[Leonard WashingtonParticipant]

Since the 1998 draft which produced my favorite tarheels (Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter) I’ve been pretty obsessed with the NBA draft (I was 10 at the time).  Now that I’ve grown older I keep up with prospects and their progressions/regressions religiously.  With that being said, how would you rate your favorite teams last decade of picks.  My favorite team is the Hawks so here it goes…

 

2006: 

Shelden Williams (PF) Duke 5th pick

Soloman Jones (PF) South Florida 33rd pick

Both are currently out of the NBA and never did much to stick around. Shelden Williams baby mama has more game than him to be honest lol. At Duke he was a rebounder with no offense game outside of 5 ft from the basketball so I never understood the reason for drafting him especially when we drafted Marvin Williams the year before (he is a 4 man,and never once played the 3 at UNC) The Willaims pick really hurts when their are guys like Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, Kyle Lowry and Paul Milsap (who was drafted behind Soloman Jones wtf!)

Grade: D-

 

2007:

Al Horford (PF) Florida 3rd pick

Acie Law (PG) Texas A&M 11th pick

Another PF for the 3rd straight year smh.  At the time I was furious with landing the 3rd pick missing out on the Oden/Durant sweepstakes and on top of that drafting another PF.  But when the dominoes began to fall and Horford began to show his dominance over both Marvin and Shelden I began to love what Big Al was bringing to the table. Horford actually turned out the be the 2nd best player in the draft in my opinion (over Conley and Noah).  As for Law I liked the pick at the time and thought that he could eventually be a good 6th man off the bench and a good fill in starter, but he never panned out and is not currently in the NBA.

Grade: B+

2008:

None

Grade: N/A

2009:

Jeff Teague (PG) Wake Forest

Sergii Gladyr (SG) Ukraine

I was pretty excited to draft Jeff Teague at the 19th pick from what he showed me at Wake. He was an explosive PG that had above average play making skills.  He finally solidified the PG spot that needed to be filled since they drafted Marvin or CP3 and Deron Williams. No idea who Gladyr is and don’t recall him ever playing for the Hawks.

Grade: A-

2010:

Jordan Crawford (SG) Trade 27th pick

Pape Sy (SG)  53rd pick

Both of these players barely played at all for the Hawks , and it sucks when you have players like Whiteside, Vasquez and Pondexter that have actually done well for themselves.

Grade: D

2011: 

Keith Benson (C) Oakland 48th pick

I acutally agreeded with this pick for the Hawks because he was a player with size and was considered the best player available at the Center position at the time. I thought he could’ve been a decent backup in the league, but never played for the Hawks. There was actually plenty of talent left in that draft with the gem in Isaiah Thomas and guys like Lavoy Allen and E’twaun Moore. 

Grade: D-

2012:

John Jenkins (SG) Vanderbilt 23rd pick

Mike Scott (PF) Virginia 43rd pick

I was never a fan of the Jenkins pick, although he was considered a dead eye shooter he lacked the athleticism and foot speed to play defense in the NBA.  He only played in 98 games during his 3 years in ATL and didn’t produce at all.  I loved Mike Scott at Virginia and and didn’t mind a pick at all even though he was a SR.  I figured he could be a spark plug off the bench, score from multiple places on offense as well as guard multiple positions which he was successful at doing for a few years.  Unfortunately for Scott he got in the way of his own success with drug charges.  The Hawks missed out on players like Draymond, Middleton, and Crowder in 2012.

Grade: C-

2013: 

Lucas Nogueira (PF/C) Brazil 16th pick

Dennis Schroder (PG) Germany 17th pick

Mike Muscala (PF/C) Bucknell 44th pick

I actually thought the Hawks drafted well in such a weak draft and were actually 1 pick away from drafting Giannis hypothetically.  Although Nogueria never played for ATL I applauded the Hawks for going with 2 high potential players back-to-back and taking a risk on foreign players when their wasn’t a player appealing more than Nogueira and Schroder except for maybe Gobert.  This year Schroder has showed that he is a starter in the NBA and Nogueira is playing well for the Raptors.  As for Muscala he has shown his worth as a servicable backup that can have a role in the NBA.  The only player the Hawks missed out on in the first round was Rudy Gobert.  Drafting him at 16th over Nogueira would’ve been nice.

Grade: B+

2014:

Adreian Payne (PF) Michigan St 15th pick

Walter Tavares (C) Spain 43rd pick

Lamar Patterson (SG/SF) Pittsburgh 48th pick

 

Pretty horrible draft for the Hawks in 2014.  Not much to say about these players other than they have done nothing lol.

Grade: F

2015:

Marcus Eriksson (SG) Sweden 50th pick

Dimitrios Argavanis (PF) Greece 59th pick

Doubt either of these guys will play in the NBA.

