Sim League Draft Busts
Draft Busts
-J. Felders, SI.com
Whaaa? Busts? In this league? Never!
Sorry, but nothing's perfect, and even with everything available these days, GMs still find ways to screw up, and players still find ways to disappoint. So I decided to take a look at the first 4 regular drafts since the 2000 NBA restart and find the biggest bust of each one.
To judge the "busts" in this league, I laid down one rule: The player must have been drafted in the Top 10.
2001 - Samuel Dalembert, #10 (Nuggets)
Sam was supposed to be a poor man's Tyson Chandler, a defensive and rebounding force. And to be fair, that's pretty much what he became. The problem comes in when you look at two big men who were drafted after him: Mehmet Okur (#11) and Eddy Curry (#16). While Dalembert outperformed both of them in their rookie season, he wasn't able to hold on to the starting center position in any of his subsequent seasons, bringing trades and decreased production to go along with decreased minutes. Meanwhile, both Okur and Curry caught fire in their sophmore seasons and never looked back.
Is It Too Late?
Probably. He still can't capture a starting job, currently backing up Nazr Mohammed in Indiana. He's now seen as purely bench defense & rebounding (when he's seen at all). Not too many good teams, or even bad ones, would start him at this point, and with the influx and emergence of better centers, it appears his small window has closed.
2002 - Manu Ginobili, #5 (Rockets)
I admit, this is a controversial one, especially with Nickloz "I've single-handedly changed the future of two franchises" Tshkitishvili sitting there at #10. But, look at what came after him. See anything? Yeah, I don't either, save Curtis Borchardt, and let's be honest, who really saw him coming? Even the Hornets were basically forced to use him. It's hard to be a bust when you're still better than what came after you, a luxury Manu wishes he had. Nene, Kirilenko, Caron, Jay Williams. Caron & Jay are the real standouts here, since Caron's emerged as a quality SG, and Jay stayed off the motorcycle and worked on his game, leading it to come full circle when he was openly a free-agent target for none other than the Houston Rockets. Meanwhile, Manu's done just enough to finish his rookie contract and re-up with the Rockets, but it's hard to ignore his startling drop in production, starting last season and continuing on to this one.
Is It Too Late?
Not really. In 2005 Manu made All-Defensive 2nd Team. As draft mate Andrei Kirilenko has shown, focusing on defense can really stunt your offensive output. If Manu repeats his All-Defensive nomination, then it's clear that he's simply become a defense-first player. Again, only the complete and utter absence of talent behind Nickloz puts Manu on this list. However, though he may not be a traditional bust ("disappointment" is a better term), it's rapidly becoming clear that he's completely misjudged what his team needs from him. So for Houston, yeah, they probably wish they'd have gone with someone else.
2003 - Boris Diaw, #5 (Magic)
This was another tough one, on two different counts. One, TJ Ford nearly put all 3 PGs taken ahead of him on this list (Kirk Hinrich, Luke Ridnour, and Mo Williams, btw). Two, I personally loved this guy coming out, and cheered the Magic for picking him. And then.........he started playing. And he hasn't really done anything of note yet, he's definitely a solid player, but looking at his stats leads you to wonder if he hit his ceiling in his not-really-impressive sophmore season. He's a role player, pure and simple. That's not his role, that's what he plays like, and that's not what you want at #5.......and to make things worse, look at the SF who got picked at #9: Josh Howard. Curry/Howard?
Is It Too Late?
Dunno. Unlike Sam, who's a clear bust, and Manu, who seems to have chosen a different path than what was originally intended, Boris has shown us who he is, and I'm not sure if he'll get any better. Again, Sam's a bust with no hope, Manu's just a disappointment, maybe even a minor one, but Boris seems to be a bust who has his niche....just not one befitting of a #5 pick.
2004 - JR Smith, #7 (Spurs)
I was around the Suns' owner when he got a text saying that the Spurs had selected JR Smith at #7. He nearly fainted. He later told me that their GM did faint. It was a baffling selection then, and it's still an odd one now, especially when looking at the guys drafted after him: Luol Deng, Josh Childress, Kevin Martin, Andris Biedrins, Jameer Nelson. And those are just the obvious ones. I forget what their frontcourt situation was at the time, but if it was like it is now, why not Biedrins? Having Kidd didn't stop him from drafting Rondo, and having Houston & JR didn't keep him from drafting Monta Ellis, so why not Nelson or even Devin Harris? Kevin seems to be a better pure scorer than JR, and Josh has become an underrated talent in Boston. JR's certainly a serviceable player, good enough. But he falls into the unfortunate situation of having to flirt with "bust" status the moment his name was called.
Is It Too Late?
For him not to be called a bust? Not as long as his draft mates continue to outshine him. Again, he's another form of bust entirely, a bust based more off of circumstance than actual on-court accomplishments. And well, he got traded. So he was a bust to the Spurs.
So that's it.....this goes to show you that there's more to good drafting than simply names and ratings. Even when it's all right there in front of you, things happen. Now y'all know I like feedback, so head on down to the comments section and comment!
Until next time..........
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Originally Posted by Pelicans78
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