Imagine NBA commissioner Adam Silver standing in front of a mirror, rehearsing the names of the league’s future top-tier recruits.
“Zaccharie Risacher,” you might say. Or maybe “Tidjane Salaun”.
Silver could even practice his home pronunciations. Remember, it’s “Knecht” as in “connect.”
Some fans will hope that Silver didn’t bother to take the podium tonight during the first round of the NBA Draft in New York.
Make no mistake (hear that, headquarters?), the event has its share of mistakes. Today we remember five notable blunders:
Sam Bowie, No. 2 Portland Trail Blazers, 1984
Evaluating draft talent often amounts to playing ponies.
Just ask Bowie, now the owner of harness racing in Kentucky, his former college home.
Injuries frequently hindered the center from being selected one spot ahead of Michael Jordan, especially in Portland, where Bowie played only 25 games in his final three seasons. He missed the entire 1987-88 season with a leg injury.
Bowie averaged 15 points and 8.1 rebounds in 71 games with the Nets in 1991-92 and logged a career-high 79 games a season later. He retired in 1995 after two seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Michael Olowokandi, No. 1 Los Angeles Clippers, 1998
The late Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor uttered some version of “I want Olowokandi” with Los Angeles on the clock 26 summers ago.
“Don’t Look Back,” a musical statement from an earlier era, ultimately felt more appropriate. By the way, why isn’t Boston in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
Olowokandi capped a less than stellar NBA career with the Celtics in 2006-07 after five mediocre seasons with the Clippers and three more in Minnesota. The 7-foot-tall Nigerian only averaged double figures in scoring twice in his final two seasons in Los Angeles and logged fewer than 65 games on seven occasions.
Los Angeles missed out on future Hall of Famers Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki and California native Paul Pierce instead of “The Kandi Man.”
Kwame Brown, No. 1 Washington Wizards, 2001
A second mention of Michael Jordan in a story about the unfortunate NBA draft? At least this one is more embarrassing than the first, since Jordan was the executive in charge of taking Brown, a Georgia high school standout.
Brown remained in the NBA for 12 seasons and more than 600 games, but his four seasons in Washington surely didn’t justify four more. A positive point? Brown’s 7.7 points per game with the Wizards were 1.1 more than his career average.
He started just 94 of his 253 games in Washington and just over 30 percent of his games overall.
Greg Oden, No. 1 Portland Trail Blazers, 2007
Wow, number 23 makes fun of Blazer Nation. It was many years after drafting Bowie (and getting lost in a certain Airness) that Portland drafted Oden, another big man who happened to be frequently injured.
Forget that Kevin Durant, Al Horford, Mike Conley and Marc Gasol rounded out the top five in this draft (disturbing, sure), but the knee issues that took a toll on Oden’s potential are arguably his biggest regret.
The former Ohio State standout averaged 8.0 points and 6.2 rebounds while playing in just 105 games over three seasons. Knee injuries cost Oden four more full seasons before he retired in 2014, still in his 20s.
Anthony Bennett, #1 Cleveland Cavaliers, 2013
This adds up to one of the biggest mistakes of all time, thanks in large part to Bennett’s stats.
Bennett averaged a meager (to put it mildly) 4.4 points and 3.1 rebounds in 151 games over four seasons with the same number of teams.
If there’s a silver lining for the Cavs, it was their foresight in trading Bennett to Minnesota after his rookie season.
