In 1985, the NBA adopted the Draft
Lottery. The rationale behind this is to give the season’s worst teams the opportunity to
find a quality player in the draft. The team with the worst record gets the
most balls. Currently the worst 14 teams duke it out to claim a quality rookie.
Because of trades however, an already playoff-bound squad has the chance to
further improve their chances.
The
best example of this was when Darko
Milicic was picked second in the 2003
NBA Draft by the then-championship contending Detroit Pistons. This was good for the Pistons because it added depth to their bench but bad for Darko because he
played in limited minutes.
Darko
will not play a part in this list because he was the second pick – after Lebron James in that star-studded list.
Sam Bowie – the person picked ahead
of Michael Jordan in 1984 is also not included in the list
because aside from being a number two pick, the draft lottery started a year
after their selection. We are focusing on the top draft picks from 1985
onwards.
There
are a lot of ways to waste a perfect top lottery pick.
Technically
the New Jersey Nets didn’t waste
theirs when they selected Kenyon Martin
in 2000 in what is perceived as the
worst draft class. While almost 30 teams overlooked Michael Redd who is clearly the most accomplished player in this
class, Martin proved to be a good performer especially in the Nets’ two trips
to the Finals. Larry Johnson’s
selection proved also worthy for the Charlotte
Hornets because LJ’s Charlotte stint proved to be the best part of his NBA
career. I wouldn’t even throw in Derrick
Coleman’s name because even if he turned useless in his later years, he
started out exceptionally well for the New Jersey Nets.
The
criteria here concerns with the skills as well as the decision-making of the
then-general managers.
Here
are ten ways to ruin a general manager’s credibility.
Game
starts now.
10 CHRIS
WEBBER
1993 NBA DRAFT
ORLANDO MAGIC
First
of all, it’s not what you think. Chris
Webber’s Sacramento version is a favourite of mine but ever wondered how
he’ll fare if he got paired up with another dominant big man? A year ago, Shaquille O’Neal was drafted by the
Magic. He turned out to be a goldmine of a rookie. A couple of months back, Shaq
starred on a college basketball movie called Blue Chips. In that film Shaq befriended a dude named Penny Hardaway. Orlando was bent to
select the consensus choice Chris Webber but Shaq wanted the Magic to pick
Penny. So the Warriors and the Magic planned for a trade and Webber was sent to
the Warriors for Hardaway and three future first round picks. Fact is, imagine
a Shaq-Webber partnership. At that stage, Scott
Skiles can still go and with Nick
Anderson and Dennis Scott in the slasher positions, they could have probably easily disposed of Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde
Drexler. Houston would eventually topple the Magic en route to their second consecutive championship. Still, Orlando was the winner of this trade because Hardaway
became a superstar in his own right. As for Golden State, Webber was eventually
traded to Washington after one season for Tom
Gugliotta and that prompted Golden State’s playoff-less years. That sucked for GS.
9 DAVID
ROBINSON
1987 NBA DRAFT
SAN ANTONIO SPURS
While people
would again denounce his entry on my list – check this point out. Navy’s David Robinson was selected
first in the 1987 NBA Draft which
also had the likes of Scottie Pippen,
Kevin Johnson, Horace Grant, Mark Jackson, Muggsy Bogues, and Reggie Miller. However, because
Robinson had a two-year commitment to serve the Navy (which is why he is called
The Admiral) the Spurs couldn’t maximize
their potential. During the wait, the Spurs posted a 52-112 record. While there
were speculations that Robinson will choose free agency over San Antonio, his “Navy-ness”
prompted him to honor the Spurs. This was a scary gamble for the Spurs that
ultimately paid off but what if Robinson didn’t sign with them? Or worse...
what if he signed with them and turned out to be a dud?
8 GREG ODEN
2007 NBA DRAFT
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
I like
the guy’s gameplay and I still think that once his injuries end (the key word
is end), he will help Portland (if
he is still with Portland) to the top. However, had the Blazers pick Kevin Durant, Al Horford, or Oden rival
Joakim Noah, things would have been
different. He has yet to have an injury-free season and all indications point
that next season wouldn’t be any different. Hopefully he can deliver before his
talent fades. The upside of Oden’s injury-plagued years is that Bill Walton had the same career en
route to a MVP and a championship. Hopefully lightning will strike twice for the Blazers.
7 ANDREA
BARGNANI
2006 NBA DRAFT
TORONTO RAPTORS
In
fairness to Il Mago, his scoring
averages are increasing and he could make a run for a great season.
Unfortunately I don’t really see him as a star player... yet. Compared to Dirk Nowitzki, his NBA evolution is
considerably slower. Also, for a player who plays in the SF/PF/C spot, he
doesn’t rebound well. This has been a problem for the Raptors since their entry
to the league that was temporarily solved by the acquisitions of Marcus Camby and Chris Bosh. Also, he is playing for the Toronto Raptors – a team
that couldn’t get established superstars to play for them (other than top Euroleague
players) for a long period of time because for some insane reason, players don’t
want to play in Canada. Anywho with his gameplay, it’s either Andrea will play
well with a talent-starved squad or become a third of fourth option when he
plays for a top-tier squad. Toronto could have gotten LaMarcus Aldridge, who was picked after the Raptors selected
Bargnani.
