Top Ten Worst Draft Picks in NBA History

by Matt Minucci

With the NBA draft in full swing and the Clippers taking Blake Griffin with the one, Ricky Rubio going to the T-Wolves at 5 and even the Knicks having a solid draft with Tony Douglas and Jordan Hill, I thought I'd take a look at the worst draft picks in NBA history. As always, except for the #1 pick on this list, all picks are open to debate. Enjoy!

Honorable mentions:

1987 Seattle Supersonics  - 5^th pick: Scottie Pippen. Great pick except they traded him to the Chicago Bulls for Olden Polynice.  Oopsie.

1988 Los Angeles Clippers - 1^st pick: Michael Olowokandi. Once described as the ‘human ebola virus.’

1976 Seattle Supersonics – 12^th pick: Frank Oleynick. Lasted only 2 years, averaging 5 points per game. His nickname was “Magic.”  Seriously.

2001 Washington Wizards – 1^st pick: Kwame Brown. Only 24, but the Wizards passed on Pau Gasol, Jason Richardson, Joe Johnson, Richard Jefferson, Troy Murphy and Tony Parker.

1994 Boston Celtics – 9^th pick: Eric Montross. Career scoring average: 4.5 ppg. Could've had: Eddie Jones, Jalen Rose, Aaron McKie.

1999 New York Knicks – 15^th pick: Frederic Weis. Never played in the NBA. Knicks could have had Ron Artest.

On to the top 10:

10. Bill Wennington and Uwe Blab: Dallas Mavericks, 1987, #’s 16 & 17.

Uwe Blab had other talents even if he couldn't play hoops.

Wennington averaged a mere 4.5 points per game in five years with the Mavs, and Blab only made 1 start and averaged only 2.1 points per game over 4 miserable seasons. The Mavs did take Detlef Schrempf with the 8^th pick but completely destroyed their draft on two 7-footers with absolutely no athletic ability. The 18^th pick that year was Joe Dumars and AC Green and Terry Porter also went later in the first round.

Actually, Dallas could have been a dynasty. They had Mark Aguirre and Rolando Blackmon, who were both all-stars. But their subsequent draft picks were just atrocious. Bill Garnett in 82, Dale Ellis and Derek Harper in 83, who were both all-stars in the making, but the Mavs traded Ellis away after just three seasons, so he became an all-star for Seattle. In ’84 they took Sam Perkins instead of Charles Barkley and Terence Stansbury instead of John Stockton.

So by 1985-86, the Mavericks could have looked like this: Aguire, Blackmon, Harper, Ellis, Barkley, Stockton, Schrempf, Dumars and A.C. Green.

Sadly, this was the only dynasty in Dallas.

Of course, they would have lacked a 7-foot center.

9. Nikoloz Tskitishvili: Denver Nuggets, 2002, # 5.

Pretty much how Nuggets fans felt after this pick.

Now say his name 10 times as fast as you can. There seems to be a fascination in the NBA with 7-foot centers that can’t play. Tskits has never averaged more than 2.9 points in any of his 6 years in the NBA. This guy wasn’t even a top player in Italy. He’s pretty much the worst European player ever selected in the lottery and is widely considered to be one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history. And who did the Nuggets pass up to take the Georgian Goof? Only Amare Stoudemire.

8. Russell Cross: Golden State Warriors, 1983, #6.

So obscure, Cross doesn't even have a color photo on the internet.

The sixth pick in the 1983 draft, Cross averaged 3.7 pts, 1.8 rebounds and 0.5 assists for his career. Which only lasted one season. There’s really not much more I can say about this. One season. The sixth pick in the draft and you last one lousy season? Those still available when the Warriors snagged this gem? Thurl Bailey, Antoine Carr, Dale Ellis, Jeff Malone and Clyde Drexler

7. LaRue Martin: Portland Trailblazers, 1972, #1.

Pictured: Not LaRue Martin. But he does work for the same company.

Ah the Trailblazers. Consider this a preview of things to come as the ‘Blazers will be appearing on this list again. Now, it was 1972. It was a different time. Nixon was in office. Man walked on the moon. The skateboard was invented. People raised pet rocks while listening to Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers. And the Portland Trailblazers were taking the worst #1 pick in NBA draft history. Martin lasted just 4 seasons before retiring young. He never averaged more than 5.3 points per game and 4.6 rebounds per game. His highest single game point total was seven. Who could the Blazers have had with the 1? Well, anyone they wanted. But specifically Bob McAdoo and Julius Erving. Both are now in the NBA Hall of Fame. Martin? He works at UPS.

6. Darko Milicic: Detroit Pistons, 2003, #2.

Darko. Picture of a well-adjusted young man.

