Chad Ford's Worst Draft Picks of the Decade

[boshalladay]

I'm afraid this article's for ESPN insiders only, but here's the link: http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/in ... =nba_draft

The rankings go:

10. Jordan Hill, 9. Greg Oden, 8. Hoffa Araujo, 7. Fran Vasquez, 6. Yaroslav Korolev; A bit of a cop-out here: 5a: Marvin Williams, 5b: Shelden Williams; 4. Adam Morrison, 3. Nikolov Tshitishvili, 2. Kwame Brown, 1. Darko Milicic

My list: 10. Joe Alexander, 9. Yaroslav Korolev, 8. Fran Vasquez, 7. Hoffa Araujo, 6. Shelden Williams, 5. Marvin Williams, 4. Adam Morrison, 3. Tskitishvili, 2. Kwame Brown, 1. Darko Milicic.

Essentially the same, but I shuffled a bit, and put in Alexander.

I'll also note that NBADraft.net is putting out a similar list tomorrow (tomorrow for me means New Year's Eve in North America) and they've already put up a list of the biggest steals: http://www.nbadraft.net/node/16436

[Andrew]

Seriously, he included Greg Oden? Still too soon for that, aside from the surgery that caused him to miss what should have been his rookie season the ailments that have kept him out of action have been freak injuries. Not to mention that his numbers aren't at all shabby for someone only playing around 24 minutes per game. Ranking Marvin Williams above Vasquez, Korolev and Jordan Hill is a bit much as well. I'm glad I don't pay good money to read his opinions.

[The X]

There has been many good & bad picks this decade.

Here's my top 10 worst picks of the decade (based on position picked, what team needed & who they passed on):

1. Darko Milicic (2nd pick in 2003 Draft by Pistons - Bosh, Melo, Wade, etc)
2. Shelden Williams (5th pick in 2006 Draft by Hawks - passed on Brandon Roy, Randy Foye & Rajon Rondo)
3. Rafael Araújo (8th pick in 2004 Draft by Raptors - they could've used a PG like Jameer Nelson or another young forward prospect like Al Jefferson or Josh Smith)
4. Nikoloz Tskitishvili (5th pick in 2002 Draft by Nuggets - needed guard help but if they're going frontcourt then how about A'mare or Caron Butler?)
5. Kwame Brown (1st pick in 2001 Draft by Wizards - a pretty poor draft with internationals Gasol & Tony Parker being picks of the bunch)
6. Fran Vazquez (11th pick in 2005 Draft by Magic - he had no intention of ever coming over)
7. Yaroslav Korolev (12th pick in 2005 Draft by Clippers - should never have come over & passed on Danny Granger)
8. Adam Morrison (3rd pick in 2006 Draft by Bobcats - passed on obvious pick at time Brandon Roy)
9. Marvin Williams (2nd pick in 2005 Draft by Hawks - he's quite a nice player but they needed a PG & passed on both Chris Paul & Deron Williams)
10. Jordan Hill (8th pick in 2009 Draft by Knicks - passed on Brandon Jennings & anybody with talent & a heartbeat)

Honorable Mentions:
Dajuan Wagner (6th pick in 2002 Draft by Cavaliers - needed guard help but why not A'mare or Caron Butler? He was a stud in Live though)
Luke Jackson (10th pick in 2004 Draft by Raptors - they needed backcourt help, how about Jameer Nelson. There was also Andris Biedriņš, Al Jefferson & Josh Smith on the board)
Hasheem Thabeet (2nd pick in 2009 Draft by Grizzlies - passed on Tyreke Evans & Brandon Jennings)
Joe Alexander (8th pick in 2008 Draft by Bucks - passed on Brook Lopez, Jason Thompson & Anthony Randolph)

Btw, 2000 NBA Draft is probably worst ever

I'm glad I don't pay good money to read his opinions.

Never fret, I have outdone Mr Ford once again. Wire some across to me

[Oznogrd]

I think its far too early to call on any 2009 picks. Not all players are instant gods..some take a couple of years to deveolp and become all stars. other than that:

Chad ford=Fail
The X=win..

Now we need to just figure out how to make the kind of money Chad Ford does for everyone on this board...

