The Irony of accquring De Andre Jordan: Revisiting the 2008 draft

[Rida]

Does this proposed De Andre Jordan trade smack of Irony to all of you?

I remember being in the Celticsblog Chat room during the NBA Draft in 2008.

The Scouting report on Jordan was a super athletic 7 footer who was incredibly raw. Worst case scenario he would have been the best alley oop partner Rajon Rondo ever had.

I remember thinking at the time as we approached the 28th pick like many others on this site did, that he would have been a great pick.

I think the 2008 draft was Danny's biggest whiff as a GM. He ended up picking JR Giddens at 30 (ouch) a pick which suprised a lot of people and ended up being an absolute disaster.

What stings even more is the guys picked after Giddens. The very next pick, (the first in the second round) was Nikola Pekovic, Chalmers was picked 34th, 35th was De Andre Jordan and 36th Omer Asik.

All of the aforementioned guys still have long careers left in the NBA while Danny missed the boat and settled for Giddens which at the time seemed indefensible and now looks horrendous as we seek to acqquire a guy who fell into our lap and we passed on.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Memphis passed on him by picking Donte Green.

Detroit passed on him by picking DJ White.

Then Seattle passed on him by picking Walter Sharpe.

Portland passed on him and selected Joey Dorsey.

And if you want to stretch it, Charlotte chose Alexis Ajinca over him.

While you are right, I just want to put this on record that we are not the only one who passed on DeAndre Jordan.

[Rida]

Agreed, and the biggest missed opportunity is that two better big men were also passed up in Asik and Pekovic.

Someone is going to pay Pekovic over $10 million this offseason

Still can't help thinking that Danny missed a huge opportunity with that Giddens pick.

Most of the mock draft boards at the time didn't have him goingin the first round

[greenhead85]

We had KG, Perk and Powe at that time. We were never thought to be weak in the paint. So, DA must have thought of having another SG since TA was never the SG who could give us point production. We only had a reliable Ray.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

We had KG, Perk and Powe at that time. We were never thought to be weak in the paint. So, DA must have thought of having another SG since TA was never the SG who could give us point production. We only had a reliable Ray.

I could buy that. Drafting for need instead of talent thinking we have frontcourt talent to contend.

[Rida]

We had KG, Perk and Powe at that time. We were never thought to be weak in the paint. So, DA must have thought of having another SG since TA was never the SG who could give us point production. We only had a reliable Ray.

Perk was the only 'true' center on the roster at that point Sheed was signed in the offseason.

We chose to let Tony Allen & Posey walk, drafted Giddens and then signed Sheed as an FA.

Imagine if we drafted Jordan/Asik/Pekovic and resigned tony who was only asking for 12 million over three years.

We would have been much better off.

[greenhead85]

We had KG, Perk and Powe at that time. We were never thought to be weak in the paint. So, DA must have thought of having another SG since TA was never the SG who could give us point production. We only had a reliable Ray.

Perk was the only 'true' center on the roster at that point Sheed was signed in the offseason.

We chose to let Tony Allen & Posey walk, drafted Giddens and then signed Sheed as an FA.

Imagine if we drafted Jordan/Asik/Pekovic and resigned tony who was only asking for 12 million over three years.

We would have been much better off.

TA was still with us in 2008 -2009. Sheed came aboard 2009-2010.

The frontline problem came only after we failed to recapture the crown in 2010 against our perennial nemesis - the time we lost Perk and Sheed to injuries, during and after the Finals, respectively.

[Roy H.]

Regarding the Pekovic pick, there was no way that he was going to come to the U.S. for first round "slot" money.  The only way to get him over here quickly was to pick him in the second round.  Teams at the end of the first were actively trying to trade back to Minnesota's pick, but they were having none of it.

Little known fact:  we originally owned that pick, but traded it to Minnesota in the Wally / Blount trade.

[BballTim]

Does this proposed De Andre Jordan trade smack of Irony to all of you?

I remember being in the Celticsblog Chat room during the NBA Draft in 2008.

The Scouting report on Jordan was a super athletic 7 footer who was incredibly raw. Worst case scenario he would have been the best alley oop partner Rajon Rondo ever had.

I remember thinking at the time as we approached the 28th pick like many others on this site did, that he would have been a great pick.

I think the 2008 draft was Danny's biggest whiff as a GM. He ended up picking JR Giddens at 30 (ouch) a pick which suprised a lot of people and ended up being an absolute disaster.

What stings even more is the guys picked after Giddens. The very next pick, (the first in the second round) was Nikola Pekovic, Chalmers was picked 34th, 35th was De Andre Jordan and 36th Omer Asik.

All of the aforementioned guys still have long careers left in the NBA while Danny missed the boat and settled for Giddens which at the time seemed indefensible and now looks horrendous as we seek to acqquire a guy who fell into our lap and we passed on.

  I think there were more posts wanting Danny to draft CDR than anyone else. His name never seems to come up in these threads though.

[Roy H.]

  I think there were more posts wanting Danny to draft CDR than anyone else. His name never seems to come up in these threads though.

I remember it be split.  A lot of fans wanted CDR.  Others wanted Chalmers or Bill Walker.  Jordan had his advocates, but it was nowhere near a consensus, or even a majority.

What we can all agree on is that just about nobody wanted Giddens.

[Rida]

Does this proposed De Andre Jordan trade smack of Irony to all of you?

I remember being in the Celticsblog Chat room during the NBA Draft in 2008.

The Scouting report on Jordan was a super athletic 7 footer who was incredibly raw. Worst case scenario he would have been the best alley oop partner Rajon Rondo ever had.

I remember thinking at the time as we approached the 28th pick like many others on this site did, that he would have been a great pick.

I think the 2008 draft was Danny's biggest whiff as a GM. He ended up picking JR Giddens at 30 (ouch) a pick which suprised a lot of people and ended up being an absolute disaster.

What stings even more is the guys picked after Giddens. The very next pick, (the first in the second round) was Nikola Pekovic, Chalmers was picked 34th, 35th was De Andre Jordan and 36th Omer Asik.

All of the aforementioned guys still have long careers left in the NBA while Danny missed the boat and settled for Giddens which at the time seemed indefensible and now looks horrendous as we seek to acqquire a guy who fell into our lap and we passed on.

  I think there were more posts wanting Danny to draft CDR than anyone else. His name never seems to come up in these threads though.

You are absolutely right, I remember the CDR hysteria. We were all upset when the Nets got him