Admittedly, it might be a little early to consider Darko this high on this list. But consider this: Darko is now on his fourth team in 6 years, after being traded to the Knicks yesterday. He never averaged more than 5.8 minutes and 1.6 points with the Pistons before he was traded to the Magic. His biggest claim to fame is being able to rip his NBA jersey in half in a fit of unmitigated rage. Impressive feat, but not exactly what he was drafted for. And even more damning, look who went after him: Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade.

5. Mychal Thompson, Phil Ford, Rickey Robey, Michael Ray Richardson and Purvis Short: Portland Trailblazers, Kansas City Kings, Indiana Pacers, New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors, 1978, #1 thru 5.

The sixth pick? Larry Bird.

Red was a genius.

4. Chris Washburn: Golden State Warriors, 1986, #3.

Chris Washburn on draft day.

Washburn made up part of the most tragic draft class in NBA history, as he, Len Bias, Roy Tarpley and William Bedford, all taken in the top 7 picks, all either died or were kicked out of the league due to drug problems.

Although, while Len Bias’s death shocked the sports world, Washburn’s case had big neon highlights around it screaming, “WARNING!” He was arrested while in college for stealing a stereo and given 46 days in jail, 5 years suspended sentence and 5 years probation. He scored just 222 points over his entire NBA career and was eventually booted out of the league after failing a third drug test in 1989. Not that this necessarily matters, but his SAT score was reported to be below 500. 400 being the lowest possible score. Out of 1600. Ouch.

3. Robert Taylor: Milwaukee Bucks, 1998: #6.

Robert Traylor on draft day.

Technically, the Mavericks drafted Tractor Traylor but then traded his rights to the Bucks for Dirk Nowitzki and Pat Garrity. Nowitzki would go on to become MVP and a future Hall of Famer. Tractor would have surgery on his aorta and wind up playing in Turkey for Antalya Kepez Beldiyesi.

2. Joe Barry Carroll: Golden State Warriors, 1980: #1

What Warrior fans see when they think of Carroll.

This is an admittedly interesting choice for number two on this list, since Carroll actually had a very successful career, making the NBA All-Rookie First Team in his first season, averaging 18.9 points and 9.3 rebounds. He had a season high 46 points that season and led the Warriors with 121 blocks. In fact, he made the All-Star game in ’87. However, his career was marred by inconsistent play and an general avoidance of the media, and he was dubbed “Joe Barely Cares.” But what really hurts Carroll and the Warriors was what they gave up to get him: Robert Parish and the draft pick that eventually became Kevin McHale. And there you have the difference between a dynasty and a disaster.

1. Sam Bowie: Portland Trailblazers, 1984: #2.

Pictured: Not Sam Bowie.

No pick on this list is as ignominious and infamous as Sam Bowie. In fact, while this entire list is debatable, there is an almost universal agreement that Sam Bowie is the single worst draft pick in any sport in American sports history. Well done ‘Blazers! It’s not that Bowie was bad. He was severely injury prone and this hampered his career. But the Blazers KNEW this. The 7 foot center had missed two full seasons at Kentucky with a stress fracture in his left shinbone. He only played 139 games for the Blazers over 5 years due to injuries.

But what drives the Bowie pick from just plain awful to the stuff of legends is who was taken after him. A guy by the name of Michael Jordan.

It begs the question: Why? Why would the ‘Blazers select an injury prone center? According to published reports at the time, the Blazers were obsessed with getting a big man. They lost a coin flip to the Rockets for the #1 pick and the Rockets took Akeem ''The Dream'' Olajuwon. The Blazers coveted Olajuwon and in fact had been fined, before the coin flip, $250,000 for improper conduct with Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing.

This leads me to a follow-up question. What if?  What if the Blazers had taken Jordan with the two? How many titles would they have won. It’s not a question of if they would win one. No. It’s just a matter of how many?

Look at this lost dynasty: They already had Clyde “The Glide” Drexler. They had drafted Jerome Kersey in the 2^nd round the year they got Bowie. They had big time scorers in Kiki Vandeweghe and Mychal Thompson. The next year, the Blazers drafted Terry Porter late in the first round.

That’s some team. In fact, the Drexler-Kersey-Porter nucleus was good enough to make two NBA Finals on its own. Add Jordan to the mix and the Blazers win eight straight championships starting in 1987. No Lakers repeat. No Bad Boys Pistons. No Bulls dynasty.

Of course …they’d have to beat the Mavs juggernaut of Barkley, Stockton, Dumars, Aguirre, Blackmon, Harper and Schrempf, wouldn’t they?

Oh what could have been.