Ledo’s Bubble Burst On Draft Night
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Most athletes will tell you that they don't read the newspapers or what's written about them on the internet. They say that they are oblivious to the criticism. They are lying.
Former Friar Rick Ledo is not one of those athletes. He has openly admitted that he has heard the criticism of his decision to leave Providence College without ever playing a game to turn pro. He was told that his chances of being a first round draft choice were tenuous, at best. He didn't care what people were saying. He said that he wanted to prove his doubters wrong. He's going to have to do that the hard way because there will be no guarantees. The 2013 NBA Draft's first round passed him by. He was a second round pick.
Ledo was officially selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 43rd overall pick of the draft in second round. Shortly after being selected by Milwaukee, Ledo was shipped to the Dallas Mavericks. Ironically, the Mavs used the Brooklyn Nets second round pick in 2014 as trade bait. That selection was acquired by Dallas from Boston when the Celtics moved up 3 spots in the first round Thursday night. The Celtics had acquired that second round pick from Brooklyn in a blockbuster deal involving Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBut, there will be no guaranteed millions for Ledo. He will have to earn his money and his spot on the team's roster.
Despite Ledo's solid individual workouts, there were too many questions about him that ultimately scared teams away from taking him in the first round.
An NBA scout told GoLocalProv.com earlier this year that while he believed that Ledo had first round talent, he believed that the former Friar would be a second round pick because of all of the uncertainty surrounding his personal life, the multiple high school transfers (four times) and the fact that he didn't play a single game in college. That scout appears to have been right.
Despite Ledo's diappointment, it wasn't all bad Thursday night.
Former St. Andrew's (Barrington) and Syracuse star guard Michael Carter-Williams (11.9 pts, 7.3 assists, 4.9 reb) was drafted with the 11th overall pick by the Philadelphia 76ers.. The Hamilton, Massachusetts native had a stellar season for Syracuse whom he helped lead to the Final Four. It was quite a turnaround for the sophomore who averaged just 10 minutes per game as a freshman for the Orange.
Another player with Rhode Island roots - Erik Murphy (South Kingstown) was hoping to be taken in the second round. He was selected with the 49th selection by the Chicago Bulls. The 6’-10” big man had a solid 4-year career for former Friar Billy Donavan at the University of Florida where he averaged 12.2 points and 5.5 rebounds per game as a senior this past season. The son of former Boston College standout Jay Murphy, Erik left Rhode Island to attend St. Mark’s (Southboro, MA) where he played his high school basketball.
So what could have been a stellar night for Rhode Island at the NBA Draft, was instead tempered by the news on Ledo's slide into the second round.
Meanwhile, it was an eventful night for Danny Ainge and the Boston Celtics.
Ainge started the night trading the team's first round pick (16th overall) along with two future second round picks to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for the 13th overall selection which the Celtics used to draft Gonzaga center Kelly Olynk. Olynk is a 7-foot big man who is considered to be one of the better offensively skilled big men in the draft. He can handle the basketball, shoot from the perimeter and score in the post. As a junior for the Bulldogs he averaged 17.8 points and 7.3 rebounds.
But Ainge's biggest move of the night had nothing to do with the 2013 NBA Draft. Instead, he traded the remaining two members of the "Big Three" to the Brooklyn Nets.
Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were sent to Brooklyn along with Jason Terry in exchange for three first-round picks (2014, 2016 and 2018), along with Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace, Tornike Shengelia and Reggie Evans, well as a sign-and-trade for Keith Bogans.
