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With the NBA having announced dates for the league to resume play at the end of July, they have also brought out a timeline for when Free Agency and the NBA Draft will take place.
The NBA Draft can prove to be an unforgiving blessing for those with a lottery pick as there is always pressure to draft the next superstar to build your franchise around if you're scraping the bottom of the NBA standings.
Today, we will take a look back to the 2009 NBA Draft, which saw two MVPs and four All-NBA players drafted within the first 10 picks, and see which teams regret their choices.
3 teams who probably regret some of their choices in the 2009 NBA Draft
#3 The New York Knicks
2009 NBA Draft Pick 8: Jordan Hill
2009 NBA Draft Pick 9: DeMar DeRozan
The New York Knicks found themselves with the 8th pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, and at the time, there were still 3 future All-Star players on the board to take. Unfortunately for the Knicks, they drafted a player who would only reside in New York for a singular season after playing 24 games off the bench for them in his Rookie Season: Jordan Hill.
The Knicks were a poor team at this point, only managing to win 29 games the season before, and while DeRozan had never been an MVP candidate player, he was a great addition to the Toronto Raptors at pick 9. In contrast to Jordan Hill's sole season playing for New York, DeRozan became one of the most loyal Raptors of all time, sharing many of the franchises' total records with backcourt running mate Kyle Lowry.
It was assumed that DeRozan would have played his entire career with the Toronto Raptors after leading them deep in the playoffs multiple times in recent years, while Knicks failed to make them, if it had not been for the trade which sent him to San Antonio for Kawhi Leonard.
This trade was obviously vital to Toronto being crowned the 2019 NBA Champions. Perhaps, the Knicks could have found themselves in a similar position had they not opted for Jordan Hill instead.
#2: Memphis Grizzlies
2009 NBA Draft Pick 2: Hasheem Thabeet
2009 NBA Draft Pick 3: James Harden
One of the biggest busts in NBA Draft history, the decision to pick Hasheem Thabeet over James Harden will haunt Memphis Grizzlies fans forever.
Thabeet played for four teams across his seven seasons in the NBA, only starting a total of 20 games throughout his entire career, with 13 of them taking place in his rookie season. On the 25th of February 2010, Thabeet became the highest draft pick to ever be sent down to the G-league when the Memphis Grizzlies assigned him to the Dakota Wizards. They then traded him to the Houston Rockets after two lacklustre seasons in Memphis.
To contrast Thabeet's poor stint in Memphis, James Harden became one of the main pieces in the young OKC Thunder's potential dynasty, which led them to the NBA finals in 2012. Unfortunately for OKC, they could not keep the trio of Harden, Durant and Westbrook together for long enough to win an NBA title but all three of them have gone on to win the MVP award in their careers.
If Memphis had drafted Harden, they would have secured their franchise shooting guard for years to come and potentially had a future MVP on their hands.
#1: Minnesota Timberwolves (Twice)
2009 NBA Draft Pick 5: Ricky Rubio (PG)
2009 NBA Draft Pick 6: Johnny Flynn (PG)
2009 NBA Draft Pick 7: Stephen Curry (PG)
The shape of the NBA would have been completed different today if the Minnesota Timberwolves had rolled the dice on Steph Curry in one of the two chances they used to draft a point guard.
Two-time MVP, three-time NBA Champion and one of greatest shooters of all time - all these can be used to describe one of the three-point guards taken from pick 5 to pick 7. Unfortunately for the Timberwolves, it does not describe pick 5 or pick 6.
While Ricky Rubio has become a good starting-caliber point guard throughout his career, him and Johnny Flynn combined would not make up 50% of what Steph Curry has brought to the NBA and the Golden State Warriors.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have only made the playoffs once in the past decade while the Warriors have gone to the finals 5 times in the past 5 years, winning 3 of them, led by Steph Curry.
It would be impossible for those in the Timberwolves front office to not think about what it would have been like if they had just taken Curry with one of their two picks.
Guess the Lakers players!
