Ranking the Best No. 1 NBA Draft Picks of the Past 10 Years
Welcome back to the "Greatest Ever" series as we continue with the rankings of the top No.1 draft choices in the 2000's.
It's a decade that's it's coming end and a new era is about to start,with new faces,superstars,stars and so on.To get the right call on the draft day,it's never easy because you don't know what your selection will turn into
Getting the right player,is the first step for one team with a bad record to become better and have a peace on you'd want to build your team on.If you don't get it right,then you will be in a position to give him some time.
It could end up being phenomenal move,but it could end up being waste of time,money etc.The first picks of the drafts from the past 10 years,are overall beyond well and some of these guys,have the tools,talent to end up so high in the NBA History in positive way
Some,well will end up on the wrong place for number of reasons.Anyway,it's not easy at all to draft at No.1 for thousands of reasons.It's 50-50.The selected members of the list,are overall great and can stand with a bunch of others from the other decades
Here are the best first draft picks from the NBA in the past,10 years.Enjoy!
2001-Kwame Brown
1 of 10Kwame Brown is a guy who didn't survive the pressure and didn't live up to his hype coming into the league even though he was outstanding in there
Brown was consistently rated as the "best high school player" in his class, which also included high school standouts Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler. He was the high school player of the year as a senior in Georgia. Brown finished his high school career at the historic Glynn Academy (in Brunswick, Georgia) as the school's all-time leading rebounder (1,235) and shot-blocker (605), and also finished second all-time as a scorer and he was named to the 2001 McDonald's All-American Team.
His finest season,as a pro came in 2003-04 season in the Washington Wizards from who he was drafted and averaged nice 10.7 points,7.4 boards with nearly a block per game.That's the best from Kwame,as a pro.
His finest game was against the Kings,where he destroyed them single handed with 30 points,19 rebounds which are his career high and you can see it in the video,what he can do at his best.The way,he beat his defender Vlade off the first move was incredible
His top averages were actually in the Lakers playoffs in 2005-06 with 12.9 points and 6.6 rebounds who as a pro,got the numbers above in that season wearing the Lakers uniform which were one of his finest.That's Kwame
He still plays in the NBA,as a current member of the Charlotte Bobcats.Here is a link with his career stats that i don't think you will actually see:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/brownkw01.html
2000-Kenyon Martin
2 of 10
Kenyon Martin was the last American born player to get selected as the No.1 draft pick,who was drafted by the New Jersey Nets
Coming from college,he played at Cincinnati Royals where as a senior he averaged 18.9 points,9.7 boards and 3.5 blocks per game which earned him a lot of awards from dozens of organizations and reputation as the top prospect at that time
He was the consensus National Player Of The Year,who led everyone in blocks and was chosen on the top of the worst draft class from the past 10 years.In other words,he enjoyed success as a player heading into the most competitive basketball league.
In his NBA career,he established himself as one of the best defensive power forwards for the years behind us,thanks to his skills,hard work and athleticism.However,one of the most powerful finishers and explosive players of all time
Back in the Nets day,he often rocked the rim from an alley pass,from his former team mate Kidd,who had no problem to find him anywhere.They were well the finest alley op combo back in those days.Let's get back on Martin
He averaged 12 points,with 7.4 boards,1.7 blocks,1.1 steals a game as a rookie.His top averages came in 2003-04 season when he tailed 16.7 points,along side 9.5 rebounds,1.4 steals and 1.3 blocks which is a good achievement
During that season,he also recorded double-double in average in the playoffs with 19.1 points,11 rebounds which is phenomenal.Overall,he enjoyed nice career and was one of the best players from that draft class and is a prove,that there's a life after tough injuries
Career Stats:13.9 points,7.2 rebounds,2.1 assists,1.1 blocks,1.3 steals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4vjZGyGPxo&feature=related
enjoy!
2006-Andrea Bargnani
3 of 10
Andrea Bargnani is perhaps the next Dirk Nowitzki,who consistently draws comparisons to Nowitzki duo to living up from the perimeter despite playing as a power forward/center and for the potential he has.He's the only European player to be selected as a No.1 pick from the draft in the NBA History
He's skilled big man,that's a fact.He's excellent shooter,who's the finest big man shooter (no offense to the guy he's compared to),can drive well inside,has nice ball handling skills,is improved rebounder and blocker which is all nice
He's now enjoying his personal best since he came into the NBA from Europe as a promising star,which is a thing he is now.He recently got career high in points (41) on 16-24 from the field with 7 rebounds and 7 assists.
He's now getting just over 21 points,around 6 rebounds and 2 assists which is a sign that he consistently works and has upside in him.It took him time to develop and Toronto is so happy,that he developed at this moment after their franchise player Bosh left at the summer
Even though,he's not to long in this league,who's one of the best European players right now and will soon make his first All-Star game.
