Evan Turner Michael Beasley Hasheem Thabeet Kevin Durant Lamarcus Aldridge Marvin Williams Emeka Okafor Darko Milicic J. Washington Looking at that list, I'm amazed to see these are all of the 2nd picks since Yao Ming was drafted. I've bolded all of the decent players off the list, but to me its amazing only 3 players have managed to get rid of the "bust" label. Statistically speaking the 2nd picks should fare better than the 3rd picks, but off the top of my head there's Deron Williams, OJ Mayo, Harden and Al Horford, all of whom turned out to be pretty decent. Why have the 2nd picks turned out to be such big busts when drafts always have a "consensus" top 1 and 2 picks? And what does this mean for Derrick Williams, the consensus 2nd pick this year?
i guess you meant Jay williams.... I don't think this means they suck. It's technically a small sample size. One or two extra standouts at the 3rd spot can easily make #2s look bad. also, Darko doesn't suck. If you're going to declare Harden a "decent" player already, then Darko is also decent. Same goes for Beasley. Williams was in a motorcycle accident after a solid first year. He shouldn't count. So really, only turner, thabeet, and williams were true busts, and 2 of those 3 still have time to become decent or better.
I think you mean Jay Williams. There's no way to tell if he would've sucked or not. I think he would've been a star if he hadn't almost killed himself, but that's just my opinion. And as sad as it is, I would take anyone else on that list (in addition to Thabeet). I also wouldn't say Okafor sucks, he's an above average center.
Marvin Williams is a solid player, too early to tell with Turner and Beasley might be solid in the long run.
I think it's more legit to take Harden off the good list than to put Darko and Beasley on it. We're talking about the top of the lottery -- being solid is a disappointment. There's a big gulf between guys like Darko and guys like Durant or Deron Williams.
Please don't tell me that Darko and Harden are evn remotely comparable. Darko's problem is that he's similar to Ariza - he's nowhere as good as he thinks he is,( and the fact that Kahn and Rambis were kissing his ass from the minute we got him didn't help), and so he does a lot of things with the basketball that he has no business doing. I'd say in a vacumn on the court he's better than Hayes, but I think Hayes's work ethic and leadership trumps the fact that Darko is slightly better. Also, Atlanta fans seem to really hate Williams, so I'm hesitant to say he's decent.
yeah i can agree with that, but if the OP is talking about "sucking", then he should make 3 lists. Those who worked out, were complete busts, and those who are solid players somehere in the middle. For half these guys it's too early to tell anyway. Not saying they are comparable, but the way the OP listed them Harden was a star and Darko a complete bust, which isn't right. Plus, it doesn't make sense to judge players who were just drafted 3-4 yrs ago along with those who've been in the NBA longer. After 5 yrs or so you're pretty much a finished product, at least when it comes to being classified as sucking, solid, or a star.
I still believe that Darko would've been a pretty good player if he wasn't stuck behind a deep Detroit frontline and the rookie hater known as Larry Brown Shame so few coaches in the league knew how to utilize foreigners. It's disappointing to see 7 footers with a great shot coming into the league and being forced to add muscles and play in the interior. Dirk was lucky to have Don Nelson.
James Harden was the 3rd overall pick. Hasheem Thabeet still has time to show he is worth something IMO.
I think you are expecting too much from the draft. Hall of Fame guys are not 1st and 2nd in every draft year. Most picks don't become all-stars, whether it's 1st or 2nd. Here is the nba history for 1st picks for the same years. You notice, that you also get only 3 franchise players. Oden,Yao and Brown are busts. Yao managed All-NBA 2nd team, but he has declined rapidly afterwards. Martin is a solid player, but no All-NBA 1st or 2nd team. Bogut and Bargnani are star players, but they are not All-NBA 1st/2nd team players. Only Rose, James and Howard managed to make the All-NBA 1st team. Year Name Team School/Country 2008 Derrick Rose Chicago Memphis 2007 Greg Oden Portland Ohio State 2006 Andrea Bargnani Toronto Italy 2005 Andrew Bogut Milwaukee Utah 2004 Dwight Howard Orlando SW Atlanta Christian Academy (GA) 2003 LeBron James Cleveland St. Vincent-St. Mary HS (OH) 2002 Yao Ming Houston China 2001 Kwame Brown Washington Glynn Academy 2000 Kenyon Martin New Jersey Nets Cincinnati
All-star votes were based on Chinese votes, while he spent all his time on the bench. It was not based on performance.
