I was just going through some past drafts for the raptors and I had a mini barf when I got to 2001. The Raptors drafted Michael Bradley 17th, ahead of Zach Randolf 19th, Gerald Wallace 25th, Sam Dalembert 26th, and worst of all Tony Parker 29th. Then when I was looking at 2002, it reminded me of this years upcoming draft….Potential for a PILE OF DUDS. Actual 2002 NBA Draft 1.Houston - Yao Ming 2.Chicago - Jay Williams 3.Golden State - Mike Dunleavy. 4.Memphis - Drew Gooden 5.Denver - Nickoloz Tskitishvili 6.Cleveland - Dajuan Wagner 7.New York - Maybyner "Nene" Hilario 8.*LA Clippers (Atl) - Chris Wilcox 9.Phoenix - Amare Stoudemire 10.Miami - Caron Butler 11.Washington - Jared Jeffries 12.LA Clippers - Melvin Ely 13.Milwaukee - Marcus Haislip 14.Indiana - Frederick Jones 15.*Houston (Tor) - Bostjan Nachbar 16. Philadalphia - Jiri Welsch 17.Washington (NO) - Juan Dixon 18.Orlando - Curtis Borchardt 19.Utah - Ryan Humphrey 20.*Toronto (via Sea, NY) -Kareem Rush 21.Portland - Qyntel Woods 22.*Phoenix (Bos) - Casey Jacobsen 23.Detroit - Tayshaun Prince Minnesota Minnesota's forfeits first-rounders in the '02,and '04, NBA Drafts regains 2003 regains 2005 24.New Jersey - Nenad Krstic 25.*Denver (Dal) - Frank Williams 26.San Antonio - John Salmons 27.LA Lakers - Chris Jefferies Andrea Bargnani has BUST written all over him!!! Remember for every Disc Dirk, there are 100 Alek Redojevic’s and Nickoloz Tskitishvili’s. TRADE THE PICK!
Yeah Andrea will be a major bust, I could see him being like a Fran or a Tskitishvili for sure. Just straight up bust is written all over him and they have him going top 5 on nbadraft.net. But remember, every draft also has a diamond in the rough..... Who is it?
I still don't know how people are already calling Bargnani a bust. He's arguably the best European prospect we've seen in a while (better than Darko, IMO). Just seems like a lot of people are basing their opinions on their gut, without actually having seen him play.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Chutney:</div><div class="quote_post">I still don't know how people are already calling Bargnani a bust. He's arguably the best European prospect we've seen in a while (better than Darko, IMO). Just seems like a lot of people are basing their opinions on their gut, without actually having seen him play.</div> Exactly. He's not a one dimensional player like Skeeta was. There's also variables that contributed to Skeeta not working out. Being injured every season has stunted his development and being bounced around the league has killed his confidence. I got to watch Skeeta play in the summer leagues last season, and you can see why teams are still willing to take a chance on him. He can drain shots from the perimeter with ease. He was tearing it up for the TWolves last summer, but in the last game he ended up breaking his wrist and it crushed all the momentum he had built trying to resurect his career. Bargnani plays with more tenacity than Skeeta. He has no problem going to the rack and dunking it in traffic. He doesn't just drift on the perimeter waiting for the ball to come to him. Bargnani is a gifted scorer from all areas of the court. I'm pretty sure Bryan Colangelo is going to piece this team together similar to the Phoenix Suns brand of basketball. Uptempo offense that runs the pick and roll 85% of the time. Andrea Bargnani would be deadly in this type of offense because of his ability to shoot. Power forwards and Centers are going to have to step out to defend him and that just opens up the inside for Bosh.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Chutney:</div><div class="quote_post">I still don't know how people are already calling Bargnani a bust. He's arguably the best European prospect we've seen in a while (better than Darko, IMO). Just seems like a lot of people are basing their opinions on their gut, without actually having seen him play.</div> You just proved my point! I hope to god he would be better then darko, my god he has been one of the biggest busts in recent history. Sure he drowned on the pistons bench, but a special player should be able to fight through that.