Grade: N/A

2016:

Taurean Prince (SF) Baylor 12th pick

Deandre Bembry (SG/SF) St. Joseph’s 21st pick

Isaia Cordinier (SG) Fance 44th pick

Still too early to tell about these guys, but doubt any of them will average over 15 ppg during a season.

Basically the Hawks have drafted 2 significant players to their franchise in the past 10 years (Teague and Horford) and have consistently missed out on talent.  They also love to draft PFs for some reason.  Hopefully we can get it together with our drafting/scouting one of these days smh..

How well has your team drafted over the past decade?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheTruth86Participant]

 Nice post, great effort. I didnt realize til now how horrible your team drafted in the last decade. My fav team is Boston and to be honest I am far from thrilled about how we drafted lately.

[Robb_CParticipant]

When Matt Lloyd was with the Chicago Bulls, He found some really good pieces.. Hes the reason Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson were drafted by Chicago.. Matt Lloyd is with Orlando now.

[ZouldiersParticipant]

 2006: None

 2007: #21 Daequan Cook.

 Grade: C-

He was ok but pretty much a role player at best.

 2008: #2 Michael Beasley, #34 Mario Chalmers.

 Grade: C

Beasley is a bust nuff said. Chalmers has a lot of good years in Miami and help us win 2 championships in the Big 3 era. AKA the little brother of the Big 3.

 2009: #42 Patrick Beverly, #60 Robert Dozier

 Grade: C-

Beverly did not do much in Miami but he has worked his way back and is now one of the best perimeter defenders in the league for the Houston Rockets. Don’t know much about Dozier though.

2010: #32 Dexter Pittman, #41 Jarvis Varnado, #42 Da’Sean Butler

 Grade:D-

These guys did not do much given that they’re 2nd rounders. Butler did not even play in the NBA. Pittman and Varnado had stints but could not stay in the roster.

2011: #28 Norris Cole

 Grade: C+

Cole was a nice role player and did help the Heat in their 2 titles despite not playing in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals. Can’t forgive him with the Shaqtin a fool moment though hehe.

2012: #45 Justin Hamilton

Grade: D

He’s playing with Brooklyn now and he’s doing ok. Good for him. But man, we could have had Perry Jones or Draymond Green SMH.

2013: #50 James Ennis

Grade: C

He’s starting in Memphis now and doing well for himself. He had some moments with the Heat especially that dunk over Rasual Butler but his time was done when Winslow and Richardson were drafted.

2014: #24 Shabazz Napier

Grade: D

It was a move to make Lebron stay but to no avail. Lebron’s questionable eye for talent has been on display because Napier is now on his third team Portland and out of rotation.

2015: #10 Justise Winslow, #40 Josh Richardson Grade: B+

I can never forget how happy I am that we drafted Winslow and I even had a post about it. These guys have not reach their potential with both out with injuries. Both of them are very good defensively. Winslow still has to improve his shot but he has shown he can be a decent rebounder as well as a slasher. Richardson could be a good 3 and D guy. Still too early to Grade them but I say B+ for now.

2016: None

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ChewyParticipant]

 2006- Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha

We traded away Lamarcus Aldridge for Tyrus Thomas! Sef was an OK role player but never had any offensive threat in his game.

Grade- F for the F’in trade

2007- Joakim Noah, Aaron Gray, JamesOn Curry

Noah was a projected top 3 pick the year before. Came back for a 2nd championship and we get him at 9. Gray looked to be a strong 7 footer who would play spot minutes from the end of the bench. IDK Curry even played in the NBA and if he did, it wasn’t memorable. 

Grade- B+

2008- D Rose, Sonny Weems

Lucking into Rose so hard that people were calling Stern a cheater. He gave us an MVP season, a couple nice posters and a lot of wasted hope. Injuries kept us from every truely being championship contenders. Some people actually wanted Beasley here.

Grade- A+

2009- James Johnson, Taj Gibson

Here are the players we could of had instead of JJ (who did suck, does suck and will suck): Jrue Holiday, Jeff Teague, DeMarre Carroll. The late pick of Taj absolutely saves this draft for the Bulls. He has been a perfect professional for us from day 1.

Grade- B

2010- No picks

We didn’t draft James Johnson again so that is a plus.

Grade- N/A

2011- Noris Cole, Jimmy Butler, Malcolm Lee

Cole was traded and I thought Lee would be a nice bench player, but he never really got it together. I liked him out of college. Let’s be honest, literally 0% of us thought Jimmy was gunna be THIS good. He played PF for Marquette and turns himself into an All Star/ Team USA SG. Bulls lucked out with him but I bet they didn’t know how much they lucked out on draft day.

Grade- Jimmy with pick 30 has to be A+ for value

2012- Marquise Teague

Not in the league anymore (that I know of) and literally never helped the Bulls do anything positive.

Grade- F for F’in UK Hype!

