NBA Draft: Every NBA team’s worst draft pick
By David Rouben
27: Boston Celtics – Joe Johnson (2001)
The 2001 NBA Draft has become infamous for a lot of things, most notably for a certain first overall selection that I’ll get to later. For the Celtics, their overall haul has to be regarded as one of the worst in franchise history, with their selection of Joe Johnson at the height of it all.
Why Joe Johnson? He turned out to be a pretty good player, but on other teams. The height of his career came during his days as a Hawk, where he averaged at least 20 points in all but two of his seven seasons. With the Celtics, he lasted only 48 games before he got traded for Tony Delk, who didn’t last much longer. Newsflash: not everyone that comes out of Kentucky is a star.
The rest of that Celtics draft class included marquee talents in Kedrick Brown and Joseph Forte. They were clearly in a transition period during this time, and didn’t win so much as a division title until 2005. It’s got to be frustrating that the team didn’t put nearly as much faith in Joe Johnson as they should have. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that they passed on guards like Gilbert Arenas and Tony Parker – as a side note, the Spurs may have been the only team to actually win the 2001 draft.
Next: 26: Los Angeles Lakers