Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 12:37 pm  |  55 responses

2000 NBA Draft Remix

What a horrible way to kick off the new millennium.

by Jeff Fox

Anxiety levels continued to rise as the calendar inched closer and closer to January 1, 2000. The dawning of the new millennium would surely bring about The Apocalypse and certain destruction of the human race, many thought. Turns out they were only partially correct — the Earth ended up alright, the NBA draft that year, however, turned into a barren wasteland.

The 2000 NBA Draft was historically bad — definitely the worst of the bunch Draft 365 has remixed so far. It is so bad it makes writing this story painful — we’d much rather just pretend this year didn’t happen and skip right on to 1999. But, since some of you like horror stories, we waded through the wreckage and came up with a 2000 NBA Draft remix. You better appreciate it.

2000 NBA Draft

Grade: D

All-Stars: 3 (Kenyon Martin, Jamaal Magloire, Michael Redd)
Biggest Bust: Marcus Fizer, Chicago, pick No. 4
Second Round Steal: Michael Redd, Milwaukee, pick No. 43 
Winning Team (in the long run): Milwaukee (Michael Redd)
Career Scoring Leader: Michael Redd
Career Rebounding Leader: Jamaal Magloire
Career Assist Leader: Jamal Crawford

Pick No. 1 | New Jersey Nets
Actual Selection: Kenyon Martin
Draft 365 Remix: Michael Redd (43)

There aren’t too many draft years where Michael Redd will find his name at the top of a remix. In 2000, however, Redd’s resume of one All-Star and All-NBA appearance is good enough for the first slot. If you need scoring and outside shooting, Redd brings plenty to the table (unfortunately he doesn’t bring much else).

Pick No. 2 | Vancouver Grizzlies
Actual Selection: Stromile Swift
Draft 365 Remix: Kenyon Martin (1)

Kenyon Martin wasn’t a bad pick for the Nets at No. 1, as he provided scoring, rebounding and toughness to their back-to-back Eastern Conference championship teams earQuentin Richardson & Darius Milesly in the decade. Stromile Swift, however, was pretty much a bust at pick No. 2, but at least he is still in the League, unlike many of his contemporaries.

Pick No. 3 | Los Angeles Clippers
Actual Selection: Darius Miles
Draft 365 Remix: Hedo Turkoglu (16)

Orlando rode Hedo Turkoglu’s versatility to within three wins of the NBA championship last year — they will surely miss him this season. He might be the best player currently in the League to have never been named an All-Star. The actual No. 3 pick, Darius Miles, helped give prep-to-pro players a bad name.

Pick No. 4 | Chicago Bulls
Actual Selection: Marcus Fizer
Draft 365 Remix: Jamal Crawford (8)

The Bulls ended up with Jamal Crawford via a trade with Cleveland, but they would have been better off just drafting him themselves at pick No. 4. Despite not being a very accurate shooter and lacking a true position on the floor, Crawford’s numbers have consistently improved each year in the NBA. The Bulls original pick, Marcus Fizer, hasn’t appeared in a NBA game since the ’05-06 season.

Pick No. 5 | Orlando Magic
Actual Selection: Mike Miller
Draft 365 Remix: Mike Miller (5)

The Magic got it right, picking Florida sharpshooter Mike Miller at pick No. 5. Miller is closing in on 1200 three-pointers Mike Millermade in his career, and no one has better pet monkey stories than he does. He should fit in nicely with the Wizards.

Pick No. 6 | Atlanta Hawks
Actual Selection: DerMarr Johnson
Draft 365 Remix: Desmond Mason (17)

This is the point in the remix where it gets tough ranking players because of all the mediocrity. Former slam dunk champ Desmond Mason had some solid years in Seattle and Milwaukee, but at age 32 the good times are in his rear-view mirror. Original pick DerMarr Johnson never came close to fulfilling his potential.

Pick No. 7 | Chicago Bulls
Actual Selection: Chris Mihm
Draft 365 Remix: Quentin Richardson (18)

The NBA treated Quentin Richardson like a hot potato this offseason, but apparently Miami plans on keeping him (we’ll believe it when we see it).  His glory years with the Clippers and the Suns seem like decades ago as he has spent the past four seasons imprisoned in a Knicks uniform.  And, yes, Chris Mihm is still in the League, and has earned over $25 million for his career.

