Ranking every first overall pick in NBA history
56. 1977: Kent Benson, Milwaukee Bucks
The only thing longtime NBA fans remember Benson for was being on the receiving end of a right jab from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The rest of his career (career 9.1 points per game, .103 win shares per 48 minutes) was very unspectacular, especially for a number one overall pick.
55. 1965: Fred Hetzel, San Francisco Warriors
Hetzel had an accomplished career at Davidson University, winning the Southern Conference Player of the year award, as he averaged 25.7 points and 13.8 rebounds with a 59.8 true shooting percentage through his three years at the school.
With numbers like that, it’s no surprise that the San Francisco Warriors took him with the first overall pick in 1965. However, his dominance at the mid-major school didn’t translate to the pros.
He did make the All-Rookie team in 1965-66, but he only averaged 6.8 points and 5.9 boards while shooting a paltry 39.9 percent from the field. He would improve on those numbers in subsequent seasons — he even averaged 19.0 points in 1967-68 — but he never broke through in a way that deemed him worthy of the number one pick.
Fortunately for the Warriors franchise, they also had the second overall pick that year, which they used to draft future Hall-of-Famer Rick Barry. They also did a little better years later as far as picking a Davidson player in the first round was concerned.
54. 1954: Frank Selvy, Baltimore Bullets
If nothing else, Selvy could cook in college. He averaged an unbelievable 32.5 points per game through three years at Furman and he is still the only player in NCAA Division I history to score 100 points in a game.
Once he graduated to the NBA though? The numbers weren’t nearly as impressive. Selvy did make two All-Star teams (1955, 1962), but given his numbers in those years — particularly his 14.7 PPG in 1961-62 — those selections spoke more to the lack of top talent the NBA had at the time than anything else.
His career 11.9 PER and .058 win shares per 48 minutes showed how little value the Bullets got out of their number one pick that year, a fact made worse considering HOFer Bob Pettit was there for the taking in that draft.
53. 1957: Hot Rod Hundley, Cincinnati Royals
Great, another bad player that was inexplicably named to All-Star teams. The Royals took Hundley with the first pick in 1957, passing over the likes of… okay, so future Boston Celtics great Sam Jones was the only really good player in this draft. But he was there for the taking and the Royals chose Williams instead.
“Hot Rod” didn’t play a single game for the Royals, however, as they traded him to the Minneapolis Lakers as part of a package that included perennial All-Star Clyde Lovellette coming over to Cincinnati.
Despite the two All-Star appearances — which occurred during a time where the league was very top-heavy — Williams had a pretty underwhelming career, as he averaged 8.4 points with an 11.7 PER and 4.3 win shares in six NBA seasons.