What If Tim Duncan Had Actually Ended Up With the Boston Celtics?

July 4th, 2010 by Mike B. Leave a reply »
During the 1996-97 season, the Boston Celtics came up with a plan to land the top pick in the 1997 NBA Draft.

The plan was to "tank the season," meaning they would lose as many games as possible in order to have an ideal chance at landing Wake Forest center Tim Duncan.

The Celtics finished the season with the league's second-worst record (15-67), putting them in great position to obtain that highly-coveted draft pick.

As we all know, their plan backfired.

The San Antonio Spurs swooped in and won the top pick, while the Celtics wound up slipping to third.  

The Spurs drafted Duncan—who else would they have picked?—Philadelphia took the "Next Larry Bird" in Keith Van Horn, and the Celtics landed future Finals MVP Chauncey Billups.

The C's also selected Ron Mercer with the sixth-overall pick. 

Duncan went on to become one of the league's greatest big men ever, as he led San Antonio to four NBA titles, won three Finals MVPs, as well as two regular-season MVPs. 

Meanwhile, Billups struggled mightily, not even lasting his full rookie season in Beantown, and Mercer ...

Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by

Advertisement

Comments are closed.