The 2002 draft was, and ended up being, loaded with solid
talent. Only a few of those guys played at a high level for a certain amount of
time, but this was a pretty solid draft of hard working guys who have mostly
had longevity in the league. Sure, there were some misses (Nikoloz Tskitishvili
ring a bell?), but still strong throughout the first round.
Yet still, there is always room for improvement. And here is
why.
Pick 1: Houston
Rockets
Who they took: Yao
Ming
Who they should have took: Amare Stoudemire (9th
pick)
Why: Yao Ming
was the great new foreign born hope for Houston, who had struggled to regain
its identity since Hakeem’s heyday, even if he hadn’t been gone from Houston
for very long. But the NBA had changed. Gone were those structured dominant big
men and here were the run and gun, flying 6’10’’ guys throwing down dunks from
all directions. Though his pace has slowed in later years, Amare Stoudemire
would have led the Rockets to a whole new level. Getting up and down the court,
eventually with Tracy McGrady by his side, would have been thrilling to watch
and made the Rockets into a strong team to recon with come playoff time. Consistency
and talent combined, Stoudemire ended up being the best pick in this draft.
Pick 2: Chicago
Bulls
Who they took: Jay Williams
Who they should have took: Tayshaun Price (23rd
pick)
Why: The Bulls had been tinkering with big man combos for a
few years when it came to draft picks and this was an attempt to balance them
out. In theory, their pick was perfect. But bad decisions changed all that. So
I would take Prince here. Like every pick from this and most drafts around 10
or so years ago, his contributions have declined, but he was a sensational
scorer in his prime and a talented guard on defense during the Pistons’
championship run. Overall body of work says that he ended up being the best
guard in this draft.
Pick 3: Golden State
Who they took: Mike Dunleavy Jr.
Who they should have took: Yao Ming (1st pick)
Why: You can’t really pass on Yao
here. He could have helped change the tempo of a listless Warriors squad so
much. They had three young, explosive thousand point scorers in Antwan Jamison,
Gilbert Arenas and Jason Richardson and adding Yao
to the inside would have been interesting. The drive and dish would have been
almost perfect and way better than to actual leading post Troy Murphy. In an
era with tons of draft mistakes, this would have been a huge coupe for the
Warriors.
Pick 4: Memphis
Grizzlies
Who they took: Drew Gooden
Who they should have took: Carlos Boozer (35th
pick)
Why: Memphis did
actually go in the right direction with this pick. They were solid at PG, SF
and C and adding a power forward was the most intelligent step. They just took
the wrong one with so many to choose from. Boozer went on to be one of the more
prolific second round picks ever, with All-Star and All-NBA accolades to come
after his rookie campaign where he averaged a career low 10 points and 7+
rebounds, still pretty helpful for a second round guy. Questions of work ethic
and how in shape he was haunted his draft stock, but he quickly put those
worries to bed in the league. He would have been awesome next to Pau
in Memphis .
Pick 5: Denver
Nuggets
Who they took: Nikoloz Tskitishvili
Who they should have took: Nene (7th pick)
Why: They got him anyway, but Nene was the far better gamble.
He has averaged more than 10 ppg more than Nikoloz and is still actually in the
league. While never what I would refer to as dominant, Nene was a key part of
the park talented Nuggets lineups with Kenyon Martin, Carmelo Anthony and Allen
Iverson, scoring a still career high mark of 15.2 ppg during his third season.
Pick 6: Cleveland
Cavaliers
Who they took: Dajuan Wagner
Who they should have took: Caron Butler (10th
pick)
Why: Cleveland
was still toying. And at this point, sandbagging or not, they knew that almost
hometown boy LeBron James was a lock in as the number one pick the following
year. So did they help tank with their draft pick? Eh, maybe. But I don’t
believe in tanking, so I would have taken versatile and prototypical small
forward Caron Butler. Other than his shot selection, Butler
was and is a strong option on the offensive side of the ball. Had they still
gotten LeBron, Caron could have slid to the 2-guard if needed, but he was NBA
ready after two years at Uconn, and not a lot of people are NBA ready that
soon, even if they think they are.
Pick 7: New York
Knicks
Who they took: Nene Hilario (traded to Nuggets)
Who they should have took: Udonis Haslem (undrafted)
Why: Today, Haslem stands 6-foot-inches and weights 235
pounds. He still is a physical specimen at age 33. So why did he not get
drafted at all? Because after he left the Univ.
of Florida Miami
along the way, with only his last three seasons, with diminished playing time,
worse than his rookie campaign. He’s one of the league leaders in NBA titles as
a current player and has always been a big, scary presence down low.