2013- Tony Snell, Erik Murphy

Tony Snell, also known as Mr. Tib’s Doghouse, never got consistent minutes. Somehow he was able to stay on Tibs bad side for 4 straight years! Come on Tony, buy him a nice Christmas present or something! We could of had Plumlee, Dieng, Hardaway Jr or Gobert. 

Grade- D

2014- Dougie McBuckets, Cameron Bairstow

Doug is finally putting together a nice year this year, but remember we gave up 2 middle 1st for him. Those picks ended up being Nurkic and Gary Harris for Denver. Bairstow gives his best Aaron Gray impression for 4 years. It was good, looked just like him.

Grade- C

2015- Bobby Portis

Really like this pick for its value. Got him at 22. Promising looking jumpshot to go with his bulldog rebounding mentality. Should be a good role player for years to come.

Grade- B+

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JDB12Participant]

2006: Randy Foye #7, Craig Smith #36, Loukas Mavrokefalidis #57

Grade: D

I was so upset when we traded Brandon Roy for Randy Foye… I know that Foye is still in the league and Roy is gone because of injuries, but Roy’s short time in the league was far more successful than Foye’s subpar career. Smith was a decent role player for a losing Wolves squad for a few years, not a bad second round pick. And Mavrokefalidis never played.

2007: Corey Brewer #7, Chris Richard #41

Grade: D+

Brewer was a diappointment his first stint in MN. He has become a solid role player since then, and is second in Minnesota’s single game scoring list which still baffles me…51. Haha

2008: Kevin Love acquired for our pick at #3, OJ Mayo. Nikola Pekovic #31

Grade: A

Before Towns, LaVine, and Wiggins came along these are probably Minnesota’s best two players in the last ten years. Love was the only thing that made the Wolves relevant since he was drafted. And the Love trade looks even better seeing how OJ’s career ended up. However, Russell Westbrook was picked at #4 so that’s a bummer, but I’m not going to get too picky about it because Love was a top 3 PF in the league his last couple of years in MN. Pekovic had a few very good years before his series of injuries the past couple of seasons. 

2009: Ricky Rubio #5, Jonny Flynn #6, Ty Lawson #18, Wayne Ellington #28, Nick Calathes #45, Henk Norel #47

Grade: F

I know, this grade might seem a little harsh when Rubio’s been the starting PG for the past 5 years. But when you have 4 first round picks, draft three PG’s and the one player that remains isn’t even worthy of being a starting PG and has the worst FG% in NBA history, they don’t deserve a higher grade (Sorry, terrible run-on sentence). Also, statistically he hasn’t improved AT ALL from year one to now. I was devistated when we drafted him because I just had a feeling he wasn’t going to be anything great and we had to wait two years to get him. And I wanted the Wolves to draft Curry because I honestly worshipped him while he was at Davidson, I had no idea he was going to be as good as he is now, but I still would have rather had the Wolves gamble on Curry than Rubio. I was actually excited about the Flynn pick because of his pre-Kemba like performance in the Big-East tournament. But he ended up having a short career… bust. Then we traded Lawson to the Nuggets and that stung even more because he had a really good stint with the Nuggets.  Ellington and Calathes have pretty much been used to fill roster spots and Norel never played.

2010: Wesley Johnson #4, Luke Babbitt #16, Trevor Booker #23, Paulo Prestes #45, Hamady Ndiaye #56

Grade: D- 

Another swing-and-a-miss for the Wolves. I was actually really excited about Wesley because I didn’t know if Cousins would pan out and I honestly didn’t even know who Paul George was back then.  He was a good athlete, shooter, and defender. He just never really developed into what we hoped. We traded Babbitt and Booker right away and Prestes and Ndiaye never played.

2011: Derrick Williams #2, Donatas Motiejunas #20

Grade: F

I was not excited about this pick and was on a Kemba Walker high from his intoxicating tournament performance. But I also knew the Wolves wouldn’t take a chance on him at 2. Williams was a bust, he’s been a bottom of the rotation guy and did almost nothing with the Wolves. We traded Motiejunas right away.

2012: Robbie Hummel #58

Grade: C-

Can’t do much better witht the 58th pick. Hummel was a player close to getting into the rotation a few times but just couldn’t quite make it on a losing team. Granted he had a few significant injuries in college that slowed him down.

2013: Shabazz Muhammed #14, Gorgui Dieng #21, Lorenzo Brown #52, Boban Dubljevic #59

Grade: B-

Would be a higher grade but Giannis was the pick right after Shabazz. I mean I had no idea who Giannis was back then or what he would become. But looking back that was a missed opportunity. I wasn’t excited about the Shabazz pick after his average freshman season at UCLA following the hype coming into college. But he has become a decent role player for the Wolves. Gorgui has been a solid player for the Wolves. Good rim protector and has a reliable mid-range game and give maximal effort every possession. Brown spent time trying to get rotation minutes but never solitified himself. Boban never played.

