I wanted to start this thread to go back and look at the draft and with almost a full season, who has suprised you and who hasn't really shown much! I think there have been quite a few suprises and disappointments throughout. 1 Chicago Bulls Derrick Rose, Guard, Memphis 2 Miami Heat Michael Beasley, Forward, Kansas State 3 Minnesota Timberwolves O.J. Mayo, Guard, USC (To Memphis) 4 Oklahoma City Thunder Russell Westbrook, Guard, UCLA 5 Memphis Grizzlies Kevin Love, Forward, UCLA (To Minnesota) 6 New York Knicks Danilo Gallinari, Forward, Italy 7 Los Angeles Clippers Eric Gordon, Guard, Indiana 8 Milwaukee Bucks Joe Alexander, Forward, West Virginia 9 Charlotte Bobcats D.J. Augustin, Guard, Texas 10 New Jersey Nets Brook Lopez, Center, Stanford 11 Indiana Pacers Jerryd Bayless, Guard, Arizona 12 Sacramento Kings Jason Thompson, Forward, Rider 13 Portland Trail Blazers Brandon Rush, Forward, Kansas 14 Golden State Warriors Anthony Randolph, Forward, LSU 15 Phoenix Suns (from Atlanta) Robin Lopez, Forward, Stanford 16 Philadelphia 76ers Marreese Speights, Forward, Florida 17 Toronto Raptors Roy Hibbert, Center, Georgetown 18 Washington Wizards JaVale McGee, Center, Nevada 19 Cleveland Cavaliers J.J. Hickson, Forward, N.C. State 20 Charlotte Bobcats (from Denver) Alexis Ajinca, Center, France 21 New Jersey Nets (from Dallas) Ryan Anderson, Forward, California 22 Orlando Magic Courtney Lee, Guard, Western Kentucky 23 Utah Jazz Kosta Koufos, Center, Ohio State 24 Seattle SuperSonics (from Phoenix) Serge Ibaka, Forward, Spain 25 Houston Rockets Nicolas Batum, Forward, France (To Portland) 26 San Antonio Spurs George Hill, Guard, IUPUI 27 New Orleans Darrell Arthur, Forward, Kansas (To Memphis via Portland) 28 Memphis Grizzlies (from L.A. Lakers) Donte Greene, Forward, Syracuse (To Houston) 29 Detroit Pistons D.J. White, Forward, Indiana (To Seattle) 30 Boston Celtics J.R. Giddens, Guard, New Mexico 2nd round 31 Minnesota Timberwolves (from Miami) Nikola Pekovic, Center, Serbia 32 Seattle Supersonics Walter Sharpe, Forward, Alabama-Birmingham (To Detroit) 33 Portland Trail Blazers (from Memphis) Joey Dorsey, Forward, Memphis (To Houston) 34 Minnesota Timberwolves Mario Chalmers, Guard, Kansas (To Miami) 35 Los Angeles Clippers DeAndre Jordan, Center, Texas A&M 36 Portland Trail Blazers (from New York) Omer Asik, Center, Turkey (To Chicago) 37 Milwaukee Bucks Luc Mbah a Moute, Forward, UCLA 38 Charlotte Bobcats Kyle Weaver, Guard, Washington State 39 Chicago Bulls Sonny Weems, Guard, Arkansas (To Denver) 40 New Jersey Nets Chris Douglas-Roberts, Guard, Memphis 41 Indiana Pacers Nathan Jawai, Forward, Australia 42 Sacramento Kings (from Atlanta) Sean Singletary, Guard, Virginia 43 Sacramento Kings Patrick Ewing Jr., Forward, Georgetown 44 Utah Jazz (from Philadelphia) Ante Tomic, Center, Croatia 45 San Antonio Spurs (from Toronto) Goran Dragic, Guard, Slovenia (To Phoenix) 46 Seattle SuperSonics (from Portland) Trent Plaisted, Forward, BYU (To Detroit) 47 Washington Wizards Bill Walker, Forward, Kansas State (To Boston) 48 Phoenix Suns (from Cleveland) Malik Hairston, Guard, Oregon (To San Antonio) 49 Golden State Warriors Richard Hendrix, Forward, Alabama 50 Oklahoma City Thunder (from Denver) DeVon Hardin, Center, California 51 Dallas Mavericks Shan Foster, Guard, Vanderbilt 52 Miami Heat (from Orlando) Darnell Jackson, Forward, Kansas (To Cleveland) 53 Utah Jazz Tadija Dragicevic, Forward, Serbia 54 Houston Rockets Maarty Leunen, Forward, Oregon 55 Portland Trail Blazers (from Phoenix) Mike Taylor, Guard, Idaho Stampede (To L.A. Clippers) 56 Oklahoma City Thunder (from New Orleans) Sasha Kaun, Center, Kansas 57 San Antonio Spurs James Gist, Forward, Maryland 58 Los Angeles Lakers Joe Crawford, Guard, Kentucky 59 Detroit Pistons Deron Washington, Forward, Virginia Tech 60 Boston Celtics Semih Erden, Center, Turkey Some of my favorites outside of the obvious is Mareese Speights He averages 7.8 PPG and 4 RPG, Great pick at 16 Courtney Lee who avg's 8.2 PPG 3 RPG and 1.2 APG Great find at 22 for Orlando Danillo Gallinari has been a big DUD this season and also Joe alexander
