Worst Team Draft Ever - Wolves 2009?

[Moranis]

So I was listening to the radio today and they were talking about poor draft decisions and they were talking about the Timberwolves in 2009 missing on Curry not once but twice and started wondering out loud if that was the worst draft decision in history because they missed on the player twice.

For some background in 2009, Minnesota had the 5th and 6th pick in the draft.  They drafted Rubio at 5 (ok pick) and then Jonny Flynn at 6 (terrible pick).  Curry went 7th.  So Minnesota passed on him on consecutive picks and the Warriors took him and the rest as they say is history. 

The reasoning was such that, everybody misses on players (I mean Hasheem Thabeet went 2 in that same draft while Harden went 3), but the fact that they had 2 picks directly preceeding the pick that landed Curry put that on a whole other scale of draft blunders and misses. 

Because of where the picks they owned and the player were drafted, they put that on a whole different scale then even say the Sixers in 2013 who with 6 and 11 took Noel and MCW (while Giannis went 15) or those drafts were someone like Jokic goes in the 2nd round and a bunch of teams passed on him several times.

There have been bigger busts than Flynn and certainly better players than Rubio at 5, but with Curry going 7 is that the worst draft a team has had or can you think of others where a team blundered so badly. 

[slamtheking]

cue up the Danny's-drafting-sucks posters about to complain about James Young and Guershon Yabusele in 3..2..1..

[greg683x]

Chris Wallaces draft in 2003 was pretty bad. Especially if you factor in the mid season trade, choosing Kedrick over JJ

Joe Johnson, Kedrick Brown, and Joe Forte.

Joe Johnson panned out but they trade him mid season and keep Kedrick. 

Then they pass on Tony Parker and take Forte.

That draft was a disaster

Coming off a 2002 ECF trip we could have reloaded with

PG: Parker
SG: Johnson
SF: Pierce
PF: Walker
C:  Battie/Potapenko

[slamtheking]

Chris Wallaces draft in 2003 was pretty bad. Especially if you factor in the mid season trade, choosing Kedrick over JJ

Joe Johnson, Kedrick Brown, and Joe Forte.

Joe Johnson panned out but they trade him mid season and keep Kedrick. 

Then they pass on Tony Parker and take Forte.

That draft was a disaster

Coming off a 2002 ECF trip we could have reloaded with

PG: Parker
SG: Johnson
SF: Pierce
PF: Walker
C:  Battie/Potapenko

that was the 2001 draft but yeah, that was bad.  add in the fact they let Rodney Rogers walk after 2002 instead of resigning him for a 2-3 year deal to provide a third scorer was another kick in the pants.

in that 2001 draft, they could have had Richard Jefferson or Zach Randolph at 11 and either Jamaal Tinsley or Parker (supposedly they really looked at Parker).  If they picked either of those other options at 11 and 21, they probably don't need to make the deal for Rogers and Delk.

Kenny Anderson, JJ, Pierce, Walker, Randolph as a starting 5 with Jefferson, Parker and Battie off the bench would have gotten to the finals in 2002, probably 2003 and a few more years.

[Roy H.]

The Twolves also took Ty Lawson and promptly traded him away.

I get the Rubio pick, but Flynn was unforgivable.

[CFAN38]

So I was listening to the radio today and they were talking about poor draft decisions and they were talking about the Timberwolves in 2009 missing on Curry not once but twice and started wondering out loud if that was the worst draft decision in history because they missed on the player twice.

For some background in 2009, Minnesota had the 5th and 6th pick in the draft.  They drafted Rubio at 5 (ok pick) and then Jonny Flynn at 6 (terrible pick).  Curry went 7th.  So Minnesota passed on him on consecutive picks and the Warriors took him and the rest as they say is history. 

The reasoning was such that, everybody misses on players (I mean Hasheem Thabeet went 2 in that same draft while Harden went 3), but the fact that they had 2 picks directly preceeding the pick that landed Curry put that on a whole other scale of draft blunders and misses. 

Because of where the picks they owned and the player were drafted, they put that on a whole different scale then even say the Sixers in 2013 who with 6 and 11 took Noel and MCW (while Giannis went 15) or those drafts were someone like Jokic goes in the 2nd round and a bunch of teams passed on him several times.

There have been bigger busts than Flynn and certainly better players than Rubio at 5, but with Curry going 7 is that the worst draft a team has had or can you think of others where a team blundered so badly.

In 09 the T-wolves no doubt whiffed however Flynn's injury shouldn't be ignored. He had a solid rookie season and had he stayed healthy its not a stretch to project a Mike Conley level career. While drafting two early lottery PGs on the surface looks ridiculous I believe Rubio stayed in Spain for a season after being drafted. 

[greg683x]

Chris Wallaces draft in 2003 was pretty bad. Especially if you factor in the mid season trade, choosing Kedrick over JJ

Joe Johnson, Kedrick Brown, and Joe Forte.

Joe Johnson panned out but they trade him mid season and keep Kedrick. 

Then they pass on Tony Parker and take Forte.

That draft was a disaster

Coming off a 2002 ECF trip we could have reloaded with

PG: Parker
SG: Johnson
SF: Pierce
PF: Walker
C:  Battie/Potapenko

that was the 2001 draft but yeah, that was bad.  add in the fact they let Rodney Rogers walk after 2002 instead of resigning him for a 2-3 year deal to provide a third scorer was another kick in the pants.

in that 2001 draft, they could have had Richard Jefferson or Zach Randolph at 11 and either Jamaal Tinsley or Parker (supposedly they really looked at Parker).  If they picked either of those other options at 11 and 21, they probably don't need to make the deal for Rogers and Delk.

