National Basketball Association

Hawks draft primer: A 20-year review of the No. 15 overall slot

Published Jun. 23, 2015 2:07 a.m. ET

foxsports

Fox Sports South offers a 20-year capsule review of the NBA draft (1995-2014), specifically tracking the No. 15 pick in Round 1 -- the Atlanta Hawks' top selection ... for a second straight draft.

BREAKDOWN: Barry (14 NBA seasons) had an interesting professional legacy: He averaged double-digit scoring seven times, played on two championship teams (2005 Spurs, 2007 Spurs) and captured one Slam Dunk Contest title (1996).

However, Finley -- a two-time All-Star and three-time NBA leader with minutes played -- would have been a more dynamic figure for the attention-starved Clippers in the 1990s.

From 1997-2004, Finley was one of the NBA's most complete players, posting strong numbers with points (eight consecutive seasons of 16-plus) and flirting with averages of 5 rebounds/5 assists just about every year.

BREAKDOWN: This is a perfect example of the draft being an inexact science. It's also isolated proof that anyone can be a personnel executive at the NBA level. (And yes, we're supporting one of Larry David's most famous sports beliefs from Curb Your Enthusiasm.)

In 1996, future pedestrian performers like Samaki Walker (No. 9 overall -- Mavericks), Todd Fuller (No. 11 -- Warriors) and Vitaly Potapenko (No. 12 -- Cavaliers) all went ahead of Kobe Bryant (No. 13 -- Hornets), Peja Stojakovic (No. 14 -- Kings), Steve Nash (Suns), Jermaine O'Neal (No. 17 -- Blazers) and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (No. 20 -- Cavaliers).

For reasons that cannot be explained, the Cavaliers drafted two slow Eastern European centers (Potapenko, Big Z) in the first 20 selections ... but had no interest in a European shooting star (Stojakovic) or two high-end prep talents (Bryant, O'Neal).

To be fair, Cleveland gets a lukewarm free pass on the latter issue, since NBA teams were reluctant to draft prepsters in the early to mid-1990s.

In fact, if the "one-and-done" college rule had been in place back then, it would have been interesting to see if the San Antonio Spurs would have taken Tim Duncan or Kobe with the first pick in the 1997 NBA Draft.

Can you imagine Kobe in Spurs gear? At the very least, he would have become property of the Philadelphia 76ers in 1997 -- just like his father, "Jellybean" Bryant. (Sorry, Keith Van Horn.)

BREAKDOWN: The Portland Trail Blazers cannot be blamed for falling in love with Cato during the 1997 NCAA Tournament, when the athletic, rim-protecting center played a key role in helping Iowa State advance to the Sweet 16 round (losing to UCLA by a single point).

In the pros, Cato was a top-notch contributor on the rebounding end for five of his 10 NBA seasons. But Cato's offensive game never really developed after college, which might explain why he bounced around to five different clubs (Blazers, Rockets, Magic, Pistons, Knicks) during his career.

Brevin Knight, on the other hand, was a high-functioning point guard for his first 11 NBA seasons, often handling bigger guards for sustained stretches of play and occasionally flirting with triple-doubles.

(At Stanford, Knight once nearly pulled off a quadruple-double.)

BREAKDOWN: The Magic did OK with this choice, even though Harpring wouldn't maximize his true pro potential until joining the Utah Jazz in 2002.

As a Plan B, though, the Magic could have landed a certifiable star at No. 15 -- Rashard Lewis (two-time All- Star) -- if the franchise hadn't been so reluctant to invest in a high-school phenom.

(Orlando wouldn't select a prepster until 2004 -- Dwight Howard at No. 1 overall.)

The club might have saved some money in the long run, as well, given that Lewis (seven consecutive seasons of 18-plus-points from 2002-09) would eventually ink a mega-sized free-agent deal with Orlando in 2007 ($90 million).

BREAKDOWN: This might go down as one of the biggest blunders in draft history.

The Knicks passed on productive talents like Ron Artest, Andrei Kirilenko, Jeff Foster, James Posey, Devean George and Hall of Fame lock Manu Ginobili at No. 13 ... just for the, uh, thrill of landing a middling French center who would never play a single minute in the NBA.

Ugh.

To make matters worse, Weis garnered much fame (or infamy) during the 2000 Summer Olympics -- after American high-flyer Vince Carter sailed over/through the 7-2 Frenchman to execute a thunderous dunk.

BREAKDOWN: The 2000 NBA Draft wasn't exactly knee-deep in future stars, so the Rockets shouldn't be disparaged too much for taking a reasonable flier on the 7-foot Collier (career scoring average: 5.6 points).

What's the old NBA adage about the draft? If you're going to make a mistake, do it with a big man.

That aside, the Rockets would have enjoyed more team success if they had opted for Hedo Turkoglu (No. 16 -- Kings), Desmond Mason (No. 17 -- Sonics), one-time All-Star Jamaal Magloire (19 -- Hornets), Morris Peterson (No. 21 -- Raptors), DeShawn Stevenson (No. 23 -- Jazz) or the super-charged Michael Redd (No. 43 -- Bucks).