[kingjames23]

seriously, the piston's picking Darko is the biggest flub since Sam Bowie. everyone else in the top 5 picks are superstars right now. of course Lebron went first, but to pass on Wade, Bosh, Mello? stupid. just stupid. everybody was on the Dumars' bandwagon for his descision making... like he is such a genius. and what did the Pistons get this decade?
1 title against a self destructing Laker team... which has since turned it around and become a champion again, while the Pistons underachieved for years since, blowing it in one conference final after another....
then give up your top defensive player for nothing to the Bulls(Ben Wallace)
and your heart and soul (Billups)for a team cancer (Iverson) and then get nothing in return when he leaves at the end of 08
now Sheed is gone as well.

but hey, it was worth drafting Darko over any of those 3 i mentioned, at least you have playing time for Prince and Hamilton.

pick any one of those 3, Bosh, Mello, Wade... and those pistons would mostly still be together right now, probably winning titles.

[J@3]

I think a "Chad Ford's worst predictions of the decade" article would be more interesting.

[NovU]

Yeah, but you can't really blame Dumars cuz other 10000 scouts and ESPN so called experts also treated Darko as second Dirk in coming. I wouldn't really put this on Dumars only. No doubt it was a bad pick though.

Oden in the list? Bit surprised cuz it seems bit too early, but it's true he hasn't lived up to expectations so far regardless situations.

[Andrew]

Chad ford=Fail
The X=win..

Agreed, I much prefer X's list. Beer forthcoming.

[Rip32]

Where are Eddy Curry and Mike Sweetney Mr. Ford, did they eat each other?

[Andrew]

I think Sweetney's been given a pass having at least been picked after Melo, Bosh and Wade (though before better players who are still in the league). Compared to some of the other players in the class of 2001 and the players that did make the list, Curry wasn't too bad a selection though stil ultimately a disappointment.

[The X]

Where are Eddy Curry and Mike Sweetney Mr. Ford, did they eat each other?

For Curry, 2001 draft was pretty weak & Curry was at least serviceable for a few years. If they had of passed on any can't miss prospects then that's a different story.

As for Sweetney, after the top 8 picks it was 50/50 hit & miss so I can't fault the Knicks as much, the main miss being David West who was obviously a lot more of an impact player than anybody would've predicted. Either way, Sweetney goes down as just below a honorable mention


I haven't made a prediction on the Ricky Rubio T'wolves pick as is too early to see if & when he will come over, whether it will be to T'wolves or not, & if not, what they will get from him. At the moment, it's still not a bad pick as they want to suck.

[Andrew]

Agreed, we'll have to wait until at least 2011 when the way is cleared for Rubio to come to the NBA to fairly evaluate the pick and if he does come over at that point it may be a year or two before he proves his worth anyway. The saving grace for the Timberwolves regardless is that they picked up Jonny Flynn as well, so they were in the rare position of being able to gamble on a lottery pick while using another one to put a contingency plan in place.

[Lamrock]

Poor list, Fuck him for including Oden. Why does Jordan Hill keep appearing on people's lists? He's not bad. When he plays, he has a PER of 20. :S

