NBA Draft: Why Portland Trail Blazers and Atlanta Hawks Failed

You would think the Atlanta Hawks organisation wouldn't make the same mistake twice. But...

In the 2005 draft, the Hawks had the second overall pick. They ended up taking Marvin Williams, a small forward out of North Carolina. In his first and only season at UNC, he averaged a whopping 28.7 points, 15.5 rebounds and five blocks per game.

Actually no, wait a minute, that was in high school.

In North Carolina he was the sixth man, getting 22 minutes a night. So instead of drafting future all stars Chris Paul or Deron Williams, Atlanta went with the unproved forward with potential.

He didn't turn out to be a bust, with career averages so far of 12 points and five rebounds a game, but he is clearly not at the level of the two all star point guards drafted behind him.

In the 2006 draft, several months after second overall pick Williams did not receive a single ROY vote, Atlanta drafted Shelden Williams with the fifth overall pick.

Passing up high caliber players such as Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, and Rajon Rondo. They took the opposite approach from the year before and selected a proven college player, with four years of experience.

But Williams No. 2 was an even bigger bust. Now with the Nuggets, he has career marks of five points and four rebounds a game.

Having left Duke as the all-time leader in blocks, the pre-draft highly touted shot blocker has yet to have more than 40 blocks in a season. That's like Andrew Bogut in a 10 game period!

Who is Shelden Williams, you ask?  Exactly.

With Sean Williams projected to be a potential lottery pick in the 2007 draft, lets all breathe a sigh of relief that they chose Al Horford with their third pick, instead of forming a team of crappy players and renaming themselves the Atlanta Williams’s.

You have to feel for Portland. August 2007 everything looked great.

Brandon Roy had just won Rookie of the Year.

LaMarcus Aldridge had put together a promising rookie season with averages of nine points and five rebounds on 50 percent shooting in only 22 minutes a night.

And they had just drafted Greg Oden, who had the potential to be the next Bill Russell.

Three and a half years later and things are not looking so bright in Rip City.

Greg Oden has only played a quarter of possible games, and may be leaving Portland to get a fresh start.

Brandon Roy was playing with both knees bone-on-bone before calling it quits on the season after only 23 games.

Aldridge is carrying the load and is having an all star caliber season, a borderline 20-10 player.

Imagine surrounding him with potentially one of the greatest defensive centers of this era and a top five wing player in Brandon Roy.

They had such a bright future.

Now it is painful to say, considering Roy and Oden are such high caliber people, and could have formed a championship team.

But in hindsight, maybe Portland should have chosen slightly differently in those '06 and '07 drafts.

Instead of picking Roy at number six, how about Rudy Gay? (Picked eighth, 10/11 averages of 21 points, six rebounds, three assists and nearly two steals while still only 24 years old.)

And instead of Oden at number one in 2007, imagine if they had traded down for the third pick plus cash, and picked Al Horford instead?

Hordford is an all star and a proven winner, (having actually beat Oden in the championship game in 2007) and is now a legit 16 and 10 player.

Imagine the possibility of that team.

They won 41 games in 07-08 without Oden.

Now switch Roy with Gay (not much of a loss) and add Al Horford.

Tell me that team wouldn’t have won 45-50 games?

Now imagine that team a few years later, like this season for example.

With a front-court of Aldridge and Horford, and wing man Rudy Gay, the possibilities of a championship are quite high.

Especially if they still acquired Andre Miller.