2012 NBA Redraft: How wrong we were in real time
By Corey Rausch
Looking back at another NBA draft, while everyone got the first pick right many picks after that have gone awry. If we redraft, how can we make it better?
Continuing the NBA redraft series one thing seems to stay the same for the early 2010s. The University of Kentucky stockpiled talent and tended to control the lottery. Coming off a National Championship with a generational talent makes 2012 no different.
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The NBA season was a different kind of animal, being lockout-shortened to only 66 games in quick succession. The Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs led the league with 50 wins and neither made it to the NBA Finals. LeBron James won his first NBA title.
This draft also showcased the biggest issue with tanking for long term development. The Charlotte Bobcats set a new record for the lowest winning percentage of all time at 0.106. Winning only seven of their 66 games was ugly for everyone involved but it was clear that Anthony Davis was a franchise-altering talent.
Unfortunately, they ended up at two and landed Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. While many, myself included, thought Kidd-Gilchrist was a cannot-miss prospect he actually missed and ended up being only a rotation player. While tanking does give small-market teams a chance to change their future sometimes it just does not work out.
This redraft will go better for the Bobcats though. There was a lot of talent in this draft and hindsight will look far more favorably on them than reality did. The Hornets (at this point in New Orleans) and Cleveland ended up with 21 wins each so the gap between the Bobcats and the rest is glaring. Let’s improve their results, at least in fiction.
Without further ado, with the first pick in the 2012 NBA Redraft the New Orleans Hornets select…