2001 Draft Do-Over
Photo. Tim TadderWhile there wasn’t too much debate over the #1 pick in previous versions of these do-over drafts (Chris Paul in 2005, LeBron in 2003), the #1 pick for 2001 is a tough call. Washington had the top choice that year, and at the time of the Draft, Michael Jordan’s second comeback wasn’t official but definitely being talked about. MJ’s return would obviously address a need in the Wizards’ backcourt and/or on the wing — albeit for only a year or two at most — and the team already had Rip Hamilton. The point guard position wasn’t exactly solid, but at best Chris Whitney and Tyronn Lue were serviceable. On the flip side, the Wizards had NO big men: Popeye Jones, Christian Laettner and Jahidi White were the best the team could offer. So, knowing then what he knows now, which direction would front-office exec Jordan go with the top pick? Would he cover Washington’s holes in the middle with Tyson Chandler (dominant rebounder/shot-blocker), Zach Randolph (20-10 anchor in the post) or Pau Gasol (All-Star talent and borderline franchise player)? Or would he go with the best player available, which in this case would give the Wizards another guard: Gilbert Arenas, Joe Johnson or Tony Parker?
The ‘01 Lottery do-over …
1. Washington — Gilbert Arenas, PG/SG, Arizona
2. L.A. Clippers — Tyson Chandler, C, Dominguez H.S. (Calif.)
3. Atlanta — Pau Gasol, C/PF, Spain
4. Chicago — Tony Parker, PG, France
5. Golden State — Joe Johnson, PG/SG, Arkansas
6. Memphis — Jason Richardson, SG, Michigan State
7. New Jersey — Richard Jefferson, SF, Arizona
8. Cleveland — Gerald Wallace, SF, Alabama
9. Detroit — Zach Randolph, PF, Michigan State
10. Boston — Jamaal Tinsley, PG, Iowa State
11. Boston — Mehmet Okur, C, Turkey
12. Seattle — Eddy Curry, C, Thornwood H.S. (Ill.)
13. Houston — Sam Dalembert, C, Seton Hall
OTHER NOTABLES: Shane Battier, DeSagana Diop, Bobby Simmons, Troy Murphy, Earl Watson, Vladimir Radmanovic, Jamario Moon, Charlie Bell, Carlos Arroyo, Kwame Brown, Brendan Haywood.
January 8th, 2008 at 9:38 am
YOUNGFED says:
Dalembert is better than Curry
January 8th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Krayzie says:
First!
January 8th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Sam I Am says:
From D.C. here…God how we ALL wish Kwame was a child the Wizards organization adopted for 10 cents a day and NOT the #1 overall pick…lol we still ended up with Gil Arenas and would’ve def. built around him. But life goes on…
January 8th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Austin Burton says:
Looking back on a lot of the mock drafts from ‘01, the experts all seemed to love Kwame. I read stuff like “He’ll change the forward position,” and “He’s a future superstar.”
January 8th, 2008 at 9:58 am
YOUNGFED says:
Who’s the worst #1 pick Kwame/Darko. I’m say Kwame.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:05 am
smity says:
eddie curry in seattle in 01 = no durant in seattle in 08
what is the overall intended purpose of this do-over series? to provoke thought? after a few minutes of thinking about the possibilities that could have been i find myself looking at this list as more of a tease than anything. Most of these’s players’ status as “great” or “good” have been determined by conditional circumstances. A few of these cats just get buckets anyway and would have concievably done so if they were drafted by these differently suggested teams (randolph, wallace, pau, arenas) bu i have a hard time believing that tony parker becomes that star he is today without duncan and popovich by his side to help him mature and buy him the time he needed to skillfully mature…i almost feel the same about richard jefferson. almost.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:13 am
flyp says:
But does Arenas still produce at a high level without that chip on his shoulder due to everyone passing on him?
January 8th, 2008 at 10:21 am
MSkittle says:
Move Chandler way down the list! Let’s not let a few good rebounding seasons erase the memory of his underperforming Chicago years. How can you draft him ahead of a Finals MVP?