Kenny Anderson, JJ, Pierce, Walker, Randolph as a starting 5 with Jefferson, Parker and Battie off the bench would have gotten to the finals in 2002, probably 2003 and a few more years.

Supposedly management wanted Parker but Red wanted Forte.  That’s the story at least

[todd_days_41]

The Twolves also took Ty Lawson and promptly traded him away.

I get the Rubio pick, but Flynn was unforgivable.

They also took Shabazz Muhammad one pick ahead of Giannis. Ouch.

[todd_days_41]

cue up the Danny's-drafting-sucks posters about to complain about James Young and Guershon Yabusele in 3..2..1..

Not those two. But trading up to take Olynyk ahead of Giannis was an all timer.

[slamtheking]

Chris Wallaces draft in 2003 was pretty bad. Especially if you factor in the mid season trade, choosing Kedrick over JJ

Joe Johnson, Kedrick Brown, and Joe Forte.

Joe Johnson panned out but they trade him mid season and keep Kedrick. 

Then they pass on Tony Parker and take Forte.

That draft was a disaster

Coming off a 2002 ECF trip we could have reloaded with

PG: Parker
SG: Johnson
SF: Pierce
PF: Walker
C:  Battie/Potapenko

that was the 2001 draft but yeah, that was bad.  add in the fact they let Rodney Rogers walk after 2002 instead of resigning him for a 2-3 year deal to provide a third scorer was another kick in the pants.

in that 2001 draft, they could have had Richard Jefferson or Zach Randolph at 11 and either Jamaal Tinsley or Parker (supposedly they really looked at Parker).  If they picked either of those other options at 11 and 21, they probably don't need to make the deal for Rogers and Delk.

Kenny Anderson, JJ, Pierce, Walker, Randolph as a starting 5 with Jefferson, Parker and Battie off the bench would have gotten to the finals in 2002, probably 2003 and a few more years.

Supposedly management wanted Parker but Red wanted Forte.  That’s the story at least

that's the going story. 

[slamtheking]

cue up the Danny's-drafting-sucks posters about to complain about James Young and Guershon Yabusele in 3..2..1..

Not those two. But trading up to take Olynyk ahead of Giannis was an all timer.

KO is still a solid NBA player collecting a paycheck so not exactly a whiff by Ainge -- particularly when Giannis was a huge question mark in that draft.  if you're going to ding Danny for that, ding all the other GMs that passed on Giannis.

[todd_days_41]

cue up the Danny's-drafting-sucks posters about to complain about James Young and Guershon Yabusele in 3..2..1..

Not those two. But trading up to take Olynyk ahead of Giannis was an all timer.

KO is still a solid NBA player collecting a paycheck so not exactly a whiff by Ainge -- particularly when Giannis was a huge question mark in that draft.  if you're going to ding Danny for that, ding all the other GMs that passed on Giannis.

Same old excuse.

Did any other GMs trade up from the pick behind Giannis to two picks before…. in order to take a player that did not needed to be traded up to get?

When you trade up to take a bench player over a 2-time MVP, that’s a whiff. Sorry.

[CFAN38]

cue up the Danny's-drafting-sucks posters about to complain about James Young and Guershon Yabusele in 3..2..1..

Not those two. But trading up to take Olynyk ahead of Giannis was an all timer.

KO is still a solid NBA player collecting a paycheck so not exactly a whiff by Ainge -- particularly when Giannis was a huge question mark in that draft.  if you're going to ding Danny for that, ding all the other GMs that passed on Giannis.

Same old excuse.

Did any other GMs trade up from the pick behind Giannis to two picks before…. in order to take a player that did not needed to be traded up to get?

When you trade up to take a bench player over a 2-time MVP, that’s a whiff. Sorry.

Giannis's development arch has been so incredible that its really hard to hold any GM accountable for missing on that pick. Set aside the skill development he grew at least 3" and gained probably 50lbs without loosing his athleticism or mobility. KO is a 10pt 5rb solid NBA player and was absolutely worth of being drafted in the lottery.   

[boscel33]

LOL.  This is a fun thread.

I'm going 1989, where they take Michael Smith (who?) ahead of Hardaway, Barros, kemp, and Armstrong.  They did get Dino in the second, but he wouldn't come over until 1993.

[todd_days_41]

cue up the Danny's-drafting-sucks posters about to complain about James Young and Guershon Yabusele in 3..2..1..

Not those two. But trading up to take Olynyk ahead of Giannis was an all timer.

KO is still a solid NBA player collecting a paycheck so not exactly a whiff by Ainge -- particularly when Giannis was a huge question mark in that draft.  if you're going to ding Danny for that, ding all the other GMs that passed on Giannis.

Same old excuse.

Did any other GMs trade up from the pick behind Giannis to two picks before…. in order to take a player that did not needed to be traded up to get?

When you trade up to take a bench player over a 2-time MVP, that’s a whiff. Sorry.

Giannis's development arch has been so incredible that its really hard to hold any GM accountable for missing on that pick. Set aside the skill development he grew at least 3" and gained probably 50lbs without loosing his athleticism or mobility. KO is a 10pt 5rb solid NBA player and was absolutely worth of being drafted in the lottery.

Part of being an NBA GM is scouting and evaluating both ceiling and floor of young men in the draft. Risk v. reward. This was arguably Ainge's worst skill as GM of the Cs. It's a simple fact many here simply don't care to admit.