NBA Draft Mistake #15: Atlanta drafting Marvin Williams over Deron Williams and Chris Paul.
Despite coming off the bench during his one season at North Carolina, Marvin Williams was selected second overall by the Atlanta Hawks. Perhaps Willams heavily benefited from helping UNC win the National Championship because it seemed clear that he wasn’t going to be a star in the NBA. That turned out to be very much the case.
Williams spent seven seasons in Atlanta, and while he developed into a useful role player, especially during the second half of his career, he was never a star. His best season came during the 2007-08 season when he averaged nearly 15 points and 6 rebounds per game—good but far from great.
Had he been taken, say, 10th, he certainly wouldn’t be considered a mistake, especially after playing 15 seasons and nearly 1,100 games. Be that as it may, Atlanta reached and missed out on two big names. Deron Williams was taken fourth by Utah and made three All-star teams as well as two All-NBA second teams.
Meanwhile, Chris Paul (a.k.a. the “Point God”) was selected fifth by New Orleans and would go on to make 12 all-star teams, 11 All-NBA teams, and lead the league in assists and steals five and six times, respectively. Obviously, Atlanta made a mistake here.