Darko is a bust?? How can u say he's a bust when he gets 2 minutes in a span of 3 games in Detroit? A special player should be able to fight through it? Detroit has a veteran team, they have guys who KNOW what they are doing night in and night out. A rookie/younger player gets confused at times and won't know what to do in a certain situation. Darko is proving he can play in Orlando so u can't say he's a bust. Wait til this up coming season and the next to write him off. If u want to call somebody a bust, call Araujo a bust. He's been giving tons of minutes but can't do nothing.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Gotrunks226:</div><div class="quote_post">Darko is a bust?? How can u say he's a bust when he gets 2 minutes in a span of 3 games in Detroit? A special player should be able to fight through it? Detroit has a veteran team, they have guys who KNOW what they are doing night in and night out. A rookie/younger player gets confused at times and won't know what to do in a certain situation. Darko is proving he can play in Orlando so u can't say he's a bust. Wait til this up coming season and the next to write him off. If u want to call somebody a bust, call Araujo a bust. He's been giving tons of minutes but can't do nothing.</div> Gimme a break! Darko was drafted ahead of Carmelo, Bosh and Wade. You can't compare him to any of those players. He has had 3 years in the league. He's a bust. He may turn out to be a decent pro someday, but considering he was drafted 2nd ahead of so many all stars, you have to consider him a bust.
I think when you look at the 03 draft and look at the embarassment of riches of the top 7 picks it might be easy to call darko a bust now, but that would be wrong. Certainly he was not ready to play in comparison with Bosh, Melo & Wade or even guys like hinrich and Kaman. But i think you still have to weigh the fact that he is only 20 in the picture, he was the youngest player drafted that year and he has a chance to play for 15 more years and put together a very solid career. Heck if the NBA age limit was in place when he got drafted this would be the first year he would be eligible to get drafted. I just think 15 years from now when you look back at 03 draft class you might say #2 was bit early for Darko but you won't be able to call him a bust...Just like when you look at the 1996 draft you might say #2 was bit early for Camby but you sure as hell can't call his career a Bust. Anyway time will tell if he's a bust, but right now I would trade our #5 pick for him straight up.
I still think it's too early to completely judge darko - the guy was completely hidden behind a team that had a deep frontcourt. I don't understand how we can label a guy like that a bust when he's still the age of some of the top prospects for this years draft. He started to have a few decent games at the end of the season but struggled with his consistancy which only seems natural because he's been so underutilized. He been able to show signs of being able to score, rebound and block shots. In terms of Bargnani being a flop i couldn't comment because i haven't seen him play.... It does seem aparent though that some teams have a way better handle on which foreign players a worth the investment and which aren't ... unforunately in the past we've definately been on the wrong end of that one. You simply can't compare wade, melo and bosh to Darko... because each of those guys were put into a situation where they logged a lot of playing time imediately and their teams built their whole style of play around them. Compare that to a guy was fighting all-stars to get any PT and had to deal with a coach who hardly gives young players a chance.
Bargini is not a bust all these guys u talk about like skita did you know how much he played before he came here? He played 2 minutes per game on the juinior squad thats how much skita played. Bargini is averaging 20-30minutes a game on the senior squad already proving he can play he is not all potential.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting norespect:</div><div class="quote_post">Gimme a break! Darko was drafted ahead of Carmelo, Bosh and Wade. You can't compare him to any of those players. He has had 3 years in the league. He's a bust. He may turn out to be a decent pro someday, but considering he was drafted 2nd ahead of so many all stars, you have to consider him a bust.</div> So what? Are you going to call Shane Battier a bust? since Zach Randolph, Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas, Richard Jefferson Joe Johnson etc. were drafted lower than Battier? And yeah the 2001 draft was a lot worse than the 2002.. IMO.. Also, Drunkballer makes a very good valid point.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Gotrunks226:</div><div class="quote_post">So what? Are you going to call Shane Battier a bust? since Zach Randolph, Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas, Richard Jefferson Joe Johnson etc. were drafted lower than Battier? And yeah the 2001 draft was a lot worse than the 2002.. IMO.. Also, Drunkballer makes a very good valid point.</div> I don't think that darko is a bust strickly because of his draft position, but that does contribute in my opinion. Shane isn't a bust cause he has contributed, there is no way you can say that Darko has done that on any team... I haven't closed the book on Darko yet, but you would have to admit that he has done absolutly nothing up untill now. Sure its hard to crack the pistons lineup, but you would have to think that Melo, Bosh or wade would have done that easily......Maybe Darko will be a solid pro in the future...maybe he won't, but you can't judge a player on a best case senerio for the future, you can't ignore the past.
