How many people were on my side with this?

[twinbree]

I didn't have an opinion honestly. I don't watch much college ball so I'm usually clueless after the 5th pick or so. My boyfriend was actually sooo high on Rondo (really his Rondo love is unhealthy) and got into an argument with my dad and brothers where everyone piled on him since he's not a Celtics fan. Anyways I hate taking him to family stuff since we won the title he's so smug about it now ugh

[Fafnir]

I didn't have an opinion honestly. I don't watch much college ball so I'm usually clueless after the 5th pick or so. My boyfriend was actually sooo high on Rondo (really his Rondo love is unhealthy) and got into an argument with my dad and brothers where everyone piled on him since he's not a Celtics fan. Anyways I hate taking him to family stuff since we won the title he's so smug about it now ugh

Ditto, I didn't even know of Rondo's existence until we drafted him.

After that I was continually angered he wasn't given more burn over Telfair early on. I was extremely pleased that he immediately started once the tanking had done its work. It was nice to know that Doc wasn't blind.

[Andy Jick]

I'll admit I didn't have many hopes for him...

I remembered him as a guy with a tremendous wing-span, huge hands, had the ability to get to the rim, but not a great finisher.  Was not a good shooter, and there were also rumblings that he was hard to coach, and that he and Tubby clashed quite often.

IF he stays with the Celtics his entire career, IMO he will be the second greatest PG in team history, right next to Cousy...

[lon3lytoaster]

I think I said something about him being Marcus Banks v2. I hated the Telfair trade, I wanted Roy, Foye or Rudy Gay.

Then Rondo made some amazing plays in preseason (Anyone remember that put-back dunk against the Knicks, followed by stealing the inbound and converting a three point play?) and I've had a hardon since then. But yeah, for sure I was wrong about him at first.

[Cman]

I was not interested in Marcus Williams because of character issues. 
I was not sold on Rondo, though. 
I remember thinking Danny was crazy to even consider taking Rondo with the #7 pick (as he was rumored to consider doing), I remember thinking PHX bilked a future first rounder out of Boston in the deal,  and I remember thinking -- well, Danny got his man, I guess we'll see how this goes...

[amenhotep04]

During the 2006 NBA Draft, I was very disgruntled when the Celtics got Rajon Rondo from Phoenix in the trade for the 21st pick, because I couldn't believe we had passed up on UConn's point guard Marcus Williams.

Let's all be completely honest.  Williams was a hell of a player coming out of college, had a sweet jump shot, and had just beaten Rondo's Wildcats in the NCAA Tournament's second round!

Was anyone else with me on this?  No lying!

To be honest, I was not. Over the years I have completely gotten burned out by all the pro-Big East talk on various Celtics message boards. I tend to watch everything else but ACC (anti-Dick Vitale) and Big East basketball. Living here in SEC country I was well aware of Rondo and his abilities. So when I saw that we got Rondo I thought it was a complete steal. I thought at the time Rondo was going to go in the top eight in that draft. In retrospect, it would have been easy to have gotten Roy with the pick through a trade with Minnesota and then get Rondo through Phoenix. But we did that crazy trade with Portland. My top two in that draft were Aldridge and Roy in that order.

What I saw with Williams is someone who was incredibly talented, but didn't have the work ethic. I think he's beginning to turn that around, but he reminded me of a smaller version of Sean May.

[slamtheking]

I didn't have an opinion one way or the other---didn't know much about either one. 

Funny thing is that I asked the same question as the OP about a couple of months ago in a separate forum that was ranting about an amazing game by Rondo.  Asked where all the Williams-over-Rondo draftniks were after that game.

[GroverTheClover]

I was ecstatic that we netted Sebastian Telfair. I felt that Telfair was the PG of the future and that Rondo would back him up. I didn't know much of Rondo or think much of him.

[moiso]

I was ecstatic that we netted Sebastian Telfair. I felt that Telfair was the PG of the future and that Rondo would back him up. I didn't know much of Rondo or think much of him.

I was very excited about Telfair also.  I figured he'd struggle on defense, but I was pretty shocked to find out how bad he was passing the ball, making decisions, and running the offense.

[ajgoodman]

Without giving pre-draft workouts a look, how couldn't I prefer Williams to Rondo?  Marcus completely out-shined Rondo in the NCAA tournament match up.

Rajon Rondo:
11 points, 5-10 from floor, 1-2 from three, 6 assists

Marcus Williams:
20 points, 6-10 from floor, 0-1 from three, 8-9 from line, 8 assists

[Chris]

Without giving pre-draft workouts a look, how couldn't I prefer Williams to Rondo?  Marcus completely out-shined Rondo in the NCAA tournament match up.

Rajon Rondo:
11 points, 5-10 from floor, 1-2 from three, 6 assists

Marcus Williams:
20 points, 6-10 from floor, 0-1 from three, 8-9 from line, 8 assists

Eh, that's one game, and Rondo was playing in a terrible system for his skillset, while Williams was playing with a bunch of guys who made him look very good. 

With Rondo it was a tough call, because he was being projected by some (including Chad Ford) as a top 5 pick before his last season at Kentucky.  He had played pretty well the previous year, and was arguably the best player on the USA Junior National team over the summer.  Unfortunately, Tubby Smith likes PG's who can shoot the ball.  So Rondo was shifted back and forth between SG and PG throughout the season, and still put up decent numbers. 

I think if you watched Rondo's entire career, there was plenty of reason to think he was a special player, and on the flipside, I think there was plenty of reason to think Marcus Williams would not be effective playing with much quicker and more athletic players in the NBA.

[BballTim]

Without giving pre-draft workouts a look, how couldn't I prefer Williams to Rondo?  Marcus completely out-shined Rondo in the NCAA tournament match up.

Rajon Rondo:
11 points, 5-10 from floor, 1-2 from three, 6 assists

Marcus Williams:
20 points, 6-10 from floor, 0-1 from three, 8-9 from line, 8 assists

  I can still remember the UMass-Wake Forest game where Camby destroyed Tim Duncan. Would you have needed a workout to figure out which one was going to be the better pro?

[ajgoodman]

Without giving pre-draft workouts a look, how couldn't I prefer Williams to Rondo?  Marcus completely out-shined Rondo in the NCAA tournament match up.

Rajon Rondo:
11 points, 5-10 from floor, 1-2 from three, 6 assists

Marcus Williams:
20 points, 6-10 from floor, 0-1 from three, 8-9 from line, 8 assists

  I can still remember the UMass-Wake Forest game where Camby destroyed Tim Duncan. Would you have needed a workout to figure out which one was going to be the better pro?

Yeah, that's why I'm saying since I had no access to pre-draft workouts, I made my analysis based on game performance...

P.S. Season stats:
Rondo: 10.9ppg 48%fgp 27%3fg 57%FT 4.8ast
Williams: 12.3ppg 41%fgp 40%3fg 86%FT 8.6ast