Pick No. 8 | Cleveland Cavaliers
Actual Selection: Jamal Crawford
Draft 365 Remix: Morris Peterson (21)

Mo Pete had some real good years in Toronto, playing Robin to Vince Carter’s Batman.  His career has been in steady decline since leaving T.O. though.

Pick No. 9 | Houston Rockets
Actual Selection: Joel Przybilla
Draft 365 Remix: Joel Przybilla (9)

Laugh all you want about Joel Przybilla, but the dude starts over Greg Oden. He supplies rebounding, toughness and shot blocking, and is still employed in the League, which in this horrendous draft class in good enough for slot No. 9.

Pick No. 10 | Orlando Magic
Actual Selection: Keyon Dooling
Draft 365 Remix: Jamaal Magloire (19)

Jamaal Magloire had a couple of decent seasons, one of them good enough to get him an All-Star game invite. Guess that is also good enough for pick No. 10.

Barely missed the Top 10 Remix: DeShawn Stevenson, Stromile Swift, Darius Miles, Speedy Claxton.

Next on the Remix: We try to our best to quickly forget 2000 and remix the much stronger 1999 Draft.

Read more of Jeff Fox at The Hoops Manifesto.

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  • Double J Posted: Aug.21 at 12:40 pm
    First!! now that was a sick draft… oh wait.

  • Kevin Posted: Aug.21 at 12:41 pm
    Damn, that draft was horrible

  • rob stewart Posted: Aug.21 at 12:42 pm
    Keyon was a good pick. He never got to stay anywhere long enough to fully develop in a stable situation. Good back-up PG.

  • Ryne Nelson Posted: Aug.21 at 12:44 pm
    I’m still trying to decide what was worse: the pictures available or the Draft class itself. I don’t blame the NBA for trying to erase all memory of this, but damn…

  • cramzy Posted: Aug.21 at 12:45 pm
    PG-Odom
    SG-Richardson
    SF-Miles
    PF-Brand
    C-Olowankandi I’m convinced if they were developed in the Pistons organization and not the Clippers, this is a title contender this entire decade….no?

  • Jeff Fox Posted: Aug.21 at 12:45 pm
    Mike Miller looks hardcore in his picture! He’s a bad man.

  • Ryne Nelson Posted: Aug.21 at 12:47 pm
    Four good players (Hedo, KMart, Redd), two solid players (Crawford, Miller), about five mediocre players (DMase, Q, Przybilla, DSteve, Mo Pete) and nothing else.

  • Ryne Nelson Posted: Aug.21 at 12:47 pm
    …er, that should be *three* good players.

  • Ryan Jones Posted: Aug.21 at 12:56 pm
    The knucklehead factor in this draft is astronomical.

  • Jeff Fox Posted: Aug.21 at 12:59 pm
    It would be alot easier to do the rankings based on knuckleheadedness than doing it on talent. Doing it on talent was a painful process.

  • Tzvi Twersky Posted: Aug.21 at 1:00 pm
    Fizer had a great stretch for Maccabbi Tel Aviv before suffering a torn ACL. He is looking for a place to play now, I think.

  • chingy Posted: Aug.21 at 1:14 pm
    Stro show is not the biggest bust at No 2? I know Fizer was bad but Stro was supposed to dominate at least that’s what the Vancouver Grizzlies marketing guys told us; Fizer not so much.

  • chingy Posted: Aug.21 at 1:19 pm
    actually now that I think about it…they’re both pretty much busts

  • Witness Posted: Aug.21 at 1:26 pm
    Deron Williams is the best player to never be named an All-Star. Hands down!

  • Jeff Fox Posted: Aug.21 at 1:36 pm
    Right – I forgot Deron never made the All-Star team yet.

  • niQ Posted: Aug.21 at 1:36 pm
    Wow. Although it hasnt’ been that long of a time, it feels like Mo Pete left Toronto forever ago. Miss that dude.