Also, such a shame about Eddie Griffin. I thought he was going to be the best player from this draft.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Austin Burton says:
Very good question about Arenas. Honestly, I think he would be as good. Gilbert always seems to find something to take as a slight that he’ll use as motivation. If he got picked #1 in the draft, he’d use the fact that he wasn’t a “no-brainer” #1 — i.e., the Wizards were deciding between him and someone else — as motivation. Or if he didn’t start from Day 1, or if he didn’t get a big enough ovation on Draft Night or something.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Myrie says:
Mehmet Okur a lottery pick?…Geesh…
and ahead of Eddy Curry? No mention of Eddie Griffin (RIP)?
and where is Boumtje-Boumtje (gotta love that name)….
January 8th, 2008 at 10:37 am
sans says:
Going back in time would the Bulls still trade Elton Brand for the rights to Tyson Chandler? God, Jerry Krause must have to wear a helmet when he goes to the grocery store after making that trade.
January 8th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Myrie says:
Sans–
If Jerry Krause didn’t make that trade, the Bulls front line to start the season would have been Eddy Curry, Elton Brand, Ron Artest (before he was traded to Indy for Jalen Rose).
And if they didn’t win and ended up in the lottery again, they drafeted Jay Williams on 2002. Imagine that bunch together now…..
January 8th, 2008 at 11:07 am
dagwaller says:
Myrie, Okur is a champion and an All-Star. Curry is a fat sub on one of the worst teams in the League. Think about it.
Gil’s already a superstar, and he still tears it up (well, until this season, but meh). He can find motivation anywhere.
Ha, that’s pretty good, sans.
Youngfed, Kwame/Darko for #1 pick? Not fair, because Darko wasn’t a #1 pick. Darko is up there with Bowie as the worst #2 pick, though.
Pretty good list here. Hard to remember all the circumstances surrounding the teams when you go even this far back, though, Dime.
January 8th, 2008 at 11:18 am
YOUNGFED says:
Darko was close enough
January 8th, 2008 at 11:27 am
control says:
Fat Zach would be eaten alive in a city like Detroit. His lazy work ethics would have him shipped out asap, as well as Joe Dumars being intelligent enough to not select that fool. I think Joe would select Shane Baitier over Zach anyday, fits his team first mentality more than having some over weight guy who plays NO defense.
January 8th, 2008 at 11:45 am
doc says:
that class stinks
January 8th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Celts Fan says:
What? No Kedrick Brown??? (To think we could’ve netted Joe Johnson, RJ, and Tony Parker/Gil and ended up, by the end of the year (JJ trade) with Rodney Rogers, Tony Delk, Kedrick Brown, and Joe Forte is pretty terrible. Even more terrible, that GM is still employed in the NBA. Ladies and gentlemen, yoooooooour Memphis Grizzlies.)
and MSkittle, you can’t knock Chandler down the list because he took time to develop and had a few rough early years. Most bigs take time, especially straight from HS ones. We see the product of that development now, and it’s very impressive.
January 8th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Myrie says:
Dagwaller–
Okur is a champ and allstar by default. He was a bench rider in 2004 with the Pistons. I think they had Corliss Williamson, Dale Davis and Elden Campbell coming off the bench to guard Shaq in the Finals before Okur. And as for him being an allstar—-NBA rules that each conference MUST have 2 centers (1 starter, 1 reserve).
Not to say Mehmet Okur isn’t good, but a lottery pick? C’mon….even you can’t really agree with that.
2006 Numbers–
Curry: 19.4pts, 7.05rebs
Okur: 17.5pts, 7.24rebs
2007 Numbers—
Curry: 14.5pts, 5.3rebs
Okur: 12pts, 4.9rebs
And the Utah Jazz just got a winning record last week (2 games over .500)
January 8th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
dagwaller says:
Myrie, no, no, and no.
Okur is a CHAMPION by default, that’s true. I don’t remember him getting TOO much burn in their championship season, but a champ is a champ, especially if he plays.
As an All-Star, though, that’s saying that he was better than about 12 or 13 centers out West last year (he was in as a coach’s decision, after an injury, I BELIEVE). Was Curry an all-star last year? I don’t think that he was, but I can’t remember exactly. So Curry wasn’t even an all-star in the East.