6 ANDREW BOGUT
2005 NBA DRAFT
MILWAUKEE BUCKS
The
Australian-born Bogut should have been the current face of the franchise with
the regression of Michael Redd (because
of injuries) and not Brandon Jennings.
Okay, Bogut is steadily increasing his scoring but a career average of 12.7ppg
is nothing to brag about. His rebounds is a big asset to his game but in his
NBA career, he only played 70 games or more twice. He was much-hyped at the
start of his career but now I don’t think Aussie fans go gaga when a Milwaukee
game is in the telly. The Bucks snubbed Deron
Williams and Chris Paul because
they wanted a formidable big but they could have had it better with David Lee, Danny Granger, and Andrew Bynum. Monta Ellis – the 40th pick of the draft, is getting better numbers
and fanfare than Bogut. Also, now with Stephen
Jackson joining the Bucks, expect him to get buried further.
5 JOE SMITH
1995 NBA DRAFT
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
Don’t
get me wrong. Joe Smith is a serviceable forward who can strike when needed. He
is also a good rebounder when given the minutes. This is one of the reasons why
he lasted this long in the league. However, that’s the problem actually with
Smith. With all that talent, it seems as if he is weak. I just can’t help but
wonder if Smith deserves the top pick citation. He is not flashy like Tim Duncan but he isn’t imposing unlike
Duncan. The reason why the Warriors selected him over Kevin Garnett, Jerry Stackhouse, Michael Finley, Damon Stoudamire,
and Rasheed Wallace is because they
thought he was the dominant force in the middle that they forever lacked. This
thinking and eventually the disappointment that went with it was a reason why
Smith switched allegiances 14 times in his 16-year NBA career.
4 MICHAEL
OLOWAKANDI
1998 NBA DRAFT
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
The Kandi Man was born in Nigeria but was raised in England. He
then took his game to the States and was able to lead the University of the Pacific to a NCAA
Tournament stint. When he came to the NBA though, the next Hakeem Olajuwon proved to be nothing more than a role player. He
played for teams that lacked a stellar center but he was unable to own the
position because of inconsistent play and various injuries. By the way, he was
drafted during the NBA lockout and used that time to go to an Italian squad to
“hone” his skills. The GM of the Clippers then could have selected Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce, Vince Carter,
Antawn Jamison, and Mike Bibby.
3 KYRIE IRVING
2011 NBA DRAFT
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
Kyrie
Irving has yet to prove himself but this is an enough reason to make the
Clippers GM go bonkers! A trade between an aging Baron Davis and an often-injured Mo Williams could have been enough but adding a first round draft
pick is just insane. Sure, Jamario Moon
is also part of the trade but... what the hell, right? Davis whether or not he
leaves Cleveland is still a many-time All-Star and he can slide to the SG spot
to dish a super scary backcourt tandem a la Golden State. Hopefully Mo Williams excels in giving Blake Griffin the supplementary punch
because the Griffin/Irving tandem sounds exciting. If only the Clippers own a crystal ball...
2 PERVIS
ELLISON
1989 NBA DRAFT
SACRAMENTO KINGS
Drafted
ahead of Shawn Kemp, Tim Hardaway, Sean
Elliott, Glen Rice, and Vlade Divac, Never Nervous Pervis was named Out of Service Pervis by Sacramento Kings teammate Danny Ainge because he was always out
of action. While he was a starter in all of his four years in Louisville where he is hailed as the
college’s most important player, he only reached 70 games in his eleven
seasons. This was bad for Sac-Town because unlike other squads, the Kings
really need Ellison to perform awesomely. For the Kings GM’s sake, at least he
was able to shift Ellison to Washington
after his rookie year. However, his four years with the Bullets proved to be
his best. Also, the Kings GM gave up Ellison to Washington for Jeff Malone which is good... but they
sent him to Utah for a bunch of role
players and two draft picks. One of those picks was Anthony Bonner. The other was Eric
Leckner. Ouch.
1 KWAME BROWN
2001 NBA DRAFT
WASHINGTON WIZARDS
The
debacle known as Kwame Brown forced David Stern to decree that incoming
rookies must at least play one year of college basketball. The reason for this
is that to have players to have at least a sense of maturity – physically and
mentally. Forget the lawsuits and the problems he caused – his game was
predictable and uninspired. At 29, he has exhausted beliefs that he can be a
NBA superstar. Michael Jordan
personally tapped him to when he was a Washington bigwig. Jordan could have
picked Pau Gasol, Tyson Chandler, Joe
Johnson, or late first round picks Zach
Randolph, Gerald Wallace, and Tony Parker. Hell, second round players like Memo Okur and Gilbert Arenas had better careers. Ultimately, picking Kwame was
one of the reasons why Jordan was fired by the Wizards.
Over
the years, general managers have been gambling their prospects with the
intentions of gaining major score. Fact is, most of their decisions are stupid
and that is enough for them to get to my list.
Did the Clippers do good in trading away what could have a potential top pick?
Did the Clippers do good in trading away what could have a potential top pick?
Suggestions
and violent reactions?
Send
it here.
Game
over.
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