Fansided

2014 NBA Draft: Biggest draft mistakes of the lottery era

By Michael Dunlap

Feb 18, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Miami Heat center Greg Oden (20) warms up before the game against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 18, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Miami Heat center Greg Oden (20) warms up before the game against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
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2002 — More tragedy and lessons learned

Again, it wasn’t the Chicago Bulls that decided to go too fast on a motorcycle — that was Jay Williams‘ decision. After being drafted No. 2 overall, Williams played a decent season with the Bulls, averaging 9.5 points, 4.7 assists and 1.1 steals in just 26.1 minutes per game. Then, in the offseason, he got into a horrific bike crash that almost took his life and did end his basketball career. There’s no guarantees that Williams was going to be any good, but wasting a No. 2 pick that way is something that’s hard to recover from.

2003 — DARKO

The only thing that stands out about Darko Milicic’s career is the fact that many teams continued to believe they could mold him into something that he was not — a good basketball player. Darko went No. 2 in one of the most loaded and top-heavy drafts in recent memory. The Pistons, who were already good, could have had Carmelo Anthony (No. 3), Chris Bosh (No. 4) or Dwyane Wade (No. 5). Heck, they could have even stretched to Chris Kaman (No. 6) and felt good about themselves.

2004 — Northern exposure

It’s not that Rafael Araujo was a  player who would be overmatched in the NBA and the Toronto Raptors should have seen that — wait, that’s exactly what it was. At BYU, Araujo scored 18.4 points with 10.1 rebounds but his 280-pound frame just was never going to work in the NBA, where slimmer and more agile centers were becoming the norm. The Raptors could have chosen Andre Iguodala, who went one pick later. They could have had Chris Bosh, Vince Carter and Iguodala together. Oops, indeed.

2005 — He’s nuts, but he was good

Say what you want about Andrew Bynum and his character, but you can’t deny that he was very good as a young player with the Los Angeles Lakers. The Golden State Warriors could have had him at No. 9, but instead, they went with Arizona State product Ike Diogu. It was tempting to make fun of the Orlando Magic for taking Fran Vasquez — a guy who said he wasn’t playing for them — but the Magic have suffered enough recently.

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