Career stats:14.2 points,4.9 boards,3.9 dimes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDmSH-APEEA
Some very short highlights of his 41 point game!Enjoy!
2007-Greg Oden
4 of 10
Greg Oden is a very talented basketball player,who often draws comparisons to great big men mostly who were dominate on defense like Bill Russell,Tim Duncan,Patrick Ewing and so on.
He has all the tools to become the next center for the decade ahead of us and major potential,but there's a knock in all of that and that's injuries.They are stopping him and so far have dominated his career which is a shame
He had big time success in college,who had stealer season in the Ohio State Buckeyes despite not again being 100% fully healthy.He actually led them to the Finals,where he put 25 points,12 rebounds,4 blocked shots against Al Horford and Joakim Noah in loosing effort
There are some notes.He never lost a home game in college,was named in Associated All-American Team and with Durant,were the 2 freshmen to get those honors since 1990.In 2007,he entered the NBA as the top prospect
He was injured and missed his rookie year.Then he came back and played 61 games,again duo to health problems in that season,missed the next entire season after playing 21 games and is out again.Those are problems
He did play well in his rookie years and averaged 9 points,7.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game.But he's not a man who gives up easy and worked hardly during the off-season as he improved his entire game and owned
Oden,even though played only for 21 games,the dude averaged 11.7 points,8.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in just 24 minutes of actions,who led the league in blocked shots (in average),Field Goal percent and in dozen of categories
The PER stats aren't the best way to judge a player but he led everyone in block,rebound percents etc. His overall Per was among the very best in the league and in terms of productive play,he was one of the 5 best when he improved best
He was arguably the best shot blocker and defender during that time.Only Dwight was capable to go at that.It's a fact.This guy can play basketball,it's just those damn injuries which are killing him,but then again he's 22 and has all the time in the world,to become great center
And he will become a beast.When those great stats that he had in limited playing time,are pushed to a playing time of 36 minutes you see that he's got 16.7 points,12.9 boards and 3.4 blocks per game.He will become great center for the next decade,it's a fact
Oh,yeah and almost forgot.In his last full game,he recorded 13 points,20 boards and 4 denied shots.He recorded career high in rebounding (24),points (24),beat the likes of Noah,Duncan,Marc,Horford and the rest in head to head.Let's not forget about the 24/12/4 game against Joakim...
Career Stats:9.4 points,7.3 rebounds,1.4 blocks
2005-Andrew Bogut
5 of 10
Andrew Bogut is a prove that big men need more time to develop and why you need to believe in them.This guy,at one point of his career also got labeled as a bust and how much work he has put in to become now an All-Star caliber center
Yes,now all of those people are funny.Bogut has proved them wrong.Let's get a closer look at what the big fella did in college.He earned numerous awards,including the Player Of The Year award by the Associated Press and Espn.com thanks to his 20.2 points,12.2 rebounds,2.2 assists,1.8 blocks on 62% from field.
Talk about success.Also,he ranked second in the First devision in rebounding,6th in blocks and 8th in FG percent,1st in double-doubles in the entire NCAA.Yeah,talk about success.He was selected as the first choice of the 2005 draft by the Bucks
He got to a good start,finished 6th in the Rookie Of The Year award voting,was the only one from the Top 10 in that draft to start in the playoffs etc.Even though he slowly improved,the rise of players behind like Williams,Paul etc made some people to believe and to label him as a bust
That's non sense.But not many believed in that.This guy worked hard enough,now to be the 3rd best from that class right behind D-Will and Cp3.He recently averaged 15.9 points,10.2 rebounds,2.5 blocks despite he was injured
He is the only Australian to earn All-NBA honors and he earned the All-NBA Third Team which is fantastic. Now,he's a beast as he's in more defensive mode and averaging 13.3 points,12.2 boards and 2.9 blocks while leading in blocks per game
He's the third best defender in this list,only behind the likes of Oden and Howard ahead of him but that is for a debate.He just got a monster game with 24 points,22 rebounds.Before,he had a game winning tip in which is excellent
Overall,Bogut has the complete package who has nice post game,is phenomenal defender,shot blocker and one of the finest passing big men in the league.He's good enough to be considered after Howard as the top center
Career stats:12.8 points,9.2 rebounds,2.3 blocks,1.4 blocks
2010-John Wall
6 of 10
John Wall is currently one of the leading men for the Rookie Of The Year award and boy,what a season he is having.
