danny should've taken CDR over JR

[Neurotic Guy]

A good topic, but in every thread like this it needs to be pointed out that Danny Ainge has selected Rajon Rondo,Delonte West, Tony Allen, Leon Powe, Glen Davis, Ryan Gomes, Justin Reed, Kendrick Perkins, Semih Erden, Orien Greene, JR Giddens, Bill Walker, Gabe Pruitt, and Brandon Hunter all at pick 21 or lower. Not all are NBA players, but most currently reside on an NBA roster.

Typically, draft picking past the top 20 (and often much less than that) is a crap shoot.  But Ainge has managed to find NBA calibre players past #20 in every draft he's picked in.  No GM can hit the jackpot all the time, but he's doen pretty well.

[Drivefor18]

CDR is pretty much a Ron Mercer type player and probably not even that good.  Has some offensive skills but plays no defense at all and is undersized.

[jayk009]

The player I wanted was Deandre Jordan, anytime a player is that big and that athletic, you have to take a chance on him if hes available in the late first round, no matter how raw he is. Im convinced if this was a few years ago, he would be taken in the top 5. GM's have smartened up alot from previous drafts, since the Stromile Swifts and Nikkolai Skitschivili's or w.e his name is. I remember all the Euro picks and athletic potential picks GM's used to make. It's funny how stupid GM's used to be, they seem alot smarter now a days and learned from the mistakes they have made in the past. They were not so much different then us average fans at one point. I'm still amazed when I hear stories of what GM's have done in the past, lots and lots of bad decisions, Nowadays the only bad GM's are the bobcats GM, Clippers GM, and the Bucks GM, and Golden State's GM  is bad, the rest are fairly solid, but im not convinced with Orlando's GM either.

The Bottom 5 are Clippers, Bucks, Bobcats, Warriors and Magic in no particular order. You might wonder why I'm listing the Magic as having a bad GM, but I truly believe that he has just been lucky, but he is a poor poor GM. He is just fortunate to have Dwight Howard and that Jameer Nelson finally figured out how to play, or else their team would be a huge mess.The way he handled the Hedo situation is pretty poor, the way he wasted a lottery pick on Fran Vazquez, giving an unnecessarily huge contract to Rashard Lewis(he was bidding against himself, no other team had cap space, seattle had no intention on re-signing lewis), giving up on Courteney Lee after one season(especially after having a promising rookie season, I'm not convinced replacing Hedo Turkoglu and Courtney Lee with Vince Carter is an upgrade. If they have any success, it will be because he is lucky, not because he's a good GM.

[xmuscularghandix]

CDR is pretty much a Ron Mercer type player and probably not even that good.  Has some offensive skills but plays no defense at all and is undersized.

thats a pretty good comparison.

[bucknersrevenge]

Chalmers has been pretty good but I don't think there's any basis to assume he would've got the same opportunity here that he got in Miami. I don't see how Chalmers gets 10 minutes on last years team.

[guava_wrench]

The problem with these threads is that no one can always make the ideal pick, because everyone mis-evaluates talent (ignoring post-draft injuries). Everyone who said player X instead of Giddens before the draft also was wrong about other picks that Danny got right. All it makes sense to talk about is overall judgment.

We still don't know what kind of player CDR will be. The skill he does have looks good because it is scoring related, but I'll wait to see how his career goes before I pine over missing out on him.

[Fan from VT]

The player I wanted was Deandre Jordan, anytime a player is that big and that athletic, you have to take a chance on him if hes available in the late first round, no matter how raw he is. Im convinced if this was a few years ago, he would be taken in the top 5. GM's have smartened up alot from previous drafts, since the Stromile Swifts and Nikkolai Skitschivili's or w.e his name is. I remember all the Euro picks and athletic potential picks GM's used to make. It's funny how stupid GM's used to be, they seem alot smarter now a days and learned from the mistakes they have made in the past. They were not so much different then us average fans at one point. I'm still amazed when I hear stories of what GM's have done in the past, lots and lots of bad decisions, Nowadays the only bad GM's are the bobcats GM, Clippers GM, and the Bucks GM, and Golden State's GM  is bad, the rest are fairly solid, but im not convinced with Orlando's GM either.

