The time the Celtics almost drafted Tony Parker

[TheGreenMonster]

Tony Parker did an interview with Bill Simmons for Grantland over the All Star weekend and in it he revealed how he was almost drafted by the Celtics in 2001.
Boston had 3 picks in the 1st round that year and when they were on the clock for the 21st selection the woman who gives players the team cap before hand came up to Parker and handed him a Cs hat and told him he was being drafted by Boston, unfortunately she then came back a couple of minutes later and took the hat back saying the Celtics had changed their mind and they ended up picking Joe Forte instead 
Parker later asked Boston GM Chris Wallace what had happened and was told that he and coach Jim O'Brien had wanted to select him but that Red Auerbach had overruled them.

Boston stuff is about 9 minutes in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlrGFjBR0hY

[guava_wrench]

I knew that Red was to blame for the Forte pick, but I didn't realize that it was such a last second move.

[lightspeed5]

you cant win them all, red's track record as a drafter is one of if not the best, even with that pick.

can you really blame red though?

[freshinthehouse]

I remember wanting the C's to take Jamaal Tinsley with that pick.

[clover]

There's a reason that retirement is eventually imposed in most fields.

[Jeff]

the worst thing Red did was mess up a 21st pick in the draft

that's a pebble right there

over here, there's this mountain range bigger than all the mountain ranges in the world - that's his legacy

[kozlodoev]

the worst thing Red did was mess up a 21st pick in the draft

that's a pebble right there

over here, there's this mountain range bigger than all the mountain ranges in the world - that's his legacy

If I had a penny for every time a pick in the 20s didn't pan out...

[bdm860]

you cant win them all, red's track record as a drafter is one of if not the best, even with that pick.

can you really blame red though?

Yes you can blame Red.

You never, EVER, draft a guard that shoots 38% from the free throw line.

He dropped almost 40 percentage points in one year.  It should have be clear he was on the decline! 

[pearljammer10]

I knew that Red was to blame for the Forte pick, but I didn't realize that it was such a last second move.

Nor did I, this is a great story. Parker in Green for the last 12 years would have been pretty killer.

[hardlyyardley]

Also in that draft took Kedrick Brown over Jefferson ....best pick was Joe Johnson who Pitino traded away that first year