Brandon Hunter had to wait almost four and a half hours but his patience was rewarded when the Boston Celtics selected him with the 27th pick in the 2nd round (56th overall) of the NBA Draft Thursday night in New York. Celtics' Director of Operations Danny Ainge was active in his first draft. He traded Boston's two 1st-round draft picks, Boston College point guard Troy Bell (16th overall) and Duke shooting guard Dahntay Jones (20th overall), to Memphis for UNLV point guard Marcus Banks (13th overall) and high school forward Kendrick Perkins (27th overall). Hunter will be looking to provide inside strength to a team that finished 26th in both rebounding and rebounds allowed last season.

Boston had picked up the 2nd-round pick via a trade with Sacramento earlier this week. The Celtics traded last year's 2nd-round pick, Darius Songaila, to the Kings for their 2nd-round pick this year and in 2005. Songaila played on Boston's summer league team before signing with Moscow of the Russian League last season.

Chris Kaman was the first and only other Mid-American Conference player taken in the draft. The 7-footer from Central Michigan went to the L.A. Clippers with sixth overall pick. The last Bobcat to get drafted by the NBA was Gary Trent in 1995. Trent, the original Shaq of the MAC, went to the Milwaukee Bucks as the 11th player chosen in the draft that year.