2014: Andrew Wiggins #1, Zach LaVine #14, Glenn Robinson III #40, Alessandro Gentile #53

Grade: A-

The high grade is mostly due to the LaVine pick at 14.  I think he is going to be one of the premiere guards in the league in years to come. He has made large leaps each season and has really impressed me with his game this season. Wiggins was acquired from the Cavs for Love which I absolutely loved at the time. I’m still glad we did the trade, but has been a bit disappointing…especially on the defensive end. All he really contributes is scoring which is nice. But I just feel like he’s capable of a lot more. I would have given a lower grade if the Wolves were the one to draft Wiggins, especially with how well Parker and Embiid are playing, but it was a trade so I can’t really dock them for that. Robinson didn’t last long with the Wolves and Gentile never played.

2015: Towns #1, Tyus Jones #24

Grade: A+

Towns is still undoubtedly the best player from the 2015 draft, so I’m happy. I know he hasn’t played stellar defense this year but I think a lot of that is the Wolves team defense, not just on him.  And I still have a lot of hope for Jones. He has killed it on D League and summer league every times he’s played there, so I think he can still develop into a solid backup PG in the league. Plus I’m a Minnesota native and played against Tyus a couple times in high school so I’m a little bit biased when it comes to him. But I truly think he can end up being like a Patrick Mills, and be one of the top backup 1’s in the NBA.

2016: Kris Dunn #5

Grade: B+

Based on his statistics the grade should probably be lower, but he also really hasn’t gotten a chance so I’m not going to blame him for that yet. I still think he’s the PG of the future for the Wolves, and I expect him to develop into the player most of us thought he would become.

Overall grade for the last 10 years: C-

I know that this might seem low based on the recent draft success, but there were some huge opportunities missed in 06, 07, 09, 10, and 11. Missing out on guys like Roy, Curry, DeRozan, Cousins, George, and Leonard hurt. Of course it’s impossible to tell that those guys were going to become superstars, but looking back it’s disappointing to see how it’s panned out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mgreener_34Participant]

 As a Celtic fan I’m happy with our picks. Sure we’ve missed on players, but if you understand how and why Ainge drafts the players he does it makes more sense. For example, he typically stays away from Euro players even though he scouts them (Giannis, Gobert are the two biggest misses obviously), and he looks at a players entire history. For example, he drafts players who were highly rated in highschool, but not so much in college (Bradley, Johnson, Gibbens, Sully, Moore, ect. ect.) So with that being said…

2006: #7 Randy Foye (Traded for Theo Ratliff and Telfair), #21 Rajon Rondo 

Grade- A+

At first this seemed like a horrific draft for the Celtics. With the #7 pick, everyone in the country thought we were going to draft Rudy Gay as a Paul Pierce replacement (He had requested a trade earlier that year), but Ainge had a different idea, and made that terrible trade mentioned above in hopes of finding a solid rim protector and pg of the future. Luckily he saved himself by trading for the #21 Rajon Rondo later that night, and the rest is history. Rondo would turn into an all-star caliber player, and would easily go top 5 in that draft. 

2007: #5 Jeff Green (Traded in deal for Ray Allen), #32 Gabe Pruitt, 

Grade- A+

Hard not to give an A+ to a draft that would eventually lead us to a championship. Getting Glen Davis was also huge for us that year. 

2008: #30 JR Giddens, #60 Semih Erden

Grade- F

Honestly a joke of a draft. I get that we had the last picks of both rounds, but the Celtics needed size, and its kind of hard to rationalize why we picked Gidden when the next couple of picks involved Dorsy, Pek, Deandre, and Asik. Erden was okay, but lets get real…

2009: #58 Lester Hudson

Grade-C

Not much you can do with a #58 pick, but Hudson atleast saw some playing time in the NBA. I mean doc brought him is last year for the Clips after not playing in the NBA for a while, so he obviously showed management something. 

2010: #19 Avery Bradley, #52 Luke Harangoty 

Grade-A-

This seemed like another terrible draft, but Bradley has proven himself, and would probably go top 10, maybe even top 8 in that draft after Cousins, Wall, George, Hayward, Whiteside, and Favors. I think AB is better than Monroe, Stevenson, and I personally would take him over Larry Sanders. Honestly, I think Bledsoe and AB have had the same career, both just injury riddled, so pick whichever one you want. 

