Decade in Review: Biggest Busts of 00's

[freshinthehouse]

i dont really consider Starbury a bust.  He was a late season flyer which we all agreed was a gamble at the time.


Hands down it is Kedrick Brown for 3 big reasons.

1. He was the 11th pick in a loaded draft.  Picked before: Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas, Troy Murphy, Richard Jefferson, Zach Randolph, Gerald Wallace, Jamal Tinsley, Samuel Dalembert, Okur, Brendan Haywood,  even Vlad Radmanovic and Scal are better

2. We could have saved that pick which was Denvers until 2003...aka Carmelo

3. Phoenix wanted Kedrick instead of Joey Johnson, we chose to keep Kedrick.


Gerald on the other hand was a gamble on a HS stud at 18 and Moiso was 10th but in the worst draft ever.

I remember suggesting we roll that Denver pick over to 2003 on the ESPN Celtics page and everyone thought I was a lunatic. 

I agree about Starbury, as well as guys like Mikki and Gerald Green.  Mid-season FAs and late round picks can't really be busts, because not much is expected from them in the first place.

And yeah, Brown was easily the biggest draft snafu for us in the 00s.  there were multiple players better than him in that draft.  I remember hoping we'd draft Diop, Murphy, and Tinsley.  yet another example of why teams aren't calling me for personnel advice.

[KungPoweChicken]

Here is my list. Starting with the biggest busts first: (1) Greg Oden (2) Darko Milicic (3) Kwame Brown (4)Orlando trades for Grant Hill (5) Hasheem Thabeet (6) Nikoloz Tskitishvili (7) Marcus Fizer (8)Rafael Arauo (9) Adam Morrison (10) Eddie Griffin

[Atzar]

Here is my list. Starting with the biggest busts first: (1) Greg Oden (2) Darko Milicic (3) Kwame Brown (4)Orlando trades for Grant Hill (5) Hasheem Thabeet (6) Nikoloz Tskitishvili (7) Marcus Fizer (8)Rafael Arauo (9) Adam Morrison (10) Eddie Griffin

I'm guessing that #1 and #5 are just predictions, correct?  Otherwise, it's way too early to label either one of them 'bust' at this point.

[Fafnir]

I kinda think Gabe Pruitt was a bust. A lot of people thought he'd be a first rounder. One might have thought he'd be serviceable as a backup but no

Hard to be a bust when you're a second round pick, even a high one.

[Jeff]

a) this was intended to be a Celtics-centric post, but thanks for the other nominations anyway.

b) I think you can include free agents and trades, so I'd have to nominate the re-signing of Mark Blount in here

[hwangjini_1]

the trade FOR antoine has to rank up there somewhere.

[thirstyboots18]

Blount

[slamtheking]

This one may not be popular since it eventually led to the parts to get KG, but I was not a fan of the trade to bring in Telfair and Ratliff for Raef and the pick that turned out to be Brandon Roy. 

It's great that Danny changed Raef's bad deal into a shorter one and that those 2 parts were used to get KG but I know that wasn't his initial plan for making that deal so I don't consider it a good move.

Having Roy next to PP and Al would have given Danny more options to either get KG (like sending less to get him-->maybe keep Gomes and picks or perhaps just send Roy/Al/Raef (or Wally)--or use the parts from the Ray trade [since we'd have Roy and may not need to trade for Ray] to get the KG deal done and keep Roy) or get another piece to add to that lineup.

[Roy Hobbs]

the trade FOR antoine has to rank up there somewhere.

It wasn't a smart basketball move, but I do think it made sense from a business perspective.  Unfortunately, we flamed out in the first round.

[Eja117]

I kinda think Gabe Pruitt was a bust. A lot of people thought he'd be a first rounder. One might have thought he'd be serviceable as a backup but no

Hard to be a bust when you're a second round pick, even a high one.

True in the sense that I'd rather have a second rounder flame out without the guaranteed contract and money, than say a Giddens, which is common.

I just thought he'd give a little more.

Like Hudson. Not a bust pretty much no matter what. Pruitt isn't exactly the same thing as that

[wdleehi]

The trade with Phoenix where the Celtics gave up Joe Johnson instead of Brown remains one of the top mistakes.



Give up a future star instead of NDDLer for a one year rental of a shooting, overweight PF.

[nyceltsfan]

the trade FOR antoine has to rank up there somewhere.

