Your right I was wrong and I remember now. Terry Porter was the last draft in the 1st round and Kersey was a 2nd rounder. Sorry I'm old and my mind is forgetting the facts.
CDR, Rush and Randolph were possibilities too. But, I don't think CDR and Rush will be the type of players people look back on as steals. They are solid, but won't be all-stars. T. Prince was a steal in his draft, but nobody talks about him being a steal because he is such a solid background player. Randolph could be, but hasn't shown it yet. Green really lit up a couple games in summer league, which may or may not mean anything. I think Chalmers might be the best functional steal (amazing fit for a team that far down), but Chalmers will likely be no more than a solid PG, where Green could be a really explosive player.
Biggest bust? Derrick Rose. Biggest steal? Michael Beasley. The Beast. What? At #2? Wouldn't LeBron be a steal at #1?
I agree that Green could be a huge steal and maybe CDR but IMO Rush isn't a steal and was even drafted a little to high. I was a little worried when we drafted him and I was hoping KP was making some kind of trade.
I think Michael Beasley was probably the biggest draft day steal of this years draft. Jerryd Bayless is going to be a big steal too, but there is no reason for this. Bayless should have been the 4th pick, I don't quite understand why he fell so far. Also Omer Asik if he recovers from his knee injury. Stephen Curry will be the biggest steal of next year's draft.
I'm with Celtic fan on best steal ever. If you redo that draft Clyde is #1 with a bullet. And the #2 guy would probably be Byron Scott. That's a HUGE drop off from #1 to #2. Clyde was a total steal. With this year's draft I'm gonna go non-homer and say Donte Green. Call me crazy, but that kid looks like he's better than Travis Outlaw right now and the sky is the limit for that kid. But what do I know, it was just a few summer league games.
Heh. But beyond Chuck, you're right, you used to see lots of late round picks who turned out to be really really good. This is maybe the best argument for why, in general, the NBA does a better job of drafting now. When was the last time an undrafted player (who might have been taken in rounds 3-19 in the old days) turned out to be really good? Ben Wallace became really good, and there are a few good players on this NBA.com list (which is incomplete- I don't see Chris Quinn on there), but Wallace was 12 years ago. Anyway, for current players at least, how about the All-Undrafted Team 1- Jose Calderon, Chucky Atkins, Chris Quinn 2- Raja Bell, Mike James, Marquis Daniels 3- Andres Nocioni, Bruce Bowen, Ime Udoka 4- Ben Wallace, Udonis Haslem, Chuck Hayes 5- Brad Miller, Fabricio Oberto, DJ Mbenga It's probably a clear loser to an all-second round team: 1- Gilbert Arenas, Monta Ellis, Mo Williams 2- Manu Ginobili, Michael Redd, Stephen Jackson 3- Rashard Lewis, Luke Walton, Trevor Ariza 4- Ryan Gomes, Ronny Turiaf, Matt Bonner 5- Mehmet Okur, Anderson Varejao