He's currently one of the best point guards in the league,despite the fact that this is his first year as a pro and is more impressive in each of the game he plays.He's enjoying a pretty awesome start with the team that drafted him,the Washington Wizards
He's averaging nearly 17 points,9 assists with 3.5 rebounds and 2.3 steals.Right now,he's sitting at 5th in assists per game,2nd in steals per game and 2nd in steal percent which is phenomenal.He's leading all of the rookies in those categories
He impressed with the triple double performance and couple of times,he came short in that.He's slowly but surely establishing himself as a leader and a guy who consistently gets his team mates involve while still scoring at will
That's phenomenal and he's living up to his college hype.He's also the first UK player to get chosen as the No.1 draft pick in the NBA,which just adds to the resume which will be soon full with dozen of awards and honors
2009-Blake Griffin
7 of 10
Blake Griffin is establishing as a dominate presence and a highlight reel machine in every sense of the word,who's a true sensation and bright star in the Clippers nation for which,a bunch of nice days lie ahead of them.
He's superb athletic,skilled and quick player who's already one of the best big men in the NBA.He's tailing 20 points,nearly 12 boards with 2.8 assists a game.That's phenomenal,as he had all time great debut in the start with 20/14.
He's a dunk machine.I'm sure that if there's a rookie to participate in the Slam Dunk Contest,Griffin will be the first choice for sure.He's right now,the best dunker in the NBA and it's a fact.He's so powerful finisher that he rocks the rim with variety of jams
His career high of 44 points,15 rebounds and 7 assists against Amar'e Stoudemire.He's got fantastic start in the NBA.He was brilliant in college,after all he had some of the most dominate seasons in the recent history of college hoops
He's a beast...
2008-Derrick Rose
8 of 10
One of the leading MVP candidates right now,Derrick Rose was the first pick of the 2008 draft,selected by his hometown Chicago Bulls.
In college,he had phenomenal success with the Memphis Tigers leading them to the Finals game where in a tough game,they lost.He averaged 20.8 points,6.5 rebounds,6 assists in the Finals tourney and earned the All-First Team honors too
He declared in 08 and the Bulls drafted him at No.1 and since then,he's led them to big success since the Michael Jordan days.His combination of athleticism,speed and quickness is without a doubt incredible as it puts him above the rest
He earned the Rookie Of The Year honors,All-Star Skill Challenge Contest in his first pro season and took the series against the Boston Celtics in 7 games,who had nice clutch moment and blocked a game winner from Rondo
Right now,he's a dominate guard who's averaging 25.3 points,8.2 assists and 4.3 assists as of now,who is top 10 in assists and top 3 in scoring.Impressive,isn't it?He is rising and a legitimate case can be made for him in the best point guard in the NBA right now.
Career Stats:19.3 points,6.4 assists,3.9 rebounds,47.9%.
2004-Dwight Howard
9 of 10
Dwight Howard for couple of years is undeniable the best center in the game as of now and has the tools to be an all time great.
Coming from high school directly to the NBA,Howard was chosen as the No.1 draft pick which makes him the 3rd player in this decade to achieve that.He had phenomenal years in there who dominated to a whole new level
He earned numerous awards and averaged insane 24 points,18 rebounds and 8 blocked shots a game, an outstanding achievement.When he came in the league,he didn't win the Rookie Of The Year honors but he played all games
His strength,athleticism and vertical jump just are so fine attributes.He's been the defensive player in most part of the past 2 seasons,again few can challenge that.He has consistently led the league in rebounding, blocked shots,set dozens of franchise and NBA records.
Oh,yeah and he won the honors of top defender twice,while has surpassed the great Wilt in leading in the category of total boards,5 times.His defense in the paint,led the Orlando Magic to their second Finals in the history of the team.
He's averaging whooping 21.5 points,12 rebounds and 2.4 denied shots,ranks top 5 in boards and blocks right now.Career stats
-17.6 points,12.6 boards,2.1 denied shots..amazing!
2003-LeBron James
10 of 10
One of the greatest high school players to have translate his domination to the NBA,LeBron James is one of the best players in the league's history.
He had great success in there,who earned numerous awards as the top player,led his team with having so insane statistics and couple of championships.By the time he declared for the draft,he already was on the Sports Illustrated and ESPN cover.
He was the most hyped player of all time and lived up to it.He is arguable the most unique player the NBA has ever seen,who is one of the most athletic freaks,greatest non passing guard,with an outstanding court vision and overall is one of the most complete to step on a hardwood.
His statistics are one of the top ever and now with the Miami Heat,he has a shot to win many rings and for sure earn his place in the debate of the Greatest Of All Time.He's just that.His post game is developing as he's banging in there more
Right now,he's averaging 24.2 points,6 assists,7.2 assists and his career stats are:
27.7 points,7 dimes,7 boards,1.9 steals...
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