2011: #27 J. Johnson, #55 E. Moore, the Purdue duo 

Grade- F

Wanted to get younger and more athletic that offseason, traded down just to skip over Jimmy Butler and draft Johnson. A PF with the build of a pg…Likewise we wanted speed and penatration for our backup PG, so in the second we drafted Moore…over IT, the now face of our franchise…

2012- #21 Jared Sullinger, #22 Fab Melo, #51 Kris Joseph

Grade-C+

Hard to argue against this draft considering Sully was a pretty good pick, and if he never injured his back could have been a great player. People forget how good he was his first two years in the league. What kills this draft is that we went in with the thought of drafting a big, had multiple chances, and still missed on Green, a player Ainge was in love with. There are only 3 players better than Sully who were picked after him, so I can’t really complain, especially when one of those guys is our current SF. 

2013- #13 Kelly Olynyk, #53 Colton Iverson 

Grade- D+ for the draft, A+ for the draft night

The most heart breaking draft in modern Celtics history (Bias will always be #1). Trading up 3 spots to select Kelly, missing on Greek Freak, Gobert, Shroeder was honestly too much to handle. I think ironically in a redraft Olynyk would probably go #13, so its still decent pick value, but still missing out on star talent hurts. But luckily that draft was the start of a new era in Boston, and we traded away our old team, and outsourced our tank. Hard not to be happy with how things have worked out

2014- #6 Marcus Smart, #17 James Young

Grade-C-

If you don’t watch a lot of Celtic games, its hard to talk about Marcus Smart with other basketball fans. His stats don’t blow you away, but its clear that he is a baller, and the heart and soul of this Celtics team. He’s the best defender, passer, rebounder, and leader on the current Celtic team, and his progression from day 1 to now is worth noting. I think he will be a late bloomer, and will eventually become a psuedo-Billups type of player, except with defense instead of offense. I’m happy with the pick, even if I would prefer to have Randle. 

What really killed this draft was the James Young pick. Man were we all fooled! Every Celtic fan was cheering even before Simmons had his little 5 seconds of glory. Young was coming off a national title game, that nasty dunk still in everyones head (I was at Gample with a thoughsand other UConn students), and he had a sweet stroke. Pity that the player taken exatly 6 pick after him would turn out to be the player we all wanted him to become. 

2015- #16 Terry Rozier, # 28 RJ Hunter, #33 Jordan Mickey, #45 Marcus Thornton

Grade- B

Lets be honest, this draft was garbage outside of the lottery, and Rozier clearly has the most potential out of anyone not in the lottery. All of our picks made sense this year, just none of them worked out. The only miss was we should have taken Montrezz over Hunter, but other than that DA did a solid job, and I hope now people can understand why the lottery teams turned down all those picks. 

2016- #3 Jalen Brown, and then a bunch of other guys I don’t feel like looking up lol 

Grade- To be determined, imo B+

Obviously you can’t grade this draft just yet, but I’m super excited. Jalen is better than I thought he would be at this stage in his developement, and has earned solid minutes for one of the best teams in the league. He has great potential as both a scorer and defender, and can see him turning into a nice player. the rest of this draft was pretty much just trying to find diamond in the rough talent, and I’m okay with that. We still have to wait and see if our two Euro’s can ball, but both said they are coming over next year, so that is something to watch for. Bentil and Jackson were solid picks just to see if they had skills that would translate. 

Overall I’d say since Ainge has taken over the helm the Celtics have been one of the better organizations at drafting and making draft day trades (With the exception of 2013). In Ten years he’s drafted 1x All Star, 1x All NBA Defensive player, and 8 players who will most likely play 10+ years in this league. He also made two of the greatest draft day trades of all time. Hard not to like what’s happened so far, and brought the Celtics ring #17. Solid B+

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ChewyParticipant]

 at the time of the draft, I loved the Purdue Duo picks for you guys. I thought both of them were great value picks and would be role players for 12 years. I was wrong lol.

[CynthiaParticipant]

2006

• #10 – Mouhamed Sene
• #40 – Denham Brown
• #53 – Yotam Halperin

Grade: F
This was back when Seattle was desperately swinging and missing for Centers, they drafted Swift in 2004 & Johan Petro in 2005. Sene was another miss, barely made any impact. Brown & Halperin never played in the NBA.

2007

• #02 – Kevin Durant
• #31 – Carl Landry
• #35 – Glen Davis

Grade: A
Durant was a no-brainer pick, again this was back when the Sonics were struggling for a Center so they really wanted Oden. I’d say Durant worked out a little better than Oden. Unfortunately we lost him to the Warriors this year but he gave us 9 very good years, I’m still salty about him leaving but I’m glad we had him for almost a decade. As for Landry & Big Baby Davis, neither played for the Sonics that I recall, but both ended up being serviceable backups & Davis won a championship with the Celtics.

