10 Most Regrettable NBA Draft Picks from the Last 10 Years

Like it or not, hindsight will always be a crucial part of evaluating successes and failures in the NBA.

Whether tactical alignments are discussed on a micro level or organizational approaches are retroactively viewed at a macro level, combing through years of trends and data consistently makes for a fun trip down memory lane. 

With that cognitive framework in mind, it's time to venture down the rabbit hole. 

Indulging in a bit of revisionist history, we've decided to put 10 years of regrettable NBA draft picks under the microscope in an attempt to identify which franchises committed the most egregious errors upon being handed golden lottery tickets. 

So for the purposes of this examination, you won't be seeing Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan in 1984 or Darko Milicic over Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in 2003.

However, it's crucial to note that each of the past 10 years is not represented. Ultimately, this is a collection of the 10 most flagrant draft mistakes, meaning several years contributed multiple entries and others were omitted entirely. 

Things will get rolling with the 2005 draft and proceed chronologically from there as franchises' worst nightmares are re-lived.  

Sorry in advance, Minnesota Timberwolves fans.

2005: Marvin Williams over Chris Paul and Deron Williams

GREGORY SMITH/Associated Press

Marvin Williams: Selected No. 2 overall by Atlanta Hawks

Deron Williams: Selected No. 3 overall by Utah Jazz (via Portland Trail Blazers) 

Chris Paul: Selected No. 4 overall by New Orleans Hornets

The 2005 NBA draft should forever be remembered as the year of the North Carolina bust. 

Fresh off of a national championship over the University of Illinois, Marvin Williams, Raymond Felton, Sean May and Rashad McCants declared for the draft. Williams' stock surged the highest during the pre-draft process despite averaging the fewest points (11.3) of the group, but his athletic upside was salivated over following a breakout freshman season.

As we now know, that potential wasn't parlayed into results worthy of the No. 2 overall pick. Selected one spot ahead of Deron Williams and two spots ahead of perennial All-NBA candidate Chris Paul, Williams lasted seven seasons with the Atlanta Hawks before spending two uneventful years with the Utah Jazz.

This past summer, Williams inked a two-year, $14 million deal with the Charlotte Hornets to play the role of stretch-4 in Steve Clifford's struggling offense.

To date, Williams has hit just over 33 percent of his triples since arriving in Charlotte—dead-even with his career average. 

Considering the floor generals in Atlanta during Williams' rookie season were Tyronn Lue and Royal Ivey, revisionist history isn't particularly kind to the Hawks' gaffe.

Honorable Mention: Fran Vazquez (No. 13 overall, Orlando) over Danny Granger (No. 17 overall, Indiana) 

2006: Andrea Bargnani over LaMarcus Aldridge

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Andrea Bargnani: Selected No. 1 overall by Toronto Raptors

LaMarcus Aldridge: Selected No. 2 overall by Chicago Bulls (traded to Portland Trail Blazers)

There are several angles to this one, and they're all cringe-inducing. That is, if you're a fan of the Toronto Raptors or Chicago Bulls. 

Selecting Andrea Bargnani over LaMarcus Aldridge is one thing. Billed as a sharpshooting 5 in the mold of Dirk Nowitzki, it was easy to see why the Toronto Raptors would look to a rare, versatile commodity like Bargnani as a franchise savior.

While the Italian big did emerge as a reliable scorer and three-point shooter around the time he inked a contract extension, his offerings haven't been in the same stratosphere as LaMarcus Aldridge's. 

A four-time All-Star who ranks No. 2 all-time on the Portland Trail Blazers' franchise scoring list, Aldridge swiftly developed into the cornerstone Rip City so desperately needed. 

And all it cost them was a draft day swap of Tyrus Thomas, who was selected No. 4 overall. 

Another cautionary tale for franchises considering drafting freakishly athletic tweeners, Thomas lasted three years with the Chicago Bulls before getting dealt to the Charlotte Bobcats in 2009. 

