Saturday, June 30, 2012
I never thought the 2012 NBA Draft would delight me.
I am a huge fan of the Boston Celtics and from the looks of
things I think my favorite Big Three will now disband. Ray Allen is looking for a possible stint with the Miami Heat and I
am still in denial with the possibility of Kevin
Garnett retiring. With that said, losing Allen (I hope he’ll stay) will
free Boston to gain access on a James
Harden or an Eric Gordon
acquisition.
However I am not keen on Boston
getting a major name in the draft.
But then awesomeness erupted.
I am a fan of Jared Sullinger and I thought he’ll be
a neat lottery pickup. Just a season ago, he and Harrison Barnes were slated as possible 1-2 picks. Then Sullinger
suffered an injury and Barnes opted to return to college. While this stay in
college gave them further conditioning, it also pulled their draft stock down. Anthony Davis emerged as the top pick
for New Orleans while his teammate Michael
Kidd-Gilchrist was the second pick overall by the Charlotte Bobcats.
That’s why my eyes lit up when
Sullinger’s stock fell and Boston got dibs on him.
By the way, Jared Sullinger is the younger brother
of former PBA import JJ Sullinger.
This Sullinger had stints with the Talk
N Text Phone Pals and Coca-Cola
Tigers and while he had modest numbers, he failed to make a lasting
impression. In his stint with the Tigers in the 2009 PBA Fiesta Conference, he played for five games and averaged
26.6ppg and 10.2rpg before getting the axe in favor of James Penny. His earlier stint with the Phone Pals was better – because
he was one win away from taking Talk N Text to a championship in the 2007 PBA Fiesta Conference but was
thwarted by the Alaska Aces.
But in some ways, getting
picked in the lower rounds will bring life to exhausted squads and I think
Boston just lucky. Whatever injury they saw on his being must trigger the snub
but for a player of his caliber, it’s just uncanny. Alongside Syracuse’s Fab Melo, the addition of
this Ohio State forward will bolster Boston’s roster that will have Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, Avery Bradley,
Brandon Bass, and hopefully Garnett, Allen, and Jeff Green.
Hopefully Sullinger will prove
his snubbers wrong and make sure hoop life would be difficult for the teams not
named Boston Celtics.
Game over.
