5 worst NBA Draft classes since 2000

While the current 2017 draft class looks to be one of the best in recent years with a plethora of potential franchise types of players or potential All-Stars, eyebrows have been raised over the capability of the talent coming into the NBA in the last few years.

This issue prompted discussions concerning the minimum age of league prospects, and whether the one and done rule should be scrapped to have more mature prospects entering the league. This begs the question, what are some of the worst drafts in NBA history? What are some of the worst collective group of draftees that the NBA has ever seen?

To answer these questions, I came up with a list of the worst draft classes in the recent past. I have factored in the volume of talent, longevity with a greater emphasis on lottery picks.

#5 2013

2013 NBA Draft

I can’t help but put this class on this list. The only reason it’s not number one is that it’s only been four years, but still, the returns leave a lot to be desired. With three of the top five picks looking like some of the biggest busts ever: Anthony Bennett, Cody Zeller and Alex Len, it’s hard to argue. The draft was so bad that none of the prospects made it to the top two tiers during the classification (1. potential superstars, 2. all-stars, 3. starters, 4. rotation players, and so-on).

Giannis Antentokounmpo (15), CJ McCollum (10), Steven Adams (12), Rudy Gobert (27), Dennis Schroeder (17), Victor Oladipo (2), and Otto Porter (3) represent the best of the class. Once again, we had a majority of the lottery picks failing to live up to the hype. We had Anthony Bennet summarizing the talent pool by being the top pick.

While one player in the draft has made the All-Star Team (Giannis Antetokounmpo), none have made All-NBA teams. So far, they represent major projects that will take years to develop.

#4 2002

2002 NBA Draft Lottery

2002 was bad now that we're far enough away from it. The two best players were Amare Stoudemire and Yao Ming, but both had their careers seriously diminished by injuries. After that, it's Caron Butler (10th), Carlos Boozer (35th), Tayshaun Prince (23rd), Matt Barnes (46th) and Nene Hilario (7th). That's pretty much it for guys who had more than one above-average NBA season in that draft.

Jay Williams had star potential before his career ended prematurely ended in a grisly motorcycle accident. Only Nene remains in the league today.

Four players made the all-star game: Yao (8), Boozer (2), Butler (2) and Stoudemire (6).

#3 2006

2006 NBA Draft Class

Only one player, LaMarcus Aldridge (2nd pick) from the top 5 picks remains in the league to date. At least he’s making up for the lack of star power from the top picks in that class.

Brandon Roy was ultimately the best player in this draft before being forced to retire by a degenerative knee condition. Kyle Lowry, a late bloomer, Rudy Gay, and Rajon Rondo represent the last of legitimate star players from the class. Paul Millsap, the 47th pick in the Draft, has showcased the ability to be a franchise star but even with him on the list, that's just about five legit NBA caliber players from this Draft.

Adam Morrison (3rd pick) should have retired after his unbelievable college career, Shelden Williams defined a journeyman in the league, while Andrea Bargnani only had one solid season and couldn’t change the misfortunes of the Toronto Raptors.

#2 2001

2001 NBA Draft

This class had a lot of good role and star players like Pau Gasol, Zach Randolph, Tyson Chandler, Gilbert Arenas, Tony Parker, Shane Battier, Richard Jefferson, Jason Richardson, Gerald Wallace, Mehmet Okur, the White Mamba, and Puerto Rican basketball hero Carlos Arroyo.

What put s this class on this list is the fact that most of the lottery picks ended up being busts with the talented players coming outside the lottery and the 2nd round. I’m sure the New York Knicks fans do not want to be reminded of Eddy Curry (2nd pick). Kwame Brown (1st pick) represents the epitome of Michael Jordan’s failures at evaluation of skills. Kwame Brown, arguably the worst first NBA draft pick of all-time, overshadowed this class.

#1 2000

The 2000 NBA Draft class

The 2000 draft left the NBA talent pool worse than it had been prior to the given year’s rookie draft. This is just next level of bad. Only three players made the All-Star game and one of them was Jamaal Magloire. The year was 2004 and centers were scarce in the East (there had to be two centers on each team). All the premier big men were on the Western conference. The other two- Kenyon Martin and Michael Redd earned their selections for having career stints (one selection each).

The first pick, Kenyon Martin ended up being a role player, while Michael Redd (43rd), showed a lot of promise for a successful career but was derailed by injuries and was forced to retire earlier than expected.

Perhaps Jamaal Crawford, 8th pick, and Hedo Turkoglu, 16th pick, were the best players in the class after having solid NBA careers. If not for Turkoglu, Michael Redd and Jamal Crawford, that class would be erased from history.

2000 has been the gold standard for bad drafts for years. The Clippers suffered the most in this mediocrity with 3 first rounders: Darius Miles (3rd), Quentin Richardson (18th) and Marko Jaric (30th) in this draft.