Canzano Calls The Worst Draft Pick In Blazers History......

[Harry's Raincoat]

LaRue Martin easily. It's not even close. If you choose someone else your either too young or you don't follow the history of the team very closely.

This makes me feel really old, but tlongII is absolutely correct; you have to look at the whole history of the team, and you have to look at the decision based upon information available on the day of the draft, not hindsight, injuries, contracts, etc..

The answer is LaRue Martin. He played one fantastic game against Bill Walton and UCLA and it gave him a great reputation on the West Coast. We also knew or had been told that McAdoo and Erving wouldn't play for us, and would opt for the ABA if selected. We panicked.

Bowie was the consensus second-best rated big man in 1984. We had just lost the coin flip for getting to draft #1 (Akeem). Yes, in hindsight, drafting Jordan, Barkley, even Perkins would have worked out better (depending on fate/luck). However, we thought we were one big man away from deep playoff contention with our team of All-Star Paxson, All-Star Kiki and emerging Drexler. Drafting Martell (and Jack) instead of at #3, looks bad today, but it also allowed us to remain a bad team longer and because of it we ended up getting Roy, Aldridge and Oden later on. That all may have changed had we taken either DWill or CP3.

My final free lesson of the day is that Chamberlain is the GREATEST NBA PLAYER ever, not Jordan. Wilt, averaged 50 pts per game for a season. Wilt scored 100 pts in a game. The league changed rules to prevent Wilt from dominating more than he did. They did the opposite for Jordan (hand checking, defensive zone rules, etc.). Wilt just happened to play most of his career during the Celtics 15 year Dynasty. Jordan wouldn't have sniffed the Finals if he'd played during that time or against the 80's Lakers/Celtics era.

 

[Harry's Raincoat]

Thompson was a hell of a player, and a C to boot.

The Celtics gambled by taking Bird. He went back to college after being drafted and could have reentered the draft. He obviously did sign with the Celtics, but there is no guarantee he'd have signed with Portland.

Mychal was actually best as a PF. He was forced to play C because of injuries to Bowie.
It was a fluke that the Celtics got Bird. A loophole! Mychal was a very solid pick in a very unspectacular draft class.

 

[Blaze01]

How about trading DOWN 3 spots to nab Martell Webster and thereby passing up on both Deron Williams AND Chris Paul? We have been haunted at PG ever since....

 

[Denny Crane]

Mychal was actually best as a PF. He was forced to play C because of injuries to Bowie.
It was a fluke that the Celtics got Bird. A loophole! Mychal was a very solid pick in a very unspectacular draft class.

Who was the C on this team?

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/POR/1982.html

I do not think it fair at all to call Thompson a bad pick.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Who was the C on this team?

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/POR/1982.html

I do not think it fair at all to call Thompson a bad pick.

Agreed. 5th in his draft class in points, 4th in games played, 2nd in rebounds, 8th in assists, 3rd in FG%, 7th in points per game. Top 10 in all those categories.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_1978.html

 

[Denny Crane]

Agreed. 5th in his draft class in points, 4th in games played, 2nd in rebounds, 8th in assists, 3rd in FG%, 7th in points per game. Top 10 in all those categories.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_1978.html

He probably had the 2nd best career of all those guys, too.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

How about Ronny Murphy in 1987--he of the 18 game career--at #17, one spot ahead of eventual ROY and potential HOF PG Mark Jackson? Just because nobody remembers it doesn't mean it wasn't one of the worst-ever Blazer draft choices.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_1987.html

Or, how about Byron Irvin and Alaa Abdelnaby in consecutive years ('89 & '90) passing on Vlade Divac and Elden Campbell (respectively) who were picked by the Lakers just a couple spots later?

Looks like we made some pretty crappy draft choices for a few years there.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Look at Denver's 1978 pick -- #17, no games played.

 

[BrianFromWA]

Well, you could say the same about Frederick "My face still has the imprint of Vince Carter's Nutz on it" Weis at #15. Fran Vasquez at #11.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I have to agree with those scratching their heads over Thompson being included on this list. The guy couldn't help it that he was drafted at age 24 and he never did worse than 15/7.5 while in a Blazers uniform (averaging 16.7/8.9 in 34 minutes in his seven years with the team) plus he managed to crack 21/12 as a third year player for the Blazers ... I think some people just like to hate on him because he finished out his career for the Lakers.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=1&p1=thompmy01&y1=1986

 

[jlprk]

As I said, Erving was already firmly ingrained as an ABA player. He was the face of the ABA and wasn't leaving. He was a token pick by the NBA.

Only the Celtics could have drafted Bird and signed him a year later, without him entering the draft again. All the ordinary teams knew this, and you can't criticize them for not wasting a pick on him. Auerbach counted on the Celtics' great reputation when he gambled the pick, and I was a little surprised that Bird went for it. Nowadays Bird would have entered the draft again because the 6th pick is locked into a pay scale lower than the 1st pick, but back then, that wasn't the rule.

So the draft position of Mychal Thompson wasn't a mistake. Only the Celtics could have pulled off what they did. And Julius Erving wasn't a mistake.

 

[ABM]

This guy calls the LaRue Martin pick the worst #1 pick in NBA history.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=16318

 

[jlprk]

Another bad article from the post-Maxey HoopsWorld. It lists the worst #1 picks, but 7 of the 11 players upon whom it picks are on the list because of injuries.

Bargnani, Derrick Coleman, Kwame Brown, and Olowokandi are left. Coleman was so talented that he was a good player despite his attitude. Bargnani is too new, so I'd just list Brown and Candy.