The 61st annual NBA draft is just hours away, and if you're a fan of the Washington Wizards, you're wondering what the future is for John Wall. But if you're a Celtics fan, the big question is: Who will make history this year?
From Red Auerbach to Danny Ainge and everyone in between, the Celtics have a history of making draft picks that pay big dividends. A wide-eyed kid one day, a living legend the next — that's the way it goes in Boston.
Who will it be this year? We'll soon know.
In the meantime, here's a retrospective look at the Celtics' all-time starting five draftees.
Point guard: Rajon Rondo, No. 21 overall, 2006
Technically not a Celtic draft pick, as he was selected by the Phoenix Suns and shipped to Boston in a draft-day deal. But it was Ainge who saw something in the raw kid out of Kentucky that no one else did. In Rondo, who was picked behind such megastars as Oleksiy Pecherov, Quincy Douby and Renaldo Balkman, the Celtics found their point guard of the future. Along with his trades for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, this was one of the defining moments of Ainge's career.
Shooting guard: John Havlicek, No. 7 overall, 1962
A true Celtic legend, Havlicek played all 16 years of his career in Boston, and remains the team's all-time leader in games, minutes and points today. The journey for Havlicek began when Red took a chance on the 21-year-old Ohio State Buckeye in the first round, and it ended in 13 All-Star selections and eight championship rings. Now there's a winner.
Small forward: Larry Bird, No. 6 overall, 1978
In the spring of 1979, the two biggest stars in the nation in college basketball were a couple of youngsters in the Midwest named Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Magic went first overall in the draft that spring, to the L.A. Lakers — but Bird wasn't available, since Red and the Celtics had already snatched him up with the sixth overall pick a year earlier. Back then, you could use a draft pick on a player who hadn't yet made the leap from college to the NBA. The Celtics took Bird, then a junior at Indiana State, and a year later it paid off.
Power forward: Kevin McHale, No. 3 overall, 1980
McHale came to Boston in one of the great trades in the history of sports. In the hours leading up to the draft on June 10, 1980, Red was looking to make a deal with his No. 1 overall pick in the draft, hoping to add a piece via the trade market. So he traded his top pick down to No. 3, swapping picks with the Golden State Warriors and getting back a young center, Robert Parish. With the first pick, the Warriors took Joe Barry Carroll, an overrated center who never quite lived up to the hype, and third, the Celtics took McHale. McHale and Parish went on to win three rings in Boston. As for Carroll, he was an All-Star once, which is nice.
Center: Bill Russell, No. 2 overall, 1956
The story of the greatest winner in the history of sports began with a draft-day trade on April 30, 1956. The Celtics were picking 13th overall in the draft that year, and Red was desperate to trade up and make a run at Russell. So he traded Ed Macauley, his six-time All-Star center, and Cliff Hagan, a young small forward, to St. Louis for the second pick and the rights to Russell. That's what made Red great — he knew a winner when he saw one, and he saw a future legend in Russell.
Will we see the next Russell take the stage in New York tonight? Doubtful. But Ainge has a chance tonight to continue the Celtics' tradition of brilliant draft-day dealings, and given his track record, we should expect nothing less.
