While reading through 82games.com’s draft stuff, I came across their article about the best and the worst drafting teams. I was actually surprised to see how low the Nets were in their list, as they were ranked 24th. After looking over all of our draft picks since 1989, you see why we were so low.
Obviously last year’s draft wasn’t really counted in the rankings (I say we had the best draft last year) and when we were making the Finals in the early 2000s, you can’t really expect much from the draft (plus they were working towards improving in the present, rather than looking towards the future). Even in the 90s though when we were getting top 10 picks constantly, we weren’t getting much from our players. Sure some guys went on to have solid careers, but they never really contributed with the Nets. Here is the list along with their numbers as a member of the New Jersey Nets.
- 1989 –
-1st round/12th pick – Mookie Blaylock – 194 GP/154 GS/32.9 MPG/12.9 PPG/3.3 RPG/5.9 APG
-2nd round/32nd pick – Stanley Brundy – 16 GP/0 GS/8 MPG/2.3 PPG/1.6 RPG/0.2 APG
- 1990-
-1st round/1st pick – Derrick Coleman – 348 GP/330 GS/35.8 MPG/19.9 PPG/10.6 RPG/3.1 APG
-1st round/22nd pick – Tate George – 174 GP/14 GS/11.6 MPG/4.2 PPG/1 RPG/1.9 APG
- 1991-
-1st round/2nd pick – Kenny Anderson – 303 GP/248 GS/32.9 MPG/15.4 PPG/3.4 RPG/7.8 APG
-2nd round/53rd pick – Von McDade – Never Played In The NBA
- 1992-
-2nd round/29rd pick – P.J. Brown – 240 GP/198 GS/30.7 MPG/8.4 PPG/6.4 RPG/1.6 APG
-2nd round/40th pick – Steve Rogers – Never Played In The NBA
- 1993-
-1st round/16th pick – Rex Walters – 139 GP/30 GS/13.7 MPG/5.2 PPG/1.0 RPG/1.5 APG
-2nd round/36th pick – John Best – Never Played In The NBA
- 1994-
-1st round/14th pick – Yinka Dare – 110 GP/25 GS/9.1 MPG/2.1 PPG/1.6 RPG/0.04 APG
- 1995-
-1st round/9th pick – Ed O’Bannon – 109 GP/34 GS/17.3 MPG/5.4 PPG/2.6 RPG/0.8 APG
- 1996-
-1st round/8th pick – Kerry Kittles – 496 GP/455 GS/33.6 MPG/14.3 PPG/3.9 RPG/2.6 APG
- 1997-
-1st round/2nd pick (via trade) – Keith Van Horn – 314 GP/312 GS/34.7 MPG/18.2 PPG/7.6 RPG/1.8 APG
- 1998 (no picks)-
- 1999-
-2nd round/34th pick – Evan Eschmeyer – 105 GP/56 GS/16.2 MPG/3.2 PPG/4.5 RPG/0.6 APG
- 2000-
-1st round/1st pick – Kenyon Martin – 283 GP/283 GS/33.1 MPG/15.1 PPG/7.6 RPG/2.4 APG
-2nd round/36th pick – Soumaila Samake – 34 GP/0 GS/6.6 MPG/1.4 PPG/1.6 RPG/0.0 APG
- 2001-
-1st round/13th pick (via trade) Richard Jefferson- 489 GP/417 GS/35.8 MPG/17.4 PPG/5.4 RPG/3.0 APG
-1st round/18th pick (via trade) Jason Collins – 511 GP/404 GS/24.4 MPG/10.3 PPG/4.6 RPG/1.1 APG
-1st round/23rd pick (via trade) Brandon Armstrong – 108 GP/0 GS/6.5 MPG/2.2 PPG/0.6 RPG/0.2 APG
-2nd round/34th pick – Brian Scalabrine – 210 GP/23 GS/14.8 MPG/3.9 PPG/2.9 RPG/1.0 APG
- 2002-
-1st round/24th pick – Nenad Kristic – 226 GP/201 GS/27.0 MPG/11.3 PPG/5.7 RPG/1.1 APG
-2nd round/53rd pick – Tamar Slay – 58 GP/0 GS/7.6 MPG/2.5 PPG/0.97 RPG/0.48 APG
- 2003-
-1st round/22nd pick – Zoran Planinic – 148 GP/10 GS/10.7 MPG/3.8 PPG/1.3 RPG/1.1 APG
- 2004-
-2nd round/51st pick – Christian Drejer – Never Played In The NBA
- 2005-
-1st round/15th pick – Antoine Wright – 143 GP/43 GS/17.9 MPG/4.6 PPG/2.3 RPG/0.9 APG
-2nd round/43rd pick – Mile Ilic – 5 GP/0 GS/1.2 MPG/0.0 PPG/0.2 RPG/0.0 APG
- 2006-
-1st round/22nd pick – Marcus Williams -132 GP/9 GS/16.4 MPG/6.4 PPG/2 RPG/3.0 APG
-1st round/23rd pick – Josh Boone – 193 GP/60 GS/17.8 MPG/5.6 PPG/4.9 RPG/0.5 APG
-2nd round/54th pick – Hassan Adams – 61 GP/8 GS/8.1 MPG/2.9 PPG/1.3 RPG/0.2 APG
- 2007-
-1st round/17th pick – Sean Williams – 106 GP/29 GS/15.5 MPG/4.6 PPG/3.8 RPG/0.4 APG
- 2008-
-1st round/11th pick – Brook Lopez – 82 GP/75 GS/30.5 MPG/13.0 PPG/8.1 RPG/1.0 APG
-1st round/21st pick – Ryan Anderson – 66 GP/30 GS/19.9 MPG/7.4 PPG/4.7 RPG/0.8 APG
-2nd round/40th pick – Chris Douglas-Roberts – 44 GP/3 GS/13.3 MPG/4.9 PPG/1.1 RPG/1.2 APG
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Looking back on the picks, you can see why we ended up being ranked 24th. From 1993 to 1996 our first round picks included Rex Walters, Yinka Dare, and Ed O’ Bannon. That is just horrendous. On a positive note though, we robbed Houston blind in 2001. That year we traded the draft rights of Eddie Griffin (originally our pick at #7) for Richard Jefferson, Jason Collins, and Brandon Armstrong. That is 1 borderline superstar and 2 serviceable players for one bust.
Looking at 2000 on, there aren’t a lot of great picks there either. In fact, only 5 out of 19 players drafted after 2000 are still with the team. There is a reason for this though, and that is up until last year we were picking for the future. We had plenty of talent (and were not in rebuilding mode yet), and we didn’t need guys to get in there and help right away. That changed last year, and now we are drafting with the present in mind, looking for guys that can contribute right away. We need to continue this train of thought during this year’s draft.
