: Richard Hamilton ’99, Kirk Hinrich ’03, Luol Deng ’04, Charlie Villanueva ’05.
The Bad: Chris Mihm ’00, Eddie Griffin ’01.
Comments: I put Villanueva on the good list, because not only do I think he will be solid, but also people bashed the pick at the time. Other interesting numbers 7s include Nene, Tim Thomas, Jason Williams, and Randy Foye who was immediately traded for this years rookie of the year Brandon Roy. Who cares, let’s hurry up to the 5 th pick.
#6
The Good: Shane Battier ’01, Brandon Roy ’06.
The Bad: Ron Mercer ’97, Robert “Tractor” Traylor ’98, DeMarr Johnson ’00, Dajuan Wagner ’02, Josh Childress ’04, Martel Webster ’05.
Comments: Gross. You do not want to the 6 th pick apparently. Wally Szczerbiak and Chris Kamen were others who went 6 th. A combined 1 all star appearance for the last ten players picked in this spot. I believe Roy will start to turn things around, but look at some of these picks. Awful. Could be worse for the Celtics… Oh wait, nope, 5 th was the lowest spot they could get. And without further ado.
#5
The Good: Vince Carter ’98, Mike Miller ’00, Jason Richardson ’01, Dwayne Wade ’03, Ray Felton ’05.
The Bad: Tony Battie ’97, Jonathan Bender ’99, Nikoloz Tskitishvili ’02.
Comments: Devin Harris and Sheldon Williams round out the group that is very hit or miss. With Danny Ainge pulling the strings the Celts have a better chance of snagging this years Tskitishvili than they do Vince or Wade. The lottery was seriously last night? You sure? Friggin Seattle won’t even be there in a year what are they going to do with Durant? This is awful.
#4
The Good: Antawn Jamison ’98, Lamar Odom ’99, Chris Bosh ’03, Chris Paul ’05.
The Bad: Antonio Daniels ’97, Marcus Fizer ’00, Shaun Livingston ’04.
Comments: This high in the draft the bad become real bad. Your team is investing a top 5 pick in an attempt to safe the future of the franchise. You pick a Marcus Fizer its good new, bad news. Bad news you won’t make the playoffs, good news you’ll likely get another crack at the top 5 next year. I better not be watching next year’s lottery with this much anticipation.
#3
The Good: Chauncey Billups ’97, Baron Davis ’99, Pau Gasol ’01, Carmelo Anthony ’03, Ben Gordon ’04, Deron Williams ’05.
The Bad: Raef Lafrentz ’98, Darius Miles ’00, Mike Dunleavy ’02, Adam Morrison ’06.
Comments: Billups is good now. Him and Mercer make me sick, and it has nothing to do with either of them. This list isn’t making me feel any better. I don’t even want to finish it, but I will.
#2
The Good: … has there been a good number 2 pick in the last 10 years? Steve Francis was really good, but now? Mike Bibby is solid, but has never been an All-Star team. I’ll give the nod to Emeka Okafor ’04. (Got to have someone.)
The Bad: Keith Van Horn ’97, Stromile Swift ’00, Jay Williams ’02 (I know injuries, but still), Darko Milicic ’03, Marvin Williams ’05.
Comments: Its tough to be a number 2 pick, even if you have above average careers, being selected that high makes you an underachiever. Also in the case of a Mike Bibby, getting picked ahead of Jamison, Carter, Dirk, and Pierce doesn’t look good. Kevin Durant may already be the best #2 pick in the last 10+ years. Got to go back to Marcus Camby or certainly Jason Kidd to find a better one.
#1
The Good: Tim Duncan ’97, Elton Brand ’99, Yao Ming ’02, LeBron James ’03, Dwight Howard ’04.
The Bad: Michael Olowokandi ’98, Kwame Brown ’01.
Comments: Yeah Tim Duncan was a good number 1 pick. Why did I do this? Wow how many bad top 10 picks have played in Boston? All of them? Olowokandi, Raef, Mihm, Mercer, Battie, Luke Jackson. Worst part is they didn’t miss draft on most of them, they decided to pick them up later. Well I did this with the intent of proving to myself that despite not winning the lottery, you can still win the draft. But with Oden and Durant sitting there, who am I kidding? There's just over a month until the draft, and a lot will have to happen to get Celtics fans thinking positively again. Well if Pierce is healthy, Jefferson is already a double-double guy, and it is a really deep draft this year right? Ugh.
-Rich Keefe
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