Let's face it, this was the greatest draft in the modern era on the NBA. It provided countless All-Stars and award winners already and will produce at least three Hall of Famers.
There isn't much you can say about this draft. It was a four man draft thought to be a five man draft. There was LeBron, Carmelo, Wade and Bosh....and then there was Darko. Poor, poor Darko.
Pick 1:Cleveland
Cavaliers
There isn't much you can say about this draft. It was a four man draft thought to be a five man draft. There was LeBron, Carmelo, Wade and Bosh....and then there was Darko. Poor, poor Darko.
Pick 1:
Who they took: LeBron James
Who they should have took: LeBron James
Why: This is a no brainer. For as much as I have never been
a fan of LeBron, there is no denying his talents and how it has translated to
the pro game. There a lot of reasons to hate on LeBron, some justified and
others not. He is as polarizing as any player in professional sports today.
However, his talent is on another level (and some, not me, believe that to be a
level of its own). Any other pick here would have been ALMOST as bad as Sam
Bowie over Michael Jordan.
Pick 2: Detroit
Pistons
Who they took: Darko Milicic
Who they should have took: Carmelo Anthony (3rd pick)
Why: You will read more about my feelings on Dwayne Wade
shortly, but Carmelo is the pick here because of what he did different than
anyone Detroit had. With Chauncey
Billups, Tayshaun Prince and Rip Hamilton as a steady guard core, someone would
have gotten lost in the shuffle had D-Wade gone with this pick. I think that is
partially why Detroit gambled with
“can’t miss” European prospect Darko. The pick itself was one of the biggest
busts, as going with Darko made more sense to the franchise than risk losing
Carmelo or someone else in their bountiful collection of wing players. However,
Carmelo ended up being more dynamic than expected, so they missed out. Imagine
adding a prolific scorer like Melo to the group that Detroit
had at this point. I doubt they would have only won a single title.
Pick 3: Denver
Nuggets
Who they took: Carmelo Anthony
Who they should have took: Dwayne Wade (5th pick)
Why: I will say, without reservation, that I believe a
healthy and at the top of his game Dwayne Wade is the best player in the NBA.
Period. To me, and likely not many other people I am aware of. And I am ok with
that. Add that and his demeanor (and how it differs from Melo’s) and I think
Dwayne Wade could have taken Denver
to new heights. With Allen Iverson, with Kenyon Martin, with Chauncey Billups…I
think that they could have put together a legacy in Denver, much the same as
they have in Miami, but with less gap in between titles. Wade would likely
still have been enough to draw Shaq, this time to Denver .
And what if LeBron and Chris Bosh took their talents to the Rocky
Mountains instead of South
Beach
Pick 4: Toronto
Raptors
Who they took: Chris Bosh
Who they should have took Chris Bosh:
Why: Bosh wasn’t the best player available and Toronto
missed out huge by not taking Wade. But here, he is the best. He is not smooth
in my opinion, but he does work hard and do good things. He’s a strong interior
defender and has found range in his shot in recent years. Toronto
took a gamble with a big man and it wasn’t a bad one, Bosh has just never been
a stand alone talent, hence why his greatest success and best play has come as
part of Miami ’s trio. Even if you
know he still leaves if you are Toronto ,
you still take the gamble for him to elevate your organization for a few years.
Pick 5: Miami
Heat
Who they took: Dwayne Wade
Who they should have took: David West (18th pick)
Why: West has proven himself, especially in recent years, to
be among the elite of today’s posts. He can score both inside and with a little
range and he is an excellent, strong, defender. Is this the golden era of post
players? No. But what West does is exceptional. It is hard to say what Miami
would have done with him in the fold, as they still needed a go-to guard like
Wade was, but he surely would have helped position the Heat to be a free agent
destination, even if it wasn’t THE free agent destination.
Pick 6: Los Angeles
Clippers
Who they took: Chris Kaman
Who they should have took: Kendrick Perkins (27th
pick)
Why: Perkins is tough because has always been what I would
classify as helpful. With Boston ’s
NBA title, with runs in OKC the last few years. Perkins helps and that is
something that until very recently, that the Clippers needed more than
anything. If the people in LA could have figured out how to get the Boston
versions’ work ethic and effort combined with the sleeker, more athletic build
of the OKC version, Perkins would have been a huge steal right here at six.
Pick 7: Chicago
Bulls
Who they took: Kirk Hinrich
Who they should have took: Chris Kaman (6th pick)
Why: It’s hard to call Chris Kaman “not a success story.”
After all, he didn’t come from a big time college program and he has been an
All-Star. If anything, he would have been a bruiser in a Bulls area without
any. No big man they drafted in the Bulls post player years was a physical guy
at that point in their career. Tyson Chandler was still thin and while he
didn’t fight inside, Kaman would have been a big help on the court and in
practice toughening Chandler up a
little earlier when it still would have helped Chicago .
