Remember Semih Erden, the final pick in the 2008 NBA draft?  At the time he was drafted, Danny Ainge swore the Celtics had received first-round value from the draft’s final pick.  Then he remained stashed overseas, where Celtics fans who didn’t completely forget about his existence presumably thought he was developing.  And maybe he is developing, but not at nearly the rate the C’s had hoped.
Via Chris Forsberg, ESPNBoston:

With Euroleague play in full swing, we checked in on how Erden’s doing overseas with his club, Fenerbahce Ulker. According to the league’s official website, Erden is averaging 4.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game in seven appearances (three starts). Erden’s reached double figures just once this season, connecting on 5 of 7 shots overall for 12 points in a win over Zalgiris on Nov. 25.

A game-by-game glance at Erden’s key stats during the Euroleague season:

Oct. 21, 2009 – Regal Barcelona – 3 points, 3 rebounds
Oct. 28, 2009 – Asvel Basket – 6 point, 5 rebounds
Nov. 4, 2009 – Cibona – 2 points, 6 rebounds
Nov. 11, 2009 – Montepaschi Siena – 7 points, 2 rebounds
Nov. 25, 2009 – Zalgiris – 12 points, 6 rebounds
Dec. 3, 2009 – Regal Barcelona – 0 points, 3 rebounds
Dec. 9, 2009 – Asvel Basket – 2 points, 7 rebounds

As you can see, Erden isn’t exactly tearing the Euroleague apart.  In fact, from what the stats say at least, he’s kind of like the Euroleague’s Darko Milicic.  (In case you didn’t know, not exactly a good thing.) 

Maybe Ainge was blowing smoke up our asses when he told us Erden had first-round value, or maybe Erden just hasn’t panned out, but — at any rate — Erden is a 23-year old who hasn’t shown much of a pulse this far into his career.