Danny Ainge admits mistake of JaJuan Johnson/MarShon Brooks swap

During the welcome press conference for MarShon Brooks, Keith Bogans and Kris Humpdashian, Danny Ainge spoke briefly about the mistake of swapping MarShon Brooks for JaJuan Johnson. In the 2011 NBA draft the C’s selected Brooks, who stared for the Providence Friars, with the 25th overall pick but shipped him to the New Jersey Nets for forward/center JaJuan Johnson, the 27th pick. Ainge, who rarely talks about missed draft selections, had this to say the other day:

“[Brooks] made us look bad by being a terrific young player, especially his rookie year.”

“MarShon has been playing in the NBA and the guy we drafted [Johnson] is not right now,” Ainge said.

“MarShon at the time [was] not at a position we really needed, but we have followed him really closely, from Providence and his NBA career."

I liked Brooks his rookie year, he showed that he was a legit NBA talent by averaging 12.6 points per game. His sophomore season began with big expectations but he ended up losing minutes to Nets guard Joe Johnson. His rookie campaign he started 47 games and played in 56. He also averaged 29.4 minutes per game, shot 42.8% from the field, and was named an All-Rookie Second Team selection.

Like I said earlier Ainge never has admitted to poor drafting before, so don’t expect him to talk about his misses of J.R. Giddens or Fab Melo (potentially). I expect Brooks to be a part of the long term picture, although there is a log jam at shooting guard. Brooks does have a leg up over the rest of the guys because he can actually shoot (no offense Bradley, Lee, Crawford and Bogans). Click here to see how Mark thinks the C's will trim down their roster. I have a feeling that MarShon will become a fan favorite before we know it.


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