Meet The 2006 NBA Draft: The Most UNDERWHELMING Draft Ever!

Andy Hoops

The 2006 NBA draft had a lot of players with high expectations. Andrea Bargnani, Adam Morrison, and Tyrus Thomas among others were projected to be stars in the league. But...it never happened, and in my opinion the 2006 draft is the most underwhelming in recent NBA history.  I make all kinds of NBA videos which include trivia, analysis, player stories, countdowns, conspiracies, and mysteries. Make sure to leave a like and subscribe if you enjoyed this video!  ► Instagram: @Andy93y ► Twitter: @AndyHoopsYT  ► Music:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZZXSQDw7r4 Instrumental produced by Chuki (http://www.youtube.com/user/CHUKImusic)  Basic Implosion by Kevin MacLeod - Available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Find all of his songs and download them for free here: http://incompetech.com  ► Sources: Stats and box-scores from Basketball-Reference.com http://www.nbadraft.net/mocks/2006_nba_mock_draft.html http://grantland.com/features/kyle-lowry-nba-toronto-raptors-villanova-wildcats-houston-rockets-memphis-grizzlies-demar-derozan-rudy-gay/  #nba

Transcript

00:02The 2006 NBA Draft had high expectations.

00:06We saw guys like Tyrus Thomas, a promising young big man who just came off a college

00:11season where he was the SEC Freshman of the Year and Co-Defensive Player of the Year.

00:16Adam Morrison, who spent three years at Gonzaga and had one of the best college seasons of

00:21all time in his third year, leading the NCAA in scoring with over 28 points per game.

00:26Sheldon Williams, a fundamentally sound, highly-skilled big man with incredible physical tools, measuring

00:32at 6'9 with a 7'4 wingspan.

00:36Brandon Roy, who should have been the best player in this draft, but yeah, the injuries

00:41and degenerative knees killed his career.

00:44And Andrea Bargnani, the number one pick who many believed would become the next Dirk Nowitzki,

00:50but that obviously didn't work out.

00:52How's it going ladies and gents, my name's Andy, and recently I made a video about the

00:562000 draft, which I believe is the worst of all time.

00:59But at the same time, the general consensus was that the 2000 draft class was kinda weak

01:05to begin with.

01:07Now we're gonna take a look at a draft that was supposed to have high expectations coming

01:11into it, but over a decade later, most of the top draft picks are long gone.

01:16For one reason or another.

01:18And in my opinion, this is the most underwhelming draft ever.

01:22So I mentioned a couple of players earlier who were some of the biggest names of the draft,

01:27but unfortunately, they did not meet their expectations.

01:30With the exception of Brandon Roy, who was a 3-time All-Star before the age of 25.

01:35If he didn't have knee problems, he could've had the best career out of anyone else in this

01:40draft, but it happens.

01:42Now let's take a look at the other great players who've had the best careers and they're

01:46still relevant today.

01:48JJ Barea.

01:50He went undrafted, which really wasn't a surprise.

01:53He was a 4-year player at Northeastern and averaged over 20 points a game, but the problem

01:58is he was way too short.

02:00He's listed at 6' but I think that's really generous.

02:04Some have said he's closer to 5'10 without shoes.

02:07But Barea carved out a nice career.

02:10After participating in the Summer League and impressing the Mavericks during his workouts, they instantly

02:15signed him and he managed to play 33 games in his rookie season.

02:18In his first 5 seasons, he'd stay in Dallas and steadily improve every year as he got

02:23more minutes too.

02:25Barea was a crucial part of the Mavs championship run in 2011.

02:29In the last 2 games of the finals, he scored 17 points in Game 5 and 15 points in Game

02:346.

02:35And at times, he actually looked unstoppable.

02:38Despite being barely 6 feet tall, he's able to use his body really well and developed into

02:43a solid 3-point shooter with good court vision.

02:46That's why he's been able to stay in the league for so long even as an undrafted player.

02:51Paul Millsap, the 47th pick of the draft.

02:54You know, looking at this draft, most of the best players were drafted really low, like

02:58outside of the lottery.

02:59In Millsap's case, the main reason he went so low was because he was really undersized,

03:04yet played like a traditional big man.

03:06Usually, that's a bad combination that doesn't work well in the NBA.

03:10In college at Louisiana Tech, he was a phenomenal low post scorer and rebounder.

03:15But at the draft combine, he measured at just 6'6 without shoes on.

03:20That pretty much scared away so many teams from drafting him.

03:24In fact, I saw a mock draft recently and he wasn't even projected to get drafted at all.

03:29Not even in the second round.

03:31But with that being said, Millsap overcame all of that.

03:34He made up for his lack of size with his toughness and strength and became one of the best defenders

03:39at his position.

03:40Also, he was the best player on that Hawks team that won 60 games in 2015.

03:46Offensively, he expanded his game over the years and became a solid shooter and good passer,

03:51although his 3-point shot is still inconsistent.

03:54PJ Tucker, the 35th pick of the draft.

03:57I'm willing to bet most of you didn't know Tucker was even in the 2006 draft, but he was.

04:03He was even a teammate of Lamarcus Aldridge in college, and even recorded better numbers

04:08than him.

04:09So why did he go 35th in the draft while Aldridge went 2nd?

04:13Well, just like with Millsap, Tucker was really undersized.

04:17He played like a power forward, but he was 6'5", and nobody thought his skillset would

04:22translate to the NBA.

04:23For the most part, the scouts would be correct, cause Tucker played only 17 games in his rookie

04:28season, and then for the next 5 years he played overseas, in Europe.

