#2 pick Marvin Williams has decided to retire. So now I get to ask about the 05 draft

[Kblaze8855]

A hawks team who had 6'9'' tweener Al Harrington as its leading scorer and had just drafted 6'9'' tweener forward Josh Smith, and 6'8'' wing Josh Childress to add to 6'9'' tweener forward Boris Diaw and 6'8'' wing Joe Johnson were sitting with the #2 pick and Chris Paul and Deron Williams both on the board with Bogut having gone first(....).

They decide they just have to have super talented college 6th man 6'8'' tweener forward Marvin Williams. Apparently they were trying to play 2020 positionless basketball 15 years ago. Having been asked to explain himself Gm Billy Knight said the following:



In fact, general manager Billy Knight didn't even wait for someone to ask about adding Williams to a roster that already includes a pair of 6-9 players — Josh Smith and Al Harrington — and a 6-8 swingman, Josh Childress.
"They say we're overstocked at forward,' Knight said. "I don't look at it like that at all.'
Then he proceeded to explain his reasoning for taking the 19-year-old Williams, who played one season at North Carolina, instead of choosing from two more experienced point guards, Deron Williams of Illinois and Chris Paul of Wake Forest.
They went in the next two picks to Utah and New Orleans, respectively.
"First of all,' Knight said, "I don't consider Childress a forward. I consider him a 2 (guard). I like guys who can overmatch other players. That's what he can do at the 2. He's long enough to bother the shooter. He can score. He's going to create problems.'
Of course, that still leaves Marvin Williams, Smith and Harrington, all seemingly suited for the same position? No problem, according to Knight.
"We have three quality forwards,' the GM said. "The NBA is too stuck on saying you've got to have a small forward and a power forward. What's wrong with being a basketball player? What's wrong with being just a forward?'
Williams couldn't help but notice the glut of players at his spot.
"There's definitely some guys at my position who are pretty good,' he said by telephone from New York, where the draft was held. "I know they drafted Josh Childress and Josh Smith last year. They are two pretty good players.'
As for the excess of potential forwards, Knight and coach Mike Woodson believe the Hawks will be better off with more competition at forward. Last season, Harrington led the team in scoring at 17.5 points per game, but basically had to go it alone after Atlanta traded Antoine Walker. Smith — just out of high school — wowed the fans with his high-flying dunks but is far from being a complete player.
"It's all right to have a logjam,' Woodson said. "It forces a player to earn his minutes.'




So in an effort to change the game and be able to switch everything they pass on two HOF point guard talents one of which would fulfill that promise and is still great today.


They got Marvin Williams....who never really got the chance to shine like many super high picks because the whole team played his position. He had a couple good years and apparently never had the fire to be legendary....but he had the talent to be something more than he became.

Who knows...but the Hawks ****ed that one up.

[Kblaze8855]

Oh and Billy Knight went on to draft 6'8'' forward Sheldon Williams then 6'9'' Al Horford the next two drafts before he was gone.

[Lebron23]

I thought they were going to draft Chris Paul back then who had a great year in College. Hope Marvin Williams plays in Australia and joints the first pick Andre Bogut in the land down under.

[warriorfan]

Something tells me he was having too many conversations with Don Nelson.

[Whoah10115]

Makes the pick even more strange.

Well, stupid...makes it more stupid.

[1987_Lakers]

Just another draft where Michael Jordan whiffed. Drafted undersized and overweight big man Sean May cause he led NC to a title, the next year he drafted Adam Morrison. Seems like MJ was caught up in the media hype of these players instead of analyzing how their game would translate to the NBA, in MJ's defense though nobody thought Adam Morrison would be so bad in the NBA, but he should have seen May being a bust from a mile away.

[Lebron23]

Just another draft where Michael Jordan whiffed. Drafted undersized and overweight big man Sean May cause he led NC to a title, the next year he drafted Adam Morrison. Seems like MJ was caught up in the media hype of these players instead of analyzing how their game would translate to the NBA, in MJ's defense though nobody thought Adam Morrison would be so bad in the NBA, but he should have seen May being a bust from a mile away.

Back in 2006 they were debating who was the better player reddick or morrison.

[Kblaze8855]

Redrafting the 06 draft for todays game would be kinda hard. Brandon Roy is obviously first if he stayed healthy but....he was never going to. So youre left with 3 options for #1...


Aldridge, Lowry, and Rondo.

