Fansided

5 biggest NBA Draft busts in history

By John Buhler

Nov 10, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors forward Anthony Bennett (15) looks on against the New York Knicks at Air Canada Centre. The Knicks beat the Raptors 111-109. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 10, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors forward Anthony Bennett (15) looks on against the New York Knicks at Air Canada Centre. The Knicks beat the Raptors 111-109. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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LOS ANGELES - 1990: Head Coach Bill Fitch of the New Jersey Nets discusses play with Sam Bowie
LOS ANGELES – 1990: Head Coach Bill Fitch of the New Jersey Nets discusses play with Sam Bowie /

In the 1984 NBA Draft, the Houston Rockets selected Houston Cougars center Hakeem Olajuwon No. 1 overall. At No. 3, the Chicago Bulls selected shooting guard Michael Jordan out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

These were two of the greatest players to have ever played the game of basketball. Between 1990-91 to 1997-98, either Olajuwon and Jordan’s team would win the NBA Finals, with two three-peats for the Jordan’s Bulls and back-to-back titles for Olajuwon’s Rockets.

Their eliteness as NBA players made the Portland Trail Blazers‘ No. 2 overall selection in the 1984 NBA Draft in Sam Bowie out of Kentucky look all that much worse. Bowie had a great collegiate career with the Wildcats, but did not have his health as did so many promising players the Trail Blazers had drafted over the years.

Despite having difficulties as a seven-footer staying on the court because of injuries, Bowie would play 10 years in the NBA with the Trail Blazers, the then New Jersey Nets, and the Los Angeles Lakers before retiring after the 1994-95 NBA season.

While many wonder why the Trail Blazers didn’t take Jordan at No. 2, keep in mind that they already had a Hall of Fame talent at shooting guard in Clyde Drexler taken the year before out of Houston in the first round. Could Drexler and Jordan have co-existed at the two and three? We’ll never know, but that pair on the wing could have made the Blazers one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history.

Next: 2. Darko Milicic

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