So basically, Okur has been on good to VERY GOOD teams his entire career, while Curry has been on absolutely terrible teams his entire career. Coincidence? Maybe in the Pistons/Bulls years, but now that they’re old enough to have an effect on the game, I can’t imagine there’s too many people that would want a big man that doesn’t rebound and doesn’t play D (with a heart condition) vs. a big that has pretty much the same stats but with a rep for winning and having range outside of the circle under the basket.
January 8th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Kevin says:
The Jamario mention is awesome!
January 8th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
jay says:
this class is a great class but only because of where ppl were picked. if gil was first he prolly would not be a wiz today you have to realize he would have been stuck behind the pg’s they had and if they would have tried him at the 2 he would have been stuck behind rip hamilton and then jerry stackhouse so he would have been traded. tony parker in chi-town no way he doesn’t play d and he would not have fit with that group of guys so yea looking back this is how the draft prolly would have been but would these players be where they are now
January 8th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
dagwaller says:
Great points, Jay
January 8th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
kowtz says:
Hawks at that time had Lorenzen Wright and Nazhr Mohammed (both was killin and still had potential)thus I doubt they would seriously draft PAU…
they don’t draft TP too since Terry was like throwing 19.7 ppg…
My best bet is they would invest in Joe Johnson or JRich for an aging Jim Jackson (SG starter at that time)
or
RJefferson for an aging Toni Kukoc…
That’s just me…
again,they don’t know they would be getting J-Smoove, Childress, and Joe Johnson in the future right?
January 8th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
kowtz says:
BTW… Dike was still there at that time…
January 9th, 2008 at 12:32 am
QQ says:
Yeah, I’d still go with Agent Zero. I think the rule is to ALWAYS pick the best player available.
January 9th, 2008 at 2:02 am
kowtz says:
Question… does TP’s finals MVP performance make hime better than GIL?
January 9th, 2008 at 4:10 am
karan says:
does the fact that TP had tim duncan in his team, so that his own game shines, make him much more overrated than he actually his?
put arenas or someone like baron davis in TP’s shoes at san antonio… give him a few years to play in the popovich/duncan system… and my question is, is TP then really a better player than arenas or b. diddy?
thought so
January 9th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Ian says:
why do people always love to imagine some weird shit oh its the system or the coach(thats stupid) parker would be the same star anywhere hell even maybe better if he where taking all the shots that arenas takes
if parker took as many shots as arenas he would avg 40pts
parker is the number 1 pick
gasol is 2
excuseme isnt washington playing better without that ballhog
karan your answer YES
does the fact that pip was with jordan made him overrated NO
does the fact that kareem was with magic made him overrated NO
does the fact that mchale was with bird made him overrated NO
so please measure all players the same
didnt anyone see the games that parker missed how bad the spurs offense looked even with duncan in.
finals mvp let me know when bd or gil get one
January 9th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Ian says:
someone made the 96 class lets try an easy class
1997
duncan (duh) spurs
billups sixers
tmac celts
crazy jackson grizz
derek anderson denver
antonio daniels celts
a parker nets
van horn warriors
bobby jackson toronto
hudson bucks
moore sacto
knight or fortson pacers
in case there are many weird picks this was just off the top of my head didnt think about it that much
May 16th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Nimit says:
JJ goes no.1 for me….pau gasol a close second, but JJ definately numero uno
May 16th, 2008 at 9:58 am
shake&bake says:
How about Steven Hunter, Kirk Haston, and Michael Bradley getting picked with 3 picks in a row in the mid 1st round. Oops. Let’s not forget that Darko is a champion and Melo and King from the same draft class aren’t.
May 19th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
johnsacrimoni says:
1. WASH-Gasol
2. LAC-Agent Zero
3. ATL-Tony Parker
4. CHI-JJ
5. GS- J-Rich
6. MEM—Chandler
7. NJ- RJ
8. CLE-Crash
9. DET-Okur
10.BOS-Dalembert
11.BOS-Tinsley
12.SEA-Z-Bone
13.HOU-Curry