The Biggest Busts of the NBA Draft Since 2000

With the NBA Draft looming a few months away and college players already making their ill-advised decisions to enter their names, I thought it would be appropriate to look at the worst draft picks since 2000. I have compiled a list of the ten worst and, wow, some of them are horrific. Every year there are those players who come into the draft and the common fan knows they won't be good, yet a team always picks them. Also, when I say bust I am saying that because they did not live up to expectations and that doesn't mean they were bad necessarily. It could mean, in the case of Shaun Livingston and Marcus Fizer, that injuries have greatly affected their careers. Also, a player could have off the court issues that derail his time on the floor. At the time I'm sure all of these players seemed like a great pick for that team but they all failed to reach their potential and that is why I call them a bust. There have plenty of those busts since the millenium hit and here is a look at ten of the biggest busts since 2000:

1. Chicago Bulls entire draft class of 2000
Okay I cheated on the very first entry and put an entire class in the top spot but, seriously, this may be the worst draft class of all-time. It's no wonder the Bulls were terrible for the early part of the 2000s because look at who they drafted. Jerry Krause used two lottery picks on Marcus Fizer from Iowa State (4th pick) and Jamal Crawford from Michigan (8th pick) and neither of them were the answer for Chicago. Fizer lasted just four years in Chicago and averaged 10 points and 5 rebounds, which is decent but not what you would expect from the 4th pick in the draft. Crawford has taken a different path in the NBA. He also lasted just four years in Chicago but has now been a key piece for the Atlanta Hawks these past two years. For the Bulls he averaged 11 points but was never the answer for a struggling franchise. As if that's not enough, the Bulls had three second round picks and selected A.J. Guyton of Indiana and Jake Voskuhl and Khalid El-Amin from UConn. Those three put together only averaged 13.8 points and Voskuhl and El-Amin only played a year in Chicago. And to think that this was all just a prelude to the Eddy and Tyson Blunder...

2. Darius Miles, LA Clippers (3rd pick, 2000) From: East St. Louis High School in Belleville, IL

You can't really understand the hype around Darius Miles unless you are old enough to remember the months leading up to the draft. The kid came straight out of high school and appeared on a Sports Illustrated cover with Kevin Garnett for the 2000 NBA Preview issue. The cover read, "Young and Youngest: Kevin Garnett, 24, welcomes Darius Miles, 19, to the NBA" and Miles looked as if he may live up to the hype. He averaged 9 points and 6 boards his rookie season and was named to the NBA All-Rookie team, a first for a player straight from high school. However, he clashed with coaches and violated the league's substance abuse policy and is now out of the league. For his career he averaged 10 points and 5 rebounds for his seven year career, no where near what people expected from him.

3. Kwame Brown, Washington Wizards (1st pick, 2001) From: Glynn Academy in Brunswick, GA

Kwame Brown was the first pick for the Washington Wizards and was a major flop. Actually, he still is. Yet, he was chosen before Joe Johnson and Gilbert Arenas. Brown is now playing for his fifth team and his best season came in 2003-04 when he averaged 10.9 points and 7.4 rebounds. Other than that he has been consistently below five points and five rebounds while averaging 22 minutes for his career. He is another player to come straight out of high school and he was often called the best player in his class and earned a spot on the McDonald's All-American team. He has never played like the player he was supposed to be but has traveled from team to team, consistently giving them 5 points and 5 boards a night.

4. Eddy Curry, Chicago Bulls (4th pick, 2001) From: Thornwood High School in South Holland, IL

The Baby Bulls, as they were nicknamed then, were awful. Eddy Curry was labeled "Baby Shaq" in a magazine and he could not have been farther from that. The 4th pick in the draft, Curry averaged 6.7 points and 3.8 rebounds his rookie season and did make steady improvement every year for the Bulls. However, when a player enters straight from high school he has so much hype surrounding him that it is hard to live up to expectations. Curry has averaged 13 points and 5 rebounds for his career which is decent, but not what people expected from a kid nicknamed "Baby Shaq." Curry has had numerous problems off the court including an alledged sexual harrassment and a foreclosure on his house.

