The Ones That Got Away

[jross@S1.DRC.COM]

  A big THANKS to the fine research done by Charles Jowett and Jason Drisko
for identifying the NBA players whose rights had previously belonged to the 
Celtics.  Below is the statistical summary of how these players are doing 
(now that their rights no longer belong to the Celtics).  Statistics for
Howard Eisley, George McCloud, and Rameal Robinson are included, but, I 
believe that, although they went through the Rookie & Free Agents Camp, the
Celtics never actually owned their rights.  Can anyone verify this?

  Assuming Eisley, McCloud, and Robinson are not really ex-Celtics, this
group (of 20 players) would collectively score 112.9 points per game.  If
Eisley, McCloud, and Robinson (23 total players) are added to the mix, the
group would score 145.4 points per game.  If only the top twelve scorers
(from this group of 20 players) were assembled into a team, they would 
score 91.1 points per game.  10 of these ex-Celtics could play the center
position; 11 could play the forward positions; and 5 could play the guard
positions.

 FORMER CELTIC PLAYERS  (with 1996-96 statistics through 13 April 1997)

Name           Team  Position Games FT%    FG%   Reb  Assists  Points  PPG

Isaac Austin     Miami      C  78  66.1%  50.2%  460     93      749   9.6

Jon Barry        Atlanta    G  56  79.5%  39.9%   97    109      264   4.7

Sherman Douglas  Milwaukee  G  75  66.0%  49.8%  185    399      716   9.5

Acie Earl        Milwaukee  C  45  65.0%  38.2%   96     19      184   4.1

Blue Edwards    Vancouver  F-G 61  81.7%  39.7%  189    114      478   7.8

Kevin Gamble   Sacramento  F-G 62  70.0%  43.0%  107    180      307   5.0

Stacy King       Dallas    F-C  7  66.7%  72.7%   14      1       16   2.6

Joe Kleine     New Jersey   C  56  73.7%  41.0%  198     34      166   3.4

Tony Massenburg New Jersey  F  75  63.5%  48.4%  472     21      522   7.0

Xavier McDaniel New Jersey  F  58  74.7%  38.1%  297     54      320   5.5

Eric Montross   New Jersey  C  74  33.9%  45.9%  459     58      309   4.2

Robert Parish    Chicago    C  41  67.7%  49.3%   85     22      159   3.9

Ed Pinckney      Miami      F  26  76.2%  53.7%   61      5       73   2.8

Steve Scheffler  Seattle  F-C   6   ---%  80.0%    3      0        8   1.3

Brian Shaw       Orlando    G  75  79.7%  36.7%  190    315      539   7.2

Derek Strong     Orlando    F  78  78.2%  44.6%  487     70      643   8.2

Stojko Vrankovic Minnesota  C  51  67.6%  55.8%  167     13      179   3.5

Dominique Wilkens San Ant.  F  61  80.1%  41.6%  391    111     1115  18.3

Lorenzo Williams  Wash.   C-F  16  80.0%  65.5%   64      4       42   2.6

Joe Wolf         Milwaukee C-F 53  70.6%  45.8%  108     18       88   1.7

           NBA PLAYERS WHO WENT THROUGH CELTICS TRAINING CAMPS

Howard Eisley     Utah      G  78   78.4%  44.9%   80    179     350   4.5

George McCloud  LA Lakers   F  64   69.9%  46.1%  179    109     658  10.3

Rameal Robinson  Portland   G   6   65.4%  50.0%   51      8     106  17.7

  Again, excluding Eisley, McCloud, and Robinson, if I were a General
Manager of a hypothetical NBA expansion team and had to select my 12 man
roster from this list of 20 players, I might select: 
  Centers - Isaac Austin, Eric Montross, and Acie Earl
  Forwards - Kevin Gamble, Tony Massenburg, Derek Strong, Dominique
             Wilkens, and Joe Wolf 
  Guards - Jon Barry, Sherman Douglas, Blue Edwards, and Brian Shaw

Starters for this motley team might likely be:
  Eric Montross, Derek Strong, Dominique Wilkens, Sherman Douglas and
  Brian Shaw

As poor as this team's roster sounds, they might actually still be better
(or at least be capable of winning more games) than this year's Celtics.
At least they would have a true go-to player (Wilkins) is likely to get
those benefit-of-the-doubt calls from the referees.  Anyone care to 
comment on this hypothetical roster and its potential versus the current
Celtics roster?   

  The real purpose of this long e-mail (sorry!) is to help the list to
assess the type of players that the Celtics have looked at (and decided
to let go) and then determine if the Celtics lost any real talent.  And
remember, these are not some player that the Celtics should have or
could have drafted or tried to acquire through free agency.  Rather, 
this is a listing of NBA-level that the Celtics actually owned.  Do we
miss any of these guys?  --  Bestest,

  --  Jim