In Retrospect...The 2004 NBA Draft
How It Went Down
1. Orlando Magic- Dwight Howard: Remember that debate about Howard or Okafor? Yeah, that was stupid.
2. Charlotte Bobcats- Emeka Okafor
3. Chicago Bulls- Ben Gordon
4. LA Clippers- Shaun Livingston: Horrific injury has set back, maybe even ruined, this once-promising career.
5. Washington Wizards- Devin Harris
6. Atlanta Hawks- Josh Childress
7. Phoenix Suns- Luol Deng
8. Toronto Raptors-Rafael Araujo
9. Philadelphia 76ers- Andre Iguodala: Thank god he dropped to us.
10. Cleveland Cavaliers- Luke Jackson
11. Golden State Warriors- Andris Biedrins
12. Seattle Supersonics- Robert Swift: Wow. What a mistake.
13. Portland Trail Blazers-Sebastian Telfair
14. Utah Jazz-Kris Humphries
15. Boston Celtics- Al Jefferson: Most key pick in the draft.
16. Utah Jazz- Kirk Snyder
17. Atlanta Hawks- Josh Smith
18. New Orleans Hornets- J.R. Smith
19. Miami Heat-Dorell Wright: Back-to-back-to-back high school players taken.
20. Denver Nuggets- Jameer Nelson: National Player of the Year dropped on draft night.
21. Utah Jazz- Pavel Padkolzin: Needless to say, this guy never panned out.
22. New Jersey Nets- Viktor Khryapa
23. Portland Trail Blazers- Sergei Monia: The Blazers sure do have their fair share of foreign picks.
24. Boston Celtics- Delonte West
25. Boston Celtics- Tony Allen
26. Sacramento Kings- Kevin Martin
27. LA Lakers- Sasha Vujacic
28. San Antonio Spurs- Beno Udrih
29. Indiana Pacers- David Harrison
*Minnesota Timberwolves forfeited first-round pick
Second Round Notables
30. Orlando Magic- Anderson Varejao
37. Atlanta Hawks- Royal Ivey
38. Chicago Bulls- Chris Duhon
43. New York Knicks- Trevor Ariza
If GM's could go back in time...
1. Dwight Howard: A complete beast offensively and defensively. Will own the title of best center in the league for years to come.
2. Al Jefferson: Owns a plethora of offensive moves. Another dominanting type of big man.
3. Devin Harris: Has completely taken off in the scoring category this year. Scary quickness.
4. Josh Smith: Extremely athletic, hasn't completely translated it yet.
5. Andre Iguodala: Iguodala has a very nice game. Just not a "$80 million" nice game.
6. Andris Biedrins: Sort of unknown, but a very good player.
7. Ben Gordon: An elite sixth men, a good starter. Brings instant offense to any team that may grab him after this year.
8. Kevin Martin: Has proven that he is an upper-echelon scorer in the NBA. Sort of one-dimensional.
9. Emeka Okafor: His game is a known quantity. Brings it on defense and the boards. Has a decent offensive game. Nothing spectacular; just very solid.
10. Luol Deng: I'm sorry; I just have never liked Deng's game. He uses his length well, but just is not that great.
11. Jameer Nelson: Personally, I'm biased. Nelson was one of the best players in Big 5 history. His game is very solid in the NBA. Not at the All-Star level, just very solid.
12. Delonte West: Is a starter for the third-best team in the NBA. That has to say something.
13. JR Smith: Explosive talent, just not all there.
14. Anderson Varejao: Annoying, but in a good way.
15. Tony Allen: A World Champion.
16. Beno Udrih: Very capable of handling the starting point guard duties for a bad team. Backup on a title contender.
17. Chris Duhon: Excelling in new system.
18. Sasha Vujacic: Scrappy. Simple as that.
19. Sebastian Telfair: The hype got to him.
20. Trevor Ariza: Provides great depth to a team like the Lakers.
21. Shaun Livingston: Go to YouTube. Watch the play he got injured on. You do the math.
22. Royal Ivey: Just another end of the rotation guy. Good defensive PG.
23. Dorell Wright: At least he is still in the league.
24. Josh Childress: Somewhere in Greece. May come back to the NBA and help a team coming off the bench.
Note: Everyone else sucked.
The Magic definitely should be happy. They got two starters out of the 2004 NBA Draft. One is a future Hall of Famer.
Kevin Martin was the steal of the draft. A little known player out of Western Carolina was selected 26th overall, and ever since has not stopped scoring.
The major busts include Rafael Araujo, Luke Jackson, and Robert Swift.
The 2004 NBA Draft should be remembered for the high school sensation. As the age of directly jumping to the NBA was fading, high schools produced talent along the likes of Dwight Howard, Al Jefferson, Sebastian Telfair, Josh Smith, Shaun Livingston, J.R. Smith, Robert Swift, and Dorell Wright.
Eight first rounders came to the NBA directly from prom night. I'm sure the Magic, as well as a few other teams, are not complaining.
