RE: draft picks

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

I understand the thinking on the Denver pick Joe, but have to disagree. The
Nuggets are close to being a playoff team--if they could win at all away
from home they would be. They likely will have a new coach next season and
could really improve over the next couple of years with a few good decisions
(while teams like Seattle, Minnesota, Utah and Phoenix could go the other
way in the West). I don't see them really falling into high lottery land
anytime soon. I'd take the known commodity in a deep draft.

As for prepsters and underclassmen coming out early... you're right. Many of
them should have learned a lesson from the last draft. But sadly, most of
them probably think "but I'm better than those guys..." and will dive right
in. Selfishly speaking, with the Celts sitting in such good draft position,
I'm hoping they all declare. The more the merrier. I'd love to see Jason
Williams, Jamal Tinsley, Tito Maddox and Frank Williams on the draft board,
because the Celts would have a great chance to draft a quality young point
guard with size. I'd love to see Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler, Dasagna Diop,
Brendan Haywood, Yao Ming and Loren Woods in the mix at center. Or Kwame
Brown, Michael Bradley, Troy Murphy, Drew Gooden and Rodney White at power
forward. And if Jason Richardson and Gerald Wallace go early, that just
pushes more big guys down for the Celts.

Look at those names. There's a real possibility that two or even three of
those guys could be in Boston next year. You never know how the draft will
shape up, but I don't remember a draft with so many potential impact
players. The choices will be so important, because if the Celts are
committed to keeping both Walker and Pierce and building around them, this
is the only way to do it. The rest of the roster has no trade value and the
team has no cap room. If you want to see this team build on what it has,
study the names above and hope the Celtics' braintrust (I know, I know...
oxymoron) is doing the same.

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: Hironaka [mailto:j.hironaka@unesco.org]
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2001 11:56 AM
To: Berry, Mark S; celtics@igtc.com
Subject: Re: draft picks


"Berry, Mark S" wrote:

> In case you missed it, there was a pretty important game with Celtic
> implications over the weekend. The Suns beat Houston to move three games
> ahead of the Rockets in the Western playoff picture. The Suns are seventh,
> Minnesota eighth and Houston ninth. It's significant to the Celts because,
> as I understand it, Boston will receive the better of the Utah or Phoenix
> picks in the upcoming draft as a result of the Fortson trade. The only
> restriction is the Phoenix pick can't be in the top 15. If that happens,
the
> Celts get the Utah pick. The only way Phoenix gets in the top 15 is to
miss
> the playoffs in the West, which still is possible. If they do, they'd pick
> no worse than 13th. If they make the playoffs, they figure to pick in the
> 16-20 range because their record will be better than several East playoff
> teams. The difference is significant, because Utah figures to pick in the
> 25-29 range.
>
> If things continue the way they appear, the Celts could pick 10, 11 and in
> that 16-20 range. The hope would be that one of those picks turns into a
> starting-quality player.
>
> Of course, they could get lucky and move into the top three with their own
> pick, they could get really unlucky and see Denver jump into the top 3
(the
> pick we receive from them is top-five protected), or they could take
> advantage of Isiah Thomas' incompetence and catch the Pacers for the
eighth
> playoff spot and pick 14th with their own selection.
>
> Just a few things to chew on. By the way, thanks John for posting the
links
> to the two mock drafts. Some interesting tidbits in there on players I
> hadn't heard much about.
>
> Mark

Thanks for that info. I personally hope the Celtics pass on the Denver pick
this
year, but obviously we don't want the McNuggets to get a top-three pick that
helps them improve dramatically next year. If it stays at #11 pick or
whatever,
I really think Wallace should consider passing until the top-5 protection
disappears. It seems likely that the wealth of freshmen, sophomore and prep
players out there could end up getting spread over the next few NBA drafts,
rather than in some mother of all drafts. It wouldn't surprise me if a
number of
top underclassmen not to mention top prep players will sit out this draft,
given
how poorly this year's rookie class has fared in declaring earlier than most
of
these kids were ready. There are few undergrads at this stage who are
anything
like a sure thing to declare. Not Jason Williams, Joe Forte, Casey Jacobson,
Troy Murphy or other high profile collegians. I know that making money is a
huge
consideration, but now that "March Madness" is here I also wonder if guys
like
Moiso and DerMarr Johnson don't sometimes wish they were still big men on
campus
still pursuing their education/girls etc., as opposed to living the NBA
lifestyle of benchwarming, red eye flights, room service food, leach
hangers-on,
cruel fans, and harsh beat writers. Stay in school.   ;-)

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