RE: Kwame dropping and etc...

[OzerskyJA <OzerskyJA@cmog.org>]

There's no way the Celts are thinking about
Cook in the lottery.  Cook may go before us
at 21, and probably will, but nobody is going
to draft a guy like that over Zach Randolph,
Tyson Chandler, or even for that matter Jamal
Tinsley.  I wonder if there isn't somebody the
Celts are in love with that we don't know about...

Josh

-----Original Message-----
From: Berry, Mark S [mailto:berrym@BATTELLE.ORG]
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2001 10:18 AM
To: 'celtics@igtc.com'
Subject: Re: Kwame dropping and etc...


This is interesting, but there's still plenty of time for him to wow
everyone. Kind of reminds me of Lamar Odom a couple of years ago, when teams
supposedly were scared of his off-court behavior. That concern lasted right
up until the last day or two before the draft, when teams at all points of
the draft were trying to get in last-minute workouts to try to trade into
the top four to select the kid. Kwame has too much talent to drop below No.
4, but that's a spot the Celts might actually be able to reach. I'm still
hoping for that trade-up.

I've been thinking that Battier might be the guy who drops this year. Much
like Pierce was, Battier is seen as a solid, what-you-see-is-what-you-get
kind of player and a lock for the top five. In fact, he has been associated
with Atlanta so long, many teams after that probably will zero in on other
players (Diop, Chandler, Gasol, White, Richardson, etc.). But if Atlanta
passes on Battier, it wouldn't shock me to see him slide down to Cleveland
at No. 8. And those teams at 7-8-9 have glaring needs at the center
position, so if Diop and Chandler are still on the board, it may be too
tempting than the "safe" pick of Battier. Just a thought...

I really don't know what to hope for at this point with the Celts. You have
to think if Diop is as good as advertised, this talk of him sliding to the
end of the lottery will end as soon as he works out in
Jersey-Cleveland-Detroit. Those teams won't let a potentially great center
slide by. If they do pass, then the Celts should be suspicious. What do we
make of Troy Murphy? Can a player completely change his body in a matter of
months? If so, a power forward with his shooting skills could be a huge
advantage with the rule changes. Will Gasol slide? It's conceivable,
assuming Chandler and Diop impress in workouts. (Apparently Chandler has had
some good ones lately.) If he gets past the Bulls at 4, Gasol might even
slide to the Celts. How good is Vlad Rad? Have we fallen so in love with
Omar Cook, the 6-1 PG who can't shoot, that we simply MUST have him and take
him at 11? Personally, I'm hoping guys like Vlad, Cook, Murphy and Steven
Hunter (the star of the Chicago camp) move up enough to drop Haywood to the
Celts at 21. What a steal that would be.

Going from the latest scuttle, here's a look at how the lottery could shake
out... 1. Griffin; 2. Curry; 3. K. Brown; 4. Gasol; 5. White; 6. Richardson;
7. Diop; 8. Battier; 9. Johnson; 10. Chandler; 11. Vlad Rad or Cook.

I still think Washington, Atlanta and Chicago would like to trade those
picks, and just have a feeling that the Celts might do that. I hope so. That
Chandler-Cook combo at 10-11 doesn't thrill me. It's not bad, just not
exacty what I'd hoped for from this draft.

Mark