With the recent Yao injury, I'm starting to think that the players of the 2002 Draft are curesed. Let me go through the top picks and some of the problems they have had. Pick #1: Yao Ming- Two serious injuries in one season. Luckily, this last one occured when the Rockets season is essentially over. #2: Jay Williams- Out of the league since a motorcycle accident. #3: Mike Dunleavy- Severly underperformed for such a high pick #4: Drew Gooden- On the Magic team with Mcgrady that started 03-04 season with 1 win and 19 losses #5: Nikoloz Tskitishvili- Don't know anything about his injury history, but he currently has career averages of 2.9 ppg and 1.8 rpg. With that kind of stats, he injured the career of whoever drafted him. #6: Dajuan Wagner- I can't seem to find stats or info on him. He's either out of the league or in the D-league. #7: Nene- Season-ending injury in first game of the season #8: Chris Wilcox- Underperformed until recently #9: Amare Stoudemire- Injury limiting him to 3 games this season, and possibly affecting him for the rest of his career. #10: Caron Butler- Mostly injury-free, but is currently listed day-to-day with a sprained thumb. #11: Jared Jeffries- Don't Care #12: Melvin Ely- Do not know a lot about him, but he has played 52 games or less 3 of his 4 years. Also earlier this year, he was bedridden for 6 days with the flu, which caused him to lose 8 pounds. #13: Marcus Haislip- Don't know anything about him. Seems to be out of the league. The rest seem to be relatively healthly, probably because they suck too much to actually get the oppurtunity to play and get injured. Honorable Mentions: Curtis Borchardt (18)- Out of league or in D-League Ryan Humphrey (19)- Out of league or in D-League Kareem Rush (20)- Waived by Bobcats because of work ethic Qyntel Woods (21)- A typical Portland Jailbazer. 4 teams in 4 years. Guilty of animal abuse, and suspended for substance abuse. Played only 3 games last season. Currently on the horrible Knicks team. Casey Jacobsen (22)- Out of league or in D-League Tayshaun Prince (23)- To quote a line from Fargo- "He was funny looking" Frank Williams (25)- Out of league or in D-League Chris Jefferies (27)- Out of league or in D-League Looking back at this draft, it looks to be very weak. Many players have performed below expectations (eg. Dunleavy, Tskitishvili), and those that have become stars have had serious injuries (Yao, Amare, and you might put Williams and Nene in this category) Only 1 of the top 13 picks (Jared Jeffries) is both active and on a playoff team at the moment. It would be 2 of 13 if you count Caron Butler, who is currently injured (but not serious). But he is on the same team as Jeffries. So only one playoff team is currently benefitting from at least one of the top 13 picks from the 2002 draft. The rest of the top 13 are either injured or on a team bound for the lottery. Its been a bad year for this draft class. Is it possible that they are cursed? With all that said, I don't believe in curses .
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting evolidiot:</div><div class="quote_post"> Only 1 of the top 13 picks (Jared Jeffries) is both active and on a playoff team at the moment. The rest of the top 13 are either injured or on a team bound for the lottery. </div> Drew Gooden is active and on a playoff team. Nikoloz Tskitishvili is also on a playoff team and last i checked was on the active roster.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jerry West:</div><div class="quote_post">Drew Gooden is active and on a playoff team. Nikoloz Tskitishvili is also on a playoff team and last i checked was on the active roster.</div> You're right. I forgot about Gooden, and Tskitishvili plays so little that he is barely in the league.
DeJuan Wagner was always injured, and then developed some kidney illnesses. Last year he missed nearly the whole season with Colitis (don't remember what that exactly is) You obviously spent some time on this, but spending a little more time might have actually told you what teams these guys play for. Most of these guys are IN the NBA, not in the D-league.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting briang8818:</div><div class="quote_post">DeJuan Wagner was always injured, and then developed some kidney illnesses. Last year he missed nearly the whole season with Colitis (don't remember what that exactly is) You obviously spent some time on this, but spending a little more time might have actually told you what teams these guys play for. Most of these guys are IN the NBA, not in the D-league.</div> I did spend some time doing a little research, but I did not put too much effort into looking for the lower draft picks. I basically did a player search on ESPN, and when they don't have a profile, I assumed they were either out of the league or in the D-league. My main point is that 4 of the most promising picks (Yao, Amare, Nene, and Jay Williams) all are inactive due to injuries. These four players have played a total of 61 games, 57 of which were played by Yao.
Man, Dajuan Wagner dropped 100 in an HS game too. I remembered he was really hyped for the NBA, but I guess he`s just floating around free agency nowadays.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Man, Dajuan Wagner dropped 100 in an HS game too. I remembered he was really hyped for the NBA, but I guess he`s just floating around free agency nowadays.</div> Yeah, I remembered the Sixers almost signed him, but things fell apart. Nikoloz Tskitishvili wasn't injured that much (I don't think), he just plain sucks.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting briang8818:</div><div class="quote_post">DeJuan Wagner was always injured, and then developed some kidney illnesses. Last year he missed nearly the whole season with Colitis (don't remember what that exactly is) </div> Diarrhea, perhaps ulcerative
