NBA Draft: Every NBA team’s worst draft pick

14. Denver Nuggets – Nikoloz Tskitishvili (2002)

The only thing that’s worse than Nikoloz Tskitishvili’s play is my attempt at spelling his name without any help. Foreign picks are always boom or bust – on the one hand, the pressure is off because there aren’t nearly as many eyeballs on them as the NCAA players, but on the other, they can often be raw talents. The first pick in the 2002 draft was an example of a great foreign pick in Yao Ming, but fifth overall pick Nikoloz Tskitishvili is a prime example of a foreign bust.

If a big man is what the Nuggets were looking for, high school prospect Amar’e Stoudemire was still on the board and had a much better career – feel better Suns fans? – while other lottery picks after Nikoloz that panned out better include Nene and Caron Butler.

His only three seasons with the Nuggets produced a stat line of 3.8 points and 1.9 rebounds. His 3.9 points per game in his first season was his most productive season by a mile. The Nuggets traded him midway through his third season to preserve a sense of sanity.

After Nikoloz’s futile run in Denver, no team wanted him and he eventually flamed out of the NBA in 2006. An offseason contract with the Clippers in 2015 gave him the promise of starting fresh, but he was waived after nine days. He would bounce around Europe before finally fulfilling his goal of winning a championship in 2012. Only trouble was that it was in Iran.

Given how badly the Nuggets whiffed on this foreign player, let’s hope that they know what they’re doing with Emmanuel Mudiay.

Next: 13: Memphis Grizzlies