2002 NBA Draft Winners and Losers: 22 Days of NBA Draft Day 2
By Jim James
Hello all, welcome back to TTDONBAD day 2. Today we’re doing 2002 Draft Winners and Losers. You know the score by now, let’s begin!
Winners
Phoenix Suns
The biggest winners of the draft, getting Amar’e Stoudamire with the 9th pick. The ROTY, a 6x All-Star and 5x All-NBA player and the best player in the draft (although not the smartest). He was one of the main players in the contender Suns team of the late 2000s.
Houston Rockets
Unlike 2001, the Rockets’ Number 1 pick turned out. However, there was one catch and that is that Yao Ming was of course a huge what if. Even though he only missed 2 games in his first two seasons, the end of his career were riddled with them and he ultimately had to retire after just 8 seasons.
Miami Heat
Miami had a good draft, not a great one, but 2002 was so weak that they are a winner. They got Caron Butler at the 10 spot and Rasual Butler at the 53 spot. I know, with that many Butlers they may as well be a whiny celebrity but still, two pretty good players, and they deserve a winners spot.
Losers
Chicago Bulls
A familiar face, Chicago is on the losers side again, as with the Second pick they got Jay Williams. He had one uninspiring season, and got a career ending injury in a motorcycle crash and violated his contract. Nowadays, we just know him as an ESPN analyst, but he could have been so much more.
Golden State Warriors
When recent NBA fans think of Mike Dunleavy, they think of a below average, off the bench blob, probably drafted in the 2nd round. I think some 35-year NBA fans may also think that, but he was actually drafted 3rd in 2002 by the Golden State Warriors. Did I just blow your mind? Look it up. He was one of the most utterly forgettable 3rd picks in history. At least with other busts you think “he was taken here, but he disappointed”. Not with Dunleavy. You just think “Wow, I haven’t thought about him since 2018”, just like Kenneth Faried, Roy Hibbert, and Tiago Splitter. Tells you all you need to know about that selection.
Denver Nuggets
Mike Dunleavy looks like Mike Jordan compared to who the Nuggets selected 2 picks later. Nikoloz Tskitishvili from Georgia. Not that Georgia. The country in Eastern Europe Georgia. He doesn’t even have that going for him. He played 3 seasons with 4 teams, averaged 2.7 PPG and 1.8 RPG. Wow.
There you go, day 2 of TTDONBAD’s post is up. Until next time.