Month: November 2024

Scouting players and predicting how their skills will translate to the NBA is one of the more difficult tasks front offices have on their plates. Looking back over past drafts and how many lottery picks never evolved into stars, or even made a significant impact in the league, illustrates just how often stats, combine numbers and pure gut instinct often come up short.

Of course, we get the opportunity to critique these moves with the benefit of hindsight — a luxury that GMs don’t have on draft night. Having said that, it’s still fun to go back in time and take a theoretical look at how these drafts should have/could have gone.

We’ve been revisiting 2008 draft, which had a number of players who have gone on to post big numbers in the league. This was the year of Derrick Rose (No. 1 overall), Russell Westbrook (No. 4), Kevin Love (No. 5), Brook Lopez (No. 10) and Nicolas Batum (No. 25). Over the next few weeks, we’ll be posting a series of polls asking readers to vote on whom teams should have selected in each spot.

We’ve arrived at the No. 25 overall pick, which was held by Houston. In the “real world” draft, the Rockets dealt the pick as part of a three-team trade to the Blazers. The details of the swap were: Portland acquired the draft rights to the No. 25 pick (Batum) from Houston, the Rockets received the No. 33 pick (Joey Dorsey) from the Blazers and the No. 28 pick (Donte Greene) along with a 2009 second-round draft pick from Memphis, and the Grizzlies acquired the No. 27 pick (Darrell Arthur) from Portland. With Batum already off the board in our draft, having been taken at No. 7 overall by the Clippers, we’ll nix this trade and have Houston select for itself here.

So cast your vote for who the Rockets select and check back on Thursday to see the results, as well as to vote on whom the Spurs take with the No. 26 pick. Also, don’t limit yourself to a simple button click. Take to the comments section below and share your thoughts on the pick and why you voted the way that you did. If we fail to list a player who you think should be selected, feel free to post that in the comments section and we’ll be certain to tally those votes as well.

1. Bulls — Russell Westbrook [Actual Pick — Derrick Rose]
2. Heat — Kevin Love [Actual Pick — Michael Beasley]
3. Wolves — Derrick Rose [Actual Pick — O.J. Mayo]
4. Sonics/Thunder — DeAndre Jordan [Actual Pick — Russell Westbrook]
5. Grizzlies — Brook Lopez [Actual Pick — Kevin Love]
6. Knicks — Serge Ibaka  [Actual Pick — Danilo Gallinari]
7. Clippers — Nicolas Batum [Actual Pick — Eric Gordon]
8. Bucks — Goran Dragic [Actual Pick — Joe Alexander]
9. Bobcats/Hornets — Danilo Gallinari [Actual Pick — D.J. Augustin]
10. Nets — Ryan Anderson [Actual Pick — Brook Lopez]
11. Blazers (from Pacers) — Eric Gordon [Actual Pick — Jerryd Bayless]
12. Kings — George Hill  [Actual Pick — Jason Thompson]
13. Pacers (from Blazers) — Robin Lopez [Actual Pick — Brandon Rush]
14. Warriors — Courtney Lee [Actual Pick — Anthony Randolph]
15. Suns — Roy Hibbert [Actual Pick — Robin Lopez]
16. Sixers— Nikola Pekovic [Actual Pick  — Marreese Speights]
17. Raptors — O.J. Mayo [Actual Pick — Roy Hibbert]
18. Wizards — Mario Chalmers [Actual Pick — JaVale McGee]
19. Cavaliers — Timofey Mozgov [Actual Pick  — J.J. Hickson]
20. Bobcats/Hornets (from Nuggets) — Michael Beasley [Actual Pick — Alexis Ajinca]
21. Nets (from Mavs) — Omer Asik [Actual Pick — Ryan Anderson]
22. Magic  — D.J. Augustin [Actual Pick — Courtney Lee]
23. Jazz — Marreese Speights [Actual Pick — Kosta Koufos]
24. Sonics/Thunder (from Suns) — Jerryd Bayless [Actual Pick — Serge Ibaka]
25. Rockets — ?? [Actual Pick — Nicolas Batum]

If you’re a Trade Rumors app user, click here to vote.

