The worst NBA Draft picks for every team

PORTLAND, OR - 1985: Sam Bowie #31 of the Portland Trailblazers warms up prior to a game played circa 1985 at Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1985 NBAE (Photo by Brian Drake/NBAE via Getty Images) /

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20. Dallas Mavericks: Terence Stansbury

It’s kind of cool that the second and third leading assist men in NBA history both played significant portions of their career for the Dallas Mavericks. If things had gone a little differently in 1984, John Stockton could have joined Jason Kidd and Steve Nash and made it three for three.

Dallas was already a good team, having made it to the conference semifinals in 1984 thanks to first-time All-Star Mark Aguirre and soon to be first-time All-Star Rolando Blackman. They did have a hole at point guard though, as incumbent starter Brad Davis was nothing special.

The team had just drafted Derek Harper with the 11th overall pick in 1983, so you could forgive them for passing on the promising kid from Spokane, Washington who had just averaged 20 and 7 as a senior for Gonzaga. Instead, they took Terence Stansbury at 15, who they immediately shipped to Indiana for a future pick. The man who would become the NBA’s all-time assist and steals leader went 16th.

As if passing on Stockton wasn’t enough, the following year they had the 17th pick and selected something called a Uwe Blab (I swear that’s not made up) one spot ahead of Joe Dumars. To complete the trilogy, in 1986, they were smart enough to take Mark Price with the first pick of the second round…and then immediately traded him to the Cavs for a future second rounder.

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