NBA 2004 Redraft: Picking between high school and college champions

#17 Pick: Dorell Wright (Originally: Josh Smith)

This should have been the Pistons pick, but as part of a three-team trade it ended up in Atlanta and Detroit brought in Rasheed Wallace. Landing Josh Smith helped shape the Mike Woodson era Hawks that were entertaining and mildly successful for their time.

Swapping Smith and Josh Childress for Emeka Okafor seems like a strict upgrade. Okafor was far more reliable and consistent than Smith and Wright would have filled the role they hoped Childress could. Spacing was the name of his game and would have fit so well next to Okafor.

Wright was a career 36.5 percent shooter from distance, but this is brought down by some of his earlier seasons where he was not given enough attempts, less than 1.0 a game in his first five NBA seasons.

He was never going to be a star but if the team continues to make some of the moves they made in the future, like bringing in Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby, he would either be the perfect trade piece to bring them in or complement the roster well.

With the eighteenth pick in the 2004 NBA Redraft, the New Orleans Hornets select…