#17 or Durant?

[USG]

#17. You don't give it up once you've got it. Plus, we managed to get one with Pierce.

[Andy Jick]

would anyone really be excited to watch the Boston Timberwolves play each night?  Sorry, not me...

That team is loaded with "potential" most of which came from this organization.  Replace Love with Mayo and they're still not much better (most likely).  Every time I watch them play I imagine them in green and white jerseys...  Makes me shiver...

[Tr1boy]

Celtics would have not picked green in my opinion or at least i would hope they wouldn't. I don't like the guys bystander like play on the court. He is JUST like lamar odom as nbadraft.net stated.

I was wrong about yi who is a good bench player at best .

IF i couldn't get the first three picks i would have picked Joakim Noah at #5. The guy is a very decent energetic pf/center.

[Fan from VT]

Take #17.

Then, start talking to Durant. Tell him he needs to leave tiny little OKC to really cement his legacy in NBA history. Start telling him stories of the history of the SF position...a list defined by champions that could go Havlicek, Bird, Pierce, Durant, in one sentence. Tell Durant we want him and only him. Tell him to play out his Qualifying offer year and enter free agency...which happens to be the 2012 offseason, so he'd be a UFA the year KG comes off the books...max contract...Rondo-Durant-Perkins core plus another max contract room...done.

[Donoghus]

Take #17.

Then, start talking to Durant. Tell him he needs to leave tiny little OKC to really cement his legacy in NBA history. Start telling him stories of the history of the SF position...a list defined by champions that could go Havlicek, Bird, Pierce, Durant, in one sentence. Tell Durant we want him and only him. Tell him to play out his Qualifying offer year and enter free agency...which happens to be the 2012 offseason, so he'd be a UFA the year KG comes off the books...max contract...Rondo-Durant-Perkins core plus another max contract room...done.

Can we get you on the next flight to Oklahoma City?   

[guava_wrench]

There is no way to know how any change plays out. All we can say for sure is that we have a title right now.

If we had the second pick, that would have changed the Seattle deal big time, assuming we still went for Ray. Green to Durant would have been an enormous jump for Seattle, requiring them to send more our way -- perhaps a future #1 or at least another contributor along with Ray. Or perhaps we somehow keep Delonte.

[Roy Hobbs]

There is no way to know how any change plays out. All we can say for sure is that we have a title right now.

If we had the second pick, that would have changed the Seattle deal big time, assuming we still went for Ray. Green to Durant would have been an enormous jump for Seattle, requiring them to send more our way -- perhaps a future #1 or at least another contributor along with Ray. Or perhaps we somehow keep Delonte.

I think that if we landed the #2 pick, there would have been no discussion of bringing Ray here.  Durant's trade value would have been much, much higher than a 32 year old Ray Allen, even with a #1 included, and without Delonte.

[zerophase]

I would love to see Durant on this team and to see us have drafted B. Roy. But the question is would Rondo and Perk still developed the same way without the Big 3's guidance? I think if we got Durant this team would be good but still at low seed in the playoffs. Durant would have sure been fun to watch. The Celtics haven't had a top 5 rising flashy superstar in the last two decades.

[sk7326]

Here's a question posed in Bill Simmons' recent mailbag:

Q: If you could go back in time "Lost"-style and fix the 2007 lottery so the Celtics landed the second pick, would you keep what happened (No. 5 pick, KG trade, 2008 title, everything else that happened up to now), or would you switch it so that they ended up with the No. 2 pick and Durant?

Simmons and his father both say you need to take Durant.  I'm not as sure; I think I prefer the guarantee of one title (and three years, at least, of contending basketball) over 10 years of a superstar with no guarantee of winning.  However, it's an interesting question, and I can see both sides.

Durant.  He was an otherworldly prospect.  I suspect the #17 plan occured because we DIDN'T get Durant.  That said, it might have involved trading Pierce - and what came back would drive the plan a lot.

[Redz]

The way our luck was going at that point, if we got the 2nd, someone other than Portland would have gotten the 1st and decided to take Durant.  We'd have ended up thinking we made out like bandits with Oden dropping to #2. We'd be stuck in Lotteryville for eternity, lamenting our cursed existence as Oden legs perpetually cracked like matchsticks.   

[Who]

The way our luck was going at that point, if we got the 2nd, someone other than Portland would have gotten the 1st and decided to take Durant.  We'd have ended up thinking we made out like bandits with Oden dropping to #2. We'd be stuck in Lotteryville for eternity, lamenting our cursed existence as Oden legs perpetually cracked like matchsticks.   

Oh, I'd definitely give up the Garnett era for Greg Oden. No hesitation whatsoever on that one.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I don't know how anyone would consider giving up seeing Sasha Vujacic crying in the bench after he got destroyed by Ray Allen. Or giving up Paul Pierce leaving the floor on a wheel chair, just to return to bury the Lakers? Or how would anyone give up one of the greatest (if not the greatest) comebacks in Finals history? Or how can anyone consider giving up saying goodnight to Zaza? Or how would anyone consider giving up the blowout we gave the freaking Fakers in Boston to win the Championship?

I'm besides myself.

[Fafnir]

There is no way to know how any change plays out. All we can say for sure is that we have a title right now.

If we had the second pick, that would have changed the Seattle deal big time, assuming we still went for Ray. Green to Durant would have been an enormous jump for Seattle, requiring them to send more our way -- perhaps a future #1 or at least another contributor along with Ray. Or perhaps we somehow keep Delonte.

I think that if we landed the #2 pick, there would have been no discussion of bringing Ray here.  Durant's trade value would have been much, much higher than a 32 year old Ray Allen, even with a #1 included, and without Delonte.

As I said, Danny has indicated that he could have gotten KG for just the #1/#2 pick and expiring contracts.

I'd have to say that's probably the truth, they might have demanded their pick back or some talent but not Big Al.

[Brickowski]

I don't know how anyone would consider giving up seeing Sasha Vujacic crying in the bench after he got destroyed by Ray Allen. Or giving up Paul Pierce leaving the floor on a wheel chair, just to return to bury the Lakers? Or how would anyone give up one of the greatest (if not the greatest) comebacks in Finals history? Or how can anyone consider giving up saying goodnight to Zaza? Or how would anyone consider giving up the blowout we gave the freaking Fakers in Boston to win the Championship?

I'm besides myself.

Because some of us are old enough to remember other championships that were even more satisfying, such as 1969, when Jack Kent Cooke had the balloons ready to drop and the champagne on ice.

We also remember the thrill of multiple championships-- of having a dynasty instead of a one shot wonder.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I don't know how anyone would consider giving up seeing Sasha Vujacic crying in the bench after he got destroyed by Ray Allen. Or giving up Paul Pierce leaving the floor on a wheel chair, just to return to bury the Lakers? Or how would anyone give up one of the greatest (if not the greatest) comebacks in Finals history? Or how can anyone consider giving up saying goodnight to Zaza? Or how would anyone consider giving up the blowout we gave the freaking Fakers in Boston to win the Championship?

I'm besides myself.

Because some of us are old enough to remember other championships that were even more satisfying, such as 1969, when Jack Kent Cooke had the balloons ready to drop and the champagne on ice.

We also remember the thrill of multiple championships-- of having a dynasty instead of a one shot wonder.

Hi-five for old people.