NBA Draft: Biggest Busts of All-Time

Michael Beasley – 2nd Overall (Miami Heat)/2008 Draft

Not many teams draft a bust and then rebound as quickly as the Heat did but then again not every team can sign the three top free agents in one offseason. So Pat Riley did make up for it. But Beasley shouldn’t be linked to Derrick Rose the way he is. Had the Heat been in the possession of hindsight then they would have taken any of the next three players taken after Beasley. Imagine if the Heat had selected Kevin Love or O.J. Mayo instead of Beasley. But they swung and missed on another great point guard that should be tied to Beasley, not Rose.

Revised Selection: Russell Westbrook (4th Overall)

Eric O’Bannon – 9th Overall (New Jersey Nets)/1995 Draft

A few years after their disaster with Dennis Hopson, the Nets were back atop the draft picking 9th. This time they took UCLA standout Ed O’Bannon who helped lead the Bruins to a National Title. He played just 29 games his rookie season and ended up only playing 2 seasons in the NBA if you can even count them as actual seasons. The Nets continued their woes drafting O’Bannon and have only briefly recovered between now and then. Even though there was nothing really of note the Nets really missed out on, O’Bannon was so bad that anyone other than him is a better pick.

Revised Selection: Micheal Finley

Marcus Fizer – 4th Overall (Chicago Bulls)/2000 Draft

As bad as the 2000 NBA Draft class was (see below), Fizer deserves to be called out as the worst member of one of the worst classes in NBA history. First off the Bulls had Elton Brand on roster so the thought was that Fizer would be traded. But he wasn’t and never averaged more than 12.3 ppg with the Bulls before tearing his ACL and then being selected by the expansion Bobcats in 2004. The highlight of his career next to being a giant fraud atop the draft, was winning the NBA D-League MVP in 2005-06. Draft bust in a nutshell.

Revised Selection: Hedo Tukoglu (16th Overall)

Entire 2000 Draft Class

Okay not the whole class but 99% of it proved to be a useless waste of roster space. When the best player in your class ends up being Michael Redd and the draft isn’t an expansion draft, you have issues. Kenyon Martin and Jamaal Maglorie were the only other players to make an All-Star appearance since being drafted and most names are unrecognizable even today. It was a truly, truly awful class and it really didn’t instill any hope that the lulling NBA would have the star power to recover from Losing the stars of the 90’s.

Revised Selection: Avoid the Draft ENTIRELY