2000 Draft Do-Over
Kenyon Martin (Photo. G. Land)The 2000 NBA Draft was not a good one. Of the entire field, only a handful of players would go on to become All-Stars, and only one of them is in a position to even be considered a franchise player: second-round pick Michael Redd, and he’s not necessarily a lock to be in the All-Star Game from year to year. And yet, despite the fact that Redd has turned out to be the best overall player from the ‘00 class, I don’t think Redd would be the #1 pick had the Nets been given a do-over. Why’s that? At the time, New Jersey had a core unit of Stephon Marbury, Keith Van Horn, Kerry Kittles and Kendall Gill, but were in serious need of a big man. If you look at the best big man who was available in that draft, Kenyon Martin, he’s had a solid career. K-Mart played an integral role on two NBA Finals teams, and before injuries started to take their toll, he was good for 15-16 points and 8-9 rebounds per game and was an intimidating defender. As good as Redd is scoring the ball, is he the difference-maker that would have taken Jersey to the brink of a championship? Probably not.
With that in mind, here’s my do-over of the 2000 Lottery:
1. New Jersey — Kenyon Martin, PF, Cincinnati
2. Vancouver — Michael Redd, SG, Ohio State
3. L.A. Clippers — Mike Miller, SF/SG, Florida
4. Chicago — Jamal Crawford, PG/SG, Michigan
5. Orlando — Hedo Turkoglu, SF, Turkey
6. Atlanta — Morris Peterson, SG/SF, Michigan State
7. Chicago — Jamaal Magloire, C, Kentucky
8. Cleveland — Quentin Richardson, SF, DePaul
9. Houston — Joel Przybilla, C, Minnesota
10. Orlando — Chris Mihm, C, Texas
11. Boston — Desmond Mason, SF, Oklahoma State
12. Dallas — Stromile Swift, PF, LSU
13. Orlando — DeShawn Stevenson, SG, Washington Union H.S. (Calif.)
OTHER NOTABLES: Malik Allen, Primoz Brezec, Speedy Claxton, Mateen Cleaves, Jason Collier, Keyon Dooling, Khalid El-Amin, Marcus Fizer, Jason Hart, Eddie House, Marko Jaric, DerMarr Johnson, Mark Madsen, Darius Miles, Eduardo Najera, Etan Thomas, Ime Udoka.
January 16th, 2008 at 8:46 am
YOUNGFED says:
This mite be the weakest do-over yet but overall its on point. However I would have takin’ Crawford over Miller.
January 16th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Utes Fan says:
Yeah this draft was not very deep at all. Hard to believe that so many teams passed on Redd though. I would have Redd first and K-Mart second.
January 16th, 2008 at 8:58 am
QQ says:
Wow, good to see Turk getting some love (#5). Though it’s not a star studded batch, 00 has some solid players that’s still integral(damn) to their team today. I mean, MoPete, Turk, Redd, and Mike Miller, choose your long range
January 16th, 2008 at 8:59 am
QQ says:
long range = long range assassin. damn, I pressed submit too quickly.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:00 am
DJ Ho says:
Looking back on your list, I have to agree that it is a very weak draft. The draft is so bad that KMART still has to be taken first!
January 16th, 2008 at 9:22 am
YOUNGFED says:
Dime you guys should skip the weaker drafts this is just an embrassing class here.
I’m out like any of this classes Hall of Fame hopes (LOL)
January 16th, 2008 at 9:27 am
jay says:
redd is the best player in the draft…that is def not good! i like redd but pretty much a jumper shooter as your best player…weak is an understatement of the year!
January 16th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Jei says:
This class is indeed the shittiest.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:53 am
MSkittle says:
Very weak draft. Good job with the list, though.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Austin Burton says:
You really realize it’s a weak class when you get to the 6th pick and you’re debating who’s had a better career: Mo Pete, Q-Rich or Desmond Mason?
January 16th, 2008 at 10:05 am
jkedsf1 says:
how about a 1996 draft do-over?
January 16th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Willis says:
2004 do over?
January 16th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Mark says:
Darius Miles has had issues but still should be up there, hes got better numbers than Stevenson and in the right environment could still thrive I believe
January 16th, 2008 at 11:04 am
sam says:
man what happened speedy claxton? i remember when he took over a finals game back in 2003. he was arguably as good as tony parker back then.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Myrie says:
Terrible.
I know many of these players are still in the league. But as from about 5 or 6….how many of these guys are even getting PT on their teams? Jason Collier aside (RIP)
January 16th, 2008 at 11:28 am
YOUNGFED says:
They should have just skipped the draft that year and sent all of them (except Martin, Redd) to the NBDL.
