Delonte West and Ryan Gomes were two interesting Celtic draft choces. West went 24th and Gomes 50th in the same draft. Each player was regarded as a finsihed product with no upside, which is a rarety today.
I watched Gomes and West play 30 minutes a game without ever committing a blunder. But by the end of the season, the Celtics has horrible records. In the NBA, you need talent to win. West and Gomes consistently have less talent than the people they play against. I believe that Delonte West and Ryan Gomes could make maybe $40 to $50 million over careers that might last a decade or longer as useful 7th to 10th players, but if you have to play them any more than that, then you have a talent deficit at their position.
Half the people in the world are below average. Half the doctors graduated in the bottom half of their class. Half the NBA starters have less talent than the other half. And one of them at each position has the least physical talent among the 30 starters.
I had a friend who used to pick on John Bagley. He swore he could outplay Bagley. My friend didn't realize that while Bagley was probably the 29th best point guard in a league with 29 teams, he was a better point guard than Danny Ainge or Dennis Johnson ever dreamed of being. (Disclaimer: my friend leased space in a building owned by John Bagley's agent and got taken to the cleaners by him in a few transactions, so my friend's views may have been clouded by that relationship).
I'd have to give the Cavs credit for not overpaying for West. He is a real coach's player and a good teammate and was better than advertised, but that doesn't make him into a top flight player. Juwan Howard was better than advertised, so his team wound up submitting to public pressure and giving him a hundred million dollar because the fans hoped he was worth a hundred million dollars, but he wasn't. Cleveland would be wise to not make that mistake with West.