What a bonanza it would be if even one of our 4 second round picks turned out to be a hidden gem! Make it happen, KP!!!
Best Second Draft Picks: Michael Redd Manu Ginobili Rashard Lewis Nick Van Exel Ben Wallace Carlos Boozer Paul Millsap Trevor Ariza Gilbert Arenas Mehmet Okur Mo Williams Ramon Sessions Luis Scola Anderson Varejao Monta Ellis
When I think that we may be a team of the Big 3 + reserves, those #2 picks can get us nice position players who may only do 1 thing well, but they fill a need.
I'm sure you'll be able to add Mario Chalmers to the list before his career is over as well. The thing is that in some ways a high second round pick is more valuable than the last few picks in the first round...assuming that the player you want is still available when you get there. 2nd rounders are ultimate for high-risk/reward players...maybe you draft a Euro and he never pans out....oh well, you haven't guaranteed him money. If or when the guy comes over though, you may get a really good value. Every year it seems like there is a guy who slides to the 2nd round, who turns out to be productive. Whether or not he was good at the draft, or rather improved as a pro, is a different story. If we grab someone like Pendergraph or Danny Green (whom I'm not a huge fan of, but looking at his numbers and contributes shows he will be Childress-like), then that's a pretty productive use of a later pick. Someone who shows promise to actually contribute, even if it's only in a role setting.
Clifford Robinson, Jerome Kersey & Kevin Duckworth were all second round picks who did pretty OK on the Blazers.
You can't find a gem if you're not able to play him and we just don't have the minutes on our team for a rookie this season.