Houston actually missed out on the high-scoring Redd (career average: 21.4 points) twice in that 2000 draft.

BREAKDOWN: Fourteen years later, it's easy to proclaim that Randolph (two-time All-Star, career averages: 17.1 points, 9.5 rebounds) should have been the easy choice at No. 15.

But let's also remember Randolph was only a part-time starter at Michigan State ... and that a number of NBA clubs had "character concerns" about the Indiana native with the somewhat checkered past (as a youth).

On the flip side, Hunter never developed into anything outside of a dependable shot blocker, and Kirk Haston (the No. 16 overall pick) was out of the NBA after two fruitless seasons.

Instead of investing in marginal-at-best talents, the Magic and Hornets could have had their run of Randolph, Gerald Wallace (No. 25 -- Kings), All-Stars Gilbert Arenas (No. 30 -- Warriors) and Mehmet Okur (No. 37 -- Pistons) ... or even Tony Parker, the final pick of Round 1 (Spurs).

Heck, even point guard Earl Watson would have been a more prescient pick than Hunter or Haston. Yikes.

BREAKDOWN: The 2002 NBA Draft was full of sound and fury, prospects-wise, but ultimately signified very little in the game-changers department.

Yes, Yao Ming (No. 1 overall -- Rockets), Amare Stoudemire (No. 9 -- Suns) and Caron Butler (No. 10 -- Heat) enjoyed great NBA careers.

But the same cannot be said for Jay Williams (career derailed by a motorcycle accident), Nikoloz Tskitishvili (cue the lame draft-night video of him shooting in an empty practice gym, at half-speed) and Bostjan Nachbar, who never averaged double-digit points over six middling NBA seasons.

The real draft gems, after Stoudemire and Butler, involved Tayshaun Prince (No. 23 -- Pistons) and Carlos Boozer (No. 35 -- Cavaliers). Either one would have been a great complement to Yao Ming in the rebuilt Houston frontcourt.

BREAKDOWN: Gaines scored a grand total of 123 points in the NBA, generously spread over three empty campaigns (2003-06).

And yet, some NBA exec once believed Gaines had more ability or upside than top-notch talents like David West (No. 18 -- Hornets) and Josh Howard (No. 29 -- Mavericks) ... or even productive assets like Boris Diaw (No. 21 -- Hawks), Carlos Delfino (No. 25 -- Pistons), Kendrick Perkins (draft-day trade to Celtics), Steve Blake (Round 2 -- Wizards) and Mo Williams (Round 2 -- Jazz).

On the positive side, Gaines tallied more career points than Timberwolves first-rounder Ndudi Ebi, who spurned college ball in 2003 to collect 40 total career points at the NBA level.

Thank goodness for the one-and-done mandate for college hoops, right?

BREAKDOWN: The Celtics get dual credit here: -- one for landing Jefferson out of high school; and two for using him as trade bait in the franchise-altering deal with Minnesota, bringing Kevin Garnett to Boston.

(The previously moribund Celtics would subsequently claim the NBA title in 2008.)

From 2006-14, Jefferson stealthily averaged 19.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks with the Celtics, Timberwolves, Jazz and Charlotte Bobcats (now Hornets).

All told, Big Al should have been the No. 2 or No. 3 pick in 2004, behind Dwight Howard (another prep star at the time) and maybe Andre Iguodala.

BREAKDOWN: On the heels of a stupendous junior season at Texas A&M (2004-05) -- leading the Big 12 Conference in three-point percentage and finishing fourth in scoring (17.8 per game) -- Wright certainly had the look of a long-term NBA contributor on draft night.

But Wright essentially fizzled out after the 2011 season, leaving Nets fans to ponder snubbed options like David Lee (career averages: 15.2 points, 9.8 rebounds from 2005-14; played well in this year's NBA Finals), Danny Granger (averaged 21.6 points/5.4 boards from 2007-12) or even second-round flier pick Marcin Gortat (two-year averages of 12.7 points/9.1 rebounds/1.4 blocks with the Wizards).

And if the Nets truly had their hearts set on a shoot-first, ask-questions-later scorer in the '05 draft, they could have selected Monta Ellis (No. 40 -- Warriors) over the limited Wright.

BREAKDOWN: In 2006, the Hornets were still riding high from the draft acquisition of Chris Paul (2005); so, it's not like the rebuilding club was desperate to take another point guard.

That aside, the alternative of passing on Rondo (a top-10 NBA point guard, when healthy or not corrosively killing the Mavericks' playoff chances) and investing in Cedric Simmons (163 career points from 2007-09) was a monumental error in judgment.

But let's not assign total blame to the Hornets: Picks 15-20, leading up to Rondo's selection at No. 21, were all shameful:

Simmons (15), Rodney Carney (No. 16 -- traded to 76ers), Shawne Williams (No. 17 -- Pacers), Oleksly Percherov (No. 18 -- Wizards), Quincy Douby (No. 19 -- Kings) and Renaldo Balkman (No. 20 -- Knicks).

BREAKDOWN: As a Detroit native, I cannot find too much hindsight fault with this pick ... even though center Marc Gasol (17.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.6 blocks per game last season) would have infused an aging Pistons frontcourt eight years ago (or whenver he chose to make the jump to the NBA).

