Top 5 guys who would have made great Celtics

[greg683x]

Tim Duncan
David Robinson
Kevin Durant
Chauncey Billups (if only we didnt trade him for Popeye Jones, Ha!)
Raja Bell
and Jason Maxiell just to think of a few

Although it doesnt make it much better, we did get Kenny Anderson out of the deal.

[greg683x]

Also, even though he had a very injury plagued career, Jamaal Mashburn was one of my favorite non-celtics to watch.  Would have loved to see him in green.

[Emmette Bryant]

Paul Westphal
Joe Johnson
Chauncey Billups
Len Bias
Ben Wallace

[SShorefan 4.0]

Len Bias

ouch

[cdif911]

Len Bias

ouch

the gf got me a bias #30 jersey for Christmas, it was such a cool present that I can't wear anywhere

[johnnyrondo]

Brandon Roy(could of been drafted in '06)
Chris Paul(we wanted Travis Outlaw kicked in)
Danny Granger(Reacquiring Tione pushed us past Indy in draft)
Monta Ellis('05)
Josh Howard(though we would of missed out on the Banks yrs )

The first three character wise imo would have also made great Celtics. These were just some off the top of my head from the Danny yrs, but going back I'd add Joe Johnson, Billups, Tony Parker (over Forte), Tim Hardaway (over Michael Smith) and obviously Len Bias. Regarding Billups, he didn't "get it" for several yrs and several teams later, so i assume if he wasn't moved in the Kenny Anderson deal, he would have been moved a little later (like Mercer)

For controversy sake I'll say what about Kobe over Tione? (That should get some opinions )

[johnnyrondo]

Andrew Toney
Bill Lambieer
Will Solomon
Tim Duncan
Chris Mullin

I'm surprised by Lambieer - but the other 4 I agree with totally, especially Willie.... why do you think angry Bill would be a good fit?

(Not typed in an angry tone -- I just proof read it and it read angry - not the case.
First of all, he was born in Boston.  Second of all he was a scrapper and took no sh*t  (Danny Ainge in a forward's body).  Third of all, he did all the intangibles to win.  Fourthly, he was very good.

All that being said, there would have been no place to play him during his day as McHale and Parrish were both better players.  I hated him as much as Toney, but I respected his approach - always thought it was a Boston approach.

I could never see you being angry!  But pretty good ideas there, it would be tough to have him and Parish on the same court, but I get the idea - tough, scrappy, limited skills but made up for it in effort - and a bruiser - I wonder if other teams look at Perk as being a similar type of guy

What's really funny - is that one of my favorite Celtic moments was when Parish clocked Lambieer in the 87 playoffs.

Might have been funnier if they were teammates though

[celticmaestro]

Difficult for me to look past Tim Duncan.

Kevin Durant would be [dang] sweet in Green, there's still hope.

[celticinorlando]

would have loved to see bias and bird...

[the_Bird]

The recent ones that hurt were the ones where a specific decision was made, wrongly.  Forte over Tony Parker.  Including Joe Johnson instead of Kedrick Brown in the Phoenix trade.  Missing out on Granger by a pick or two because they decided to push for the playoffs when we had zero chance of doing anything once we got there. 

Can't complain TOO much about the Chris Paul trade only in that it means:

1. Losing Pierce
2. Not buying the Rondo pick
3. Never making the Ray Allen/KG trades; we're rebuilding around Paul and Big Al.  Not a bad thing, but we'd still be looking for #17 instead of working towards #18.

[celticinorlando]

losing out on duncan was brutal....ended up getting billups (who they gave up on) and ron mercer...and sending johnson to phoenix was an AWFUL move.....tony delk and rodney rodgers...ugh

[indeedproceed]

Easily the number one is Tim Duncan.

After that...

David Robinson

Greg Popovich (as a coach)

John Stockton

Micheal Cooper?

Bruce Bowen?

[rondofan1255]

Bruce Bowen?

Bowen was on the Celtics before, wasn't he? Maybe late 90's, 2000, 2001 ish?

[jdub1660]

Hmmm, well I didn't see any rules to this thread, and I'm very surprised not a single person named any of these 5 players...

Micheal Jordan
Wilt Chamberlain
Dr. J
Scottie Pippen
Shaq - 90's

I almost said Magic Johnson, but I was afraid I'd be banned from Celticsblog for that 1

[fairweatherfan]

Alonzo Mourning
John Stockton
Ricky Pierce
Tim Duncan
Lenny Bias  (sorry to end on a downer but it's true)