Rants and Ranks

1998 Draft Lottery:  courtesy of NBA.com 1. Michael Olowokandi 2. Mike Bibby 3. Raef Lafrentz 4. Antawn Jamison 5. Vince Carter 6. Robert Traylor 7. Jason Williams 8. Larry Hughes 9. Dirk Nowitzki 10. Paul Pierce 11. Bonzi Wells 12. Michael Doleac 13. Keon Clark Remixed: 1. Dirk Nowitzki (9) 2. Paul Pierce (10) 3. Vince Carter (5) 4. Antawn Jamison (4) 5. Rashard Lewis (32) 6. Mike Bibby (2) 7. Cuttino Mobley (41) 8. Jason Williams (7) 9. Larry Hughes (8) 10. Ricky Davis (21) 11. Rafer Alson (39) 12. Matt Harpring (15) 13. Nazr Mohammed (29) Right out of the gates, Vince Carter and "White Chocolate" Jason Williams looked to be the superstars of this draft.  Vince Carter underachieved, but still had a good career.  Jason Williams pretty much fell off the planet after a few seasons.  The stupid trade of the night was the Bucks trading Dirk for Robert "Tractor" Traylor.  Yeesh.  It was pretty slim pickin's af...

2006 Draft Lottery: 1. Andrea Bargnani 2. LaMarcus Aldridge 3. Adam Morrison courtesy of USAToday.com 4. Tyrus Thomas 5. Shelden Williams 6. Brandon Roy 7. Randy Foye 8. Rudy Gay 9. Patrick O'Bryant 10. Mouhamed Sene 11. J.J. Reddick 12. Hilton Armstrong 13. Thabo Sefolosha Remixed: 1. Rajon Rondo (21) 2. LaMarcus Aldridge (2) 3. Rudy Gay (8) 4. Paul Millsap (47) 5. Brandon Roy (6) 6. Andrea Bargnani (1) 7. Kyle Lowry (24) 8. Randy Foye (7) 9. J.J. Reddick (11) 10. Ronnie Brewer (14) 11. Thabo Sefolosha (13) 12. Jordan Farmar (26) 13. P.J. Tucker (35) Honorable Mentions: Leon Powe, Shannon Brown, Tyrus Thomas, Steve Novak Look at all the busts in this lottery: Adam Morrison, Shelden Williams, Patrick O'Bryant, Mouhamed Sene (who?), Hilton Armstrong.  Barngani has seriously underachieved, I don't know whether you would call him a bust.  Definitely not a number 1 pick though.  Tyrus Thomas is another that really has underachieved. S...

1987 Lottery: 1. David Robinson 2. Armen Gilliam 3. Dennis Hopson 4. Reggie Williams 5. Scottie Pippen 6. Kenny Smith 7. Kevin Johnson 8. Olden Polynice 9. Derrick McKey 10. Horace Grant 11. Reggie Miller 12. Muggsy Bogues 13. Joe Wolf 1987 Remixed: 1. David Robinson (1) 2. Scottie Pippen (5) 3. Reggie Miller (11) 4. Kevin Johnson (7) 5. Mark Jackson (18) 6. Horace Grant (10) 7. Reggie Lewis (22) 8. Armen Gilliam (2) 9. Ken Norman (19) 10. Derrick McKey (9) 11. Muggsy Bogues (12) 12. Kenny Smith (6) 13. Olden Polynice (8) Overall, this was a really good draft.  There are some legendary players that were selected.  Also, some of the best role players ever.  Mark Jackson was the biggest steal of the draft, and Reggie Lewis was the second. Had Reggie not died, he was on pace to be something special.  That "other" Reggie, as in Miller, ended up being a pretty good shooter.  The "other other" Reggie, Reggie Williams couldn't stay healt...