Scouting players and predicting how their skills will translate to the NBA is one of the more difficult tasks front offices have on their plates. Looking back over past drafts and how many lottery picks never evolved into stars, or even made a significant impact in the league, illustrates just how often stats, combine numbers and pure gut instinct often come up short.

Of course, we get the opportunity to critique these moves with the benefit of hindsight — a luxury that GMs don’t have on draft night. Having said that, it’s still fun to go back in time and take a theoretical look at how these drafts should have/could have gone.

We’ve been revisiting 2008 draft, which had a number of players who have gone on to post big numbers in the league. This was the year of Derrick Rose (No. 1 overall), Russell Westbrook (No. 4), Kevin Love (No. 5), Brook Lopez (No. 10) and Nicolas Batum (No. 25). Over the next few weeks, we’ll be posting a series of polls asking readers to vote on whom teams should have selected in each spot.

We’ve arrived at the No. 24 overall pick, which was held by the Sonics/Thunder by way of Phoenix. The pick was acquired by Seattle/OKC along with the Suns’ 2010 first-round draft picks and Kurt Thomas in exchange for a 2009 second-round draft pick and a trade exception worth $8MM. The 2008 pick was used in the “real world” draft to select Serge Ibaka, who is already off the board in our re-draft, having gone to the Knicks at No. 6.

So cast your vote for who Seattle/OKC selects and check back on Wednesday to see the results, as well as to vote on whom the Rockets should have taken with the No. 25 pick. Also, don’t limit yourself to a simple button click. Take to the comments section below and share your thoughts on the pick and why you voted the way that you did. If we fail to list a player who you think should be selected, feel free to post that in the comments section and we’ll be certain to tally those votes as well.

1. Bulls — Russell Westbrook [Actual Pick — Derrick Rose]
2. Heat — Kevin Love [Actual Pick — Michael Beasley]
3. Wolves — Derrick Rose [Actual Pick — O.J. Mayo]
4. Sonics/Thunder — DeAndre Jordan [Actual Pick — Russell Westbrook]
5. Grizzlies — Brook Lopez [Actual Pick — Kevin Love]
6. Knicks — Serge Ibaka  [Actual Pick — Danilo Gallinari]
7. Clippers — Nicolas Batum [Actual Pick — Eric Gordon]
8. Bucks — Goran Dragic [Actual Pick — Joe Alexander]
9. Bobcats/Hornets — Danilo Gallinari [Actual Pick — D.J. Augustin]
10. Nets — Ryan Anderson [Actual Pick — Brook Lopez]
11. Blazers (from Pacers) — Eric Gordon [Actual Pick — Jerryd Bayless]
12. Kings — George Hill  [Actual Pick — Jason Thompson]
13. Pacers (from Blazers) — Robin Lopez [Actual Pick — Brandon Rush]
14. Warriors — Courtney Lee [Actual Pick — Anthony Randolph]
15. Suns — Roy Hibbert [Actual Pick — Robin Lopez]
16. Sixers— Nikola Pekovic [Actual Pick  — Marreese Speights]
17. Raptors — O.J. Mayo [Actual Pick — Roy Hibbert]
18. Wizards — Mario Chalmers [Actual Pick — JaVale McGee]
19. Cavaliers — Timofey Mozgov [Actual Pick  — J.J. Hickson]
20. Bobcats/Hornets (from Nuggets) — Michael Beasley [Actual Pick — Alexis Ajinca]
21. Nets (from Mavs) — Omer Asik [Actual Pick — Ryan Anderson]
22. Magic  — D.J. Augustin [Actual Pick — Courtney Lee]
23. Jazz — Marreese Speights [Actual Pick — Kosta Koufos]
24. Sonics/Thunder (from Suns) — ?? [Actual Pick — Serge Ibaka]

If you’re a Trade Rumors app user, click here to vote.