NBA Draft: Re-drafting the historic 2009 NBA Draft

This was originally the San Antonio Spurs’ pick, but in February 2008, they traded it to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who were then known as the Seattle SuperSonics, along with Brent Barry and Fransisco Elson for Kurt Thomas.

Oklahoma City used this pick to take Rodrigue Beaubois, but they immediately shipped his rights to Dallas for Byron Mullens, whose NBA story primarily consists of him sitting at the end of a bench wearing warmups.

To say that general manager Sam Presti swung and missed this pick would be like saying that Skip Bayless’ LeBron James takes are a little over-the-top.

In this version of the draft, the Thunder would’ve addressed their frontcourt needs by selecting Arizona Wildcats big man Jordan Hill. Given that the New York Knicks took Hill eighth overall in the actual draft, this wouldn’t have been an option for the Thunder, but with the talent being properly slotted here, they could have added a quality backup forward late in the first round.

The Knicks saw little value in Hill, trading him after 24 games, but he put together a nice NBA career, as his .102 WS/48 shows. Honestly, Hill’s career, particularly after he escaped New York, says more about the Knicks than him.

Getting drafted in the top-10 comes with a litany of expectations that are often difficult to live up to, especially when you get chosen to play in the nation’s largest media market. In this situation, Hill could get more manageable minutes behind a superior player, but without the albatross of being a potential bust.