Im not sure Lowry has not had the best career. Weird to say but....hes a 14 year player, 6 time all star, and nba champion. Rondo 14 years, 3 time all star I think, and the ring.

Rondo has not been as big a star as it feels like he has. You know that when they retire JJ reddick will have higher career earnings? Hes a few million behind now but hes getting another 13 million next season and Rondo wont get much. Hes got a 2.6 million player option.

[bladefd]

It's fun, funny & intriguing to look back now in hindsight of what could have been. Unfortunately, it is still after the fact and hence you can never be wrong. I try hard not to think about what could have been purely because it wasn't that. Who knows what sort of player Chris Paul develops into in a system and culture like the Hawks.. You can only truly judge what was.

[Kblaze8855]

Of course hindsight makes everyone look stupid but.....

Drafting a 6th small forward when your young team has an aging and never that good anyway Tyronn Lue at the point with 2 presumed superstar points right there?

People who don’t know basketball were wondering what the hell which is why the GM started explaining himself 30 seconds later.

[plowking]

A hawks team who had 6'9'' tweener Al Harrington as its leading scorer and had just drafted 6'9'' tweener forward Josh Smith, and 6'8'' wing Josh Childress to add to 6'9'' tweener forward Boris Diaw and 6'8'' wing Joe Johnson were sitting with the #2 pick and Chris Paul and Deron Williams both on the board with Bogut having gone first(....).

They decide they just have to have super talented college 6th man 6'8'' tweener forward Marvin Williams. Apparently they were trying to play 2020 positionless basketball 15 years ago. Having been asked to explain himself Gm Billy Knight said the following:






So in an effort to change the game and be able to switch everything they pass on two HOF point guard talents one of which would fulfill that promise and is still great today.


They got Marvin Williams....who never really got the chance to shine like many super high picks because the whole team played his position. He had a couple good years and apparently never had the fire to be legendary....but he had the talent to be something more than he became.

Who knows...but the Hawks ****ed that one up.


Really interesting quote there about Childress being a 2 guard, considering this guy ended up coming to the NBL in Australia and playing the 5.

Wild stuff.

[ralph_i_el]

Really interesting quote there about Childress being a 2 guard, considering this guy ended up coming to the NBL in Australia and playing the 5.

Wild stuff.

Childress never really could shoot either, which makes putting him at the 2....odd

[jayfan]

He played a nice series. Surprised he's retiring on the back of it.


.

[E_Stamkos]

Just skimming through the list... That draft was comprised of a good number of serviceable players who had decent careers.

Bypassing Paul and Deron was a really boneheaded move though. Especially when you factor who were their point guards at the time.

Going into that season they dressed Ty Lue and Royal Ivy.

Da fuq.

[jayfan]

A hawks team who had 6'9'' tweener Al Harrington as its leading scorer and had just drafted 6'9'' tweener forward Josh Smith, and 6'8'' wing Josh Childress to add to 6'9'' tweener forward Boris Diaw and 6'8'' wing Joe Johnson were sitting with the #2 pick and Chris Paul and Deron Williams both on the board with Bogut having gone first(....).

They decide they just have to have super talented college 6th man 6'8'' tweener forward Marvin Williams. Apparently they were trying to play 2020 positionless basketball 15 years ago. Having been asked to explain himself Gm Billy Knight said the following:






So in an effort to change the game and be able to switch everything they pass on two HOF point guard talents one of which would fulfill that promise and is still great today.


They got Marvin Williams....who never really got the chance to shine like many super high picks because the whole team played his position. He had a couple good years and apparently never had the fire to be legendary....but he had the talent to be something more than he became.

Who knows...but the Hawks ****ed that one up.


Looking back, it's hard to believe that in such a weak draft (and it was definitely weak), its 3rd best player lasted til pick 15 of the 2nd round. Lou Williams.


.

[Xiao Yao You]

Just skimming through the list... That draft was comprised of a good number of serviceable players who had decent careers.

Bypassing Paul and Deron was a really boneheaded move though. Especially when you factor who were their point guards at the time.

Going into that season they dressed Ty Lue and Royal Ivy.

Da fuq.

Jazz bypassing Paul because they thought Deron would be better defensively was boneheaded as well!

[Xiao Yao You]

Not a fan of Marvin when he was in Utah either. Best thing I can say about him was that he wasn't Devin Harris.

[E_Stamkos]

Jazz bypassing Paul because they thought Deron would be better defensively was boneheaded as well!

