Draymond Green is the best 35th draft pick in any sport, ever
Three days after lighting into his Golden State teammates and coach Steve Kerr during an explosive halftime rant in Oklahoma City, Warriors forward Draymond Green had a Stephen Curry moment Tuesday, as his off-balance, shot-clock-beating 3-pointer late in overtime helped clinch a 109-105 win over the visiting Atlanta Hawks.
The victory was the 43rd straight at home for the Warriors, who are 54-5 on the season, and with a victory over the Thunder on Thursday in Oakland, Golden State would tie the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls for the longest home winning streak in NBA history.
The Warriors are also currently on pace to break that same Bulls team's mark of 72 wins in a single season -- an accomplishment once thought impossible -- and though Curry has unquestionably been the star of the defending champs' incredible run, it's hard to imagine they'd be in line to break either Chicago mark without Green, who has blossomed into a star in his fourth year in the league.
A first-time All-Star selection this year, Green turns 26 on Friday and might be in the MVP discussion, himself, if not for the play of the prodigious Curry, who is likely to run away with the award for the second straight season. A key cog in the Warriors machine, Green is averaging career highs in points (13.8), rebounds (9.7) and assists (7.4) and has posted 11 of his 13 career triple-doubles this season.
Green's ascendancy to NBA stardom is made all the more impressive by the fact that he was a second-round pick in the 2012 draft. Taken 35th overall, Green wasn't the Warriors' first or second selection of the night -- they took Harrison Barnes seventh and Festus Ezeli 30th -- but he's arguably become the best player in a stacked class that includes lottery picks Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard and Andre Drummond, among others.
Draymond Green has been a vital part of the Golden State Warriors' success.
If Green continues down the path he's on, the Warriors' decision to bet on him in 2012 may go down as one of the most shrewd moves in NBA history -- in July the team signed him to a five-year, $85 million extension that may also look like a bargain after the new salary cap goes into effect -- and it also begs the question whether Green might be the best 35th pick of all time in any sport.
With that in mind, here's a look at a few other athletes who went on to have great -- but perhaps not Green-level -- careers after going 35th overall:
DEANDRE JORDAN (NBA):
Taken with the fifth pick of the second round of the 2008 draft, the Los Angeles Clippers center Jordan earned his first NBA All-Defensive team nod last season and has led the league in rebounding each of the last two seasons. (He's currently second behind the Detroit Pistons big man Drummond with 14.0 per game this year.) Jordan has never been named to an all-star team, but he's one of the league's pre-eminent shot-blockers and is currently leading the league in field-goal percentage for the fourth straight season. Unfortunately, the knock on Jordan is his miserable free-throw shooting, and with a career percentage just a shade under 42 percent, Jordan has inspired teams across the league to employ the highly unpopular Hack-A-DeAndre strategy when facing LA.
TYRONE CORBIN (NBA):
The former head coach of the Utah Jazz and Sacramento Kings, Corbin also spent 16 years in the league as a player after going 35th overall to the San Antonio Spurs out of DePaul in 1985. A journeyman small forward, Corbin was never what one might call a star, but during two-plus seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves during his prime, he averaged 16.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. He also finished with more than 1,200 steals for his career and reached the playoffs 11 times with six different teams.
RICK MAHORN (NBA):
Like Corbin, Mahorn's career was defined more by its longevity than its greatness. The Washington Bullets took the big man 35th overall out of Hampton in 1980, after which Mahorn played 18 seasons among four teams. His 1,117 regular-season games played are the most of any player from the 1980 draft, and in 1989 he won an NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons, scoring 13 points to go with seven rebounds in Detroit's championship-clinching Game 4 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. Last year, Mahorn returned to Hampton, where he finished a degree 35 years in the making.
Johnny Damon enjoyed a long and prosperous career.
JOHNNY DAMON (MLB):
Among the four major U.S. sports, baseball drafts may be the biggest crapshoot. Of the hundreds of players selected each June, few are sure things, and unlike the No. 36 pick, which gave baseball Johnny Bench and Randy Johnson, the No. 35 spot has produced few memorable major leaguers. One exception to that rule was Johnny Damon, however. Taken 35th overall in 1992 out of Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Fla., Damon made his big league debut in 1995 and went on to play 18 seasons for seven teams, winning two World Series rings and making two All-Star Games along the way. The 2000 MLB stolen-base king, Damon had 2,769 career hits, played a great center field and was a run-scoring machine. He last played in 2012 with the Cleveland Indians, and if it were up to Damon, he'd someday be in the Hall of Fame.
