The Worst Hawks draft pick ever?

[Diesel]

HM: Anthony Avent #15, Priest Lauterdale #28, Cal Bowdler #18, and Dion Glover #20.

OK, this time, let's consider draft position, productivity and what was passed up.

DeMarr came before: Jamal Crawford, Joel Pryzbillia, Keyon dooling, Hedo, Etan, and Mo Pete.

McCloud came before: Al Harrington, Lue, Mohammed (Nazr), and Ricky Davis.

Ed Gray came before: Bobby Jackson, Jacque Vaughn, Stephen Jackson, and Anthony Johnson.

Adam Keefe before: Robert Horry, Doug Christie, Latrell Spreewell, and Jon Barry.

Koncak before: Chris Mullen, Karl Malone, Charles Oakley, Detlef Shrempf, Joe Dumars, A.C. Green, and Terry Porter.

[macdaddy]

Well I hated to do it because Marvin is absolutely not the worst player picked. But in terms of biggest drafting mistake you have to say that its much harder to screw up a #2 than a #5 or #11. I think Sheldon was a bigger disappointment because at #5 he's not even a contributor. But in Marvin's case, In a draft rich with PG talent taking a project wing was a disaster.

I think Roy was the best player we could have taken over Sheldon but they were concerned about his knees right? That turned out to be warranted.

Instead of Acie we could have had Stuckey.

[spotatl]

Marvin isn't a bust- he got a raise off of his rookie scale contract. Shelden Williams has been discarded by 4 teams now and makes the minimum salary. And at the time there were people who at least thought that Marvin was the right choice- NO ONE thought that Shelden should be a top 5 pick.

[Diesel]

Well I hated to do it because Marvin is absolutely not the worst player picked. But in terms of biggest drafting mistake you have to say that its much harder to screw up a #2 than a #5 or #11. I think Sheldon was a bigger disappointment because at #5 he's not even a contributor. But in Marvin's case, In a draft rich with PG talent taking a project wing was a disaster.

I think Roy was the best player we could have taken over Sheldon but they were concerned about his knees right? That turned out to be warranted.

Instead of Acie we could have had Stuckey.

I think when people look at the Shelden pick... the whole story is never told. This is the whole story.

Shelden had the same agent as Joe Johnson.

When We traded for Joe Johnson and fell into our problems with ownership, there was a time that Joe could have signed with someone else. But his agent told Joe to sit still. Joe sat still and finally we got the trade done. After that, we owed Joe's agent.

The next draft year, we didn't have any bigs on the roster (Al Harrington was a FA) and Shelden was the highest projected big behind Aldridge and Barganani. We were also being forced to take Shelden by his agent (Joe's agent). In fact, during that draft, Joe's agent had agreements from Us, PTL, and Minny that guaranteed that Roy would go to PTL and that Shelden would come to Atlanta. However, all that anybody ever remembers is that we had a deal with Joe's agent.

Marvin isn't a bust- he got a raise off of his rookie scale contract. Shelden Williams has been discarded by 4 teams now and makes the minimum salary. And at the time there were people who at least thought that Marvin was the right choice- NO ONE thought that Shelden should be a top 5 pick.

Doesn't mean he wasn't a bad draft pick.

If nobody thought that he should be a top 5 pick and he didn't pan out, isn't that better than everybody thinking that Marvin was James Worthy with a Jumpshot and him not panning out??

[exodus]

The problem here is that there are so many choices. The Hawks drafting has completely sucked since i started following the team in '93.

[spotatl]

If nobody thought that he should be a top 5 pick and he didn't pan out, isn't that better than everybody thinking that Marvin was James Worthy with a Jumpshot and him not panning out??

Uhhh... no. because in one case you gota useful player and in the other one you got a guy that wouldn't go in the first round if you did the draft over again. If you did Marvin's draft over again he would probably still be a top 10 pick. And you took shelden before anyone else AT THE TIME thought he should go. It was an indefensible pick on draft night- to me that makes it easily the worst of all those picks.

Edited November 30, 2010 by spotatl

[frosgrim]

It's almost a toss up between Kack and MW, if you think of the players drafted after them. Malone would have been great (of course we had Willis). MW- we all know the story.

But, as Ex said, this team can't draft it's way out of a wet paper bag.

[capstone21]

Marvin is the only player on that list who has contributed to the team.

[Wretch]

Tossup between Marvin and Cak.

OMG... Dumars, AC Green, Terry Porter, Kaal MAHLONE, Mullin, Detlef Schremph (or whatever lol) vs.having a Chris Paul or Deron Williams next to JJ? Tough call for me.

And we already had 37 forwards on the roster? Shelldon was bad, but at least we needed a big.

[Sothron]

None of these. I'm shocked Diesel forgot about this.

