It does seem to be pretty surprising. Of course, the #1 pick gets more attention for being the #1 pick. I couldn't tell you if, for example, #4 picks also seemed to get injured a lot. But in addition to injury, consider Bargnani is just an ok NBA player, Kwame Brown sucks, Kenyon Martin's never been great, Olowokandi sucked, Joe Smith has/had a long productive career, but average. So including Smith's draft year (1995), there have been 15 #1 picks (excluding this year), and 4 have had some fairly serious injury issues, 2 have been complete busts of picks and 3 have been average players, but still busts relative to their draft selection. That's 9 of the 15.
I noticed that all 4 are big men. And the other 5 you mentioned are also big men. Makes you wonder if it's wiser to go with a guard/foward then a big at that level.
Yao still blows Oden, Bogut, and Griffin out of the water in terms of skill. None of those 3 will ever be as unstoppable as Yao was/is at times!
This is just the status quo of sports. The human body is getting bigger & stronger. More stress is being placed on the body. Hence all the injuries in basketball, football & baseball. Jim Edmonds last week injured his leg during his homerun trot for crying out loud!
Just wow. I'm not normally a DD hater but...Blake has yet to play a game, let alone a playoff game, and he's better than Yao? Or rather you'd trade Yao for him? Wow. Just wow.
Wall and Cousins will be better than Griffin. IMO the ROY will be a two man race between Wall and Cousins..
I hate it when sportswriters go mystical. Give me a break, there's no curse, there's no "fate" of the #1 picks. It's just a lazy attempt at trying to come up with an interesting topic for an article.
I could see Wall doing it but Cousins is going to struggle....he is going to play against people as big and as athletic, and he won't see the ball much because Tyreke wants to shoot it. DD
I agree with this. When was the last time that a player who missed their first season turn into an amazing player? Hmm... Gred Oden... oh wait...
Elton Brand has also had some injury problems in recent years and he was a #1 pick during that time frame.
I am clearly factoring in Yao's propensity for injuries, the uknown nature of his recovery, and him being limited on the court. And, I do think Griffin is going to be a great great player. DD
I've been touting Griffin since he was at Oklahoma. His skill set is absolutely unreal. Without a doubt he has the ability to be better than any of the others mentioned.
On this, you and I have been in complete agreement. Griffin is a HOF level talent, provided he stays healthy. Big men with his ball handling skills, power, ferociousness, touch, and footwork are the rarest of ALL players, imo. He is the most complete big man to come out of college since Tim Duncan and has the ability to be just as good. I don't dish out praise this frequently nor abundantly, but Griffin deserves every bit of it. Provided his knee is ok and proves to not be a chronic debilitating injury, he will dominate...DOMINATE...the league's other bigs.
Yep. Remember my thread asking if anyone would trade Yao for him? I got pummeled....lol. I would still do it though. He is a taller, better shooting Charles Barkley. Look, one of the reasons I don't want Melo is his lack of percieved will to win....guys who hate to lose..... I see that in spades in Griffin...and Durant too...give me players who want to win over players who want to be famous. DD
Totally agree with you on this one. Griffin will be a leader of a team (didn't want to say all-start cause of the other thread) unfortunately his team isn't that good yet.
There isn't a player or package of picks I wouldn't give up for Blake. As for that thread, I remember it. Those people were caught up in the Yao hype that was built on a shaky and fractured foothold. Plus, I really don't think they actually studied Griffin's game the way some (I) have. As for the Barkley comparison, I see him as Tim Duncan with Chuck's ballhandling, tenacity and explosion. Tim can shoot all the way to.the 3 point line. Don't forget that he actually played some 3 in his rookie season (amazing, isn't it?).
It's been a while since I've seen Blake play - though it's been a while since anyone's seen him play... BUT - Tim Duncan with better ball-handling? I don't recall Blake's game being like that at all. Duncan is as pure a back to the basket post up players as there's been - yes, he can shoot from the three occasionally, and has developed that awesome mid range kiss off the glass, but Blake always seems to strike me as more a PF-SF than PF-C, which is what Duncan is. NBAdraft.net had him compared to Karl Malone / Antonio McDyess - which I think are better comparisons. Some face up game because of amazing athleticism, pick and pop capabilities, and hopefully an improving post up game.
Brand had many solid healthy years until his last year at Clippers. So I don't think he should be counted as injury prone or a bust. Since that injury though, he was never the same again.
