Nene Hilario, Scottie Pippen: The biggest draft lottery mess ups – NBA Draft Special (Part 5)
New York Knicks: Trading Nene
Trading the power forward Nene Hilario after drafting, was one of the worst lottery fiascos in the history of the New York Knicks.
The Knicks picked the multi role player as the seventh overall pick in the 2002 draft and went on to trade the prolific forward with Marcus Camby and Mark Jackson for Frank Williams and Antonio McDyess. This was a move that New
York regretted in the years to come.
Nene and Marcus are at present, the two best defensive centres in the league. Jackson was also a decent performer and had a good 17 year career in NBA. McDyess on the other hand played as a Knick in only 18 games before the franchise
traded him.
Seattle Supersonics: Scottie Pippen for Olden Polynice
In 1987, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the then Seattle Supersonics drafted Scottie Pippen with their fifth pick. The Supersonics didn’t know at that time, that their young recruit will prove to be the best wing defender the game
will ever see. They traded Pippen to bring in Olden Polynice.
In the years to come, Pippen established himself as one of the best players in the league and in the history of the Chicago Bulls. Together with the iconic Michael Jordan, he led the Bulls to six championship titles and his name
was inducted in the Hall of Fame. Polynice had a decent career with the Supersonics; however he was a no comparison with Pippen.
Orlando Magic: Fran Vazquez
In the 2005 draft, the Orlando Magic selected Fran Vazquez with the 11th pick. Fran never played an NBA game. Fran did the same thing Ricky Rubio did and returned to Europe without signing any agreement with the team.
The Magic would have been at an advantage if they had drafted the forward Yaroslav Korolev, who was picked 12th overall by the Los Angeles Clippers.
Philadelphia 76ers: Shawn Bradley
Shawn Bradley won the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Player of the year award back in 1991 as a freshman. He didn’t play basketball for next two years and entered the draft in 1993.
Philadelphia 76ers selected him as the second overall pick. The seven foot big man towered over most of the college basketball players and that was the major reason, the Sixers roped him in despite his two years court absence.
However, Bradley turned out to be a disappointment. He defended with at an average of three blocked shots per game and did what he was supposed to do with his huge wing span, however he was slow and clumsy as he couldn’t score as expected.
The Philadelphia could have selected Vin Baker, Allan Houston, Sam Cassell, Jamal Mashburn or Anfernee Hardaway in place of Shawn who were better basketball players and could have supported the team better.
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