# Bill Simmons' Mock Draft - Post Lottery



## EGarrett (Aug 12, 2002)

Sportsguy's Draft Lottery

1. Portland Trailblazers - Al Horford
2. Seattle sonics - Brandon Wright
3. Atlanta Hawks - Yi Jianlian
4. Memphis Grizzlies - Elvis Presley
5. Boston Celtics - Greg Oden
6. Boston Celtics - Kevin Durant (trade)
7-30. (incomplete, page spattered with blood, apparently from Sports Guy commiting suicide mid-column)


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## rosenthall (Aug 1, 2002)

:lol:


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## Jwill55gRizZ (Jun 8, 2003)

Presley won't fall that deep in the lottery.. he'll be gone by 2.


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## Mr. Hobbes (Jul 1, 2005)

Hilarious ****.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

I know a boston fan who has gone off to drink himself to death. C's fans are taking this one hard. First Duncan, now Oden.


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## Mr. Hobbes (Jul 1, 2005)

futuristxen said:


> I know a boston fan who has gone off to drink himself to death. C's fans are taking this one hard. First Duncan, now Oden.


Bah. They have 17.


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## GNG (Aug 17, 2002)

I've been on the verge of screaming all night. Leave it to the Sports Guy to make me smile again.


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## Sunsfan81 (Apr 17, 2006)

Rawse said:


> I've been on the verge of screaming all night. Leave it to the Sports Guy to make me smile again.


Rawse I feel bad for you.....................Not! :biggrin: :lol:


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## EGarrett (Aug 12, 2002)

Rawse said:


> I've been on the verge of screaming all night. Leave it to the Sports Guy to make me smile again.


Oh, I wrote this one, just because I figured it's what he's thinking. I'm sure his actual response will be far more depressing.


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## thatsnotgross (Dec 4, 2006)

It is by far worst than the Tim Duncan year. Why? 2 answers...

a.) Oden

b.) Durant

Celtics had 2 chances of taking a franchise type player that will bring back the marketing in Boston. 

Unreal


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## Carbo04 (Apr 15, 2005)

Simmons is a funny guy.


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## Dornado (May 26, 2003)

the sense of entitlement from Celtics fans is ridiculous. I'm sure the Grizzlies and Bucks aren't thrilled about getting jumped in the lottery either...


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## Premier (Oct 30, 2003)

The Celtics; however, have gone through 21 years of misery.


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## SeaNet (Nov 18, 2004)

futuristxen said:


> I know a boston fan who has gone off to drink himself to death. C's fans are taking this one hard. First Duncan, now Oden.


Isn't it terrible when tanking doesn't get you what you want?


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## Carbo04 (Apr 15, 2005)

Premier said:


> The Celtics; however, have gone through 21 years of misery.



Memphis has been nothing but misery. 
Milwuakee has been through alot more than 21 years of misery.
The Hawks.. Don't get me started.

You *edit Celtic fans *edit. You didn't deserve the #1 or #2 pick. *edit


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## WhoDaBest23 (Apr 16, 2003)

thatsnotgross said:


> It is by far worst than the Tim Duncan year. Why? 2 answers...
> 
> a.) Oden
> 
> ...


Gotta agree with you on that one. They not only missed out on 1, but 2 franchise changing players. PLUS they got their worst case scenario. Truly sucks for the Celtics.


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## JoeD (Sep 2, 2004)

Simmons is afraid Ainge will "talk himself into Yi" :lol: 

I think he is right on about his opinion with Yi.


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## Samuel (Jan 1, 2003)

Jwill55gRizZ said:


> Presley won't fall that deep in the lottery.. he'll be gone by 2.


Yea but Calapari found some white stuff in his dorm room recently that might cause him to fall to mid-first. No one wants a guy with baggage.


