FanPost

JuMu's Juju: History of the #5 pick

What do us Jazz fans have to look forward to in 4 weeks from now? Oh, you know, just a top 5 pick in arguably the strongest draft since 2003. No biggie though. Anyways, many Jazz fans including myself want the Jazz to trade up to get one of Embiid, Wiggins, Parker, or maybe even Exum. However, looking at the history of the number 5 pick from the last 30 NBA drafts made me realize that the 5th pick is a pretty good place to be if we decide to stand pat. I'm not sure if someone has done a post like this yet, I imagine Amar already has, but I couldn't find one so here are all the 5 picks from the last 30 years!

Year

How Good

Player

G

GS

MP

FGA

FG%

3P%

FT%

TRB

AST

STL

BLK

PTS

ORtg

DRtg

WS/48

1984

Superstar

Charles Barkley

1073

1012

36.7

14.5

0.541

0.266

0.735

11.7

3.9

1.5

0.8

22.1

119

105

0.216

1985

Rotation

Jon Koncak

784

379

20.9

3.9

0.470

0.226

0.597

4.9

1.0

0.7

1.0

4.5

105

105

0.085

1986

Rotation

Kenny Walker

448

160

20.2

5.7

0.485

0.206

0.749

4.0

0.7

0.5

0.7

7.0

112

109

0.095

1987

Superstar

Scottie Pippen

1178

1053

34.9

13.3

0.473

0.326

0.704

6.4

5.2

2.0

0.8

16.1

108

102

0.146

1988

Star

Mitch Richmond

976

902

35.2

16.4

0.455

0.388

0.850

3.9

3.5

1.2

0.3

21.0

110

110

0.111

1989

Rotation

J.R. Reid

672

297

22.9

6.8

0.472

0.135

0.716

5.0

1.0

0.8

0.4

8.5

102

107

0.070

1990

Starter

Kendall Gill

966

791

30.5

12.1

0.434

0.300

0.754

4.1

3.0

1.6

0.4

13.4

103

107

0.078

1991

Starter

Steve Smith

942

717

30.6

11.1

0.440

0.358

0.845

3.2

3.1

0.8

0.3

14.3

114

108

0.139

1992

Starter

LaPhonso Ellis

624

359

28.2

10.3

0.452

0.302

0.730

6.5

1.6

0.7

0.8

11.9

104

106

0.089

1993

Starter

Isaiah Rider Jr,

563

424

31.7

14.4

0.443

0.352

0.812

3.8

2.7

0.7

0.2

16.7

102

110

0.061

1994

Starter

Juwan Howard

1208

900

30.3

11.5

0.469

0.120

0.764

6.1

2.2

0.7

0.3

13.4

102

107

0.078

1995

Superstar

Kevin Garnett

1377

1340

35.5

15.0

0.497

0.277

0.790

10.3

3.9

1.3

1.5

18.6

110

99

0.185

1996

Superstar

Ray Allen

1300

1149

35.6

14.6

0.452

0.400

0.894

4.1

3.4

1.1

0.2

18.9

114

108

0.150

1997

Rotation

Tony Battie

837

429

21.1

5.2

0.488

0.162

0.690

5.1

0.6

0.5

0.9

6.1

106

103

0.099

1998

Superstar

Vince Carter

1148

950

34.2

16.6

0.442

0.378

0.799

4.9

3.7

1.1

0.6

20.2

109

106

0.141

1999

Bust

Jonathan Bender

262

28

14.7

4.7

0.417

0.340

0.763

2.2

0.6

0.2

0.6

5.5

96

105

0.047

2000

Starter

Mike Miller

913

553

29.1

9.4

0.462

0.409

0.769

4.6

2.8

0.6

0.2

11.8

110

108

0.108

2001

Starter

Jason Richardson

838

827

34.4

14.9

0.440

0.371

0.707

5.0

2.7

1.2

0.4

17.3

107

108

0.098

2002

Bust

Nikoloz Tskitishvili

172

16

11.3

3.6

0.304

0.235

0.730

1.8

0.7

0.3

0.3

2.9

79

104

-0.039

2003

Superstar

Dwyane Wade

719

710

36.6

17.7

0.492

0.289

0.765

5.0

6.0

1.8

1.0

24.3

111

103

0.192

2004

Starter

Devin Harris

641

442

27.3

9.4

0.438

0.318

0.797

2.4

4.8

1.1

0.2

12.5

110

109

0.115

2005

Starter

Raymond Felton

667

612

34.4

11.9

0.412

0.332

0.783

3.3

6.5

1.4

0.2

13.1

103

109

0.068

2006

Bust

Shelden Williams

361

104

15.5

3.5

0.462

0.222

0.740

4.3

0.5

0.5

0.5

4.5

105

106

0.085

2007

Starter

Jeff Green

478

362

32.7

11.9

0.441

0.344

0.783

5.1

1.6

0.8

0.6

14.2

103

108

0.073

2008

Star