From 2008-14, Stuckey averaged 14.3 points (on 44-percent shooting), while also possessing the unique gift of routinely getting to the basket off the dribble (83 percent from the charity stripe).

The only down sides: Stuckey has been a dismal shooter from beyond the arc (29 percent) and wasn't a difference-maker in helping the Pistons (now Pacers0 collect more wins, from year to year.

Here's something to celebrate (sort of): Of the players taken from No. 15 in Round 1 all the way through Round 2, Detroit arguably landed two of the three best talents in that cluster -- Stuckey, Arron Afflalo and the aforementioned Gasol.

Speaking of Afflalo (five-year average of 15.1 points/38-percent shooting from beyond the arc), it still burns me that Detroit traded the highly productive pro to Denver in July 2009 ... for the general equivalent of a bag of balls.

The club's rationale: The Pistons were clearing salary-cap room for the dual signings of Ben Gordon and Charlie Villaneuva -- both eventual busts with Detroit.

BREAKDOWN: It's fair to ask whether the up-tempo Suns would have ultimately benefited more with Hibbert patrolling the paint, compared to the more athletic Robin Lopez (three-year averages: 10.8 points/7.0 boards/1.6 blocks).

The converse of that speculation: Phoenix might have enjoyed a quicker rebuilding, if it had committed to an offense centered around Hibbert, a two-time All-Star with averages of 11.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks from 2010-14.

Two other great alternatives: The size-starved Suns could have opted for Serge Ibaka (No. 24 -- Thunder) or Nicolas Batum (No. 25 -- traded to Blazers).

BREAKDOWN: Six years ago, the Pistons were inexplicably happy to grab an NBA legacy (Daye's father, Darren, played for the Celtics in the 1980s) who was once projected to be the draft's top prospect (between his freshman and sophomore campaigns at Gonzaga).

In hindsight, Detroit would have been wise to pass on Daye. The 6-foot, 11-inch small forward has been nothing but a warm body in the pros, averaging 5.2 points over six pedestrian seasons.

As a better Plan B, the Pistons could have selected Holiday (averaged 13.5 points/6.0 assists/3.6 rebounds from 2009-14) or Teague (15.9 points/7.0 assists per game last season) as the point guard of the future.

BREAKDOWN: For a short burst, time-wise, Sanders had been a productive asset for the talent-deficient Bucks, averaging 9.3 points and 8.9 rebounds from 2012-14. And then came an abrupt end to a potentially dynamic career -- with personal troubles fueling the exodus.

In hindsight, the Bucks would have been better off grabbing Bledsoe (No. 18 -- Thunder) ... even though the club had wisely selected point guard Brandon Jennings in the previous draft.

Can you imagine the tandem of Bledsoe and Jennings wreaking havoc for the Bucks -- serving as forebears to the up-tempo stylings of the Golden State Warriors, the NBA's newly crowned champions, anchored by Klay Thompson and MVP Stephen Curry?

BREAKDOWN: Want to have some hot-under-the-collar fun with FOX Sports South writer Zach Dillard?

Ask him about how the Hawks once had Draymond Green (drafted by the Warriors in Round 2) and Khrys Middleton (taken by the Pistons in Round 2) working out at Philips Arena a few days before the draft ... but somehow passed on the rising stars -- despite being in dire need of dead-eye shooting, stealth perimeter defending and more athleticism, on the whole.

In short, Zach will fight anyone who believes the Hawks were in the right to favor John Jenkins and Mike Scott over Green and Middleton. And who knows, maybe Atlanta makes the NBA Finals with Green and Middleton playing starring roles.

BREAKDOWN: The Greek Freak, who doesn't turn 21 until early December, has absurd athleticism and possesses the down-the-road traits of a prolific scorer and/or rebounding wiz.

In other words, the Bucks were wise to draft a raw talent (11 double-doubles in Year 2) with off-the-charts upside. The club just needs to stick to their eminently patient approach to constructing a viable playoff roster from the ashes.

BREAKDOWN: The Michigan State alum in me still believes in Payne's long-term potential as a formidable shot-blocker and "stretch-4" shooter. But such growth won't come in Atlanta, as the Hawks shipped Payne to the Timberwolves back in mid-February.

Payne's admirable physical traits aside, Hood (averaged 16.7 points over seven April games with the Jazz), McGary (back-to-back double-doubles with the Thunder in early February) and Clarkson (Lakers' point guard of the future?) seemingly represent better choices than Payne.

Bottom line: The 2014 draft class started out with a bang -- future NBA savior Andrew Wiggins and celebrity-injuried pitchman Jabari Parker -- but things got uncomfortably bleak once the lottery selections had concluded.

Thankfully, the Hawks -- or whichever club ends up with this pick -- won't have to worry about such futile options in the 2015 draft.

Mid-round targets like Frank Kaminsky (NCAA player of the year -- potential All-Star), Devin Booker (perhaps this class's best pure shooter) and Delon Wright (think poor man's Dwyane Wade -- seriously) might all be available at the underrated No. 15 spot.