2008

• #04 – Russell Westbrook
• #24 – Serge Ibaka
• #32 – Walter Sharpe
• #46 – Trent Plaisted
• #50 – DeVon Hardin
• #56 – Sasha Kaun

Grade: A
The funny thing is, a lot of people wanted Bayless over Westbrook back then, that sure would have been a mistake. I believe this was the first year the Sonics transitioned officially into the Thunder. Isn’t much I need to say about Westbrook. Ibaka was a great surprise at #24, not much was known of him around draft time other than a few dunk clips with poor quality. I thought he would just be another Mouhamed Sene, but he turned out to be a very good player. Unfortunately we did trade him away for Oladipo & what turned out to be Sabonis, I do think we definitely won that trade but I very much miss Ibaka, he was loved by everyone. As for the other 4 guys, not much needs to be said for them, they’re all bad.

2009

• #03 – James Harden
• #25 – Rodrigue Beaubois

Grade: A
Three future Hall of Famers in consecutive years, that’s pretty impressive. Harden was an amazing 6th man for us and I never understood why he didn’t start. He did however have some really bad playoff series. Ultimately it came to a point where in recent years we drafted too many good players and those good players all deserved big contracts. OKC was unwilling to go over the limit so that meant Ibaka or Harden had to go. As you all know they opted to keep Ibaka and traded off Harden after he refused to sign a slightly smaller deal than he ended up signing for the Rockets. I was angry at first and thought he was selfish for not "taking one for the team" and resigning at a lower cost, but he’s done well for himself, I can fully understand wanting to be a star over being a 6th man. As for Beaubois he never played for the Thunder but had a couple promising years in Dallas, looked to be a potential 6th man candidate but ultimately just kind of faded away.

2010

• #18 – Eric Bledsoe
• #21 – Craig Brackins
• #26 – Quincy Pondexter
• #51 – Magnum Rolle

Grade: C
I only give this draft a C because Bledsoe is a borderline All-Star and Pondexter is a good role-player. However none of these players actually played for the Thunder so this draft is irrelevant.

2011

• #24 – Reggie Jackson

Grade: B
Reggie Jackson was a decent Thunder player, but he was too similar to Westbrooks style, so when he came in the pace didn’t really change, which some may consider good and some bad. Ultimately he did not enjoy his time in OKC and wanted out, he’s now a mediocre starting PG for the Pistons.

2012

• #28 – Perry Jones

Grade: D
Perry Jones fell pretty hard in the draft and OKC rolled the dice on him. I was pretty happy with the move at the time in hopes he could turn out to be a decent role-player. Alas he turned out to be pretty bad, either way OKC was pretty set on players at this point and didn’t have much to lose.

2013

• #12 – Steven Adams
• #29 – Archie Goodwin
• #32 – Alex Abrines

Grade: B
After we swung and missed on Centers for so many years I wasn’t very high on the Adams pick and as some of you might remember I was outspoken about it on the forums here. Fortunately I’ve been proven wrong and OKC finally got their big man for the future they tried so many times to get. His defense and toughness are already top notch and if he keeps improving his offense this may eventually turn into an A. Archie Goodwin didn’t play for OKC but showed some promise in Phoenix, he’s currently in New Orleans but the verdict is still out on him. Alex Abrines didn’t play until this year, and I kind of wish he came over to play sooner, he’s been much better than I expected; solid backup.

2014

• #12 – Mitch McGary
• #29 – Josh Huestis

Grade: D
McGary has showed some promise here & there but ultimately he was waived at the beginning of the year. I’m kind of surprised no one has given him a shot, I think in a better situation he could be a solid backup. Huestis hasn’t gotten much play time, but the few minutes he has gotten he hasn’t been good.

2015

• #14 – Cameron Payne
• #48 – Dakari Johnson

Grade: C
The verdict is still out on Payne, he’s been decent but he’s also been injured. I was going to give this a D but his pre-game dances with Westbrook earn him at least a C. Dakari Johnson hasn’t played for OKC.

2016

• No Picks

Grade: C
Even with no picks I’m giving this a C, because with the Ibaka trade we acquired the #11 pick in Domantas Sabonis, he’s actually been a starter this year and hasn’t disappointed. His numbers don’t jump off the screen but he’s only 20 and should improve. He also got bonus points because his Dad was one of my favourite players to watch.

Overall
For the most part OKC draft picks have been hit or miss, some future Hall of Famers and a couple starting caliber players but they also rolled the dice on a lot of guys that did not work out. Three years in a row getting Durant, Westbrook and Harden has to be one of the best drafting runs in league history. I think the moral of the story is Presti is one of the best GM’s when it comes to drafting, but one of the worst at keeping his players. We’ve seen a lot of good players come and go in just this decade.

