Re-drafting the impactful 1997 NBA Draft Lottery picks
Shooting Guard. player. 77. Pick Analysis. Original: 47th-Blazers. Alvin Williams. 14. Scouting Report
One of the few second round picks in the 1997 draft in this entire class that offered a good amount of value over multiple seasons in the NBA is the original 47th overall pick of the Portland Trail Blazers and 6-foot-5 shooting guard Alvin “Boogie” Williams. The Blazers got good value out of picking Williams, but he would spend most of his quality years with the Toronto Raptors.
When the Clippers were truly down in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, landing a key depth piece to the rotation like Williams would’ve really helped. Williams raked in 21.7 career win shares, 13.7 player efficiency rating, .082 win shares per 48 minutes, 4.9 value over replacement player rating, and he had multiple 15+ point games in the playoffs.
Original: 10th-Bucks. Danny Fortson. player. Power Forward. 13. 156. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis
The original 10th overall pick of the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1997 draft is a former Cincinnati Bearcats 6-foot-7 and 260 pound sizable power forward Danny Fortson. A career journeyman that played in more than 430 regular season games, Fortson spent most of his run with the Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, and Seattle SuperSonics.
Fortson also registered a career 16.2 player efficiency rating (better than the NBA average), 22.3 win shares, .121 win share per 48 minutes, a 111 offensive rating, and 20.4 percent rebounding rate. On two occasions, Fortson led the NBA in rebounding percentage. But his career box plus/minus rating of -3.2 shows the weird battle in the advanced numbers in his career.