Thomas did sign a 10-day contract with the Memphis Grizzlies last month, but his deal was not renewed. Now he's in professional limbo with opportunities in the NBA dwindling fast.

Honorable Mention: Shelden Williams (No. 5 overall, Atlanta) over Brandon Roy (No. 6 overall, Portland) and Rudy Gay (No. 8 overall, Memphis)

2007: Greg Oden over Kevin Durant

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Greg Oden: Selected No. 1 overall by Portland Trail Blazers

Kevin Durant: Selected No. 2 overall by Seattle SuperSonics

The Portland Trail Blazers' good fortune in the personnel department didn't last long.

After being selected No. 1 overall, Greg Oden suited up in 82 games over the course of his first two NBA seasons. Then, he was forced from the game due to three microfracture surgeries on his bothersome knees.

It was a sad story to begin with, but Kevin Durant's rapid development into an MVP and the game's most lethal scorer certainly didn't help matters.

Oden acknowledged as much in a May 2014 interview with Grantland's Mark Titus:

"

I know I’m one of the biggest busts in NBA history and I know that it’ll only get worse as Kevin Durant continues doing big things … It’s frustrating that my body can’t do what my mind wants it to do sometimes. But worrying or complaining about it isn’t going to fix anything … I wish the circumstances would let me play more, but I certainly don’t regret coming back, and I don’t regret signing with the Heat.

"

Tied with Mark Price as the youngest player to record a 50-40-90 season, Durant is on pace to rank as one of the most prolific shooters in league history if he continues shooting the rock at such gaudy clips.

As for the former Ohio State Buckeye, Oden is now out of basketball after averaging eight points, 6.2 boards and 1.2 blocks during three abbreviated campaigns.

Honorable Mention: Yi Jianlian (No. 6 overall, Milwaukee) over Joakim Noah (No. 9 overall, Chicago)

2008: Michael Beasley over Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love

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Michael Beasley: Selected No. 2 overall by Miami Heat

Russell Westbrook: Selected No. 4 overall by Seattle SuperSonics

Kevin Love: Selected No. 5 overall by Memphis Grizzlies (traded to Minnesota Timberwolves)

It's easy to see why the Miami Heat got hung up on Michael Beasley. A smooth-operating lefty out of Kansas State, Beasley torched the competition during his freshman year to the tune of 26.2 points and 12.4 rebounds on 53.2 percent shooting from the field and 37.9 percent shooting from three.

However, Beasley's off-court troubles wound up costing him a shot at contractual security in South Beach. 

Instead, Miami dealt him to the Minnesota Timberwolves before the 2010-11 season. Once his rookie contract expired, Beasley signed with the Phoenix Suns in 2012. But much to his dismay, Beasley's third professional stint didn't last long despite inking a three-year, $18 million deal in the desert. 

Just one season into his tenure, Phoenix cut its losses after the former Wildcat had repeated run-ins with the law. 

He made a semi-triumphant return to the Miami Heat as a back-end bench piece during the team's 2014 Eastern Conference title run, but was not retained. Since the Memphis Grizzlies waived him during training camp, Beasley hasn't been seen on an NBA floor. 

On the flip side, Russell Westbrook romped his way to a max contract in 2012 and now finds himself in the MVP conversation, averaging 30.6 points, 10.1 assists and 7.9 rebounds this month. 

Kevin Love is also sitting pretty. Although his per-game numbers have steadily declined with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he's in line to receive a max contract once his deal expires. Whether that comes after exercising an early termination option this summer or playing out the remainder of his deal with a cap spike looming in 2016 remains to be seen. 

Either way, his career has been positively peachy compared to Beasley's even if he's yet to qualify for the postseason. Fortunately, the three-time All-Star is a lock to play under the game's brightest lights this spring as the Cavaliers eye a championship berth.

