The NBA's 2002 draft is a draft that Chinese fans are particularly familiar with, and it is also a draft that the entire NBA league paid close attention to that year, because this year's champion was Yao Ming, a 2.26-meter giant from Asian China. Now that 22 years have passed, looking back and summarizing that draft from the perspective of 2024, I was surprised to find that except for the champion Yao Ming, the top 10 rookies in that year were all wrongly selected.
姚明：再选还是状元
In 2002, when Yao Ming landed in the NBA, Yao Ming had no opponents in the top position. After joining the NBA Houston Rockets, Yao Ming quickly became the core of the team, he basically played an average of 20+10 data per game, held the NBA's maximum salary contract at the time, was selected as an NBA All-Star many times, and entered the Basketball Hall of Fame after retiring.
2-10顺位发展情况：水货不少
Williams is the "water" that is often said in the NBA draft rules that "there must be water for the top spot", and he did not play in the NBA; After all, Tanhua Dunleavy was born in a basketball family and has his own position in the NBA, but it does not match Tanhua's identity. No. 4 Gooden has played 14 seasons in the NBA and is a strong player, and he was a good player in the '02 draft.
No. 5 pick Skittishvili played 6 seasons in the NBA, and later came to the CBA Fujian men's basketball team to play; No. 6 pick Wagner played four seasons in the NBA before dropping out of the competition.
No. 7 Xiu Nene definitely belongs to the strength of the rookie class of 02, whether it is the NBA or international competitions, he has played well; No. 8 pick Wilcox has played 11 seasons in the NBA and can basically play the main game.
The No. 9 pick is Xiao Si, probably from the day Xiao Si entered the NBA, the other 29 teams in the NBA except for the Rockets realized that they were wrongly selected in the draft! Smalls is now a superstar who can retire his jersey with the Suns, and his experience of playing in the CBA is also interesting.
No. 10 pick Butler is an All-Star, and it is unknown why he wasn't drafted until the 10th pick.
02届新秀其实质量不算差
In that year's NBA Draft, the '02 rookie was generally considered a small year in the draft. Before the draft, he even thought that there was no available talent other than Yao Ming. However, the fact is that the rookie class of 02 still has a high success rate, but he was not selected by the high pick.
If you rearrange the rookies of the class of 2002, you will find that the top 10 are not bad:
1. Yao Ming, not much to say, Hall of Fame star;
2 Xiao Si, All-Star level, jersey retirement superstar;
3 Boozer, All-Star, Olympic Gold Medal;
4 Prince, overall champion, All-Defensive Team, Olympic champion;
5 Butler, All-Star, Championship;
Within 6;
7 Scola;
8. Koto;
9. Wilcox
- Kostic.