For about two minutes last night, my dream came true as the Boston Celtics drafted a player from my alma mater (Providence College) at No. 25 in the first round of the 2011 NBA Draft: shooting guard Marshon Brooks (@marshon2).
PC's last first round pick was Austin Croshere in 1997 so these occasions don't exactly frequently occur. I had my Ryan Gomes Celtics jersey on (probably the only one in existence outside of Gomes' extended family and friends) and all was right in the world.
However, as soon as I started tweeting about it and receiving congratulatory text messages, I read on Twitter that Brooks would be dealt to the New Jersey Nets (at No. 27) and they would pick Purdue power forward JaJuan Johnson (6-10, 220 pounds) for the C's. FYI, his Twitter handle is @BoilerBaller25
The Celts made it two Boilermakers as they selected Johnson's teammate E'Twaun Moore (guard, 6-4, 191 pounds) at No. 55 in the late second round.
Putting aside my obvious bias towards Brooks (who is going to be a legitimate scorer off the bench in the NBA right away), I have to say that Johnson and Moore both seem like good fits for Boston, a team that has a championship window of only a year or two more.
I will admit that I never watch Big Ten basketball since it is the most boring league in college basketball but I heard both these names a ton and they put up good numbers and most importantly, went to school four years apiece. This was supposedly a bad draft class but Boston was smart to go for two players that have done all they can to get better on and off the court in college.
The Celtics don't need more projects like Avery Bradley (last year's first round pick, a guard from the University of Texas), who barely played last season and looks years away from making any sort of impact.
Around this time of year, everyone and their mother literally produces a mock draft and becomes an expert on all the NBA prospects. The site that I trust the most is nbadraft.net so therefore I was intrigued to see what they said about the two newest members of the Green and White.
This is their profile on Johnson.
This is their profiled on Moore.
It's tough to say how they will pan out and it's frustrating that there is no NBA Summer League this summer due to the probable NBA lockout. Still, grabbing a pair of teammates from a solid college program appears to be a smart move. They'll have a built in support system and hopefully be able to bring Boston two things they really lack: youthful energy and production off the bench.
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