[khaled_a_dParticipant]

Dallas:
2006:
28th :Maurice Ager
JJ Barea undrafted
B ,Agger was a bust but so is most players after him,Barea was gr8 pick up

2007
Nick Fazekas with 34th pick & Renaldas Seibutis with 50th pick
Both were meh picks even for 2nd round picks specially when Marc Gasol and Glen Davis was available
Grade E

2008:
Shan Foster with 51sth pick,but it isn’t like we missed on some serious talents
Grade : D

2009:
25th: Rodrigue Beaubois : Had all the talent and physical tools to be a steal in that draft,injuries affected his career and confidence
45th:Nick Calathes : Long term project who proved he belongs to play in the league as back up with Memphis which is decent achievement considering how late he was selected,didn’t use him buy the draft decision was right
56th:Ahmad Nivins : looked like another long term project who could have made it to the league but like Beaubois he got injured
Overall Grade:B
They weren’t difference makers and in hindsight you can say Mavs didn’t do anything with those player,two didn’t made it the roster and one moved out of NBA. But considering zll factors I think it was good scouting

2010:
Dominique Jones: He was supposed to be 2nd round pick,he should have been selected as late nd round pick,we paid millions for the pick to get this guy
Grade :E

2011:
No one,but we had two picks that could have ended up with Jimmy Butler & Isaiah Thomas Thomas but we traded them for Rudy Fernandez,that was ok,but before he trained we traded Rudy for cap space,two picks down the drains
Grade F

2012:
25th Jared Cunningham
34th Bernard James
35th Jae Crowder non was the best available,but Jae Crowder was a steal,Jared was Meh and Sarge did well
Overall Grade :C+

2013: Grade:G-
I don’t know if you have such grade in US system but they have it here in UK where I study,we wanted Giannis Antetokounmpo,he was available,we traded down,Gorgui Dieng & Rudy Gobert but we drafted Larkin. that draft will never be forgiven by Mavs fans

2014: no one
2015: Justin Anderson C+ Good athlete and hard working but he has long way to g,won’t be productive player in good team for some time

[festar35Participant]

 2006 – 17th Pick Shawne Wiliams

Grade: F – He really offered nothing to the team and Paacers like many other teams missed on Rondo, Lowry and Millsap who were picked later on.

2007 – None

2008 – 13th Brandon Rush & 17th Roy Hibbert (Trades)

Grade: B – Rush showed a bit of promise, but ultimately wasn’t a large factor. Hibbert brings this grade up, he was a defensive beast within Vogel’s system and managed an All-Star appearance. Due to his lack of athletic ability the game has kind of passed him by and he never really developed an offensive game, but his contribution to the ECF Pacers was undeniable.

2009 – 13th Tyler Hansbrough & 52nd AJ Price

Grade: C- – I felt Tyler fitted the identity of Indiana at that time really well and made a solid contribution, but they needed a PG and Holiday, Lawson, Teague and Collison were all available as pure PG’s. AJ Price had good games, but ultimately didn’t bring alot. At the time I wanted Lawson or Teague.

2010 – 10th Paul George & 40th Lance Stephenson 

Grade A+ – They got 2 key pieces for a Championship contending team at 10th & 40th in the draft. Paul George is a franchise talent and potentially the best player from that draft so it was a perfect draft for that reason alone. Throw in the always entertaining Stephenson who I hated to see leave who really started to thrive in Indiana and it made this draft awesome for Indiana.

2011 – Acquired George Hill

Grade: B- – No one saw what Kawhi Leonard would become and George Hill was fantastic for his leadership and defensive abilities. Can play the what if game as much as you want, but Hill was a very valued player in Indiana and made significant contributions.

2012 – 28th Miles Plumlee

Grade: F – Just a none factor for me.Draymond Green was constantly listed as Indiana’s target so really dropped the ball on this one.

2013 – 23rd Solomon Hill

Grade: C- – Very happy Indiana didn’t pay him this past summer after seeing his performances, but he made really solid contributions when playing smallball 4, ultimately another blip that didn’t really influence Indiana one way or the other.

2014 – None

2015 – 11th Myles Turner

Grade A- – This is kind of incomplete at this point, but man could this kid be special. He is right there with the likes of Towns, Embiid and Porzingis. Time will tell on this one, but he could be that elusive 2nd Star to put next to Paul George.

2016 – Niang

Incomplete.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MatosParticipant]

 I was going to say, I think OKC has had the best draft over the past 10 years. Three future Hall of Famers and Steven Adams & Serge Ibaka may nab an all-star selection one of these years.

[Sewok15Participant]

 Sixers 

2006: Thabo Sefolosha 13th overall then traded for Rodney Carney and 2007 2nd rounder

Early on Carney looked like he would have the career that Sefolosha is currently having. He has been out of the league for over 5 years. The Sixers could have had Kyle Lowry who was playing right in their back yard at Nova. They traded Iverson half way through the 2006 season and he would have been a great guy to lead the team.

Grade: D

2007: Thad Young 12th overall, Daequan Cook 21st traded for 2009 2nd round pick, Petteri Koponen 30th traded for Derrick Byars, Kyrylo Fesenko 38th traded for Herbert Hill

Luckily Thad was a quality pick because every other person they drafted they traded for nothing. Billy King was fired halway through this season…thank god. I can’t believe the nets hired him but I can believe he screwed them up worse than he did the Sixers. He may perhaps be the worst GM of all time. 

