I'm pasting this from the last thread about the same thing. (The last OP also mentioned Chandler Parsons - I didn't even have to change that reference!).
I think it's unreasonable to evaluate any GM's drafting ability by looking at the one or two best players who were drafted later. You can always do this in hindsight.
But of course, with hindsight in most case those players wouldn't have been available. So, Danny missed out on Chandler Parson - but so did everyone else. That fact doesn't tell you a whole lot about Danny's abilities.
I think a fairer way to do it is by asking whether, in a re-draft, the GM's picks would have gone consistently higher or consistently lower than where they were actually drafted. This tells you whether the GM usually outperforms his draft position.
I think on that dimension Danny does pretty well.
Here are my assessments, grouping players into five categories:
Definitely lower (3): Giddens, JJJ, Gerald Green
Probably lower (1): Gabe Pruitt
Wash (3): Orien Greene, Lester Hudson, Luke Harangody
Probably higher (1): E'Twuan Moore
Definitely higher ( 8 ): Al Jefferson, Delonte West, Tony Allen, Ryan Gomes, Rondo, Glen Davis, Semih Erden, Avery Bradley.
I'm holding off on evaluating 2011 for now.
Of course not all of these comparisons are equal - Rondo was a much bigger steal than Erden, for example.
But I think this makes Danny look better overall, actually. Rondo is a huge steal for where he was drafted, and Jefferson, Allen, Bradley and Davis are all extremely good performers for their draft positions.
In contrast, while JJJ and Giddens are disappointments, 60-75% of players drafted in that range never become rotation players anyway.
You can get a feel for this here:
http://www.82games.com/nbadraftpicks.htmAnd this analysis only goes to 2008 but ranks teams by draft performance historically.
http://www.82games.com/bestdraftingteams.htmYou can put Danny's performance in perspective by looking at some other team that have drafted in comparable spots:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/