Report: Celts Would have drafted Durant #1 in 2007

[KG Living Legend]

 Boston Celtics Schedule Standings Stats Roster Odds Fantasy Tickets Report: Celtics Would Have Drafted Kevin Durant No. 1 Overall In 2007.

 The Boston Celtics wouldn’t have botched the 2007 NBA Draft, if we’re to believe a recent report. The Portland Trail Blazers infamously selected Greg Oden with the No. 1 overall pick that year after winning the NBA Draft Lottery. Kevin Durant went No. 2 to the Seattle SuperSonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder) and since has evolved into one of the game’s elite players, while Oden played in just 105 career NBA games due to various injuries before going overseas to play in China.

 Things reportedly would have played out much differently if Boston, not Portland, had won the lottery. The Celtics, who had the second-worst record during the 2006-07 season (and, in turn, a 19.9 percent chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 draft), would have selected Durant over Oden, according to ESPN.com’s Chris Forsberg.

 “Those who know (Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge) best swear that he would have picked Durant No. 1 in the 2007 draft over Greg Oden had the pingpong balls bounced Boston’s way,” Forsberg wrote before the Celtics hosted Durant’s Thunder on Wednesday night at TD Garden. “Ainge’s son Austin, currently Boston’s director of player personnel, wasn’t a team employee in 2007, but he noted in June 2014 that, ‘I was in the draft room, and they would have taken Durant. I did have some inside information there.’

 His story has been vetted by Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck.” Everything worked out OK for the Celtics, who ended up with the No. 5 overall pick following some bad luck in the lottery. They traded the pick to the Sonics for Ray Allen and later acquired Kevin Garnett in a blockbuster deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves, paving the way for an NBA title the following season. But those days are over, and Durant is set to hit free agency this summer, at which point the Celtics, among others, are expected to make a push for the seven-time All-Star.

 Maybe Ainge can play up the fact the Celtics always had eyes for Durant when he makes his sales pitch. Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images Have a question for Ricky Doyle? Send it to him via Twitter at @TheRickyDoyle.

Read more at: http://nesn.com/2016/03/report-celtics-would-have-drafted-kevin-durant-no-1-overall-in-2007/

[Roy H.]

Those reports are old news.  Doc refuted  those statements, though.

"Even though everybody changes now, we were all for Oden, and I think 98 percent of the league,'' Rivers said. "But now I hear it all over our staff, I hear it everywhere, ‘Oh, no, we were Durant guys.' I don't believe that. I think we would have drafted Oden.''

[KG Living Legend]

 Who knows if it's true. I know one thing. It was and is Danny's call. I trust Danny would have thought like I did. Too scared of passing on the surest thing in Durant For a Center with a leg that was 1 and 1/4" longer than the other.

 The leg difference alone was enough to freak me out.

[Monkhouse]

Report: Danny Ainge writes out an astounding love letter titled: Come to Boston Kevin Durant!

Kevin Durant has not sent his response, as the world eagerly awaits.

[Eja117]

As much as I think Doc's word is worth less than a promise from a desperate gambler I have to side with him over Ainge Jr here. When Austin says "I was in the draft room" it's irrelevant because the Celts were in no position to draft Durant.  It's like saying the Patriots would have drafted Marcus Mariotta with the first pick last year.  Is this to say they spent tons of time talking about drafting someone nowhere near where they were actually picking? I don't believe it.

Now if he said he was in the room on the night of the draft lottery and knows they were aiming for #2 or discussed wanting Durant...that could be a little different. Sorta