5. Dajuan Wagner, Cleveland Cavaliers (6th pick, 2002) From: Memphis

I read an article in Sports Illustrated recently and John Calipari was quoted as saying he encouraged Dajuan Wagner to chase his dreams and enter the NBA Draft. Yeah he did and not only did he encourage Wagner to enter, he revoked his scholarship so Wagner would be forced to enter the draft. Well, good advice Cal, the kid played only 93 games in the league before he had to quit due to health problems. A phenomenal scorer in high school, Wagner never quite found that stroke in the NBA. He averaged 9.4 points per game and is now trying to make a comeback one more time.

6. Darko Milicic, Detroit Pistons (2nd pick, 2003) From: Serbia

Alot like Miles, Darko was hyped up so much and the Pistons selected him second overall. Ahead of Carmelo Anthony. Ahead of Dwyane Wade. Ahead of Chris Bosh. Heck, they picked him ahead of Kirk Hinrich who has had a solid career. Milicic currently plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves and is having his most productive season to date, averaging 9 points and 5 rebounds. He was featured in magazines and people couldn't wait to see this Serbian import but then he failed miserably. He appeared in only 34 games as a rookie and averaged a measly 2 points and 1 rebound. He may have found a home in Minnesota but he will never be the player we were expecting to see.

7. Adam Morrison, Charlotte Bobcats (3rd Pick, 2006) From: Gonzaga
He was arguably the best player in the college game in his final season at Gonzaga and many thought he could turn out to be a solid NBA player. He had the long floppy hair, nasty trash 'stache and was playing with diabetes-- you had to love him. He averaged 28 points his junior year at Gonzaga but in the NBA he has not amounted to much and is currently a free agent. He has battled injuries but won two titles as a benchwarmer for the Lakers. He averages 7 points and 2 rebounds for his career and has only played in 161 games. The last team he played for, the Washington Wizards, waived him and he has not been picked up since.

8. Hasheem Thabeet, Memphis Grizzlies (2nd pick, 2009) From: UConn

I wrote about Thabeet in an earlier post and he was chosen specifically because of his "upside." He was a great rebounder and shot blocker and the Grizzlies made him the second overall pick which has proved to be foolish. He is now playing for Houston Rockets and for his career he has averaged 2 points, 3 boards and one block. He has played in 115 games but averages only 10.9 minutes per game. He came to an all-time low when he was demoted to the D-League for six games. This year he is averaging one point, one rebound and one block.

9. Shaun Livingston, Los Angeles Clippers (4th pick, 2004) From: Peoria Central High School in Peoria, IL
I'm seeing a trend here and it's not good. Livingston is the third player that tried to jump from high school to the pros from Illinois to appear on this list. Unlike Miles and Curry, Livingston was going to be a great player and you have to feel sorry for him. His career was derailed by a series of severe knee injuries and if you're into gruesome stuff go ahead and Youtube that. He is now on the Charlotte Bobcats, his fifth team since being drafted and he is trying to become a role player. He has shown flashes of what he was capable of but will never be the player he could have been because of the injuries. He averages 7 points and 4 assists for his career. In his rookie season he averaged 7 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists.

10. Sebastian Telfair, Portland Trail Blazers (13th pick, 2004) From: Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, NY

Okay, there are plenty of players who could round out this list but Telfair has to be included. Thank God he wasn't a top 10 pick but 13 is still pretty bad. If anybody was hyped, it was this kid. ESPN did a documentary about him and he appeared on several magazine covers. The Sports Illustrated cover shows what people thought about him. He was going to be the next big thing...until he wasn't. Telfair is playing for his fifth team and has had off the court trouble in the past. He averages 7 points and 3 assists for his career and has appeared in 37 games for the Timberwolves this season. He is averaging 7 points and 3 assists in 19 minutes per game.

There are a few common themes after looking over this list. Most of the players have become journeymen already. They have played for multiple teams, come off the bench and produce little. All of them came in with tons of hype but could not live up to the expectations. Five of the players on the list came straight out of high school and that is a testament to why the NBA needed the age limit rule. Players need to stay in school and strongly consider if they are ready for the NBA. Most of them aren't. This is a man's league where few succeed and you have to be great to be on the top. There have not been as many failures since the age limit rule went into effect and the NBA and NCAA should agree to add on to it and make players stay two or three years. These are 10 sad stories and nobody wants to see somebody fail.