![\"\"](\"http:\/\/hoopshardcore.com\/wordpresshardcore\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Landry-Fields.jpg\" "\\"fields\\"")
15. Landry Fields <\/strong>(39th Overall Pick, Knicks, 2010):\u00a0 So we start things right off\u00a0with the above-mentioned rookie.\u00a0 Impossible to say where he fits just 47 games into his career, but he really looks the part of a solid small forward.\u00a0 He’s started every game and averaged 10 points for the resurgent Knicks,\u00a0while shooting 52% from the field and 38% on 3’s.\u00a0 He’s also been a suprisingly good rebounder for a\u00a0guy that’s a slender 6-7, averaging 7 boards.\u00a0\u00a0It goes to show how down the Pac-10 (and Stanford) has been, because I had NEVER heard of this guy that averaged 22 points for the Cardinal last\u00a0year.<\/p>\n13 (TIE). DeJuan Blair <\/strong>(37th Pick, Spurs, 2009) and Paul Millsap <\/strong>(47th Pick, Jazz, 2006):\u00a0 This is the first of three pairs of players that are ranked together, not just because they are similar in quality, but also because they’re similar players.\u00a0 Blair fell because he was an undersized PF witha history of knee injuries, but he’s a high character guy with a natural talent for\u00a0pulling down rebounds.\u00a0 So, it’s no\u00a0huge surprise that he’s started every game for the 40-7 Spurs in just his second season.\u00a0 He’s playing just 21 minutes a game though, but averaing 8 points\/7 boards.\u00a0 Millsap played at a small school (Louisiana Tech), where he was a rebounding machine, averaging just under 13 for his career.\u00a0\u00a0Most teams didn’t see that translating to the pros, but he’s developed nicely and is averaging 17 points\/8 rebounds this year for Utah.\u00a0\u00a0Those are numbers that Blair might be matching in a few seasons.<\/p>\n 11\u00a0(TIE). Mo Williams <\/strong>(47th Pick, Jazz, 2003) and Nick Van Exel <\/strong>(37th Pick, Lakers, 1993):\u00a0 Two solid NBA point guards who each made one All-Star appearance.\u00a0 It’s actually a little surprising that they weren’t 1st Rounders.\u00a0 They both\u00a0were good in college at major conference schools, both pretty athletic and quick, good distributors, and underrated long-range shooters.\u00a0 Though Williams probably never would’ve made an All-Star team if he hadn’t been lucky enough to play with LeBron.<\/p>\n 10. P.J. Brown <\/strong>(29th Pick, Nets, 1992[there were only 27 teams at that point]):\u00a0\u00a0Unlike the above two, he never came close to making an All-Star team, but there’s\u00a0a lot to be said for being a winner and doing it\u00a0over a long period of time.\u00a0 He played 15 years and was a key part of some very good Heat teams in the late-90’s, some solid Hornets teams in the middle-00’s, and he made some clutch plays in the playoffs\u00a0for the Celtics in their ’08 title run.\u00a0 He averaged 8 points\/7 rebounds for his career and was named\u00a0to the 2nd Team All-Defensive Team three times.<\/p>\n 8\u00a0(TIE). Mehmet Okur<\/strong> (37th Pick, Pistons, 2001) and Marc Gasol<\/strong>(48th Pick, Lakers, 2007):\u00a0 Two Europeans that turned out to be legitimate NBA centers.\u00a0 Okur played a key supporting role for the\u00a0’04 Pistons championship team, averaging 10 points\/6 boards, before moving on and making an All-Star team with the Jazz in ’07, when he averaged 19\/8.\u00a0 Not many 6-11 guys can shoot if from deep like Okur.\u00a0 Since being traded to Memphis for his brother, Gasol has been solid, especially last year when he averaged 15 points\/9 boards.\u00a0 He’s taken a step back this year, but the future still looks bright.<\/p>\n 7. Rashard Lewis\u00a0 <\/strong>(32nd Pick, SuperSonics, 1998):\u00a0 As one of just three players on this list to make multiple All-Star teams, you might think Lewis would be higher than #7, but I put him here partly just because I don’t like him and think he’s overrated.\u00a0 He’s 6-10 with a ton of talent, but he’s too often content to just jack up 3 after 3, rarely setting foot inside the arc for a drive or even to rebound.\u00a0 Still, he had a 3-year run with Seattle of averaging over 20 points a game before making his second All-Star appearance as a Magic in ’09.\u00a0 He’s averaged 16.5 points for his career, while shooting 39% from 3.\u00a0 He came straight from his Texas high school to the pros.<\/p>\n 6. Michael Redd <\/strong>(43rd Pick, Bucks, 2000):\u00a0 Redd was one of the premier long-distance shooters of the past decade,\u00a0with a 20 point\u00a0per game career average, an All-Star appearance in ’04, and a 27 point per game average in ’06-’07, but he gets knocked down a peg or two because\u00a0the teams he’s led have never been good and he’s missed a lot of time with injuries.