Today 10 years ago in Celtics history!

[JSD]

Paul Pierce is the only player drafted in the first round of the "98" draft that is still on the team that selected him. (Dirk was drafted by the Bucks)

[Edgar]

Great info
Jsaad.>TP

thanks Roy for fixing this
I saw the diference but I keep with the official date
on ( that happends to be wrong...lol)


Anyway

Capitan ure the best
Thanks to be loyal to the club
we will always be loyal to you

[grayjonv]

Paul Pierce dropped, as I recall, since he publicly stated that he did not want to play for a few of the bad teams.  Little did Pierce know that the Celtics would have a tough 10 years.

So instead of drafting a problem the teams chose to avoid Pierce.

Celtics I wanted Nowiski from what I remember.

 

[Chief]

Pierce was drafted in 1998 (ten years ago, not 1997).

Correct. I was there (at the FleetCenter); I have the T-shirt: June 24, 1998. I was there with some colleagues from Germany, one of whom was a 1.98m-tall basketball player (that's 6'6" for the metric-impaired). They were more interested in Nowitzki, who went just before Pierce. We were all surprised that Peirce was still undrafted when the Celtics' pick came up.

The Celtics had a "Fandemonium" night at the FLeetCenter, with promotions and giveaways. They offered free tickets to season ticket holders.

How did that draft turn out for Milwaukee?

[BigAlTheFuture]

Well, I was 9 years old when the Celtics drafted Pierce so I didn't watch the draft. I just watch the Celtics games back then. I was most excited when we drafted Gerald Green. I basically couldn't sleep that night because I was so excited that he fell that low and the Celtics picked him up. LOL.

[Bankshot]

Paul Pierce dropped, as I recall, since he publicly stated that he did not want to play for a few of the bad teams.  Little did Pierce know that the Celtics would have a tough 10 years.

So instead of drafting a problem the teams chose to avoid Pierce.

Celtics I wanted Nowiski from what I remember.

I think you recall incorrectly.  Pierce supposedly dropped because of alleged character issues.  He certainly did not, as far as I know, say he didn't want to play for bad teams.  As a matter of fact, he was upset at the teams that passed him up (which were lottery teams) because he knew he should have went higher and vowed to prove them wrong (which he eventually did).  Doesn't make sense for PP to be upset at all the teams that passed him up if he didn't want to be drafted by those teams, now does it?  Also doesn't make sense not to want to be picked by bad teams when all the lottery teams are pretty much bad and every player wants to be a lottery pick.

[jayc429]

Paul Pierce dropped, as I recall, since he publicly stated that he did not want to play for a few of the bad teams.  Little did Pierce know that the Celtics would have a tough 10 years.

So instead of drafting a problem the teams chose to avoid Pierce.

Celtics I wanted Nowiski from what I remember.

I think you recall incorrectly.  Pierce supposedly dropped because of alleged character issues.  He certainly did not, as far as I know, say he didn't want to play for bad teams.  As a matter of fact, he was upset at the teams that passed him up (which were lottery teams) because he knew he should have went higher and vowed to prove them wrong (which he eventually did).  Doesn't make sense for PP to be upset at all the teams that passed him up if he didn't want to be drafted by those teams, now does it?  Also doesn't make sense not to want to be picked by bad teams when all the lottery teams are pretty much bad and every player wants to be a lottery pick.

Neither is completely correct.  PP's agent did tell Toronto that he didn't want them to draft him.  It wasn't because they were a bad team.  It was because he and his agent thought there was no way he would drop any lower than fifth and if he did drop he wanted to play close to his friends and family, his birthplace, Oakland.

The reason he dropped is complicated.  Everyone knew the 1st two draftee's were going to be Olowakandi and Bibby.  There was no secret about that. 
When Denver picked LaFrentz it was a shock.  Denver fans were not happy.  The Nuggets started the rumor that Pierce was out of shape and his workouts were lacking.  The other GM's have since refuted that rumor, but it doesn't matter because that's what stuck.  Golden State and Toronto had already made their deal for Toronto to take Jamison and trade him for Carter. Jamison was the NCAA player of the year, so that was not shocking that Golden State would take him and Toronto was already told PP didn't want to play for them.  After that it was just combination of poor scouting (Bucks)and promises to other players (76ers).

And there you have it.  That's how a Finals MVP and future HOFer gets drafted at #10. That's what makes the draft so interesting.  You never know what will happen.

[Edgar]

Well, I was 9 years old when the Celtics drafted Pierce so I didn't watch the draft. I just watch the Celtics games back then. I was most excited when we drafted Gerald Green. I basically couldn't sleep that night because I was so excited that he fell that low and the Celtics picked him up. LOL.

yes because its always nice to have
Mr

BTW I know i will sound pretencious but i felt better with Al not because he was good but because wee always needed size I was happy with perkuless too