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## Premier (Oct 30, 2003)

Carbo04 said:


> Memphis has been nothing but misery.
> Milwuakee has been through alot more than 21 years of misery.
> The Hawks.. Don't get me started.
> 
> You *edit Celtic fans *edit. You didn't deserve the #1 or #2 pick. *edit


 I, nor anyone in this thread, have not claimed that Boston is suffering more than Memphis, Milwaukee, or Atlanta. My post implicitly stated that the Celtics fanbase is suffering currently; an undeniable truth. One, such as Simmons, may argue that the Celtics are suffering more since a considerable amount of their fans actually remember winning or contending for championships. Memphis, Milwaukee, and Atlanta have won a combined two championships, both at least thirty-five years ago and nearly all of their fans do not know what following championship franchise feels like. Simmons argues this point soundly.

In addition, Memphis, Milwaukee, or Atlanta have not dealt deaths to significant players [with apologies to Jason Collier] among other setbacks that the Celtics have dealt with [notably horribly incompetent management] that has rendered the franchise incapable of any positive future in a sharp decline from previous dominance.

The Celtics are a proud team and when the deliberately tank to revitalize their franchise and lose out in the lottery, it's heartbreaking because most fans can remember the championship glory of the 80s teams.


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## Tragedy (Dec 9, 2002)

Sucks to be a Celtic fan, but I'm a Knicks fan so I don't really have any sympathy for them.

Now, this is what the Celtics as an organization gets for their blatant tanking. They may have suffered for years, but they brought it on themselves. First to trade Roy for Telfair, then to tank.

On top of that they have a squad that is fairly talented with a franchise player. Why not make moves with what you have right now, get someone in who can actually coach, and then see if things change.

I mean really, the Celtics ARE in the atlantic division. They have absolutely nothing to try and win the division and get at LEAST the 4th seed in the conference?

Tough luck. Deal with it Celtics.


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

Tragedy said:


> On top of that they have a squad that is fairly talented with a franchise player. Why not make moves with what you have right now, get someone in who can actually coach, and then see if things change.
> 
> I mean really, the Celtics ARE in the atlantic division. They have absolutely nothing to try and win the division and get at LEAST the 4th seed in the conference?
> 
> Tough luck. Deal with it Celtics.


The Celtics were 4-32 without Pierce, who _isn't_ a franchise player. They aren't that talented.


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## MemphisX (Sep 11, 2002)

IMO I think the Celtics suffering is much worse. Having missed out on Oden and Durant has been like a punch in the stomach for me...not just lottery night but every time I think about basketball. I am sure this is what they felt 10 years ago. Then you go through the motions of attempting to build with far inferior players who are a crap shoot at best.

Where the worse part comes in: The Celtic fanbase had to watch Duncan transform the Spurs into a dynasty and the San Antonio Spurs blatantly tanked their season to get a shot at him (I was living there at the time.) Then to have an opportunity to get a similar type talent x 2 and not only miss out but quite possibly get the Antonio Daniels of the draft is sickening. Now they have to watch Duncan, more than likely, bring another title to San Antonio and then watch the careers of Oden and Durant. It is truly sickening to think about it.

Boston - It could be worse. You could have to get through Duncan/Manu/Parker, Dirk/Howard, Nash/Amare/Marion, Deron/Boozer/Okur/AK47, Oden/Roy/Randolph/Aldridge, Ray Ray/Durant, Kobe/Odom, Baron/J Rich, Melo/AI/Camby/Nene and Yao/T Mac just to make the freaking playoffs. That is 10 squads right there not including Chris Paul, Elton Brand, and KG. 

So although they might feel worse, their situation is not close to being as bad as Memphis' situation.


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## jericho (Jul 12, 2002)

futuristxen said:


> I know a boston fan who has gone off to drink himself to death. C's fans are taking this one hard. First Duncan, now Oden.


Ehhh, it's not advisable to get too excited about a franchise-saving event that has such a low probability of coming to pass. 