\u00a0 5. Stephen Jackson <\/strong>(42nd Pick, Suns, 1997):\u00a0 Anyone who’s followed Jackson’s tumultuos NBA career is probably not surprised to learn that, even though he was a McDonald’s All-American at powerhouse Oak Hill Academy, he was unable to get eligible for D-I basketball, and ended up at a junior college for a year before entering the draft.\u00a0 That partly explains why a 6-8 wing player with his skill ended up in the 2nd Round, but the Suns actually cut him, and\u00a0he didn’t make it to the league until three years later.\u00a0 Two years after that, he was starting and averaging 12 points\u00a0for the ’03 Spurs championship team.\u00a0\u00a0In the 8 seasons since then, he’s averaged 18.5 points, posting his best season in ’08-’09 with Golden State, when he averaged 21 points\/6.5 assists\/5 rebounds.<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0Gilbert Arenas<\/strong> (30th Pick, Warriors, 2001):\u00a0\u00a0For two years (’05-’06, ’06-’07), Arenas was one of the top scorers in the league, averaging close to 29 points a game those\u00a0two seasons combined.\u00a0 He added 6 assists, over 4 rebounds, and 2 steals a game as well.\u00a0 But since then, his career has been\u00a0derailed by injuries and off-the-court mishaps.\u00a0 Not sure why NBA scouts missed on him.\u00a0 Watching him at Arizona, I thought he looked like an NBA player with his combination\u00a0of quickness, strength, and shooting touch.\u00a0 I’m usually wrong about those things though, so I guess that doesn’t mean much.<\/p>\n 3. Monta Ellis<\/strong>(40th Pick, Warriors, 2005):\u00a0 Ellis snuck into the draft in the last year that high schoolers were allowed to go\u00a0pro, and just a few years later he was averaging 20 points a game.\u00a0 Over the past two seasons, the lightning-quick guard is averaging 25.3 points\/5.5 assists\/2.3 steals.\u00a0 Granted, he’s doing it for a\u00a0not-very-good team that plays\u00a0an uptempo style, but he’s also still only 25 years old.\u00a0 He gets the nod ahead of Arenas because he hasn’t self-destructed like Gilbert has.\u00a0<\/p>\n 1. Manu Ginobili <\/strong>(57th Pick, Spurs, 1999):\u00a0 Looking at the stats and the number of All-Star games alone, it would seem like Ginobili doesn’t belong at\u00a0#1 on this list.\u00a0 He’s\u00a0actually\u00a0only started <\/em>about half the games of his career.\u00a0 But if\u00a0I could take the whole career of any guy on this list, I’ll take Manu’s.\u00a0 He’s the epitome of a “do-it-all” guard, with career averages of 15 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 1.5 steals.\u00a0 He’s also great on the defensive end and one\u00a0of the most sneaky, unorthodox offensive players, but can also knock down a long-range shot.\u00a0 He’s no Tim Duncan, but he’s a HUGE reason why the Spurs\u00a0have won 3 titles in his time there, and he could possibly make it #4 this year, and this time as their leading scorer, at 18.8 per game right now.\u00a0 The\u00a0Spurs laid the foundation for those titles when they took Duncan with the 1st overall pick in ’97, but they may have sealed the deal when they took this Argentinean with the second-to-last-pick of the draft two years later.<\/p>\n Honorable Mentions<\/strong>: Trevor Ariza, Anderson Varejao, Ryan Gomes, Carl Landry, Kyle Korver, Lou Williams, Rasual Butler, Chris Duhon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is a totally random list inspired by nothing, but hopefully just a tiny bit interesting to just a few people.\u00a0 Why 15?\u00a0 No reason.\u00a0 Why the last 20 years?\u00a0 Mainly just because that’s about as far back as my … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/images\/blog\/wysiwyg\/image\/Stephen_Jackson.jpg\" "\\"jackson\\"")
<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/fantasybasketballnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/ginobili.jpg\" "\\"ginobili\\"")
2. Carlos Boozer <\/strong>(34th Pick, Cavs, 2002):\u00a0\u00a0This name appearing\u00a0as a 2nd Rounder was the biggest\u00a0surprise to me.\u00a0 Boozer is a 6-9 behemoth of a man who\u00a0played at the premier college basketball program of the last 20 years (Duke), won a title there as a starting sophomore, then averaged 18 points\/9 boards as a junior.\u00a0\u00a0Just a few of the players chosen ahead of him were Vincent Yarbrough, Robert Archibald,\u00a0and Ryan Humphrey.\u00a0 Seems like the scouts out-smarted themselves just a little bit.\u00a0 Boozer was averaging a double\/double (15.5\/11)\u00a0by his second season, and he’s been nearly a 20\/10 guy over the past 5 seasons combined, while making the playoffs every one of those years.<\/p>\n