1990 Lottery: 1. Derrick Coleman 2. Gary Payton 3. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf 4. Dennis Scott 5. Kendall Gill 6. Felton Spencer 7. Lionel Simmons 8. Bo Kimble 9. Willie Burton 10. Rumeal Robinson 11. Tyrone Hill 12. Alex Kessler 13. Loy Vaught Remixed: 1. Gary Payton (2) 2. Derrick Coleman (1) 3. Cedrick Ceballos (48) 4. Antonio Davis (45) 5. Tyrone Hill (11) 6. Kendall Gill (5) 7. Toni Kukoc (29) 8. Jayson Williams (21) 9. Dennis Scott (4) 10. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (3) 11. Lionel Simmons (7) 12. Elden Campbell (27) 13. Dee Brown (9) Honorable Mentions: Loy Vaught (13), Felton Spencer (6), Bimbo Coles (40) You would never expect a draft to have someone named "Bimbo Coles;" not to be confused with "Bo Kimble," but here we are.  '90 gave us one of the best point guards ever in Gary Payton, and a bunch of really nice players.  Kukoc is hard to judge.  Just off of pure name recognition, he's probably number 2, but since he was the 4th ba...

1. Kenyon Martin 2. Stromile Swift 3. Darius Miles 4. Marcus Fizer 5. Mike Miller 6. DerMarr Johnson 7. Chris Mihm 8. Jamal Crawford 9. Joel Przybilla 10. Keyon Dooling 11. Jerome Moiso 12. Etan Thomas 13. Courtney Alexander Remixed: 1. Michael Redd (43) 2. Kenyon Martin (1) 3. Jamal Crawford (8) 4. Mike Miller (5) 5. Hedo Turkoglu (16) 6. Jamaal Magloire (19) 7. Eddie House (37) 8. Desmond Mason (17) 9. DeShawn Stevenson (23) 10. Quentin Richardson (18) 11. Morris Peterson (21) 12. Speedy Claxton (20) 13. Darius Miles (3) This is truly an awful draft.  Only 4 of the lottery picks would be lottery picks when remixed!  Only 3 guys ever made an All Star team, and even then they only made 1 a piece.  Michael Redd did make the '08 Olympic team, plus he was a 2nd round pick so he did overachieve quite a bit, he was just injury-prone. Otherwise this is just a bunch of role players, flops, and guys who never quite reached their potential. Defintely...

1993 Draft Lottery: 1. Chris Webber 2. Shawn Bradley 3. Anfernee Hardaway 4. Jamaal Mashburn 5. Isaiah Rider 6. Calbert Cheaney 7. Bobby Hurley 8. Vin Baker 9. Rodney Rogers 10. Linsey Hunter 11. Allan Houston 12. George Lynch 13. Terry Dehere Remixed: 1. Chris Webber (1) 2. Anfernee Hardaway (3) 3. Vin Baker (8) 4. Sam Cassell (24) 5. Jamaal Mashburn (4) 6. Allan Houston (11) 7. Nick Van Exel (37) 8. Gheorghe Muresan (30) 9. Isiah Rider (5) 10. Shawn Bradley (2) 11. Rodney Rogers (9) 12. Lindsey Hunter (10) 13. Byron Russell (45) A lot of these guys underachieved for one reason or another.  The best steal of the draft was Sam Cassell who had a long productive career.  Never a superstar, but always a contributing cog of a championship team, and was never afraid of the big shot.  Nick Van Exel also overachieved considering his draft postion, although didn't make the impact as Cassell.  Shawn Bradley was definitely a flop.  He neve...

courtesy of ESPN.com 1. LeBron James 2. Darko Milicic 3. Carmelo Anthony 4. Chris Bosh 5. Dwyane Wade 6. Chris Kaman 7. Kirk Hinrich 8. T.J. Ford 9. Mike Sweetney 10. Jarvis Hayes 11. Mickael Pietrus 12. Nick Collison 13. Marcus Banks Knowing what we do now, how would this lottery pan out now?  I'm guessing most people have at least done number two ^^^ differently.  1. LeBron James (1) 2. Dwyane Wade (5) 3. Carmelo Anthony (3) 4. Chris Bosh (4) 5. David West (18) 6. Chris Kaman (6) 7. Mo Williams (47) 8. Kirk Hinrich (7) 9. Josh Howard (29) 10. Kyle Korver (51) 11. Boris Diaw (21) 12. Leandro Barbosa (28) 13. Kendrick Perkins (27) Honorable Mentions: Luke Ridnour (14), Nick Collison (12), Steve Blake (38) David West ended up being the biggest steal of the night.  Pella, Iowa's own, Kyle Korver, has by far been the biggest overachiever.  I had a hard time placing Josh Howard.  He had a great four year stretch, and then fe...