Boston Celtics: 3 drafted players who had great careers elsewhere
By Mark Nilon
Joe Johnson, SG (Drafted 10th overall in 2001)
Next, we have a player who, simply put, the Boston Celtics gave up far too early on. Selected 10th overall in 2001 Johnson was seen as a solid scoring option to slot into a lineup alongside stars Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker.
After just 48 games and 33 starts (averaging 7.5 points on 43 percent shooting) the, then, 20 year old wing was traded on February 20th, 2002, to the Phoenix Suns for Tony Delk and Rodney Rodgers. From there, as the years progressed, Johnson’s career began to ascend quite rapidly.
By his second full season in Arizona, the 22 year old was posting averages of 16.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game on 43 percent shooting from the field. By his third season with the team Johnson upped his stats to 17.1 points and 5.1 rebounds on 46 percent shooting from the field and a whopping 48 percent shooting from deep.
Running alongside league MVP Steve Nash and astounding young big Amar’e Stoudemire, Phoenix posted a record of 62-20 (number one in the NBA) that season and found themselves reaching the 2005 Western Conference Finals.
This wound up being Johnson’s final year with the Suns and, during the 2005 offseason, was signed-and-traded to the Atlanta Hawks where he would establish himself as, not just one of the best scorers in the league but, rather, one of it’s best players.
Selected to his first All-Star game in 2007 (25 points, 4.2 rebounds & 4.4 assists on 38 percent shooting from deep) Joe Johnson would go on to reach the illustrious game for a total of seven times, be bestowed All-NBA team honors in 2010 and found himself guiding his teams deep into the playoffs on numerous occasions.
Finishing his career with averages of 15.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists on 43 percent shooting from the field and 34 percent shooting from three Johnson was seen as one of the league’s best talents for a majority of his 17 years in the NBA.
Looking back on it now, while the Boston Celtics did find ample success in the years following Johnson’s departure, perhaps it was the wrong move to ship off the shooting guard so early on into his year.