http://www.nba.com/history/draft/2002-draft/ Crazy draft class. But i was thinking if the bulls would of picked yao back then, i wonder if bulls would of won any championships. They had a young core of Tyson Chandler, Jamal Crawford, and Deng,Hinrich, the 04-05 TEAM. But the next two or three years i wonder if they would of atleast gone to the finals or won a title with yao...
C -YAO PF - TYson Chandler SF- Luol Dang SG- Ben Gordon PG- Kirk Kinrich Look pretty sick in the east well back then ...
Maybe it's just me, but that team doesn't sound that scary. I also think that draft class was pretty sh#tty.
Wouldn't call it a weak class, but average to below average. That's one of the classes with essentially no HOFers in it. (Yes, I know Yao will make HOF, but not soley for his NBA play.) btw: what kinda cleverly-disguised YOF question is this? CHI wasn't better than the Rockets. And with Yao, they never suck enough to build towards that 04-05 team. They don't get the 3rd pick for Gordon or Rose later. They'd be drafting like the Rockets did for awhile, needing to improve via trades and minor FA acquisition like Morey did Yao's best team to land at was indeed the Houston Rockets.
If the Bulls picked Yao, then they would have had to have the number 1 pick that year. They didn't. Its like saying what if the Bulls drafted Olajuwon instead of Jordan. Its impossible. A better Question would be, what if the Rockets didn't draft Yao? Yikes
Dunleavy was considered to be a stud coming out of college. Played for some great Duke teams in the mist of their "glory days" that featured Shane Battier, Carlos Boozer, Jay Williams and Chris Duhon. Weak draft but he has had a nice career. Their have been way worst #3 picks lol
That Duke team did not have any NBA star potential apart from Jay Williams. They all are/ were role players. It's too bad Williams couldn't play after getting injured.
Carlos Boozer was a 2 time NBA All-Star. A lot of guys like Jay Williams will get overrated by playing college with the likes of Boozer and Dunleavy. Hell, you even say Dunleavy was overrated at #3 pick. Dantah Jones and Duhon were on that 2002 team as well. That's 4 NBA players he played with. There is no guarantee Williams becomes a star more than Boozer.
Amare Stoudemire was no chop liver. Legit star, i remember back when people were dreaming rockets would trade for him to put next to yao.
A better question would be, what if Rox picked someone else with the 1st pick. A team of SF3 + Cat + Amare will make Rox easily one of the fastest team. While Yao will not face the issue of his coach leaving half way into the season, and then a coach who only knows to put Yao down low.
Duke's glory days is now. Actually they have three "glory days" with championship winning teams. Early 90s, late 90s/early 2000s, and now. There type of high school talent Duke is getting now days is even better than those previous two "glory days".
Below average? I thought it was one of the worst draft classes ever, and showed that during this period there was a severe lack of talent in the NBA which is why IMHO TD's generation ruled the NBA for so long and you had the same core guys battling each other year after year (esp. when guys like Brandon Roy and Oden got injured).
1999-2002 was a rough 4-year stretch for the draft. A handful of HOFers like Pau, Parker, and Yao, but no dominant franchise player (well, at least none that could stay on the court). Of course, then we got LeBron, Melo, Wade, Dwight, D-Will, and CP3 in the next four years.