PS LMAO at Austin thats funny as hell kidd, but sadly the truth.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:48 am
boogey banger says:
the c’s had p squared they didn’t need Desmond, they probably would have gone with Cleaves or Claxton
January 16th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Austin Burton says:
Knowing that Mateen grew into a career backup who couldn’t stay out of the D-League, I doubt Boston would have taken him with their Lottery pick. Claxton, maybe. He had some good years before the injuries, and one rule of these do-overs is that teams can’t foresee injuries that weren’t already problematic (i.e., Willis McGahee in the NFL).
January 16th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Myrie says:
NBA execs are on some sh*t I just can’t fathom or explain. Maybe DIME (Austin?) can shed some light. Of this 2000 NBA draft, these players are not in the league:
Scoonie Penn, Erick Barkley, Khalid El-Amin, Chris Porter, Lavor Postel, Donnell Harvey, Mateen Cleaves, Courtney Alexander etc….
But then you have some bums who have contracts:
Malik Allen, Chris Mihm, Joel Przybilla, Primoz Brezec, Mark Madsen, Jake Voskuhl, Eddie House, Brian Cardinal, Jason Hart etc….
Players who work hard and bust they @$$ deserve to be in the league, but hard work aside, how is it that some of these bums are still in the league and some true ballers from the crop above are not?!!?
January 16th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Celts Fan says:
Myrie, Eddie House is a really, really good shooter. Pryzbilla is a solid center, and Brezec is 7′3″
Barkley was a pg that didn’t have a great feel for the game and was on the small side. Chris Porter was solid though, and 6′7″ (supposedly) so I was surprised he didn’t make it.
Austin, any idea where Chris Porter is these days?
January 16th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Myrie says:
CeltsFan–
HAHA! Got you sucka! I threw Eddie House in there knowing good/well I would get s response from you. House was decent when he was back at Arizona State (scouts saying he would last longer than Jason Gardner of Arizona).
House ain’t too bad. But still; he’s got an NBA job in a regular bench rotation and guys like Erick Barkley/Scoonie Penn/Mateen Cleaves/Khalid El-Amin don’t?
::Myrie shakeshead:: tsk tsk tsk….
January 16th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Myrie says:
ON A SERIOUS SIDE NOTE……
What is this about Nene Hilario having a testicular tumor? Possibly cancerous?
Yikes!!
January 16th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
T.M.P.B.W.O.T.P. says:
Chris Porter’s playing pro ball in China.
January 16th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
GEE ...this ain't even my church says:
Please someone answer him
January 16th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Celts Fan says:
alright, got me Myrie, but he (House) is definitely one of those guys that could be considered barely NBA level in some systems and if he’s playing pure point. My point was just that those guys have one skill they’re above average at (meaning above average for an NBA player) which makes them a viable commodity for an NBA bench. Bench guys fill roles, and that one ability may (is) be the reason Eddie House has been in the league going on 10 years now, while Mateen Cleaves can’t get out of the D-League.
Barkley wasn’t a great PG and I heard he had attitude problems and thought he was better than he was (which apparently wasn’t that good anyway.)
Khalid was too slow, though I always thought he’d bubble up again at some point and he never did (though seeing him first hand at some summer league games, I can understand why. Dude is slow and, umm, has a healthy appetite.) The obvious skills don’t overtake the conditioning “issues.”
Mateen was one of my favorite college players ever. That title game performance on one leg is the stuff legends are made of. Unfortunately, he wasn’t fast and couldn’t shoot, so even though he’s a great distributing PG, if you stay back on him, don’t let him beat you with penetration, and force him to make the jumper, you’re playing 5 on 4, so that doesn’t work.
Scoonie Penn always surprised me, though I’m guessing dude must have been either really unathletic or short (don’t remember anything statistically about him, just that he tore up the country for a year or 2 and was never heard from again) cuz he looked like he was an NBA player when he was at OSU.
Thanks for the update on Porter TMP…
January 16th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
T.M.P.B.W.O.T.P. says:
One thing someone told me that I think rings true when you’re looking at NBA fringe guys:
If I’m trying to sign someone to be that 11th or 12th man on my team and I’ve got let’s say, Omar Cook on one hand and Mike Wilks on the other hand. Is Omar better than Wilks? Maybe. But he’s not THAT much better, plus you know Wilks isn’t gonna give you any attitude problems and is gonna know his role and play his position: practice hard and STFU.
So yeah, there are guys who are not in the NBA who are better than guys in the NBA, but really, no one who’s THAT good is sitting at home.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Jeffrey says:
That really was the worst draft in history