Fair enough... But in his hayday, Deron was a hell of a player. I still recall that 2-3 year stretch where he was arguably the best point guard in the league. From month to month, public opinion swayed between him and CP.

Then he just completely fell off a cliff.

[ralph_i_el]

Fair enough... But in his hayday, Deron was a hell of a player. I still recall that 2-3 year stretch where he was arguably the best point guard in the league. From month to month, public opinion swayed between him and CP.

Then he just completely fell off a cliff.

He still had some juice for the Nets. He played less in the paint and more from 3 as he got older.

[Xiao Yao You]

Fair enough... But in his hayday, Deron was a hell of a player. I still recall that 2-3 year stretch where he was arguably the best point guard in the league. From month to month, public opinion swayed between him and CP.

Then he just completely fell off a cliff.

He was never the two way player Paul was

[E_Stamkos]

He was never the two way player Paul was

I agree... And you would know better than anyone around here.

That's not a pick that Utah bunked on though, imo.

[pandiani17]

I thought they were going to draft Chris Paul back then who had a great year in College. Hope Marvin Williams plays in Australia and joints the first pick Andre Bogut in the land down under.

IIRC, Bogut was the consensus number 1 pick all year long in the mock drafts, and Paul was the number 2. But Paul didn't finish his college career well, he had an incident with NC State's Julius Hodge in which he punched Hodge in the nuts or something like that, and then Wake Forest went home early in the NCAA tournament. Those things arose questions about Paul's temperament and leadership abilities, and as a consequence of D-Will's run to the NCAA tournament championship game, the latter was picked earlier. Where does Marvin fit in all this story? I don't remember very well, but I think he was a reserve in UNC's stacked 2005 champions team and had some big outings in the ACC and NCAA tournaments. Also, he was considered to have a lot of "potential", he was supposed to be a PF who could play outside shooting the 3 and a SF who could abuse smaller defenders. He turned out to be neither of them, only one of the biggest busts of the last 20 years. But he made the right decision coming out in 2005, had he gone back to UNC he wouldn't be able to maintain his draft stock and he would be selected much later in the 2006/2007/2008 drafts, losing a lot of money in the way.

[RRR3]

Redrafting the 06 draft for todays game would be kinda hard. Brandon Roy is obviously first if he stayed healthy but....he was never going to. So youre left with 3 options for #1...


Aldridge, Lowry, and Rondo.

Im not sure Lowry has not had the best career. Weird to say but....hes a 14 year player, 6 time all star, and nba champion. Rondo 14 years, 3 time all star I think, and the ring.

Rondo has not been as big a star as it feels like he has. You know that when they retire JJ reddick will have higher career earnings? Hes a few million behind now but hes getting another 13 million next season and Rondo wont get much. Hes got a 2.6 million player option.
Considering how the game is played now, Lowry absolutely goes first in a redraft.

[tontoz]

I used to live in Atl and follow the Hawks and the decision to pass on a pg in 05 just confirmed that Knight was clueless.

His comments on Childress were laughable. Childress was maybe the slowest wing in the league who couldnt shoot. He got a lot of points cherry picking on fast breaks. He would routinely leak out early leaving the team short handed on the defensive glass. Iggy and Deng were both taken right after Childress and were far better players.

He also passed on Lou Williams in the second round who played his HS ball in Georgia.

Knight was so clueless that on lottery night when they got the second pick he thought they also got the 2nd pick in the 2nd round (Hawks had the worst record in the league). The person interviewing him was dumbfounded.

[Dbrog]

Reminds me of when the Twolves went PG happy. Flynn, Rubio, etc. Don't understand why some GMs do this. Doesn't even give the players a chance to properly develop since one inevitably rises to the top.

[ralph_i_el]

Marvin Williams wasn't a huge bust. He had a long career as a decent role player.

[Whoah10115]

Lowry hasn't been as good as Aldridge, so he wouldn't and shouldn't go ahead of him.

Rondo #1 tho. Obviously Roy has his arguments. Rondo was special and in big games often still is.

[imdaman99]

Chris Paul belonged on that Hawks team. Some GMs overthink it, just like Dumars, TWolves, Knicks every year.

I remember Marvin Williams at UNC, I couldn't tell you he was gonna be a bust but I could tell you he had a low motor.

[RRR3]

Lowry hasn't been as good as Aldridge, so he wouldn't and shouldn't go ahead of him.

Rondo #1 tho. Obviously Roy has his arguments. Rondo was special and in big games often still is.
Just say you don’t understand how basketball is played now :lol