Grade: B-

2008: Mo Speights 16th overall

Mo was a decent pick although he never got a ton of minutes in Philly. You could see his potential as a scorer but he didn’t add the 3 point shot until he left the Sixers. He seemed somewhat lazy but big guys with his skill are not easy to find. 

Grade: C+

2009: Jrue Holiday 17th overall

At the time I wanted Ty Lawson but clearly Holiday was the right pick. He has had injury issues recently in his career but as a Sixers he was an all star and a young talent that Sixers much needed to replenish their back court. After wasting a ton of money on Elton Brand the summer before it was important the Sixers got this pick right. 

Grade: A

2010: Evan Turner 2nd overall

Well I can’t say I blame the Sixers for drafting Turner. He was so impressive at OSU that he was able to hide the fact that he isn’t a great athlete and not a good shooter. I thought he was the no brainer pick at the time but clearly that didn’t pan out. The sixers fortunes would have been much different with Boogie Cousins, Paul George or Gordon Hayward. 

Grade: D+

2011: Nic Vucevic 16th overall, Lavoy Allen 50th

I didn’t know much about Vucevic going into the draft but he was clearly a good pick. He is a highly skilled 7 footer and although he will never be a superstar he is a solid starter. The only player picked behind him that has had a better career in my opinion is Jimmy Butler and plent of teams passed on him. Lavoy was a nice 2nd round pick who contributed with a nice mid range shot and brought some philly toughness.

Grade: A-

2012: Mo Harkless 15th overall, Justin Hamilton 45th, Tornike Shengalia 54th

None of these players ever saw the floor for the Sixers. Hamilton was traded for Arnett Moultrie who had injury issues and never panned out although I liked him as a prospect. Mo Harkless was dealt to Orlando in that atroucious deal that sent Igoudala to Denver and the Sixers got Andrew Bynum…who also never played for the Sixers. They could have dealt Iggy for the 5th-9th pick and selected Andre Drummond but they decided to put the franchise back another 7 years. 

Grade: F

2013: MCW 11th overall, Glen Rice Jr. 35th, Pierre Jackson 42nd

The Sixers made a very surprising move trading their young all star PG Jrue Holiday for the 6th pick which they used to get Nerlens Noel who was coming off an ACL tear. Mediocrity was no more in Philly and the process of the super tank began. MCW looked good to start his career but his jumpshot is hideous and teams started forcing him to beat them from the outside which he cannot. I really liked the Jackson pick in the 2nd round (traded him with Holiday) but last I heard he was lighting up the D league. 

Grade: B+

2014: Joel Embiid 3rd overall, Elfrid Payton 10th, KJ McDaniels 32nd, Jerami Grant 39th, Russ Smith 47th, 2 seperate Serbian PGs in the 50’s

The Sixers had a slew of picks in this draft thanks some quality GM work of Sam Hinkie. Say what you will about his strategy but the guy made some really good moves for the future of the organization. Trading Elfrid Payton for Dario Saric was a great move. Payton can’t shoot at all and Saric is a really solid all around player who looks to be the Sixers sixth man on the future. Embiid fell into their laps due to his injury concerns. He likely would have went #1 ahead of Wiggins had he been healthy. We are only seeing him for the first time this season but man he has been worth the wait. 

Grade: A

2015: Jah Okafor 3rd overall, Guillermo Hernagomez 35th, Rashaun Holmes 37th, Arturis Gudatis 47th, JP Tokoto 58th, Luka Mitrovic 60th

I really wanted Russell this year but once he was gone I thought the Sixers had to take Okafor. Their roster was not balanced but I thought he was clear choice at number 3. I didn’t know much about Porzingis and he wouldn’t work out in Philly anyway so I hope he wastes his whole career on the Knicks. Holmes at 37 was a steal but most people don’t know it because he can’t get on the floor much. He is a better shooter and athlete than Okafor which means he is actually the better fit for the roster going forward although not the better player. 

Grade: C

2016: Ben Simmons 1st overall, TLC 24th, Furkan Korkmaz 26th

After all the losing the Sixers finally hit the lottery last summer. Ben Simmons was the obvious pick and while he hasn’t played an NBA game yet he likely will return this month. The excitement that Embiid has brought to Philly will only be magnified when Simmons steps on the court. His passing will fit in perfectly with this team and those two on the pick and roll will be a nightmare for the next decade plus. They added two international shooters on the wings with their picks in the 20’s. TLC has been impressive in limited minutes and looks like a high potential 3 and D player. Korkmaz has yet to come over but if both these guys pan out they will quickly fill out the sixers weakest position.

Grade: A

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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