Kevin Love

364

282

32.8

14.1

0.451

0.362

0.815

12.2

2.5

0.7

0.5

19.2

117

106

0.189

2009

Starter

Ricky Rubio

180

160

31.9

8.7

0.368

0.323

0.801

4.4

8.1

2.3

0.1

10.1

102

103

0.091

2010

Starter

DeMarcus Cousins

291

269

30.4

14.5

0.462

0.148

0.715

10.2

2.4

1.4

1.0

17.9

102

104

0.095

2011

Starter

JonasValanciunas

143

138

26.3

7.3

0.540

0.000

0.773

7.6

0.7

0.3

1.0

10.3

112

105

0.135

2012

Bust

Thomas Robinson

140

0

13.8

4.4

0.454

0.000

0.543

4.4

0.6

0.5

0.3

4.8

96

106

0.039

2013

Bust

Alex Len

42

3

8.6

1.9

0.423

0.000

0.645

2.4

0.1

0.1

0.4

2.0

92

106

0.024

Not a bad group of guys overall. By my count, out of the last 30 drafts, there have been 6 superstars, 2 stars, 13 starters, 4 rotation players, and 5 busts. Having a 27% chance of at least a star or a 70% chance of at least a starter is fine by my standards. Obviously it would be best to get the first pick, but such is the life of the lottery, we would have had to have lost 7 more games to be drafting in the third slot this year. Yikes! There are some horrid teams out there.

Anyways, my rankings for the number 5 picks from the group above would be:

1. Dwyane Wade

2. Kevin Garnett

3. Charles Barkley

4. Scottie Pippen

5. Ray Allen

6. Vince Carter

7. Kevin Love

8. Mitch Richmond

9. DeMarcus Cousins

10. Jason Richardson

11. Isaiah Rider Jr.

12. Steve Smith

13. Kendall Gill

14. Devin Harris

15. Juwan Howard

16. Ricky Rubio

17. Mike Miller

18. Jeff Green

19. LaPhonso Ellis

20. Raymond Felton

21. Jonas Valanciunas

22. J.R. Reid

23. Kenny Walker

24. Jon Koncak

25. Tony Battie

26. Thomas Robinson

27. Alex Len

28. Shelden Williams

29. Jonathan Bender

30. Nikoloz Tskitishvili

If we get a player that manages to break into the top 10 or top 8 of this list I would be extremely pleased. Here' s to hoping to a little bit of draft luck for our pick. If we stand pat, we will most likely end up with 1 of Exum, Gordon, Smart, Vonleh, or Randle, unless one of the big 3 (Wiggins, Parker, Embiid) drop unexpectedly.

Thanks for reading this edition of JuMu's Juju

Random tidbits:

  • None of the superstars/stars picked at number 5 have been a point guard. Every other position is represented
  • All 5 of the busts were big men (hint hint, Jazz FO, don't go with a big man!)
  • Averaging all of the number 5 picks of the last 30 years leads to someone who averages 12.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists in 27.6 minutes. Closest comparisons to players this season: Evan Turner, NeNe, and Spencer Hawes.
  • Nikiloz Tskitishvili may very well be the worst top 5 pick of all time, sorry Nuggets....
  • Charles Barkley probably hates MJ as much as Malone did for keeping him from a ring.
  • Best player who I didn't know anything about prior to today: Mitch Richmond. (Probably shows my young age, need to get vetter)
  • Best player combination: Offense of Charles Barkley, Defense of Kevin Garnett
  • Worst player combination: Offense of Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Defense of Raymond Felton.
  • Player with highest chance of jumping to superstar: Kevin Love
  • Player with highest chance of jumping to star: DeMarcus Cousins (runners-up: Ricky Rubio, Jeff Green, Jonas Valanciunas)
  • The polarizing battle for worst number 5 pick of the decade is heating up between Thomas Robinson and Alex Len; who will triumph?

All comments are the opinion of the commenter and not necessarily that of SLC Dunk or SB Nation.