Pick 8: Los Angeles
Clippers
Who they took: Chris Wilcox
Who they should have took: Mike Dunleavy (3rd
pick)
Why: The Clippers needed a hit in 2002 and they took another
miss. Dunleavy however would have lended a lot of credence to a LA turnaround.
The Clippers already had a pair of former Blue Devils in their starting lineup,
but outside of those two and Andre Miller, it didn’t run deep in Los
Angeles . At 39%, Eric Piatkowski was their best long
range shooter, so to bring in someone purely made for that role like Dunleavy
would have helped balance their inside-out game much more than a Magette drive
did. Dunleavy would have helped get Elton Brand way more touches by drawing the
defense out on his shot and perhaps the Clippers would have won more than 29
games.
Pick 9: Phoenix
Suns
Who they took: Amare Stoudemire
Who they should have took: Matt Barnes (46th
pick)
Why: The take on Matt Barnes was pretty negative coming out
of UCLA. For all of the things people said were positive about his game, there
were two more things that took away from his luster. Not a good shooter, will
struggle to play either forward position, settles for worse shots. He’s help
erased those as one of the best work horses in the league, especially during
Golden State’s big time 2007 playoff run to knock off Dallas in the playoffs.
Barnes became, like Haslem, just a force and really the enforcer for any team
he was on. He wouldn’t have been an adequate offensive replacement for
Stoudemire in Phoenix with Steve
Nash, but he would have helped the Suns push the tempo with his
ball-to-the-wall play.
Pick 10: Miami
Heat
Who they took: Caron Butler
Who they should have took: Luis Scola (56th pick)
Why: Scola played more like a NBA guy in Europe
than most international guys do. He did (and still can) get up and down the
court well and has always had a nice touch around the basket, especially
putting offensive rebounds back. Miami was looking for a little bit of
everything and in my redraft, Scola would be the best option on the board to
score, which is what they needed most (after all, Butler as a rookie ended up
being this team’s best player).
Pick 11: Washington
Wizards
Who they took: Jared Jeffries
Who they should have took: Drew Gooden (4th pick)
Why: The team needed to be hungry in the post and they took
a guy who was too small to do anything about his hunger. Kwame Brown already
looked like somewhat of a wash out and a slightly oversized Christian Laettner
was their leading big man. Gooden was able to attack straight at the basket or
with his back to it, which would have made him an ideal partner for Michael
Jordan and Jerry Stackhouse both, depending on what one of those guys was doing
any given play.
Pick 12: Los Angeles
Clippers
Who they took: Melvin Ely
Who they should have took: John Salmons (26th
pick)
Why: From very early, even if not at the same success rate
as he would eventually attain, Salmons created a lot of mismatches. As a combo
guard at Miami (FL), he liked to play in the post with his back to the basket,
usually taking advantage of smaller and weaker guards. He would have been a fun
backup to Corey Magette, who was doing those same things in Los
Angeles , perhaps with a little more flare.
Pick 13: Milwaukee
Bucks
Who they took: Marcus Haislip
Who they should have took: Kareem Rush (20th
pick)
Why: A smooth shooting lefty is a premium. And the Milwaukee
Bucks sucked. What made them suck even more? Trading away arguably the best
shooting guard of the modern era, perhaps the best 3-point shooter ever during
the following season for an aging point guard you didn’t really need. Having
Rush, not Haislip (the statistically third worst player on the team his rookie
year), would have made the loss of Ray Allen sting quite a bit less. Rush
didn’t perform as a rookie but wasn’t needed with the Lakers, where as the
Bucks desperately needed someone of his ability in their core, again especially
after the Ray Allen trade.
Pick 14: Indiana
Pacers
Who they took: Fred Jones
Who they should have took: Jay Williams (2nd
pick)
Why: Jay Williams, had it not been for poor judgment and a
motorcycle accident, I do believe would still be a premier point guard in the
NBA. And if one team needs one of those, it is Indiana .
Williams was mature at Duke and was bound to mature more in the NBA but never
got the chance. With the Pacers, he would have been a legit threat off the
dribble, thus making him one of the most dangerous point guards in the modern
era because he could score from almost anywhere on the floor. This is one of
those picks you make, even if you know it’s not going to pan out because of an
accident, just because what he did give before the accident (including a rookie
year triple-double against the Nets) would be well worth the price of the 14th
pick.
Pick 15: Houston
Rockets
Who they took: Bostjan Nachbar
Who they should have took: Roger Mason (31st
pick)
Why: Because blue collar would have worked with Stoudemire’s
flash. As a true combo guard, Mason would have been a high level sixth man in Houston
and provided depth that the Rockets really didn’t have and surely didn’t get in
Nachbar.
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