  • Logues Posted: Aug.21 at 1:42 pm
    Witness: please dont start this, i am sick of hearing from utah jazz fans and how everyone on there team is underrated, man mj really must have messed with ur minds

  • Bryan Posted: Aug.21 at 1:47 pm
    Didn’t marcus fizer have an ok first two years how did he just fall off

  • Will Posted: Aug.21 at 1:50 pm
    Strange that i was actually surprised about how many “ok” guys turned out from this draft. From what I had remembered it was Kenyon, Redd, Miller and a bunch of guys out of the league. It’s still close to correct, but I forgot guys like Q-Rich, Mo Pete and Mason were in this draft. On second thought though, maybe that’s not a positive thing

  • TADOne Posted: Aug.21 at 1:55 pm
    I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

  • Z Posted: Aug.21 at 1:56 pm
    hedo > kmart

  • Young C Posted: Aug.21 at 1:58 pm
    Deron Williams, Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, Derrick Rose, Richard Jefferson, Jason Richardson, Tayshaun Prince… plenty of players better or aruably better than Turkoglu who havent made the All-Star team. Maybe Turkglu is the best over 30?

  • Witness Posted: Aug.21 at 2:01 pm
    @ Logues: Sorry. But Im not a Utah fan.

  • Jeff Fox Posted: Aug.21 at 2:05 pm
    Young C – I wasn’t thinking of the young guys like Durant or Rose – I was more thinking of veteran players. Like you mentioned, Deron, AI, Jefferson, etc.

  • Enigmatic Posted: Aug.21 at 2:26 pm
    I remember watching that 1999-2000 Iowa State team with Marcus Fizer and Jamaal Tinsley. I remember watching Fizer straight dominate dudes, and salivating at the thought of him in a Bulls uni. Then it happened, and I thought Chicago had a “Teeny Towers” on their hands with Fizer and Elton Brand….my, oh my, we would’ve been better off selling that pick for a stick of gum. Damn, did dude dissapoint.
    Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant will get theirs, but Deron Williams not making an All-Star team is criminal. And I’m not a Jazz fan, but my man went to U of I.

  • Adam Fleischer Posted: Aug.21 at 2:38 pm
    A D grade may have been generous, Jeff.

  • Jeff Fox Posted: Aug.21 at 2:39 pm
    Adam, I’m not quite as cold hearted as I pretend to be!

  • Joey E. Posted: Aug.21 at 4:07 pm
    reminds me of this year’s draft.

  • Orlando Woolridge Posted: Aug.21 at 5:01 pm
    Watching Marcus Fizer play for the Bulls was brutal. They would pass it in to him on the block, he would look around a few times pretending to look for somebody to dish it out to. Then he would start pounding the ball into the floor hard while trying to back his man down (unsuccesfully of course). At that point the shot clock would be winding down and he would jack up a turn-around fadeaway jumper from 15 feet that had a better chance of hitting the side of the back board than going in. Does that bring back any memories Chicago? I can’t believe I watched every one of those games.

  • ab_40 Posted: Aug.21 at 7:17 pm
    ryne Dsteve is the worst nickname EVER this draft sucked basketBALLS sorry that was just too damn easy

  • Blinguo Posted: Aug.21 at 7:34 pm
    J-Ho is a worse shorthand name than Dsteve. Granted one day soon DeShawn will be what he likes to say, “you can’t see me.” So of course he should get bad nicknames, if any at all.

  • iLL wiLL Posted: Aug.21 at 7:45 pm
    Ugh.

  • g 2 da ner Posted: Aug.22 at 1:49 am
    batch ’99 is that e.b., b.d., rip, lamar’s batch?

  • henry Posted: Aug.22 at 3:45 am
    maglorie was actually in the discussion for mvp of that all-star game he made

  • Jeff Fox Posted: Aug.22 at 9:23 am
    Yeah, 99 is the Brand batch.

  • 360vue Posted: Aug.22 at 2:02 pm
    i was so disappointed with miles, i had, probably unfair, high hopes for him. the remix order is spot on, dont think id alter a thing. Turkoglu my fave player of this draft; a complete, composed player.