04:32It wasn't until 2012 when he finally got his chance to return and join the Phoenix Suns.

04:37By that time, he drastically expanded his game, developing the skills necessary to play on

04:43the wings.

04:44But it's his defense that everybody praises him for.

04:47He's a really good defender, who can guard 3 or 4 different positions, and that's the main

04:51thing that helped him get back into the NBA.

04:53Kyle Lowry, the 24th pick.

04:55I'm sure we all know about Lowry, but in his first few seasons, it was kinda rough.

05:00He was primarily a backup point guard, but eventually he became good enough in Houston

05:05to grab the starting spots.

05:07He loved Houston and wanted to stay there for a long time.

05:10Lowry blossomed under coach Rick Adelman, but when Kevin McHale became the new coach, they

05:16didn't get along very well.

05:17Lowry said, quote,

05:32Regardless, the Rockets moved on from Lowry, as they were going in a different direction.

05:38Rajon Rondo, the 21st pick.

05:40Another well-known player who we're all familiar with.

05:43Throughout his career, Rondo has been known as one of the smartest players ever.

05:47In Chicago, some young players said he was the best teammate they've ever had.

05:52Sometimes he could also be a head case and clash with other people, but that comes with

05:56a package.

05:57At just 22 years old, Rondo was the starting point guard of a Celtics team that won the

06:02NBA championship.

06:03Four-time All-Star, four-time All-Defense, and three-time leader in assists.

06:08And as his career progressed, there were some highs and lows.

06:11The lowest moment was probably when he tore his ACL in 2013, and then when he kinda quit

06:17on the Mavs cause he didn't get along with coach Carlisle.

06:20But besides that, Rondo typically steps up his game in the playoffs.

06:23Playoff Rondo is nothing to laugh at, it's a real thing.

06:27You could just look at the stats, his playoff numbers go up across the board compared to

06:31his regular season.

06:32Thabo Sefalosha, the 13th pick.

06:35We're finally in the lottery, but honestly, there aren't many more players worth talking

06:39about.

06:41Sefalosha has been a solid role player for most of his career.

06:44A good shooter, a great defender, and he even made an All-Defense team in 2010.

06:49I don't have much else to say about him, but like Millsap, he was also part of the

06:532015 Hawks team that won 60 games.

06:55Except, Sefalosha couldn't even play in the playoffs cause the NYPD broke his leg.

07:01Yeah, it was pretty bad, I don't even think they got punished for doing that, which is

07:05kinda messed up.

07:06Anyway, JJ Reddick, the 11th pick.

07:09Reddick is another role player who's had a very nice career.

07:12He's more of a super role player.

07:14He plays his role of running around, coming off screens, and getting buckets on an elite

07:19level.

07:20In his 12th season in the NBA, Reddick averaged a career-high 17.1 points per game.

07:25He was a late bloomer, as he had his breakout seasons with the Clippers.

07:29Of course, he's never the star of his team, but he's arguably the best complimentary

07:34piece if the team already has a great playmaker.

07:36Playing with Chris Paul and Ben Simmons has truly elevated his career and they benefited

07:41from him as well.

07:43Rudy Gay.

07:44Yes, it's this guy.

07:45The 8th pick of the draft.

07:47One of the best players in history who never made an all-star team.

07:50There's still time for that, but it's unlikely.

07:53Gay had an interesting career so far.

07:55With the Grizzlies, he was expected to become their franchise player, especially after averaging

08:00over 20 points a game in his sophomore season.

08:02But, he just never developed into that kind of player.

08:06He diversified his scoring arsenal and improved defensively, but the other areas of his game

08:11stagnated, so he never became a superstar.

08:14He was kind of a black hole on offense.

08:16It doesn't help that, after Gay got traded, the Grizzlies had their best season ever, reaching

08:21the Western Conference Finals in 2013.

08:24Pretty much the same thing happened in Toronto as well, who got a lot better after they traded

08:29away Gay.

08:29I don't want to say he's a team cancer or anything, cause he's not.

08:34But in his younger days, his style of play was not optimal in helping his team win.

08:39Lamarcus Aldridge, the number 2 pick.

08:41Aldridge was actually drafted by the Bulls with the number 2 pick, and then they made

08:45one of the worst draft day trades ever, sending him to the Blazers for the number 4 pick, Tyrus

08:50Thomas.

08:51Yeah, it was not a good trade.

08:54Thomas became a bust, and Aldridge became a perennial all-star.

08:57His career is still going strong.

09:00Him and Kyle Lowry are the most recent all-stars from this draft.

09:03During an era where post-play and the mid-range shot is going out of fashion, Aldridge has

09:08completely ignored the trend.

09:10And he continues to play the way he's most comfortable with.

09:13And that's pretty much it, those were the best and worst players of the draft.

09:17I'll show you some other photos of players who were in this draft that you might recognize.

09:22Jordan Farmar, Ronnie Brewer, Sean Williams, Steve Novak, Shannon Brown, James Whites, Booby

09:31Gibson, Ryan Hollins, Lou Amundsen, Chris Copeland, Randy Foyt, and CJ Watson.

09:38The way this draft turned out was really underwhelming, especially at the top of the draft.

09:44Guys like Tyrus Thomas, Adam Morrison, Sheldon Williams, even Andrea Bargnani, they were all

09:49busts or had underwhelming careers.

09:52There was good talent near the later part of the draft, but overall, 2006 was not a great

09:57year.

09:58Definitely one of the worst in recent memory.

10:01Alright, that's all folks, let me know who your favorite players are from this draft class.

10:05Thank you so much for watching, I hope you enjoyed that video, and I'll see you next time.

10:09Peace.

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