Honorable Mention: Alexis Ajinca (No. 20 overall, Charlotte) over DeAndre Jordan (No. 35 overall, L.A. Clippers)

2008: Joe Alexander over Pretty Much Everyone

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Joe Alexander: Selected No. 8 Overall

Avert your eyes, Milwaukee Bucks fans. This is going to get ugly. 

Enchanted with Joe Alexander's gradual evolution into the centerpiece of a West Virginia team that was eventually bounced in the Sweet 16 by Sean Miller's Xavier Musketeers in 2008, Milwaukee gambled on upside at No. 8 overall.  

While his massive hops and mid-range jumper caught Milwaukee's attention, a lack of refinement and developmental polish contributed to Alexander's rapid decline. 

Alexander went on to appear in just 58 games during his rookie season with the Bucks and eight with the Chicago Bulls during the 2009-10 campaign before he was relegated to the D-League scrapheap.

However, Alexander maintains that Milwaukee didn't hold up its end of the bargain from a developmental standpoint, as he told Basketball Insiders' David Pick:

"

Obviously the No. 8 pick is expected to have an illustrious and longer NBA career than I’ve had, so that’s fine, but I think that Milwaukee should certainly share that [bust] label. They contributed heavily to it. Heavily. For the Bucks to pull the plug on me, I thought, was dramatically irresponsible on their part. What it did was label me as some sort of a problem player. It made everyone in the league look at me different when 12 months before any team would’ve died to have me.

"

Over the course of two abbreviated seasons, Alexander averaged 4.2 points and 1.8 rebounds. 

Disappointment is compounded by the fact that almost every first-round player selected after Alexander is still a meaningful contributor in some capacity. 

Specifically, Anthony Randolph (No. 14 overall) and Donte Green (No. 28 overall) are the only 2008 draftees selected between No. 8 and No. 28 who are out of the league. 

Here's a sampling of those thriving names: 

• Brook Lopez, No. 10 overall
• Robin Lopez, No. 15 overall
• Marreese Speights, No. 16 overall
• Roy Hibbert, No. 17 overall
• Courtney Lee, No. 22 overall
• Serge Ibaka, No. 24 overall
• Nicolas Batum, No. 25 overall
• George Hill, No. 26 overall

In short, yikes.

Honorable Mention: Sean Singletary (No. 42 overall, Sacramento) over Goran Dragic (No. 45 overall, Phoenix) 

2009: Hasheem Thabeet over James Harden

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Hasheem Thabeet: Selected No. 2 overall by Memphis Grizzlies

James Harden: Selected No. 3 overall by Oklahoma City Thunder

Like so many lottery teams, the Memphis Grizzlies were tantalized by size at the top of the 2009 NBA draft. 

Enter Hasheem Thabeet, who burst onto the scene as a double-double machine during his sophomore and junior seasons at the University of Connecticut. 

Put simply, the experiment didn't last long. Thabeet was sent to the D-League during February of his rookie season before getting traded in 2011 to the Houston Rockets with DeMarre Carroll and a future first-round pick in exchange for Shane Battier and Ish Smith. 

A two-year stay in Oklahoma City wound up providing Thabeet with a smidgen of security, but the Thunder shipped him to the Philadelphia 76ers before the 2014-15 season. He was waived immediately. 

Compared to James Harden—who leads the 2009 draft class in win shares—according to Basketball-Reference.com, the Thabeet pick looms large as one of the biggest oversights of the last decade. 

Jockeying with Stephen Curry for top billing atop the MVP ladder, Harden recently explained to Sports Illustrated's Lee Jenkins how he developed into the league's foremost authority on efficient offensive practices: 

"

Oklahoma City taught us to chin the ball, so when you lay it up, no one can strip it. I did that for a while, but it didn’t work for me, so I started putting the ball out instead. People kept reaching for it and hitting my arm. It was like finding treasure, finding gold. Everyone thinks I’m looking for contact, but I’m not. It’s bait on a hook. You have the option to reach for the ball. But if you get my arm, it’s a foul.

