No. 7 would indeed be unlucky if Celtics use it for Redick

Growing up, I cheered for them until my native Charlotte got a team of its own. Then during the dark days between the Hornets leaving town and the Bobcats entering the league, I jumped onto the Boston bandwagon again -- if a mediocre team can be said to have a "bandwagon."

My favorite Celtic happens to be their current GM, Danny Ainge. He has done well in the past two drafts, snaring Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes and Orien Green last year and Al Jefferson, Delonte West and Tony Allen in 2004. So I'd hate to see Ainge fall victim to the No. 7 Curse now.

(As a side note, my favorite Ainge moment occurred when he was playing for the Suns. While inbounding the ball at the end of a Game 3 loss to the Rockets during the 1994 Western Conference semis, he threw a baseball pass directly into Mario Elie's face. It was a random act of violence that remains unrivaled in NBA history. Not even Reggie Evans giving his inexplicable grab-and-tug to Chris Kaman can compare. If Rasheed Wallace or Ron Artest ever did that, they'd be banned from the league for life. Ainge got a $5,000 fine, a small price to pay for immortality. But I digress.)

The Celtics already have a decent amount of firepower from the perimeter.

They traded for swingman Wally Szczerbiak last season, and Green shows great potential. Small forward Paul Pierce is coming off a monster season in which he was sixth in the league in scoring (26.8 ppg). Even Allen averaged 7.2 points in 19 minutes per game as a reserve shooting guard.

Now let's look at their point guards. West is more of an undersized shooting guard than a true point. Greene is a former second-round pick and remains a project. Dan Dickau was one of my favorite college players ever, but he's lucky to have a job in the pros.

That, folks, is a mess. So why in the world would the Celtics consider Redick? The No. 7 Curse is the only possible explanation.

Well, I guess there is one other explanation: GMs are people, and the thing about people is that they can be really, really stupid -- especially when it comes to drafting Duke players.

After seeing Mike Dunleavy taken No. 3, Trajan Langdon picked No. 11 and William Avery selected No. 14, I have no doubt that somebody will pull the trigger on Redick way too early.

Since Mike Krzyzewski came to Durham in 1980, 36 Blue Devils have been drafted, 18 have gone in the first round and 12 have been lottery picks.

One -- Danny Ferry, a reserve with the Spurs in 2003 -- has won a ring.

And still some people believe that being a Duke alumnus boosts a player's NBA stock. It defies all logic, in the same way that hitting 40.6 percent of his career 3-point attempts is supposed to qualify Redick as one of the great shooters in college basketball history.

I was listening to a local sports talk radio station a couple of months ago, and the host said something to the effect of, "Redick and Morrison -- well, you gotta think these guys will go 1-2 in the draft."

After nearly wrecking my car, I managed to stay on the highway while dialing the station. When the screener answered, this is more or less how our conversation went:

Screener: Hi, (station name omitted to protect the innocent) ...
Me: Yeah, your host just said J.J. Redick will be a top-two pick in the draft.

(Pause)

Screener: In the NBA Draft?
Me: Yep.

(Longer pause in which I can sense him silently groping for words.)

Screener: #%&!

Three seconds later, I was on the air asking how Redick would cope with a grueling 82-game regular season schedule in the pros, after fading down the stretch all four years in college. Or how, after he was harassed into an embarrassing 3-for-18 performance by LSU's Garrett Temple, Redick would deal with NBA shooting guards like, say, Kobe Bryant or Dwayne Wade.

(By the way, in the wake of Redick's DWI arrest, everyone is making the obligatory "sure, he took 18 shots before he got behind the wheel -- but only three went down" joke. Of course, I would never be so crass as to repeat that line. Ahem.)