Going back a few years ....

[DERRENMATTS]

I don't mean to pat my back, but .... ;D

In '03, CelticsGreen.com was not up yet. At that time, many of us posted over at ESPN's message board and the draft buzz was incredible. Tons of us were glued to mock drafts and seeing who would end up on our team. 3 guys who I was hoping for (going by where we were drafting and who I thought was going to be available) were Luke Rinour, David West, and Nick Collison. These weren't the only ones I was hoping for (there were Lebron James, Kirk Hinrich, Mike Sweetney, TJ Ford, etc.), but these guys were the ones who were realisticaly going to be available when we picked and I was hoping to grab them.

Some people agreed with me, but many laughed at me saying that Collison is a stiff, Ridnour was never going to amount to anything, and David West is rubbish.

Well, here's a brief look at what these guys have been doing this year--3 years after they were drafted.

David West: Starting PF for Hornets
Season: 15 ppg, 7 rpg, 54% shooting
Last 5 games: 18 ppg, 7 rpg, 61% shooting
**notables: Scored 34 pts and 8 boards against ORL (11/19). Getting a lot of playing time and showing the league that he's for real.

Luke Ridnour: Starting PG for Sonics
Season: 10 ppg, 7 apg, 2 spg
Last 5 games: 13 ppg, 8.2 apg, 2.2 spg
**notables: Tore apart our beloved Celtics, looking like an All-Star PG. Real floor general on the rise caused the Sonics to move Antonio Daniels to give him more playing time.

Nick Collison: Starting PF for Sonics
Season: 10 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 62% shooting
Last 5 games: 13.6 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 66% shooting
**notables: Missed his rookie season due to injury. After a mediocre sophmore season, Nick is really starting to show his goods for the Sonics, scoring at a ridiculous 61% clip. In the past 5 games, he's had a 20 pt - 12 rebound performance, shooting a whopping 78%,, as well as a 19 pt - 13 rebound game where he shot 75%.

Truth be told, I was also very high on Sofoklis Shortsianitis and wanted to use the 13th pick on him. And it was because of that blunder that I decided not to hype up players I have never seen before.

This past draft, the midround draft pick I was high on was Francisco Garcia (went 23rd to the Kings). I really like his game and maybe in a few years, we'll see if my assesment of his game was accurate.

[BCHISTORIAN]

my favourites i wished the celts to draft in last three drafts were:

2003 hinrich and perkins (got one)
2004 jefferson and allen (got both)
2005 granger (barely missed)

try to beat that

[eja117]

I wanted Ike Diogu this year, and wanted Robert Swift, Sebastian Telfair or Jameer Nelson last year.
I still don't think Collinson, Ridnour, or West are all that good. We'll see if they keep developing

[DERRENMATTS]

bchistorian said:

my favourites i wished the celts to draft in last three drafts were:

2003 hinrich and perkins (got one)
2004 jefferson and allen (got both)
2005 granger (barely missed)

try to beat that

Yeah, but aside from Perkins and Tony Allen, lot of people knew those guys had bright futures. David West? Not a lot of people understood what I was seeing in him.

Eja, Diogu is going to be a beast. He's like a mini Amare.

Collison and West aren't going to be stars--that's not why I like them. I like them because they are going to be exceptional role players and that's what we need more of.