"

Tops in attempted free throws by more than 140 over LeBron James, Harden leads the league in scoring at just over 27 points per game. Compared to Thabeet's career average of 2.2 points, that will do just fine.

Honorable Mention: Jordan Hill (No. 8 overall, New York) over DeMar DeRozan (No. 9 overall, Toronto)  

2009: Jonny Flynn over Stephen Curry

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Jonny Flynn: Selected No. 6 overall by Minnesota Timberwolves

Stephen Curry: Selected No. 7 overall by Golden State Warriors

If only we could have warned former Minnesota Timberwolves general manager David Kahn. 

Well, actually, someone tried to, according to Grantland's Jonathan Abrams: 

"

Dave Wohl, Minnesota’s lead assistant, remembers arriving in Minnesota and Kahn asking him whether Rubio and Flynn could prosper playing together. Wohl described Flynn as a good, ambitious kid. He also said that Rubio and Curry would have made a better pairing. He didn’t believe either Flynn or Rubio could perform at shooting guard. 'He said, No, no. I want to play Jonny and Rubio. They remind me of [Walt] Frazier and [Earl] Monroe,' Wohl said.

"

Alas, Kahn's vision crumbled almost instantly. Jonny Flynn and Ricky Rubio were never meant to share a backcourt, and Flynn was dealt to the Houston Rockets two years into the dual-point guard experiment.

It's a shame that Kahn couldn't be persuaded to take Stephen Curry, either, because Rubio would have been a perfect distributive complement for Curry in a spread pick-and-roll system. 

As the story goes, Curry landed with the Golden State Warriors, where he's been nothing short of spectacular since shrugging off ankle issues that limited him to 26 appearances during the 2011-12 season. 

Now, Curry is the league's most captivating ball-handler and foremost authority on unconscious long-range shooting.

Along with fellow MVP candidate James Harden, Curry is one of six 2009 draftees to qualify for an All-Star team. Flynn never even dreamed of doing so, falling out of the league following three uneventful seasons with the Timberwolves, Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers.

Honorable Mention: Terrance Williams (No. 11 overall, New Jersey) over Jrue Holiday (No. 17 overall, Philadelphia), Ty Lawson (No. 18 overall, Minnesota) and Jeff Teague (No. 19 overall, Atlanta) 

2010: Evan Turner and Wesley Johnson over DeMarcus Cousins

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Evan Turner: Selected No. 2 overall by Philadelphia 76ers

Wesley Johnson: Selected No. 4 overall by Minnesota Timberwolves

DeMarcus Cousins: Selected No. 5 overall by Sacramento Kings

The top of the 2010 NBA draft was set in stone from the moment the lottery order was rolled out. John Wall was a no-brainer for the point guard-starved Washington Wizards and the Philadelphia 76ers were in no position to pass on Wooden Award winner Evan Turner. 

Hindsight being 20/20, perhaps Philadelphia should have bucked convention and gone with burgeoning big man DeMarcus Cousins. Especially since the team wound up selling off its best assets for a supposed solution at center in Andrew Bynum two years later.  

Ultimately, former head coach Doug Collins had final say. And according to the since-amnestied Elton Brand, Collins had no interest in dealing with Cousins' attitude. 

"Doug Collins wouldn't have coached DeMarcus Cousins," Brand said, according to Liberty Ballers' Jake Fischer.  

Regardless of the inevitable clashing that would have occurred between Cousins and Collins, Turner left Philadelphia labeled a bust. Traded to the Indiana Pacers at the 2014 trade deadline, Turner failed to shoot better than 45 percent from the field during a single season in the City of Brotherly Love. 

Never capable of breaking through as a featured option thanks to a broken jump shot and leaky handle, Turner never gave himself a chance to live up to top billing in Philadelphia.