The Bottom 5 are Clippers, Bucks, Bobcats, Warriors and Magic in no particular order. You might wonder why I'm listing the Magic as having a bad GM, but I truly believe that he has just been lucky, but he is a poor poor GM. He is just fortunate to have Dwight Howard and that Jameer Nelson finally figured out how to play, or else their team would be a huge mess.The way he handled the Hedo situation is pretty poor, the way he wasted a lottery pick on Fran Vazquez, giving an unnecessarily huge contract to Rashard Lewis(he was bidding against himself, no other team had cap space, seattle had no intention on re-signing lewis), giving up on Courteney Lee after one season(especially after having a promising rookie season, I'm not convinced replacing Hedo Turkoglu and Courtney Lee with Vince Carter is an upgrade. If they have any success, it will be because he is lucky, not because he's a good GM.

Good point on the Magic. It's not like the Cleveland GM deserves any credit for having a championship contender, all you had to do was earn the #1 pick and draft Lebron. Done. Same with Orlando, if the ping pong balls bounce differently and they end up drafting Emeka Okafor or Ben Gordon. Completely different team.

[mkogav]

CDR is pretty much a Ron Mercer type player and probably not even that good.  Has some offensive skills but plays no defense at all and is undersized.

thats a pretty good comparison.

Out of all the players in NBA history, u pick Ron Mercer? CDR played 43 games last season. The majority of his minutes in the last 15 games. No one knows how good this kid is. Not the Nets, nothis agent, nor CDR himself.

My best guess is that he's somewhere between Conner Henry and Michael Jordan.

Mk

[Rondo_is_better]

Danny should've taken a lot of players over a lot of players in hindsight. For example, Danny should've takn Jason Maxiell, David Lee, Jarrett Jack, Fransisco Garcia, Luther Head, Nate Robinson or Linas Kleiza over Gerald Green.

On a side note, do you guys realize that we were ONE PICK AWAY from getting Danny Granger? Indiana took him SEVENTEENTH and we had the 18th pick! And Danny revealed later that he would have taken Granger! [dang] you Indiana!

[KCattheStripe]

Danny should've taken a lot of players over a lot of players in hindsight. For example, Danny should've takn Jason Maxiell, David Lee, Jarrett Jack, Fransisco Garcia, Luther Head, Nate Robinson or Linas Kleiza over Gerald Green.

On a side note, do you guys realize that we were ONE PICK AWAY from getting Danny Granger? Indiana took him SEVENTEENTH and we had the 18th pick! And Danny revealed later that he would have taken Granger! [dang] you Indiana!

Could you imagine if We'd have been able to trade Danny for KG instead of Big Al?

[Fafnir]

Danny should've taken a lot of players over a lot of players in hindsight. For example, Danny should've takn Jason Maxiell, David Lee, Jarrett Jack, Fransisco Garcia, Luther Head, Nate Robinson or Linas Kleiza over Gerald Green.

On a side note, do you guys realize that we were ONE PICK AWAY from getting Danny Granger? Indiana took him SEVENTEENTH and we had the 18th pick! And Danny revealed later that he would have taken Granger! [dang] you Indiana!

That year we also finished just a bit ahead of them in the standings, and then lost to them in the playoffs.

That whole year didn't work out for us lol.

[KCattheStripe]

Danny should've taken a lot of players over a lot of players in hindsight. For example, Danny should've takn Jason Maxiell, David Lee, Jarrett Jack, Fransisco Garcia, Luther Head, Nate Robinson or Linas Kleiza over Gerald Green.

On a side note, do you guys realize that we were ONE PICK AWAY from getting Danny Granger? Indiana took him SEVENTEENTH and we had the 18th pick! And Danny revealed later that he would have taken Granger! [dang] you Indiana!

That year we also finished just a bit ahead of them in the standings, and then lost to them in the playoffs.

That whole year didn't work out for us lol.

Stupid Pacers.

[Rondo_is_better]

Danny should've taken a lot of players over a lot of players in hindsight. For example, Danny should've takn Jason Maxiell, David Lee, Jarrett Jack, Fransisco Garcia, Luther Head, Nate Robinson or Linas Kleiza over Gerald Green.

On a side note, do you guys realize that we were ONE PICK AWAY from getting Danny Granger? Indiana took him SEVENTEENTH and we had the 18th pick! And Danny {Ainge} revealed later that he would have taken Granger! [dang] you Indiana!

Could you imagine if We'd have been able to trade Danny for KG instead of Big Al?

You know I think it would have been a really tough decision to choose who to trade away, Big Al or Danny Granger. I guess the rule of thumb is to keep the big man because they're harder to find. But I'm imagining Danny Granger coming off the bench for Pierce and ****' slaughtering the second unit of every team in the NBA by teaming up with Rasheed Wallace and the other Celtics starter who would remain on the floor and I have a slight bulge in my pants. We would have a STARTING big three and then a BACK-UP big three! How sick is that?!?!?!?!