Mine would go:
1. Marvin Williams: A surprise #1 perhaps, but the Pistons won the title the year after drafting Darko (because they didn't need him). The Hawks, in dire need of a point guard, passed on the guy who would be the best PG in the league for years to come in favor of a poor man's Al Harrington. Epic fail.
2. Adam Morrison: A terrible basketball player. The 'stache was taken over Brandon Roy (and Rajon Rondo) and went on to have one of the worst rookie seasons in recent memory. A torn ACL prevented him from being the white Antoine Walker, and the Bobcats have yet to make a playoff appearance to this day.
3. Darko Milicic: Not #1 because the Pistons didn't need a rookie, and getting Bosh could have prevented the Sheed trade, and getting Carmelo could have ruined their perfect starting 5. However, being taken over a trio of superstars, and never amounting to more than a serviceable defender is pretty bad. Not to mention they traded him for the pick that would become Rodney Stuckey.
4. Shelden Williams: Think the Hawks are good now? Imagine how much better they would be had they not seriously fucked up the 2006 offseason. Passing on yet another potential point guard of the future (Rondo), along with the draft's best player in Roy to get the Landlord postponed their first playoff run of the decade another year.
5. Joe Alexander: The highest lottery pick to not have his team option accepted, Joe Alexander has no business being in the NBA, let alone being selected over Brook Lopez and Anthony Randolph, two of the three best players in the draft (along with Kevin Love).
6. Nikoloz Tskitishivili: I don't like Amare, but just imagine a Nene/Camby-Amare-Carmelo frontcourt... The bright side to wasting this pick was that Skita didn't help them win games, and they were able to get a superstar in the next draft
7. Rafael Araujo: Like Patrick O'Bryant, everyone knew he was going to be a bust, but the Craptors passed on stars Jameer Nelson, Andre Iguodala, Al Jefferson and Josh Smith anyway. No wonder VC wanted out so bad.
8. Fran Vasquez: The Magic didn't need Granger, having both Hill and Turkoglu locked up for a few years, but any time your lottery pick doesn't play, it sucks.
9. Kwame Brown: He's not a very good player, and they should have picked a player who was actually productive, like Pau Gasol. However, the Wizards were able to trade Kwame Brown for future all-star Caron Butler. The Lakers were able to trade Kwame Brown for Pau Gasol. The Grizzlies let Kwame's contract expire, and are now an exciting young fringe playoff team. Good things happen when you trade/trade for Kwame Brown.
10. Jay Williams: A bit of a low blow to Bulls fans, but imagine how awesome the team would have been had they got a guy like Amare with this pick. Even Caron Butler would do. Since then, the Bulls have wasted tens of millions of dollars (HInrich) and a #1 pick (Rose) trying to shore up the PG position.

Honorable Mention:
- Yaroslav Korolev: I suppose they had Bad Porn and Quinton Ross at SF already, but Granger was the BPA by a wide margin
- Martell Webster: Portland is good now, but they traded the pick that became Deron Williams (and could have been CP3) for an inconsistent 3 point specialist. Because they traded for Roy, the only harm getting a top-tier PG would have done was stop them from getting Aldridge and/or Oden. To be honest, I could live with that.
- Tyrus Thomas: Roy and Rondo looked like redundancies at the time with Kirk and Gordon looking like their backcourt of the future, but with Thomas being fairly useless, the pick looks pretty bad. As soft as he is, keeping the pick and drafting a fringe all-star in Aldridge would have made a lot more sense.
- Hasheem Thabeet: Its early to tell, but considering they already had Marc Gasol, the pick really makes no sense. With Conley proving to be nothing special (OJ Mayo kinda sucks too!), Tyreke Evans looks like the no-brainer pick now.
- Luke Jackson: The stars in front of him took a few years to develop, but you gotta feel like the Cavs would have had a better chance of winning the title last year and/or keeping LeBron next season had they got a guy like Al Jeff, Jameer or even Beans.

[J@3]

Brook Lopez and Anthony Randolph, two of the three best players in the draft (along with Kevin Love).

Beasley, Rose, Mayo, Westbrook, Love, Gordon, Lopez, Thompson, Speights, Hibbert > Randolph

[Andrew]

10. Jay Williams: A bit of a low blow to Bulls fans, but imagine how awesome the team would have been had they got a guy like Amare with this pick. Even Caron Butler would do. Since then, the Bulls have wasted tens of millions of dollars (HInrich) and a #1 pick (Rose) trying to shore up the PG position.

I'm still not sure that Rose can fairly be called a wasted pick at this point but Jay Williams certainly deserves consideration. I remember having a similar discussion when Yahoo! NBA were doing their top tens of the decade and one hand it's kind of tough to put Williams on such lists given the circumstances but in terms of picks that didn't work out and could've been used on someone else...yeah.

[air gordon]

i'm sorry but Detroit passing up a trio of 3 superstars for Darko is more then enough to make you the bust of the decade. again- not one superstar like Chris Paul but 3 friggin studs

and this isn't like drafts in the past where you say "hmm they could have gotten Rondo 15 picks later". Melo, Bosh, Wade were drafted IMMEDIATELY after Darko

if you're going to mention how the PIstons didn't need him now/pistons don't win with any other guy then you have to mention the current state of the Pistons. man, all that talk about darko learning/practicing against the likes of Ben & Rasheed Wallace was going to make Darko this awesome force and that he'll lead the pistons to promise land as their stars got older...

