by Jon Markinson

Created on: June 05, 2009   Last Updated: June 08, 2009

The bust tag is thrown around too loosely. Being a bust is relative. It depends on the surrounding talent in the draft, but that aspect is overlooked.

First thing is first, Darko Milicic is absent from my list. The Detroit Pistons were perennially atop the league before, during, and after the Darko era. Had they taken Carmelo, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, the entire franchise could have changed face. The Pistons were basically a veteran-heavy teamkeyword being 'team'and a highly-touted rookie only would have affected the chemistry. Draft D-Wade and maybe ship out Rip Hamilton or force Wade into the point guard role and get rid of Chauncey. Who knows? Somehow, missing out on one of the biggest drafts ever helped the Pistons win a championship and after all, that's what matters in the NBA.

Now, onto the busts:

Sam Bowie, infamously selected in front of Michael Jordan and behind Hakeem Olajuwon, was a waste of a draft pick. The Trail Blazers knew of his injuries and still went big with their pick. Had they selected Jordan, the Portland could have had the best player of all-time. Then again, Jordan never would have found Pippenunless Scottie still ended up on the Blazers at the tail-end of his career. Maybe the Blazers fail to get Jordan what he needs to win. Maybe they get all the pieces. Portland could be a basketball kingdom. But we'll never know. A pick that truly altered the course of NBA history and that, my friends, is really a bust.

Kwame Brown went ahead of Tyson Chandler, Pau Gasol, Eddy Curry, Jason Richardson, Shane Battier, Eddie Griffin, DeSagana Diop, Rodney White, and Joe Johnson. Aside from Gasol, none of the other players were championship contenders. Gasol spent his first years in basketball hell with the Grizzlies and only now is a contender because of the most lopsided trade in recent NBA history. The Wizards surely didn't nail the pick with Kwame, but no other players had the potential to turn around a franchise and make a team a serious contender. Chandler, Richardson, Battier, and Johnson are still consistent contributors, but with only two All-Stars in the top 10 of the 2001 DraftGasol and Johnsonthe Wizards did not have much room for error. With Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas, and Mehmet Okur as the only three other All-Stars in the draft class, I have an issue with calling Kwame Brown a big a bust as Bowie.

Shawn Bradley is a similar case as Kwame Brown. Chris Webber went first in 1993, then Bradley, then Penny Hardaway and Jamaal Mashburn. Vin Baker went eighth and Allan Houston went eleventh. C-Webb was probably the biggest bust of this draft. Such a promising talent, he only showed flashes of brilliance. He never won anything and neither did any of the other All-Stars listed. Granted, Shawn Bradley was a joke in the NBA, but the 76ers could not have gotten anyone that much better. If anything, they did not waste time and money on Webber, who never lived up to the hype.

Michael Olowokandi from 1998 was a bust. So was Raef LaFrentz, though. Olowokandi just happened to go first and LaFrentz went third. Antawn Jamison was selected fourth, Vince Carter fifth, Dirk ninth and Paul Pierce tenth. Robert Traylor sixth, Jason Williams seventh, and Larry Hughes eighth were as big of busts as the non-All-Stars in the top ten.

More busts are apparent than at first glance. Sure, Tyson Chandler has produced, but is he that much more successful than Kwame Brown to warrant the bust tag all over Brown? It's impossible to argue that LaFrentz is not a bust if Olowokandi is. Two spots in the draft shouldn't differ that much. And spin it how you will, but Chris Webber's career was far more disappointing than Shawn Bradley's.

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