Saturday, June 28, 2014

I'm worried Julius Randle will be the next great Laker, and the Celtics let them have him

First off, I'm not complaining about the Celtics drafting Marcus Smart at #6.  I'm excited to have him here.  And quick sidebar -- Boston choosing Smart doesn't for one second mean Rajon Rondo is going to be traded.  The Celtics were a bad team this year, and all they're doing right now is trying to improve.  There are a wide variety of possibilities in their future.  And as Brad Stevens told me, they just wanted to get the best player they could in the draft, and the C's felt Smart was that guy.

Me, I'm not so sure.  While I'm happy with Smart, I was slightly disappointed Boston didn't select Julius Randle.

Before last season started, there were three freshman phenoms that everybody was talking about.  Three "can't miss" guys who would all be heading to the NBA this year.  Two of them, Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker, just went first and second in the draft respectively.  The third, Randle, carried Kentucky all the way to the national title game; but somehow his draft stock fell.

The Lakers were almost as bad as the Celtics this season, which earn them the #7 pick in the draft, their highest selection in 32 years (since they chose James Worthy #1 overall in 1982).  After Boston passed on Randle at #6, the Lakers wisely snatched him up at #7.  If Randle becomes a star in LA, the Celtics will only have themselves to blame.



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