David Thompson. Our only #1 pick EVER and what did he do? Why he signed with the ABA and NEVER played for the Hawks. A HoF player that was Michael Jordan's role model at NC State this guy was incredible to watch and not once did he play for the Hawks. Even after the ABA was folded into the NBA they never made him Hawks property. Our worst pick BY FAR. We wasted the number one pick in the draft on a HoF player that never once played for the Hawks.

[Wretch]

None of these. I'm shocked Diesel forgot about this.

David Thompson. Our only #1 pick EVER and what did he do? Why he signed with the ABA and NEVER played for the Hawks. A HoF player that was Michael Jordan's role model at NC State this guy was incredible to watch and not once did he play for the Hawks. Even after the ABA was folded into the NBA they never made him Hawks property. Our worst pick BY FAR. We wasted the number one pick in the draft on a HoF player that never once played for the Hawks.

Doesn't that just sum up the "curse" on us though? Or how about this little nugget:

When [Julius Erving] became eligible for the NBA draft in 1972, the Milwaukee Bucks picked him in the first round (12th overall). This move would have brought him together withOscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Instead, the 6' 7", 210 pound Erving signed a contract with the Atlanta Hawks before the 1972–73 season.

As attorneys tried to reach an agreement among three teams in two leagues, Erving joined Pete Maravich and the Hawks's training camp, as they prepared for the upcoming season. Erving enjoyed his brief time with Atlanta, and he would later duplicate with George Gervin his after-practice playing with Maravich. He played three exhibition games with the Hawks until, because of a legal injunction, he was obliged by a three-judge panel to return to the ABA Squires. The NBA fined Atlanta $25,000 per game for Erving's Hawks appearances because Milwaukee owned his NBA rights.

Edited November 30, 2010 by Wretch

[Diesel]

Marvin is the only player on that list who has contributed to the team.

Marvin hasn't contributed to the team. Marvin has been given minutes over and over and over again mostly in an attempt to prove that he was not a bust. Shelden was never fed the minutes that Marvin gets. Neither was any other player on the list save Koncak. The fact that Marvin "contribution" is based solely on the fact that he plays 34 mpg. Think about that, A guy plays 34 mpg and gives us pitiful returns and we're still trying to justify him 6 yrs later....

Just for grins... I looked up Shelden with us.

During his rookie Year, he didn't see Marvin minutes til about game 74. Check out what happened?

During his sophomore year, he was in the doghouse and traded 36 games in.

what if Marvin were treated that way?

Marvin wasn't. In fact, it doesn't matter how badly Marvin plays, he will always get Marvin minutes.

[terrell]

Marvin isn't a bust- he got a raise off of his rookie scale contract. Shelden Williams has been discarded by 4 teams now and makes the minimum salary. And at the time there were people who at least thought that Marvin was the right choice- NO ONE thought that Shelden should be a top 5 pick.

Your'e right, he's not a bust. He's close, considering he went #2 overall, but he's not even close to Shellhead(Even though we needed a big body who could rebound, and didnt need Roy because we already had Joe). But still. Rudy Gay woulda been nice, but Woody, Dominique, and BK still had high hopes for Marvin. And btw, the only reason Marvin got a raise is because our FO and GM dont know their azzes from a whole in the ground.

[Diesel]

None of these. I'm shocked Diesel forgot about this.

David Thompson. Our only #1 pick EVER and what did he do? Why he signed with the ABA and NEVER played for the Hawks. A HoF player that was Michael Jordan's role model at NC State this guy was incredible to watch and not once did he play for the Hawks. Even after the ABA was folded into the NBA they never made him Hawks property. Our worst pick BY FAR. We wasted the number one pick in the draft on a HoF player that never once played for the Hawks.

I didn't consider Thompson or Dr. J. for the simple fact that the Hawks would have been fools to not pick them.

[Wretch]

Marvin Minutes.

[Joker]

Marvin because of the who he went ahead of but Shelden was the worst by far.

Edited December 1, 2010 by nbasuperstar40

[CBAreject]

It's clearly between Shelden, Cak, and Marvin. The rest are just silly to mention in the same conversation; even though they were bad picks, they weren't catastrophic. The Dermarr pick was a bad one, but it was in the worst lottery in NBA history, and at the time that he broke his back, he was projecting as a starting SG. The Hawks should've taken Crawford there, but the Dermarr pick wasn't horrific.

Back to the big 3...I believe you must consider BOTH what they knew at the time AND what we now know. In hindsight, all 3 picks were just awful, given how the players developed and what became of the players taken behind them. Only Marvin was considered by some (if not most) to be the best player available at his position at the time, though. The other two picks were much stupider without the benefit of hindsight. And between those two, Shelden was considered the most egregious REACH. At the time, it was said that Shelden Williams might fall out of the lottery if the Hawks didn't take him at #5. Not only that, but the Hawks TOLD everyone they were taking Shelden before the draft, destroying any leverage they had to maneuver. That was all before the draft. What we didn't know was whether the eventual ROY, Brandon Roy would tumble to us at #5. When he did, it was too good to be true, but the Hawks blew it and took the worst of their options. Those who say we needed a PF neglect that an equally good prospect lurked at the top of the 2nd round in Paul MIllsap. All things considered, the Shelden Williams pick was the worst in Hawks history, and that is saying quite a lot.