The same can be said of Wesley Johnson, whom the Minnesota Timberwolves splurged on at No. 4 overall. However, that pick is far more defensible considering the team already had centers Nikola Pekovic and Kosta Koufos stashed in its prospect pipeline.

Honorable Mention: Ekpe Udoh (No. 6 overall, Golden State) over Paul George (No. 10 overall, Indiana) 

2011: Jimmer Fredette over Klay Thompson

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Jimmer Fredette: Selected No. 10 overall by Milwaukee Bucks (traded to Sacramento Kings)

Klay Thompson: Selected No. 11 overall by Golden State Warriors

The irony is strong with this mishap. 

After the Sacramento Kings made a draft day trade for NCAA Tournament darling, Jimmer Fredette, the Golden State Warriors scooped up Klay Thompson at No. 11. 

Four years and one All-Star berth later, Thompson scorched the Kings by scoring an NBA-record 37 third-quarter points in Golden State's 126-101 victory on Jan. 23.

However, Fredette was nowhere to be found on that raucous night at Oracle Arena, because his stay in California's capital lasted just two-and-a-half seasons before the Chicago Bulls bought him for pennies on the dollar following his release from the Kings last February. 

On inverse trajectories, Thompson recently inked a four-year, $70 million extension while Fredette landed with the New Orleans Pelicans for the veteran's minimum.

"To me, he’s the best two-way 2-guard in the league," TNT analyst Charles Barkley said of Thompson, according to the San Francisco Chronicle's Rusty Simmons.  

And it would be hard to argue with that sentiment. 

In the midst of a career year, Thompson's averaging 22.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.2 steals while shooting 46.8 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from three. Defensively, Golden State's allowing 97.1 points per 100 possessions with Thompson on the floor, good for tops in the league, according to NBA.com.  

Honorable Mention: Jan Vesely (No. 6 overall, Washington) over Kawhi Leonard (No. 15 overall, San Antonio)

2012: Thomas Robinson over Damian Lillard

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Thomas Robinson: Selected No. 5 overall by Sacramento Kings

Damian Lillard: Selected No. 6 overall by Portland Trail Blazers (via Brooklyn Nets)

The thought of Damian Lillard and DeMarcus Cousins running the pick-and-roll is downright menacing, and it was almost a reality. 

But according to a 2013 report from USA Today's Sam Amick, financial considerations regarding a certain veteran forward squashed those plans: 

"

According to three people with knowledge of the situation who spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, part of the reason the Kings drafted forward Thomas Robinson fifth overall out of Kansas in June instead of Rookie of the Year frontrunner and Weber State point guard Damian Lillard (who went sixth to Portland) was because of internal doubt about ownership's ability or willingness to pony up for restricted free agent forward Jason Thompson.

There was strong support for Lillard among the team's front-office and scouting staff, but the unexpected chance to grab Robinson when he slid was seen as a safer option in case the Maloofs didn't pay the market price for Thompson and the team was left with Cousins and veteran forward Chuck Hayes on the frontline. 

"

Three years into his career, Robinson—supposedly one of the safest 2012 lottery picks—is getting ready to suit up for his fourth team. (It's really his fifth, technically, but he was waived upon getting dealt to the Denver Nuggets last week.) 

After Robinson was dealt to the Houston Rockets midway through his rookie season and flipped to the Portland Trail Blazers last summer, he's now slated to join the Brooklyn Nets on a 10-day contract, according to Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.  

The story differs tremendously for Lillard. A former Rookie of the Year winner and postseason hero, Portland's floor general is already revered as one of the NBA's most potent scorers.

As a result, Lillard has no need to ponder job security. Instead, all of his attention is focused on a fierce Western Conference title race that could be swung by his clutch offerings.  

Honorable Mention: Dion Waiters (No. 4 overall, Cleveland) over Andre Drummond (No. 9 overall, Detroit)

All statistics and transaction information courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com unless noted otherwise.