Top 10 Biggest NBA Draft Busts of the Last 10 Years

Well, folks, it is the day we have all been waiting for (especially if "we" are the fans of the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat). The NBA Draft. The make or break moment for franchises.

While many teams have been able to re-establish themselves, or even become Champions (Spurs) as a result of the draft, many teams will also doom themselves to years of mediocrity and regret.

Before I can really begin this article, I must define my view of a "draft bust." For me, the primary factors are:

•Overall contribution to original team

•Overall career productivity (or productivity up to this point)

•Strength of the draft class (Who could a team have had instead, in particular at a certain position?)

•Long-term impact on the team (Is the franchise still reeling from this?)

With this, I bring you the top 10 biggest draft busts of the last 10 draft years (1998-2007).

10) Marcus Fizer—Fourth Pick, 2000 (Bulls)

While the whole draft class of 2000 was horrible, the fact that the Bulls made this pick and moved Elton Brand as a result of it was the perfect summary of Chicago's futility after Michael Jordan.

Had one decent season in 2001-02, but overall never came close to becoming the player he looked like he could become in college.

9) Jonathan Bender—Fifth Pick, 1999 (Raptors, Traded to Pacers)

Indiana thought it was a brilliant idea to trade away role player Antonio Davis to snag Bender. While Bender struggled through seven seasons in Indiana (only playing in 237 games and starting in 27), Davis became an instant contributor to the Raptors, and remained one for a good four seasons.

Bender retired in 2006 due to chronic knee pain, averaging only five PPG for his career. Wally Szczerbiak, Shawn Marion, and Ron Artest are some of the forwards passed up for Bender.

8) Rafael Araujo—Eighth Pick, 2004 (Raptors)

You know it's bad when I go to nba.com to check his "career" stats and it says "We apologize for the inconvenience, but the page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable."

Araujo is the biggest reason why Rob Babcock is currently the Assistant GM of the Timberwolves (who obviously aren't the sharpest pencils in the box, either). He played two disappointing years in Toronto, and then another disappointing year in Utah, ane packed up and signed a contract to play in Russia.

Would be higher, but it wasn't like any world beaters were drafted behind him. Toronto could've had the very serviceable Al Jefferson, though.

7) Robert "Tractor" Traylor—Sixth Pick, 1998 (Mavericks, Traded to Bucks)

Traylor was an overweight, shorter than desired PF/C who really could do nothing but rebound. This pick would've been bad enough, but the Mavericks were able to convert this to little known (at the time) Dirk Nowitzki, leaving the dishonor on the Bucks.

After two seasons in Milwaukee of under 4.5 PPG basketball, he was bounced around from team to team before washing up with the Santurce Crabbers of the Puerto Rican league.

Also, they could've had Paul Pierce instead.

6) Darco Milicic—Second Pick, 2003 (Pistons)

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