[Lamrock]

Brook Lopez and Anthony Randolph, two of the three best players in the draft (along with Kevin Love).

Beasley, Rose, Mayo, Westbrook, Love, Gordon, Lopez, Thompson, Speights, Hibbert > Randolph

- Michael Beasley is looking like a bust. He has no true position, and has regressed since last season. Randolph's PER is 19.3 compared to Beasley's measl(e)y 16.2
- Derrick Rose is also suffering from a sophomore slump, has a lower PER than Randolph and honestly, would you rather have a fast, but otherwise mediocre PG, or a 20 year old, 7 foot rebounding machine who has shown constant improvement?
- OJ Mayo just isn't very good. He's an inefficient chucker who's small for the SG position. Basically a poor man's Ben Gordon.
- Russell Westbrook is improved over last season, and is as good, if not better than Rose. He's gotta work on those turnovers though.
- Kevin Love is better than Anthony Randolph, being another one of the 3 best players from the draft class.
- Ditto Lopez.
- Eric Gordon was good for a rookie last year as an average starting shooting guard. He hasn't really improved this much season though.
- Jason Thompson is pretty good, I must admit.
- If M16 sustains his strong play and stays healthy, then he probably tops Randolph
- At the moment, Roy Hibbert is slightly worse than Randolph, and Randolph's ceiling is much higher.

[J@3]

God did you buy into the hype or what. Randolph's a "rebounding machine"? His rebound rate is just over 16, that's on par with Ersan Ilyasova. He shoots 44% from the field, has his shot blocked 21% of the time when he shoots within a few feet of the hoop and 14% inside (!!!). In five years from now he could be one of the top 3 guys from that draft, who knows. But right now? I'll take guys who actually contribute to their teams.

[Lamrock]

Well he gets to the line a lot, and has a true shooting percentage of 52%. He averages 18 and 10 per36 with 2.5 blocks. Not to mention he is being forced to play erratic minutes out of position because Don Nelson is a moron. Swap him for Amare Stoudemire and the Suns don't get any worse.

[NovU]

I think Randolph seems to have a bright future ahead of him, but it's too premature to be saying he's 2 of the best 3 rookies from his draft class. That's like Darko claiming that he'd have been a star if was given more minutes, coached right, fit in the system better or given more oppotunities. Relying totally on stats doesn't really tell everything, but should be more of a guideline. I'm sure he's an ok player as of now, but I am with Jae on this one, as most of players Jae mentioned seem to be making bigger impact in one way or the other. As for Beasley, I think his development is somewhat moving in the right direction, but maybe slowly and needs more reb for sure. I don't see him as a bust no more when you consider the fact that he has to be under shadow of Wade all the time.

[benji]

I think Randolph seems to have a bright future ahead of him, but it's too premature to be saying he's 2 of the best 3 rookies from his draft class. That's like Darko claiming that he'd have been a star if was given more minutes, coached right, fit in the system better or given more oppotunities. Relying totally on stats doesn't really tell everything, but should be more of a guideline.

Let's be fair here if we're going to say things like this.

Player	MP	P/36	R/36	TS%	ORtg
Darko Milicic in DET	553	9.9	7.4	.382	76
Anthony Randolph Career	1800	16.7	11.1	.511	104

[Abctest123]

I don't get why Jordan Hill is on that list. Yes it's looking bad right now, but he hasn't even gone through a full season yet. It'll likely be the wrong pick in the future but putting him as a bust now is way premature.

[Andrew]

It's a little early perhaps, but given Brandon Jennings' performance thus far and the fact he can't get playing time on a team that's lacking in bonafide big men, it's not looking like they made a very good pick when the player they were coveting (Stephen Curry) was taken one pick ahead of them.

[Lamrock]

The time he does play, he's good, D'Antoni just doesn't play him.

[kibaxx7]

I'll also note that NBADraft.net is putting out a similar list tomorrow (tomorrow for me means New Year's Eve in North America) and they've already put up a list of the biggest steals: http://www.nbadraft.net/node/16436

Switching the topic a little. Where's Ginobili in that list? 1x All Star, 1x Sixth Man of the Year, picked 57th.