Re: Where would Kedrick have gone in this draft?

["hironaka@xxxxxxxxx"<hironaka@xxxxxxxxx>]

> ---------- Initial message -----------
> 
> From    : owner-celtics@igtc.com
> To      : <celtics@igtc.com>
> Cc      : 
> Date    : Wed, 18 Sep 2002 11:10:27 -0400
> Subject : Re: Where would Kedrick have gone in this 
draft?
> 
> I watched him against the Nets this summer, and without 
JKidd, Jefferson ripped him
> apart, being high scorer, high, flyer and solid 
defender.


Lance, I don't recall the source (can someone help us 
out?, but one of the papers or Websites quoted a scout 
who said that Kedrick was the only player to stop Richard 
Jefferson at Shaw, and that he would have been a lock for 
MVP had he not shot 1-8 in the final game.

My own NBA prediction is that 2002-03 is likely to be the 
Year of the Sophomores, mainly since so few of last 
year's lotto picks did much as rookies.

Its not just top-five picks like Kwame, Tyson Chicken and 
Chicken Curry who haven't arrived as NBA players yet.

What irks me on this list are those who conclude we blew 
the draft. 

Had we traded up, we'd have had our choice of the three 
picks clustered just ahead of Joe Johnson and Kedrick 
Brown (Eddie Griffin, Sagana Michigan and Rodney White). 
Great prospects, but they did no better than our rookies.

As for the pool of players who went 10-17, they were (in 
addition to JJ and Kedrick) headcases Radmanovic and 
Steven Hunter, plus Troy Murphy, Kirk Haston and Michael 
Bradley....and Richard Jefferson.

But before we reach quick decisions about how 
Boston "wasted its draft", its worth noting advantages 
Richard Jefferson uniquely shared with the only two other 
American rookies picked 1-19 who had a modicum of NBA 
success last year (Battier and Jason Richardson). Namely, 
they had at least several years of Final Four caliber 
experience and coaching at major programs. 

In other words, it might be fair to attribute some of 
their head start in NBA success to preparedness. Unless 
you believe that Chris Wallace and 15 other GMs blew it.

As I said earlier in this post, let's wait to see which 
players step up as impact sophomores before judging this 
draft. Battier and Jefferson have a head start, but I 
think you'll see some furious "catching up" this year 
too. Remember that all of Boston's picks were young. Joe 
Johnson and Forte were young even compared to other 
college sophomores. Kedrick was as green as grass.

One more thing, I don't think it will be remembered as a 
weak draft. 

For one thing, this draft certainly had enough 7-footers 
to push Brendan Haywood and Loren Woods way down.

Checking back further on it, I notice that there were 26 
players off the 01 board by the time first round talent 
in most any other NBA draft began hearing their names 
called: you had Tinsley at 27, then Tony Parker, then 
Gilbert Arenas and Trenton Hassell, Terence Morris, Loren 
Woods, Jeff Trepagnier, Alvin Jones, Ousmane Cisse etc. 
And Omar Cook, who took the Big East by storm.

I believe the top half of the draft will stop catching up 
real soon. And if Boston could do it all over again, I'm 
not sure we would do much different other than NOT dump 
Joe Johnson, Joe Forte and Casey Jacobson for Tony Delk 
and a million dollars savings off the cap (spent to 
resign Waltah, if you want to look at things that way).




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