Rebuilding Through The Draft Doesnt Work

This article shows why building through draft never works, so forget about John Hall or whoever else in this year's draft and forget about tanking the season.

Quick history lesson about building through draft and young players

T-Wolves case

2009 draft: Jonny Flynn, Wayne Ellington

2008 draft: Kevin Love

2007 draft: Corey Brewer

Young players from KG trade: Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes

Reason for rebuilding: Departure of franchise player Kevin Garnett

Verdict: No franchise-altering force out of all of them. They have been rebuilding since trading KG. Tried to build around Randy Foye, then gave up (traded him for the pick that got them Ricky Rubio). Tried to build around Al Jefferson then gave up (they're shopping him). Now seem to be building around Flynn. 2 out of the 4 young players acquired from the KG trade flamed out (Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair). This rebuilding project will last forever.

Kings' case

2009 draft: Tyreke Evans, Omri Cassipi, Jon Brockman

2008 draft: Jason Thompson, Donte Greene (Artest trade)

2007 draft: Spencer Hawes

2005 draft: Francisco Garcia

Young players from Kevin Martin trade: Carl Landry, Joey Dorsey, Dominic McGuire

Reason for rebuilding: Departure of franchise player Chris Webber, main sidekicks Peja Stojakovic, and head coach Rick Adelman

Verdict: They're counting on Evans to turn around this franchise's fortune, but they have been gradually rebuilding since getting rid of C-Webb. They tried to build around Ron Artest then gave up. They tried to build around Kevin Martin then gave up as well. They seem to be building around Evans now. Evans already drove the only other decent player out of town (ie. Kevin Martin). This seems to be another never-ending rebuilding project.

Nets' case

2009 draft: Terrence Williams

2008 draft: Brook Lopez, Chris Douglas-Roberts

2006 draft: Josh Boone

Young players received from trading away Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, and Richard Jefferson: Devin Harris, Courtney Lee, Yi Jianlian

Reason for rebuilding: Departure of franchise player Jason Kidd

Verdict: This is the worst team in the history of the game. Getting the #1 pick is not gonna change that. Rebuilding has been ongoing since Jason Kidd got traded away. Harris was supposed to be the new cornerstone, but apparently they have lost faith in him and are shopping him. Douglas-Roberts and Boone also fell out of a favor and are on the trading block. Now they seem to want to build around Lopez and whoever they take in this year's draft. There's just no franchise-altering force on this team. Unless they make a splash in free agency or this will be another never-ending rebuilding project.

Grizzlies case

2009 draft: Hasheem Thabeet, DeMarre Carroll, Sam Young

2008 draft: OJ Mayo, Darrell Arthur

2007 draft: Mike Conley

2006 draft: Rudy Gay

Young players acquired from Pau Gasol trade: Marc Gasol

Reason for rebuilding: Departure of franchise player Pau Gasol

Verdict: The Grizzlies are .500 this year not through rebuilding but thanks to Zach Randolph, whom they acquired because other teams had been throwing him around due to salary cap reason, but they will won't make the playoff. They probably won't have the money to add more pieces or even resign Gay this offseason. .500 is probably their ceiling. They tried to build around Gay after trading P. Gasol, but apparently decided this year that he's not the answer by allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Blazers case

2009 draft: Dante Cunningham, Jeff Pendergraph, Patrick Mills

2008 draft: Jerryd Bayless, Nicolas Batum, Rudy Fernandez

2007 draft: Greg Oden

2006 draft: Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge

2005 draft: Martell Webster

2003 draft: Travis Outlaw (recently traded)

Reason for rebuilding: The breakup of the Jail Blazers.

Verdict: One of the luckier rebuilding effort. They fluked out with Brandon Roy, who is the only reason they are better than the Kings and the Timberwolves right now. They struck out with most of their other draft picks. Webster, Oden, Bayless are all obvious busts. Aldridge isn't as good as most people think. He's not a star. They would have been better off getting equal value from Rasheed Wallace, Zach Randolph, etc instead of just doing salary dumps.

Bulls case

2009 draft: Taj Gibson, James Johnson

2008 draft: Derrick Rose

2007 draft: Joakim Noah

2004 draft: Luol Deng

2003 draft: Kirk Hinrich

Reason for rebuilding: Retirement of Michael Jordan and departure of head coach Phil Jackson and sidekick Scottie Pippen

Verdict: Never ending cycle of mediocrity and lottery. The Bulls case is probably the most traumatic case of rebuilding in the history of rebuilding. GM Jerry Krause decided to rebuild and trade away almost everyone from the championship team (Toni Kukoc was the last to go in early 2000). They won the draft lottery in '99 and took Elton Brand with the top pick. They also drafted Ron Artest for good measure. Even though the team was horrible, the future seems to be bright with tons of cap room. Their classless treatment of former players came back to haunt them, however, as Eddie Jones, Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, and Tim Thomas all rejected their overture during the offseason in 2000. Eventually, they had to overpay for Ron Mercer and also brought in Brad Miller. They also added more young talents (Marcus Fizer, Jamal Crawford) through the draft. Yet, they again finished with the worst record in team history. Brand, deemed a failed franchise player, was traded on draft day 2001 for Tyson Chandler. They also drafted Eddy Curry on the same day. The thinking was that one day these two raw prep-to-pro players will form a "twin tower" just like the Spurs did with Tim Duncan and David Robinson. That never happened.

The juggling continued, however, Mercer, Artest, and Miller were traded at midseason for Pacers go-to guy Jalen Rose. The team finished last in the league.

The next season, the team drafted can't miss phenom Jay Williams as the second overall pick in 2002 and also added Donyell Marshall, who was an important sidekick to Malone and Stockton before he landed in Chicago. Expectation was high. The team did improve, but was not even close to contending for a playoff spot. Williams' play was also considered disappointing.

Williams got into a motorcycle accident during the offseason and never played basketball since. The team quickly moved on by drafting Kirk Hinrich in 2003 as his replacement. Scottie Pippen returned to the team. It seemed like the young talents have finally matured and it was now time to contend. The team actually regressed. Jalen Rose and Donyell Marshall were traded. Fizer and Jamal Crawford also left the team. The team was officially rebuilding yet AGAIN.

Young talents like Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Chris Duhon were selected in the draft. Andres Nocioni was also brought in. The Bulls finally made the playoffs as the #3 seed in a weak East, but were upset in the first round.

The following season, Curry was let go due to heart problem. The team regressed and barely made the playoffs. 

In 2006, the Bulls got Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha in the draft. They also signed all-star center Ben Wallace, proving that they intended to contend. The 06-07 season was their best season since MJ retired as they advanced to the second round.

The future was looking bright in 2007 yet trade rumors involving Kobe Bryant and contract demands from Ben Gordon and Luol Deng began to take its toil on the team. The team got off to a slow start and missed the postseason.

In 2008, they won the lottery and drafted Derrick Rose. It seems like it is 1999 all over again.

Prominent failed experiments in the last decade: Andrew Bogut with Milwaukee, Kevin Martin with Sacramento, Al Jefferson with Minnesota, Randy Foye with Minnesota, Andre Iguodala with Philly, Michael Redd with Milwaukee, Danny Granger with Indiana (jury still out on this one), Devin Harris with New Jersey, Jason Richardson with Golden State, Elton Brand with Chicago/LA Clippers, Emeka Okafor with Charlotte, Andrei Kirilenko with Utah, Rudy Gay with Memphis, Tim Thomas in Milwaukee, Antawn Jamison with Golden State