Stephen A. Smith said something on Sportscenter the other day that I’m shocked I didn’t realize until now. Miami’s trio of Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh were all part of the same NBA draft in 2003. Lebron went #1 to Cleveland, Bosh #4 to Toronto, and Wade #5 to the Heat. Denver did pretty well for themselves that year too, taking Carmelo Anthony at #3. Unfortunately for Detroit, they took Darko Milicic at #2. Ouch.
But what I’m sure nobody realizes is that the Celtics counter Miami’s 2003 class with a few of their own: Mickael Pietrus was the 11th pick in that draft, and Sasha Pavlovic was #19. The Heat’s James Jones was also pick #49, and even though he went undrafted, Miami’s Udonis Haslem was a rookie that year as well. That’s seven players from the 2003 draft class in the Eastern Conference Finals; weird. And if the Celtic’s hadn’t traded Kendrick Perkins (pick #27) there’d be eight, and I’d be feeling a little better about Boston’s chances right now.
Oh, and which guy do you think in the picture is the clown in the all white suite?
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About Mark Vandeusen