It wasn't a matter of where Tim Duncan went in the draft — he knew he was going first overall. It was just a matter of which team was lucky enough to nab that top spot, and for the now-Hall of Fame big man, San Antonio wasn't the squad that fit the bill.
After a tough campaign in 1996-97, with a 15-67 record to show for it, the Celtics had the second-best odds of getting the first overall selection in the draft. They had also made a trade in the summer of 1996 in which they sent Eric Montross and a first round pick to the Mavericks in return for their first rounders in '96 and '97. As it turned out, the Mavs weren't very good — neither was Montross — and their traded pick now belonged to Boston after a 24-58 season. All in all, the Celtics' odds of grabbing the top player off the board was over 36 percent, which was significantly higher than the Spurs.
"The assumption was that I was going to Boston," Duncan said on the latest episode of "Real Ones" with Raja Bell and Logan Murdock. "In my head, I was going to Boston. I just kind of knew it."
When it came down to the final three picks, all that was left were the 76ers, the Spurs and Celtics.
"And then Boston goes third, and I remember getting up from the couch, standing on the table watching the table like 'holy crap, I'm not going to Boston?!' And in my head, that's where I was going, just the percentage chances."
And then there were two — playing alongside explosive young scorers Allen Iverson and Jerry Stackhouse in the City of Brotherly Love, or manning the paint with legendary center David Robinson, whose back and foot injuries kept him sidelined and were the reason for the team's lack of success.
"And then Philly comes up No. 2, and I'm like 'holy crap, I get to go play with David Robinson? Are you kidding me?' " Duncan recalled, then ruminating on what his career might have looked like had he ended up elsewhere. "I don't know if I would've worked out, I don't know what would've happened but obviously it worked out pretty well for me, ending where I did. Being with Coach Pop and being with all those vets, learning from David...
"I think (Rick) Pitino at the time was the Boston coach and obviously they were running a much different system there, so who knows?"
Instead, the Celtics drafted Chauncey Billups third and ended up trading him by midseason in 1998 for Kenny Anderson, Popeye Jones and Zan Tabak. I think it's fair to say Boston would have preferred the lottery cooperated with them just a little bit more on that fateful night.
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