NBA Draft: 2013 historical redraft shows vast differences

Actual selection: CJ McCollum, SG, Lehigh

With CJ McCollum already long gone in this re-draft, the Portland Trail Blazers opt for a big man here without a star-crossed injury history — a rarity for the franchise — by taking Louisville center Gorgui Dieng.

Dieng was not a young prospect — he was already 23 on draft night and turned 24 in mid-January of his rookie season — but he was the Big East Defensive Player of the Year as a junior despite missing seven games with a broken wrist. He averaged 9.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 2.0 assists and 1.3 steals for the national champion Cardinals.

Drafted by the Utah Jazz and traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Dieng has been a full-time starter just once in his career, when he averaged 10.0 points and 7.9 boards in 82 starts for the Timberwolves in 2016-17. but he’s been a reserve since then.

Dieng made 17 starts this season filling in for an injured Karl-Anthony Towns before he was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies as part of the three-team deal that sent Andre Iguodala to the Miami Heat. For his career, Dieng has averaged 7.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 22.1 minutes per game but is already in his age-30 season.

Actual selection: Michael Carter-Williams, PG, Syracuse

So it turns out the Philadelphia 76ers got their guy without having to give up former All-Star Jrue Holiday to do it. But this pick also cost the 76ers 2013-14 NBA Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams, who put up decent numbers for a horrific team that had few other options.

Carter-Williams’ career has been hit or miss since that first season, as he is now with his sixth NBA team — the Orlando Magic — and has been waived once. Since his being traded by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2016, Carter-Williams has averaged 16.9 minutes per game and shot just 37.7 percent overall and 25.8 percent from 3-point range.

Nerlens Noel, meanwhile, was very raw offensively coming out of Kentucky, where he averaged 10.5 points on 6.9 shots per game, hitting 59.0 percent.

But he also grabbed 9.5 rebounds per game and led the SEC with 106 blocked shots (4.4 per game) despite playing only 24 games before tearing his ACL in a loss at Florida on Feb. 12. Despite missing the final month, Noel was All-SEC and was named the conference’s Defensive Player and Rookie of the year.

Kentucky underwhelmed, finishing 21-12 and missing the NCAA Tournament as defending national champions despite featuring five future NBA players. The Wildcats were just 4-5 after Noel went down, including losses in their first game of the SEC Tournament and the first round of the NIT.

Noel missed his entire rookie season recovering from the knee injury, having been selected sixth overall by the New Orleans Pelicans and traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. After primarily starting his first two seasons on the court, he’s mostly been a reserve since, now with the Oklahoma City Thunder backing up Steven Adams, who was taken 12th in this same draft.