Did Danny Ainge find gold again through the Draft?

Despite the Celtics struggles in the past 10 years before this season’s fairly successful season (Hooray sarcasm!), the team has never been able to pick in the top few slots in the draft. You could argue that he earned the NBA Executive of the Year Award not by trading for two All-Stars, but by his great track record since re-joining the franchise he once played with.

Every pick he has made has either helped directly win a championship, or indirectly build the roster.

The #5 pick in 2007 turned into Ray Allen and Glen Davis.

In 2006, having the #7 pick allowed to acquire the uber-valuable expiring contract of Theo Ratliff. Plus we drfted our poing guard for the next several years late in the 1st Round, and picked up Leon Powe 49 players into the draft.

2005, the talented but unproven Gerald Green fell in the Celtics lap at 18, and Ryan Gomes was still around at pick 50.

The 2004 Draft brought Al Jefferson (15), Delonte West (24) and Tony Allen (25) on board.

And in Ainge’s first draft with the Celtics, he mad a draft day trade to acquire Marcus Banks and Kendrick Perkins for Troy Bell and Dahntay Jones. While Banks never worked out here, Perk is a legit starting center that has improved every year and Troy Bell and Dahntay Jones have been in and out of the league.

Bill Walker / Getty Images" class="imgcaption floatr" style="float: right;" />Your World Champion Boston Celtics (man it is fun writing that) entered the 08 NBA Draft a lot differently than what they went through just one year ago. In 2007, Celtics fans were trying to overcome the bad-bounce-of-the-lottery-balls-again headache hangover…this year, a 17th Banner "it was all worth it" hangover. The C’s took a gamble selecting JR Giddens with the 30th pick of the Draft, and another chance on trading for Kansas St’s Bill Walker in Round 2. Both players have a ton of potential and should have been much higher picks without their respective baggage. It has been reported that Giddens hasn’t been the best teammate and his been involved in off the court problems. Supposedly, he has grown up a lot in the past year. Walker was a lottery pick coming out of high school, but knee injuries have scared many NBA teams off. The Walker pick can be somewhat compared to the Leon Powe pick for the C’s in 2006, and that seemed to work out pretty well.

If Giddens can grow up a bit more, which should be easier with the Celtics veteran team, he could step in fairly soon and be a contributor off the bench. He is 23 years-old, which means he his older than Glen Davis, Gabe Pruitt, and Rajon Rondo. You really can’t say enough for what 4 years of school does for rookies.

Check out Comcast SportsNet’s exclusive interview with NBA Executive of the Year Danny Ainge with Greg Dickerson on draft night at the TD Banknorth Garden.