  • Quail Posted: Aug.22 at 2:24 pm
    @360vue: Terkoglu may be composed, but I cant call him complete when his PRIMARY goal for this season is to make the all-star team. He’s more worried about individual goals than his team. He should be more worried about the Raps making the playoffs than making the all-star team. That’s just me tho.

  • Jukai Posted: Aug.22 at 2:27 pm
    I was going to type in that I’d probably put Joel Przybilla at seven, but I realized how depressing it is to really say that and mean it.

  • Darko Posted: Aug.22 at 3:38 pm
    Ugh……Terrible draft…………..

  • Teddy-the-Bear Posted: Aug.22 at 5:53 pm
    Jamal Crawford > Mike Miller.

  • CDef28 Posted: Aug.22 at 8:28 pm
    Kenyon Martin should still be the number one pick. Anyone remember how good of a team NJ was? Has Redd played in any meaningful games ever? Don’t look at the stats for making this decision Jeff Fox.

  • Jukai Posted: Aug.22 at 9:53 pm
    Teddy: Jamal is a better stat player than Miller, but if you were drafting role players, who would you take?

  • eyal Posted: Aug.23 at 4:01 am
    the worst draft ever! no doubt! no one of this draft is more than a role player today, and 2001 draft wasn’t much better. It was bad days for the future of the NBA.

  • Orlando Woolridge Posted: Aug.23 at 6:25 pm
    Yeah, I’d take Miller over Jamal as well.

  • CJK Posted: Aug.23 at 8:07 pm
    cosign ENIGMATIC. d-will has to get some all star recognition soon.. and i’m not a jazz fan, but like my whole family has gone to U of I so DWill has to represent!

  • Clipp Show 714 Posted: Aug.24 at 6:31 pm
    So D. Miles was the only one responsible for giving prep to pros a bad name? I think that would fit more for Kwame Brown. Miles at least had some exciting years with the clipps. He was 1st or 2nd in dunks 1 year only behind Shaq and playing half his minutes.

  • Joel O's Posted: Aug.24 at 11:40 pm
    I don’t know. I think Kenyon beats Redd any day. Kenyon at his younger, healthy best was, well, a beast. And even now he’s still a bullish, solid big who was the starter on one of the top 4 teams in the L last season. Redd? As much as I like his scoring ability, all he’s done is chuck and chuck. As an instant-offense guy on the Mavs, and as the go-to Buck, it’s been more of the same jacking up shot after shot. He’s crazily one-dimensional, and verrry lacking in every other way.

  • Joel O's Posted: Aug.24 at 11:45 pm
    And really, Deshawn Stevenson should probably be in Desmond Mason’s spot. He’s still relevant and will be able to contribute for years to come, both offensively and defensively. Mason still can’t shoot for nuts, a decade in.

  • Teddy-the-Bear Posted: Aug.25 at 7:43 pm
    Umm Jukai, I would take Jamal Crawford. You draft the best TALENT. What kind of a lottery team goes into the NBA draft and uses their first round pick in hopes of attaining a great “role player”?

  • John Krolik Posted: Aug.26 at 8:58 am
    A LEGACY OF RUIN AND EVIL. And I could understand K-Mart over Hedo, but Redd over Hedo I don’t buy. We still don’t know what Redd looks like on a real playoff team, which for me is always a dealbreaker.

  • dma Posted: Aug.26 at 5:27 pm
    I’d take Joel higher. He’s a solid legit 7 footer starting in the NBA that plays D, rebounds and never complains about PT. so he can’t score whoopie.

  • Maya Posted: Aug.26 at 11:01 pm
    I’ll take Joel Przybilla over K-Mart any day

  • iMex Posted: Aug.30 at 11:49 pm
    Mike Miller? me and this other dude used to try to give each other his trading cards for nothing…horrible draft

  • floridafinest008@aim.com Posted: Sep.3 at 4:47 pm
    so happy I have Marcus Fizer’s rookie card

  • RetepAdam Posted: Oct.6 at 5:19 pm
    Enough of this “best player to never be named an All-Star” garbage. You’ve said it for Hedo and Bibby already. Who next? Doug Christie? Corliss Williamson? Kenyon pre-injury probably beats out Redd. I have a hard time hating on your decision though.

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