The Boston Celtics have clinched a spot in the NBA Playoffs with the best record in the Eastern Conf [...]…

Actually, for a post centered around the Celtics bad drafting, I think you went a little easy on the C’s. They whiffed on a TON of good NBA players with some of these picks.. for example in 2003, they could have not only had Howard and Korver, but Barbosa or Diaw (granted Diaw is the French Tim Thomas, but he’s decent), or Travis Outlaw (who looks like a stud in Portland).

And then, in 2004, the Kings must have breathed a sigh of relief when they watched the Celtics take two dudes not named “Kevin Martin” right before they snatched him up?

As you said, hindsight is 20/20… you can do this to almost any team in any draft. But the reality, like you touched on, is that some teams (the Spurs) seem to be pulling out quality everywhere they look, and the C’s made some awful decisions.

(by the way, I totally disagree with your NBA-hate for the palace brawl. I mean, the brawl ruined the Indiana Pacers (who had the best team in the beast) because of the suspensions and PR fallout, and the NBA “no fighting” rule that cost Amare and Diaw last year was basically put in so that nobody ever brawled, so that on-court issues would be unlikely to escalate.)

The reality is that Antoine Walker’s shot selection was unbelievable while he was on the team. For as much good as he did, you never knew what Antoine you were really going to get night in and night out, which was really entertaining, but tough to handle as a fan. Antoine’s 3 point percentage would be atrocious, but he’d just keep firing them up there, which never seemed to make sense. He was a really likable player (the wiggle was on every commercial and it was great), leader, and he gave the team some fire.

It’s hard not to like Pierce as a fan because not only did the guy get stabbed in the face (not that this has anything to do with basketball), but he goes to the line a ton for being so aggressive and driving to the hoop instead of settling for the jump shot. He’s a clutch performer and I think he’s the type of player to build a team around.

People will always hate Boston. It’s part of living there.

Pierce gets a free pass for everything he did. Spitting at the Cavs bench. Demanding a trade if he didn’t get Garnett. Refusing to listen to Doc Rivers until a contract year but instead you insult Walker and blame him for the Celtics not getting further.
It is ridiculous and just more proof none of you actually watched this team in the early 00’s because you are clueless.

“Walker’s antics made the whole team inconsistent”

Really that is funny because in 2002 Pierce was whining on the sidelines and whining about him not getting the ball enough until Walker yelled at him.

Fact is Pierce has never done anything without someone else on the team dealing with all the real stuff you have to deal with in Boston.

You know what, Why bother. This is why half the United States hates Boston because of so called fans like you.

No doubt Rondo and Glen Davis have had a big impact on the C’s this year, with Rondo being arguably more than anyone expected from his this year. I should have thought about those trades more, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I still feel like the C’s did a pretty horrible job in the draft for a bunch of those years. Lately, I think they’ve done a great job!

First, the worst drafter of them all are definitely the LA Clippers. Kaman and Livingston are pretty much the only bright spots in an endless line of misfits.

Second, the problem with the Celtics wasn’t that they drafted poorly. They just did a terrible job developing their young talent and trading. Apparently, Kedrick Brown could have been sent out instead of Joe Johnson. Duh. Likewise, Billups was having a horrible rookie campaign (big surprise, rookie PG), and Pitino moved him before the season was over.

Mercer was a pretty decent player for us, but apparently wanted too much money to resign and we moved him. Luckily (for us, unfortunately for him), his off-court issues completely killed his career.

And then of course, there was the Gin Baker fiasco, where we were stuck paying about 30 million over 4 seasons for someone who wasn’t even fit to play most of the time. For further evidence of GM Chris Wallace’s abilities, see the Pau Gasol trade… I mean, he is a nice and classy guy, but his management was, at best, questionable.

Also, hindsight is 20/20. There are plenty of folks who went second round or undrafted. Happens all the time in the NBA, since players evolve constantly and not everyone is a finihed product when they enter the league. Especially with second-round picks, you roll the dice. Brandon Hunter was an undersized PF who had a pretty good NCAA career (lead the nation in rebounding, if I remember correctly). This backfired badly, because the dude ended up being a 6′6 one-trick pony, but similar players that Ainge picked recently – Ryan Gomes and Leon Powe – are panning out to be at least solid rotation players in the NBA.

Marcus Banks, actually, played quite a bit for us. He has some skills, good quickness and speed, but unfortunately the more he played, the more obvious it became that MB is all about MB. That’s why we moved him in the Wally deal, and Rondo is everything we expected Banks to be.

By the way, you missed the Rondo pick completely (via the Suns), as well as Powe and Glenn Davis. All solid players, all picked way later than they should have.