Pitino's naivete was astounding back then. He was absolutely crushed by the "loss" of Duncan, to the point where it became pretty clear that his plan for the Celtics going forward assumed landing him. Not only that, Pitino was silly enough to express the hope in pre-lottery interviews that Boston would end up with the top two picks and score both Duncan and Van Horn (say what you will about Keith's career, but at the time he was the consensus No. 2 pick). 

While as a Boston fan I'd have loved to see them end up with either of the two presumed-future-superstars, I certainly didn't count on it. Life goes on. The Celtics have a good shot at improving next year, with maturing youngsters and the fifth pick which still could net a future star.


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

The thing is, what most of us Celtics fans were hoping for wan an idiot-proof pick. The problem with the way that things shook out is that we're entirely reliant on the competence of the front office now. In other words, we're screwed like a drunken cheerleader at a U-Mass frat party.


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## tha supes (Aug 12, 2003)

futuristxen said:


> I know a boston fan who has gone off to drink himself to death. C's fans are taking this one hard. First Duncan, now Oden.


Tell them to look on the bright side, at least they'll still have their team in a year.


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## eymang (Dec 15, 2006)

Quit crying and get a real ****ing GM, plenty of teams have gotten back into contention without a top 3 pick in drafts a lot worse than this one


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

I just want to let everyone know that in the last five years, the only teams that haven't made the playoffs once are the Charlotte Bobcats (3 years ago expansion) and the Atlanta Hawks. This also takes into account that New Orleans switched conferences. 

So in the last five years every team in the league made the playoffs at least once. If the Clippers and Warriors can make the playoffs, then by goodness your teams aren't in as dire straights as you'd like to believe. 

Everyone wants to win a championship but basketball is not like other sports. The greats of all time win multiple championships on the pro level, which means 90% of NBA fans won't see a championship team for at least a decade if not longer.

If you watch the NBA specifically to watch your team win titles you're pretty much screwed because basketball isn't like football where one man doesn't mean much. One great player (Duncan, Shaq, Oden) can lead to championship glory for a decade while everyone else has to be content with making the playoffs. 

I know this really didn't have to do with the thread title, but in general there is parity in the NBA from a standpoint of making the playoffs. Everyone really does have a shot.


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## eddymac (Jun 23, 2005)

The Celtics has some nice young players they can develop for the future. Jefferson, West, Gomes, Green, etc if they add another veteran they will be fine. The problem is the front office is bad and they seem like they dont know what they are doing.


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## Jizzy (Aug 24, 2005)

:lol: Speechless.

This is what the Celtics get for tanking. Danny Ainge is pretty underrated, he might even pass Isiah as the worst GM in basketball today.


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## E.H. Munro (Jun 22, 2004)

Jizzy said:


> This is what the Celtics get for tanking. Danny Ainge is pretty underrated, he might even pass Isiah as the worst GM in basketball today.


They didn't tank. Pierce really was hurt. Anyone that watched him after his return will tell you that. He was reduced to hoisting jumpers over the back half of the year because he couldn't get to the rim anymore. At the end they shut him down after Seattle, Milwaukee, and Atlanta began throwing games. Frankly, considering how bad the rest of the roster is, I'm glad they shut him down, the sixth pick would really kill the team. And Ainge is pretty close to the worst GM in the NBA today. I'm not sure that it's humanly possible to underrate him.


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## Mr. Hobbes (Jul 1, 2005)

ehmunro said:


> They didn't tank. Pierce really was hurt. Anyone that watched him after his return will tell you that. He was reduced to hoisting jumpers over the back half of the year because he couldn't get to the rim anymore. At the end they shut him down after Seattle, Milwaukee, and Atlanta began throwing games. Frankly, considering how bad the rest of the roster is, I'm glad they shut him down, the sixth pick would really kill the team. And Ainge is pretty close to the worst GM in the NBA today. I'm not sure that it's humanly possible to underrate him.


If Pierce was really hurt, what makes you think Allen wasn't really hurt?


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