I don't really agree with that. Gallinari was only 19 when they drafted him, and foreign on top of that. He wasn't expected to come in and set the world on fire in his first season. He's been injured, sure, but he's done pretty well in his limited minutes. In my opinion, anyone who shoots 45% FG, 44% 3PT, 96% FT can't be declared a dud in my book. Especially when they get less than 15 minutes a game. I'll admit he didn't look great, but he wasn't bad when he played.
The 6th pick? if your happy with a player that you drafted at 6 that has chronic back problems but he can shoot 43% clip in less than 15 minutes a game. Then by all means thats your opinion but if given a second chance i would PASS .
The draft picks that the Thunder like are attributed to OKC, the picks they now believe are busts are blamed on the Sonics. In hindsight, this draft seems much better than I expected at the time.
I totally agree. Look at Andrea Bargnani. No idea if I spelled that right, but whatever. Its taken him 3 years, but he is putting up similar numbers to Dirk Nowitzki's at the same age. If he, averaged 4 more minutes, their numbers would be eerily similar. I think Bargnani is going to be a stud in this league. Gallinari didn't even play college ball in the US and he's only 19. I'm not sure what kind of statistics you'd expect him to be putting up. If Ricky Rubio goes number one next year, I guarantee you he will seem like a disappointment his first few years also.
For me personally Westbrook and Lopez surprised me the most. I didn't see either contributing this much so early. The bust, easily Joe Alexander.
I am talking this year. We can only base our first impressions of players not what they could become everybody could become great but only few do. Merely this season with the games Gallinari has misses and what i have seen when he has played wasn't up to par with what I think a 6th pick should be.... EX. see Eric Gordon.... Behind him in the draft and look what he has done this year. Should we not think he is legit? or mayo or Love....people he was surrounded by they have shown this year they can play and i am just saying Gallinari hsn't showed much besides his chronic back problems.
Only 2 out of the top 10 guys can be labeled disappointments: Gallinari and Joe Alexander. The #1 pick is a future franchise player and the next 3 after him will likely be stars. There are a bunch of other guys later in the first round that have huge upsides. I'd say 2008 draft class was outstanding. Ziggy, I can't believe how good Brook Lopez is. Of the top 10, he is the biggest surprise to me by far.
Clippers did a great job this and last year's draft. Al Thornton and Eric Gordan? Those picks look great for them. Phoenix should have gotten McGee, instead of Lopez (Robin). In the 20s, there are 4 productive players. George Hill Courtney Lee Nicolas Batum D. Arthur In the 2nd round, there are two obvious steals. Luc Mbah a Moute Mario Chalmers I'm disappointed in Bayless and Rush...
I still expect good things from Gordon, Beasley, and Bayless. Bayless might actually be on a good team but bad situation.
Alot of rookies deal with those situations, thats when you use that year to get better! work on the flaws in your game. Bayless needs to work on being a POINT guard, not a 2 guard
I agree the clippers have a solid foundations a couple more key aquisitions to give them more depth and they could be contenders, in 2 years
Amen. Just like we robbed the Spurs two years back. At some point GMs should fear trading with Morey knowing he robs them.
Mario Chalmers at pick 34 in the 2nd round. He is in a good situation for his game but his shooting and defense have been really really good for a first year player. Also, Darrell Arthur is a pretty good rebounder/defender for being the 27th pick. On draft night I was surprised he slipped so low, then interested in the Rockets having him, then a little disappointed that they traded him away. Right now he is clearly better than Dorsey and he certianly has a ehight advantage for playing backup center.