It wasn't a smart basketball move, but I do think it made sense from a business perspective.  Unfortunately, we flamed out in the first round.

I don't know it I would call that a bust at all.  After all, he ended up trading Gary Payton for Antoine Walker and Gary Payton.

Can Tony Allen be considered a bust yet?

[Neurotic Guy]

i dont really consider Starbury a bust.  He was a late season flyer which we all agreed was a gamble at the time.


Hands down it is Kedrick Brown for 3 big reasons.

1. He was the 11th pick in a loaded draft.  Picked before: Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas, Troy Murphy, Richard Jefferson, Zach Randolph, Gerald Wallace, Jamal Tinsley, Samuel Dalembert, Okur, Brendan Haywood,  even Vlad Radmanovic and Scal are better

2. We could have saved that pick which was Denvers until 2003...aka Carmelo

3. Phoenix wanted Kedrick instead of Joey Johnson, we chose to keep Kedrick.

Hindsight is 20-20 but this one really is amazing.  The fact that Lebron, Wade and Anthony were all probables to be in the following draft, how could Wallace have been so short-sighted?  And to keep Kedrick rather than JJ -- seems amazing at this point even thought Johnson seemed to be running out of steam as that year progressed.  Wallace was watching these guys daily -- he couldn't tell? 
But at least Chris Wallace did bring in Vin Baker and later handed the Lakers a title.  He irks me.

[Donoghus]

i dont really consider Starbury a bust.  He was a late season flyer which we all agreed was a gamble at the time.


Hands down it is Kedrick Brown for 3 big reasons.

1. He was the 11th pick in a loaded draft.  Picked before: Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas, Troy Murphy, Richard Jefferson, Zach Randolph, Gerald Wallace, Jamal Tinsley, Samuel Dalembert, Okur, Brendan Haywood,  even Vlad Radmanovic and Scal are better

2. We could have saved that pick which was Denvers until 2003...aka Carmelo

3. Phoenix wanted Kedrick instead of Joey Johnson, we chose to keep Kedrick.

Hindsight is 20-20 but this one really is amazing.  The fact that Lebron, Wade and Anthony were all probables to be in the following draft, how could Wallace have been so short-sighted?  And to keep Kedrick rather than JJ -- seems amazing at this point even thought Johnson seemed to be running out of steam as that year progressed.  Wallace was watching these guys daily -- he couldn't tell? 
But at least Chris Wallace did bring in Vin Baker and later handed the Lakers a title.  He irks me.

Keeping Kedrick over Johnson is definitely mind-boggling.  Best guess is that Wallace got enamored with Kedrick's athleticism and the dreaded "potential" word.  I do remember at the time that Johnson seemed extremely tentative out there on the court with the Celtics.  I'm not sure how much of it had to do with being a rookie or if it was being around two Alphas like Pierce & Walker.  To this day, I question how much growth we would have seen out of Joe Johnson had he remained a Celtic.  Definitely ranks among the big "what-ifs?" of this decade.

Short-term, the trade still gave us a heckuva run in '02 and I have fond memories of the playoff atmosphere that post-season in the FleetCenter.

[Neurotic Guy]

Hindsight is 20-20 but this one really is amazing.  The fact that Lebron, Wade and Anthony were all probables to be in the following draft, how could Wallace have been so short-sighted?  And to keep Kedrick rather than JJ -- seems amazing at this point even thought Johnson seemed to be running out of steam as that year progressed.  Wallace was watching these guys daily -- he couldn't tell? 
But at least Chris Wallace did bring in Vin Baker and later handed the Lakers a title.  He irks me.

Keeping Kedrick over Johnson is definitely mind-boggling.  Best guess is that Wallace got enamored with Kedrick's athleticism and the dreaded "potential" word.  I do remember at the time that Johnson seemed extremely tentative out there on the court with the Celtics.  I'm not sure how much of it had to do with being a rookie or if it was being around two Alphas like Pierce & Walker.  To this day, I question how much growth we would have seen out of Joe Johnson had he remained a Celtic.  Definitely ranks among the big "what-ifs?" of this decade.

Short-term, the trade still gave us a heckuva run in '02 and I have fond memories of the playoff atmosphere that post-season in the FleetCenter.

The '02 run did bring long-awaited excitement (esp. the comeback game), but we all knew it was 'fools gold' at the time.  It was not a team that had any chance of sustaining excellence.  But -- you are correct -- for one shining moment it felt a little like old times.