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By Albert Lin, CNNSI.com
Brown did not work
out for any NBA team, due to a case of turf toe in his left
foot. AP
NEW YORK -- There are few guarantees in life.
Apparently, however, Kedrick Brown going No. 11 to the Boston
Celtics was one of them.
Through a little backroom dealing, Brown's
agent, Arn Tellem, reportedly secured assurances that Boston
would take his client with the second of its three
first-rounders. Speculation is the choice was made for the
Portland Trail Blazers, but no trade was immediately announced
and officials denied any discussions.
"There's no chance we would do anything
with Kedrick," Celtics coach Jim O'Brien said.
"Kedrick is going to be with the Boston Celtics for a very,
very long time."
The Celtics already have Antoine Walker and
Paul Pierce, and they loaded up on wing players on draft night,
taking Arkansas' Joe Johnson (No. 10), Brown and North
Carolina's Joseph Forte (No. 21), furthering speculation that
something has to give.
"If I'm moved I'll still give 100
percent," Brown said. "But Boston is a really great
team I'd like to play for."
A virtual unknown as recently as a month ago,
observers began suspecting something was amiss when Brown last
week was invited to attend the draft. Only potential lottery
picks generally wait in the Green Room, and Brown long had been
considered a borderline first-round selection.
The 6-foot-7, 222-pound wingman, whose full
name is Albert Kedrick (KEE-drik) Brown, has been the biggest
mystery man in the draft. He submitted his name after only two
years of junior-college ball, at Okaloosa-Walton CC in Florida,
and did not work out or interview with a single NBA club (he had
turf toe on his left foot). Ergo, the rumors of a deal by
Tellem. How else could someone have skyrocketed with no new
information available?
"I trusted the people around me,"
Brown said. "My coach [Bruce Stewart] coached in the CBA,
so he knows a lot about the game. Arn Tellem is a powerful man,
so I put my trust in him and I put my trust in God."
What has teams drooling is Brown's superior
physical abilities. He is solidly built and can jump through the
roof (think of him as comparable to Arizona's Richard
Jefferson). What separated him from others, though, is his
(apparent) shooting ability. Brown hit 76 of 188 (40.4 percent)
3-point attempts last season, when he averaged 22.9 points and
8.8 rebounds.
"I didn't think about [turning pro] until
the end of the season," Brown said. "My junior college
coach did a lot of research. I really thought I was going to go
to LSU. But at that time I was at the top of my game, and I
really thought this would be the right time."
Brown signed with Tellem's SFX agency and
moved to Los Angeles to train with other, bigger-name clients,
including Johnson (taken by Boston a pick earlier), Eddie
Griffin, Brian Scalabrine and Earl Watson. Brown lifted and
worked out twice a week and built confidence by playing pickup
games; he had never before competed against this level of
opponent.
"When I stepped foot on the court and
held my own, I knew I could play with those guys," he said.
Despite the enormous differences from
low-level high school basketball to junior-college competition
to the NBA, Brown anticipates no problems making this latest
jump. He doesn't foresee too much pine time and expects to be
ready to contribute.
"As soon as they need me," he said.
"I'm not in any rush, but I think I can step in and help
immediately."
Regardless, Brown already is worlds away from
his childhood in Zachary, La. Indeed, he is light years away
from where he was just 24 months ago, forced to attend junior
college because he couldn't make the grade academically.
"I never could have imagined this,"
Brown said. "I always dreamed that I could go [to the NBA],
but I'm here quicker than I thought I would be."
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