[DJlaysitup]

It's hard to pick a worst draft pick. We never had a truly epic draft pick fail - just a bunch of bad to really bad fails.

[jhay610]

It's hard to pick a worst draft pick. We never had a truly epic draft pick fail - just a bunch of bad to really bad fails.

Shelden was pretty epic IMO due to the reasons cited in CBA's post.

[Diesel]

It's clearly between Shelden, Cak, and Marvin. The rest are just silly to mention in the same conversation; even though they were bad picks, they weren't catastrophic. The Dermarr pick was a bad one, but it was in the worst lottery in NBA history, and at the time that he broke his back, he was projecting as a starting SG. The Hawks should've taken Crawford there, but the Dermarr pick wasn't horrific.

Back to the big 3...I believe you must consider BOTH what they knew at the time AND what we now know. In hindsight, all 3 picks were just awful, given how the players developed and what became of the players taken behind them. Only Marvin was considered by some (if not most) to be the best player available at his position at the time, though. The other two picks were much stupider without the benefit of hindsight. And between those two, Shelden was considered the most egregious REACH. At the time, it was said that Shelden Williams might fall out of the lottery if the Hawks didn't take him at #5. Not only that, but the Hawks TOLD everyone they were taking Shelden before the draft, destroying any leverage they had to maneuver. That was all before the draft. What we didn't know was whether the eventual ROY, Brandon Roy would tumble to us at #5. When he did, it was too good to be true, but the Hawks blew it and took the worst of their options. Those who say we needed a PF neglect that an equally good prospect lurked at the top of the 2nd round in Paul MIllsap. All things considered, the Shelden Williams pick was the worst in Hawks history, and that is saying quite a lot.

Sorry but Shelden was the best big available when we picked. It was actually because of Marvin that BK couldn't pick a swingman like Rudy Gay or a guy like Roy. Remember, BK had been pigeonholed into being a guy who would not draft a PG or a Big but only like 6'7 - 6'9 players. We picked Marvin when we had 6 other Sf types on the roster. We picked Shelden when we had Al Harrington who was a free agent and not likely to be kept. To point out Milsap is a joke right? Milsap would have been a bigger reach than Shelden. Shelden was at least 3rd in NCAA player of the year voting. What was Milsap?

"Measurements will be key. Millsap is listed at 6-8, but it’s always hard to tell exactly with players of his size and bulk just by eyeballing them. Anything less than 6-8 (despite his tremendous wingspan) could cause his stock to drop.

Millsap has one position and one position only at the NBA level: power forward. He is too wide and not skilled or athletic enough to consider making him a 3, and is a couple of inches too short to keep him at the center position which he currently occupies.

He’s clearly uncomfortable operating outside of 12 feet, possessing very basic ball-handling skills and not enough range on his jump shot, at least not on a consistent basis.

Millsap hasn’t really been challenged to improve his offensive skill level in college because of the competition he’s gone up against. He can bully his man in the paint and get 2 points almost whenever he pleases, so there is no reason for him or his coach to make things more difficult on him. His footwork is therefore not nearly as polished as many recent undersized, but highly talented big men we recall coming out of college such as Sean May or Ike Diogu, and therefore questions will linger about how much of his offense will translate over to the NBA game. He is athletic, but not an explosive freak, so there aren't many outs there either. Millsap has worked hard to expand his range and has even hit a couple of 3-pointers this year (4-12 in 25 games at the time of this report), but still has plenty of work ahead of him in this area to expand his expand his offensive game."

From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Paul-Millsap-NBA-Draft-Scouting-Report-2812/#ixzz16rHVKbuz'>http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Paul-Millsap-NBA-Draft-Scouting-Report-2812/#ixzz16rHVKbuz

http://www.draftexpress.com

Coming out of College, Milsap wasn't expected to dominate. He wasn't expected to do much more than be a rebounder. Williams on the other hand was expected to be polished.

"Easily being the most polished and accomplished big man in this draft, Williams is virtually a lock to be drafted in the 1st round barring a disaster. A team in dire need of inside help and especially his rebounding and defensive skills such as Chicago or Atlanta could decide to take a look at him in the mid-lottery should their picks remain in that area. He could just as well be drafted in the late lottery or at worst the late teens as things look right now early on in the season.

From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/shelden-williams-18/#ixzz16rINkwha

http://www.draftexpress.com "