2014 NBA Redraft: A tale of two big men and two missed picks
By Corey Rausch
The debate was between Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker, but the NBA redraft is clearly between an injured phenom and a second-rounder.
In a 2014 summer for the NBA that will be remembered forever, the NBA Draft sits as a weird piece of the puzzle. Two players were being debated as the top two draft choices while three players overall were expected to be “Face of the Franchise” stars, especially if the third could stay healthy.
Six years later, the top two picks are not on their original teams and have come nowhere close to living up to their hype. That third player referenced above is debatably the best in the draft but you have to compare him to someone who went 41st overall. Enter the redraft.
LeBron James rejoined the Cleveland Cavaliers this summer and that further complicates the first overall pick. Andrew Wiggins was drafted first overall by Cleveland and was sent to Minnesota as part of the trade that would bring back Kevin Love.
So for the sake of this redraft, the Kevin Love trade will still be happening, but (spoiler) Minnesota will be getting a different prospect in return. Rather than trying to figure out how the top two players would fit with James and Kyrie Irving and how this would change the history of the league, this is the most seamless way to handle everything.
Of all the drafts we have reviewed so far, this seems like one where most teams got it wrong, considering two of the top five picks are borderline first-round picks and some players moved into the top five from 41, 13, and 25.
With the first pick in the 2014 NBA Redraft, the Cleveland Cavaliers (for the Minnesota Timberwolves) select…