Pick 8: Milwaukee
Bucks
Who they took: TJ Ford
Who they should have took: Kyle Korver (51st
pick)
Why: Korver has the unfortunate honor of being one of the
first (let’s face it) Caucasian stars coming from a mid-major program. Where we
now have Doug McDermott, there was once Kyle Korver. Did he have the
athleticism to perform in the NBA? Was he more than a shooter? More than a one
trick pony? Most people said no, hence why he almost went undrafted. The
reality is that yes, Korver can do a lot for teams. He’ll still shoot the
lights out but he has endeared himself to fans, to other players and has
learned to better create off the dribble. And now, his career serves as a
blueprint for those McDermott type of players looking to adapt to a higher
level.
Pick 9: New York
Knicks
Who they took: Michael Sweetney
Who they should have took: Jose Calderon (undrafted)
Why: Not much was known about Calderon at this point coming
from overseas. He has made a silent, but solid career mostly in Toronto ,
where he averaged 12.8 points and 8.9 assists per game in 2008-2009, while also
leading the league and setting a NBA record shooting .981 from the free throw
line. Setting league records isn’t bad for a guy who didn’t even get picked up.
For comparison, actual pick Michael Sweetney shot a career high .749 from the
line his second season but was only a career .689 guy. Oh yeah, he was out of
the league two full seasons before Calderon set that record.
Pick 10: Washington
Wizards
Who they took: Jarvis Hayes
Who they should have took: Kirk Hinrich (7th
pick)
Why: Hinrich got that nod at #7 originally because he was
significantly taller than the other option (TJ Ford). Hinrich’s understanding
of fundamentals would have been perfect in Washington
where they were already trying to clean up the mess of the Kwame Brown debacle.
While Hinrich never has developed into a “prolific” player on either side of
the ball, he has great court vision and is one of the few above average natural
passers in the league still today.
Pick 11: Golden State
Who they took: Michael Pietrus
Who they should have took: Nick Collison (12th
pick)
Why: No knock on Pietrus (even though you won’t see him mentioned
again in this blog), but Collison was a rare NBA-ready back to the basket post.
A prototypical power forward guy, he was never going to give you flare, but
sure could work and was highly coordinated for a college center. That alone
made him worth a pick. But his ability to work well on either end of the post
was superb in 2003 and while he still has never given much flare, he has stayed
a steady contributor in most aspects of the game. Bonus: he’s loyal. He has
only played for two teams in his career and that only happened because the
Sonics moved and took him to OKC with them.
Pick 12: Seattle
Supersonics
Who they took: Nick Collison
Who they should have took: Boris Diaw (21st pick)
Why: Letting Diaw slip out of the lottery was a bad move by
NBA teams. He was an athletic freak when he came out in 2003 after twice making
the educated decision to withdraw his name in 2001 and 2002 because he didn’t
feel his game was ready. Like several mentioned in previous blogs, he was a key
piece in the Mike D’Antoni run and gun Suns teams, who had they stayed
together, could have logged a Spurs like push because of late foreign pick ups
like Diaw. And in all fairness, that is probably why he is having a
mini-revival in San Antonio now,
scoring the best he has since 2011.
Pick 13: Memphis
Grizzlies
Who they took: Marcus Banks (traded to Celtics)
Who they should have took: Steve Blake (38th
pick)
Why: And kept him. Blake was a question mark going into the
league. He was clearly a strong shooter at Maryland ,
but his question marks following him are still ones that haunt smaller
shooters, even at big schools: could he diversify his game on the next level.
Blake did so in droves and took some of the pressure off for future guys and
some succeed (JJ Redick) and some fail (Adam Morrison). Blake has turned out to
be one of the most consistent second rounds on the new millennium, no matter
where he traveled. While it’s unlikely he’d still be in Memphis ,
he would be a tough back up for Mike Conley.
Pick 14: Seattle
Supersonics
Who they took: Luke Ridenour
Who they should have took: Leandro Barbosa (28th
pick)
Why: Speaking of Suns key to their mid-2000s runs, here is
where you have to take Barbosa, giving Seattle
and redraft duo of those former Suns. Barbosa was so much the same players as
Diaw out of the draft, but the way the two worked together was always fun and
explosive. Taking Diaw, it was a no brainer to want to take his athletic equal
and mirror. Barbosa also adds a little better three-point game and was a less
talented template of what Kevin Durant would eventually bring to the table for
the organization.
Pick 15: Orlando
Magic
Who they took: Reece Gaines
Who they should have took: Dahntay Jones (20th
pick)
Why: Jones is a guy who has quietly been helpful even though
he was never really a good fit with the teams he was with, possibly outside of Denver .
He’s done well to try to change that in Atlanta .
His upside is his freaky athletic ability once out on the break. The downside:
he’s so inconsistent (hence the often trades and releases). A highlight of that
inconsistency: he shot 17% from three point range in 07-08 in Sacramento, only
to head to Denver the following year and hit 65% of his long range shots.
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