Revisiting the 1999 NBA Draft

It's been 10 years, plenty of time for review, criticism, kudos and scrutiny. As we countdown to the 2009 edition of the NBA Draft, FanHouse will examine the past 10 drafts and what each lottery team should have done in hindsight. Some of the picks will remain the same, others will be completely different. Some second rounders will jump into the lottery while some highly touted picks should have headed for Europe, the CBA or the D-League.

The NBA Draft doesn't bring the unpredictability of the MLB Draft, but upon further examination, it's darn close. Looking back, you wonder how a slew of NBA scouts missed on Michael Redd, Carlos Boozer or Manu Ginobili or what they saw in Rodney White, Stromile Swift or Adam Morrison.

So let's get started with the 1999 Draft, headed by Duke standout Elton Brand and nearly ended with Ginobili, who was the second to final pick. Are you kidding?
The Bulls started the draft by taking Brand, who was the college player of the year and NCAA's most dominant player. Obviously, a solid pick and he remains the best player of this draft. Vancouver (for those younger fans, Canada had two teams at one time) took Steve Francis, the beginning of the end of its franchise. Francis cried of draft night because he didn't want to play for the Grizzlies and he was eventually traded to Houston. Vancouver never recovered.

Francis is out of the league and in hindsight, the Grizzlies should have taken UCLA's Baron Davis, who went next to Charlotte. Don't feel bad for the Hornets, they would have nabbed Richard Hamilton with 20/20 vision. Hamilton was the seventh pick. So if you are the Clippers at No. 4, do you take Lamar Odom, who had drug issues early in his career, or international gem Ginobili? The Clips, if they were astute, would have taken Ginobli.

That leaves Odom for Toronto, who instead took high school prospect Jonathan Bender, who to no fault of his own became a bust because of arthritic knees. Bender's drop from the lottery means everybody else moves up, and instead of Wally Szererbiak, Minnesota takes Shawn Marion, then a mystery because he was an early entry who played under the radar at UNLV.

And then here comes Ronny! Ron Artest was a raw strongman out of St. Johns and fell to 16th to Chicago, behind the infamous Frederic Weis, known for being dunked on by Vince Carter in the 2000 Olympics. Artest goes to Washington at seven.

Cleveland stands pat by taking Andre Miller, and the Cavs would probably admit they gave up on him way too early. Francis should have fallen to No. 9 and Phoenix. Atlanta stays with its decision to nab Arizona's Jason Terry. Cleveland is next and they take Duke freshman Corey Maggette, then considered a reach, instead of teammate Trajan Langdon. Langdon could never create his own shot and played just 119 NBA games.

The Raptors had a chance to help Vince Carter immensely in this draft, but they traded Bender to Indiana and then took Aleksandar Radojevic with their second lottery pick. He played three (3!) games with Toronto, a total waste of a pick, especially with Andrei Kirilenko still on the board. And finally that leaves the Sonics, who take Szczerbiak with the final pick of the lottery.

This was a weak crop of players. James Posey is the lone player worthy of lottery consideration who wasn't taken in our redraft. This draft featured Quincy Lewis, Tim James, Vonteego Cummings and Leon Smith -- as first-round picks.

1999

The Way It Was

1) Elton Brand – Chicago
2) Steve Francis – Vancouver
3) Baron Davis – Charlotte
4) Lamar Odom – Los Angeles Clippers
5) Jonathan Bender– Toronto
6) Wally Szczerbiak – Minnesota
7) Richard Hamilton – Washington
8) Andre Miller – Cleveland
9) Shawn Marion– Phoenix
10) Jason Terry – Atlanta
11) Trajan Langdon– Cleveland
12) Aleksandar Radojevic– Toronto
13) Corey Maggette – Seattle

The Way It Should Be

1) Elton Brand – Chicago
2) Baron Davis – Vancouver
3) Richard Hamilton – Charlotte
4) Manu Ginobili – Los Angeles Clippers
5) Lamar Odom – Toronto
6) Shawn Marion – Minnesota
7) Ron Artest – Washington
8) Andre Miller – Cleveland
9) Steve Francis – Phoenix
10) Jason Terry – Atlanta
11) Corey Maggette – Cleveland
12) Andrei Kirilenko – Toronto
13) Wally Szczerbiak – Seattle