AARON ROWAND (MLB):
A World Series champion with both the Chicago White Sox and San Francisco Giants, the center fielder Rowan enjoyed an 11-year MLB career after going 35th overall out of Cal State Fullerton in 1998. Rowand's lone all-star selection came in 2007 with the Philadelphia Phillies, a year in which he hit .309 with a career high 27 home runs and 89 RBI. That effort earned him a five-year $60 million contract with the Giants in 2008, however he was designated for assignment late in the 2011 season and never played in the majors again.
MARK LANGSTON (MLB):
A four-time All-Star, Langston signed with the Seattle Mariners in 1981 after being taken 35th overall out of San Jose State. Three years later the lefty finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting after going 17-10 with a league-high 204 strikeouts (though he also led the league with 118 walks). Langston went on to lead the league in Ks two more times (in 1986 and 1987) and won seven Gold Glove awards during his 16-year big league career. Unfortunately, Langston may be best remembered to the younger generation for serving up a grand slam to Tino Martinez in Game 1 of the 1998 World Series.
MATT CULLEN (NHL):
The Pittsburgh Penguins forward Cullen is currently in his 18th season in the NHL and has played more games (1,274) than any other No. 35 pick in league history. The 39-year-old was originally drafted by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, who took him out of St. Cloud State in 1996, and over the years, he's amassed 228 goals and 418 assists, his 646 career points also tops among 35th picks. In 2006, Cullen won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes, and this year the 39-year-old has nine goals and 11 assists as the elder statesman on the Pittsburgh roster.
JAMIE LANGENBRUNNER (NHL):
A two-time Stanley Cup winner and two-time Olympian, Langenbrunner spent 16 seasons in the NHL before his retirement in early 2014. The Minnesota native split the majority of his career between the Dallas Stars and New Jersey Devils, winning a championship with each, and had 58 of his 243 career goals go for game-winners. Langenbrunner was particularly clutch in the playoffs, where 12 of his 34 career goals were game-winners -- the 12 clinching goals tying him with hall of famers Phil Esposito, Sergei Fedorov, Mark Messier, Luc Robitaille, Brendan Shanahan, Bryan Trottier and Steve Yzerman for 20th all-time.
BENOIT HOGUE (NHL):
Name a team and the longtime NHL center Hogue likely played on it, but his journeyman career started in 1995 with the Buffalo Sabres, who took the Quebecois 35th overall. Hogue scored 222 goals to go with 321 assists as a pro, and in 1999 -- alongside Langenbrunner -- Hogue won his first and only Stanley Cup championship with Dallas. Hogue last played during the 2001-02 season, when he split 58 games among the Stars, Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals before retiring after 863 career games.
MIKE ALSTOTT (NFL):
Unlike some other leagues, the NFL's expectation is that early second rounders will contribute -- and do so sooner than later -- and since the AFL-NFL merger, there have been several No. 35 picks to make a significant impact on the gridiron. None of them, however, made more Pro Bowls (six) or garnered more first-team all-pro selections (three) than Alstott, the bruising fullback who spent his entire 11-year career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A former Purdue star, Alstott made his debut in 1996 and retired with 5,088 career rushing yards, 58 touchdowns and a Super Bowl XXXVII ring.
Charles Tillman has excelled in the secondary.
CHARLES TILLMAN (NFL):
Andy Dalton and James Laurinaitis may have a different opinion, but Tillman is arguably the best active No. 35 pick in the NFL today. The defensive back known as "Peanut" played his first 12 NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears, reaching one Super Bowl, and had a resurgence in 2015 with the Carolina Panthers after missing most of 2013 and 2014 due to injury following a first-team all-pro season in 2012. For his career, Tillman has 38 interceptions and nine defensive touchdowns -- he also had four of his 44 career forced fumbles in one game in 2012 -- but as talented as he is on the field, the 2013 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award winner may be more respected for his impact off of it.
KEITH FAHNHORST (NFL):
It can be tough to quantify the impact of an offensive tackle, but 49ers fans will recognize Fahnhorst as a mainstay on the San Francisco O-lines of the 1970s and '80s. Taken 35th overall out of Minnesota in 1974, Fahnhorst was a tight end in college but spent his entire 14-year career as a lineman with the Niners, appearing in 193 games and making 160 starts. During that time, he won two Super Bowls and was named first-team All-Pro once. It wasn't glamorous, but for Fahnhorst, who received a kidney transplant in 2002, it was more than anyone likely expected.
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