A close runner-up would be Rodrick Rhodes. Huh? He was the 24th pick in the draft. Very few 24th picks in history do more than Rhodes...
just off the top of my head? whole league - Olowakandi. Sure, he is not totally useless, is 7 feet, and he still has "potential", but this guy was a number one pick. I remember the hype comparing him to Duncan, lol. rockets - sigh, passing on Rashard Lewis for Turkan.
Cat: that's true, but he was a dumb pick because none of the magazines or sport sites covering the draft had him even being selected! What about Sam Cassell? Wasn't he picked around 24th? Or better yet, Cuttino Mobley? He was picked in the 2nd Round. I know that nowadays, someone picked in the 2nd round is lucky to make the team, but compare that to the '70's and '80's when there were more rounds. My point is that we are spoiled by the fact that because there are only 2 rounds that someone picked 24th doesn't have a lot of hope of making the team. It wasn't like that in the '70's and '80's. I know that you always feel like the Rockets made good moves, and I for the most part have been in favor of the moves they have made. But, you have to admit picking Rhodes was a head-scratcher to say the least.
Buck Johnson had a few productive years as a role player. There were many picks worse than "the Blade". My vote would be for Steve Harris. He did nothing at all for us. We chose him over Terry Porter. (Granted, we had John Lucas at the time. If we had only known that Lucas would snort his way out of the league later that same year.)
edc, Ummm, odd choice. In 1990, he had very similar stats to a certain Mo Taylor. ------------------------ Also, I don't think Cheivous was as bad as some people remember. In 19 minutes a game he averaged 9.26 pts, 3.16 rebs, .437 FG%, .783 FT% all in his rookie year. He may not have been a perrenial all-star, but in today's NBA that sort of output could garner him a bundle from the Rocket's front office. I still say he was a better player than Kenny Thomas.
Crisco ... who would you rather have, Olowokandi or Joe Smith? If Kandi ever improves even slightly, he's a better player than Smith. I think Bowie is something of a cheap shot, since he had talent but his career was wrecked by injuries. But on a sheerly objective basis it doesn't matter, because the winner has to be LaRue Martin, the #1 overall pick in 1972. Here are his career stats: Year Team Gms Mins FG% FT% Rebs Ast PFs Pts ------------------------------------------------------------------- 72-73 Por 77 12.9 .396 .649 4.6 0.5 2.1 4.4 73-74 Por 50 10.8 .435 .636 3.6 0.4 1.8 4.9 74-75 Por 81 16.9 .452 .697 5.0 0.9 3.0 7.0 75-76 Por 63 14.1 .361 .740 4.9 1.1 2.0 4.4 ------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL...67.8 14.0 .416 .685 4.6 0.7 2.3 5.3 I repeat, #1 overall pick. At least his rebounds per minute look good.
Late first round picks rarely do anything. Rhodes wasn't all that good pick, mostly because of his personal demons, but FAR from the worst pick. Even though it was a late pick the Serge Zwikker pick was horrible because he NEVER helped the team and didn't even have the potential to help the team! Why the Rockets drafted him still escapes me to this day! As far as worst draft picks, I know injuries hampered him, but you have to put up there Pervis Ellison. Also put up there Christian Laettner. I know he has had a nice career, but he was supposed to be a franchise player, and a few magazines even had to think about whether they would take him over Shaq or not. The Duke hype.
Sometimes the best drafts picks are the ones you DON'T use! I would rather take my chances with the potential of Eddie Griffin, and Glen Rice then Rashard Lewis. Maybe Griffin will prove me wrong, but we'll see. People feel that Griffin will be a franchise player, Lewis doesn't look like he's going to be that.
He was a dumb pick based on the sports magazines? I'd say the opinions of NBA personnell would be more valid. There are always a couple of late steals, but the point is, most players around 24 do what Roderick Rhodes did. There's no way he can be considered the worst draft pick of all time. Here's the list of players from the 80's picked 24th: 89- Anthony Cook 88- Brian Shaw 87- Fred Banks 86- Arvydas Sabonis (again, a late steal, exception to the rule) 85- Terry Porter (agreed) 84- Michael Young 83- Stewart Granger 82- Oliver Robinson 81- Jay Vincent 80- Larry Smith (agreed) I'm not saying Rhodes was a great pick, but just look back in history. You cannot expect a 24th pick to do much more than he did, and considering the Pervis Ellison's and Chris Washburn's of the world, there's no way he can be the worst draft pick ever. Here's a list of the 1997 draft: http://www.nbadraft.net/1997.htm Can you please identify someone besides Marc Jackson and Alvin Williams that would be worth picking instead? For it to be such a horrible pick, there would have to be an obvious solution that they passed up, and passing on two gems like Jackson and Williams doesn't make Rhodes that bad. It's almost like those guys who criticize the Rockets for last year's draft. Collier's no superstar, but have you seen these other big men that we could've had? Pryzbilla, Moiso, Thomas? Getting Collier and a first round pick (used to trade for Eddie) out of that draft is absolutely incredible on the Rockets part.
We did not pass on Lewis for a "nobody". We traded the rights to Turkshan (sp?) for a number 1 pick, which eventually was used to help us get Eddie Griffin. Lewis is a very nice player, but Griffin has the potential to one day change games defensively. If we would have picked Lewis, then he would be eating up a large part of our salary cap right now, and we would not have Griffin or MoTaylor. I like the way things have turned out for us now much better.
