NBA 2004 Redraft: Picking between high school and college champions

#21 Pick: Sebastian Telfair (Originally: Pavel Podkolzin)

Dallas is back on the board after replacing Devin Harris with Al Jefferson earlier in this redraft. They traded back into this draft, sending their 2005 pick to Utah for a chance to select Pavel Podkolzin.

Thought of like a big man of the future at 7’5” with strength and blocking ability he showcased for the junior Russian national team, it never worked out in the NBA. He was diagnosed with acromegaly in 2003 and only appeared in six games over two seasons with the Mavericks.

Since we already drafted a big man for the Mavericks earlier, we are going to go with some guard help. Given the relative safety of selecting Jefferson earlier on, it’s worth trading back into the first round and taking a chance on Sebastian Telfair.

It is easy to forget the hype that surrounded Telfair at the time. Make no mistake, though. On the cover of SLAM magazine alongside fellow high school phenom LeBron James, people at the time considered them to be the future of the league. The potential was that tantalizing.

While things did not work out for Telfair in the right situation things could have been different under better circumstances. Putting him in the Mavericks organization could have truly changed things for him.

With the twenty-second pick in the 2004 NBA Redraft, the Portland Trail Blazers select…