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Over the last three decades the #12 pick has gone from a player with lots of college experience to a spot where teams could take a flier on an international player, a younger guy who needs more time to develop before he can be a rotation player, or a college baller who has one NBA ready skill. You see some guys who were All-Stars, some who were starters, and some who either didn't have good chances or never made the most of the ones they were given. It's a rogues gallery, and surprisingly the #13 pick has fared better over time -- no doubt bolstered by Hall of Famers like Karl Malone, Steve Nash, and Kobe Bryant. Anyway, here are the last 30 picks at #12:
| Draft | Tm | Player | Age | Pos | College | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | WS | WS/48 | ||||
| 1 | 1986 | WSB | John Williams | 19.2 | F-C | LSU | 435 | 25.2 | 10.1 | 5.1 | 2.9 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 45.1% | 22.5% | 70.4% | 19.9 | 0.087 | |||
| 2 | 1987 | WSB | Muggsy Bogues | 22.2 | G | Wake Forest | 889 | 28.6 | 7.7 | 2.6 | 7.6 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 45.8% | 27.8% | 82.7% | 54.0 | 0.102 | |||
| 3 | 1988 | WSB | Harvey Grant | 23.0 | F | Oklahoma | 783 | 26.2 | 9.9 | 4.4 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 46.9% | 26.7% | 70.9% | 36.4 | 0.085 | |||
| 4 | 1989 | NJN | Mookie Blaylock | 22.1 | G | Oklahoma | 889 | 34.9 | 13.5 | 4.1 | 6.7 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 40.9% | 33.6% | 73.6% | 71.8 | 0.111 | |||
| 5 | 1990 | HOU | Alec Kessler | 23.2 | F-C | Georgia | 210 | 14.0 | 5.2 | 3.6 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 42.6% | 41.7% | 74.4% | 2.0 | 0.033 | |||
| 6 | 1991 | NYK | Greg Anthony | 23.2 | G | UNLV | 757 | 20.9 | 7.3 | 1.9 | 4.0 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 40.3% | 34.9% | 73.3% | 35.9 | 0.109 | |||
| 7 | 1992 | MIA | Harold Miner | 21.1 | G | USC | 200 | 18.7 | 9.0 | 2.2 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 46.0% | 31.1% | 78.5% | 4.2 | 0.053 | |||
| 8 | 1993 | LAL | George Lynch | 22.3 | F | North Carolina | 774 | 22.8 | 6.6 | 5.0 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 44.6% | 30.6% | 65.2% | 32.3 | 0.088 | |||
| 9 | 1994 | MIA | Khalid Reeves | 21.4 | G | Arizona | 277 | 21.1 | 7.8 | 2.1 | 3.2 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 41.6% | 36.3% | 74.4% | 8.4 | 0.069 | |||
| 10 | 1995 | DAL | Cherokee Parks | 22.3 | C-F | Duke | 472 | 15.8 | 4.4 | 3.6 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 47.0% | 21.1% | 63.0% | 11.8 | 0.076 | |||
| 11 | 1996 | CLE | Vitaly Potapenko | 21.1 | C | Wright State | 610 | 19.0 | 6.5 | 4.5 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 47.9% | 16.7% | 69.4% | 15.5 | 0.064 | |||
| 12 | 1997 | IND | Austin Croshere | 22.1 | F | Providence | 659 | 17.4 | 6.8 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 40.7% | 34.0% | 86.1% | 27.6 | 0.115 | |||
| 13 | 1998 | ORL | Michael Doleac | 21.0 | C | Utah | 587 | 15.0 | 4.9 | 3.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 43.9% | 12.5% | 79.1% | 12.7 | 0.070 | |||
| 14 | 1999 | TOR | Aleksandar Radojevic | 22.3 | C | International | 15 | 10.1 | 1.7 | 2.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 30.8% | 62.5% | -0.4 | -0.130 | ||||
| 15 | 2000 | DAL | Etan Thomas | 22.1 | F | Syracuse | 409 | 17.3 | 5.7 | 4.7 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 51.3% | 60.3% | 14.9 | 0.101 | ||||
| 16 | 2001 | SEA | Vladimir Radmanovic | 20.2 | F | International | 737 | 21.9 | 8.0 | 3.8 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 41.5% | 37.8% | 75.8% | 26.5 | 0.079 | |||
| 17 | 2002 | LAC | Melvin Ely | 24.1 | C | Fresno St | 375 | 16.0 | 5.3 | 3.2 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 46.0% | 0.0% | 62.5% | 4.0 | 0.032 | |||
| 18 | 2003 | SEA | Nick Collison | 22.2 | F | Kansas | 875 | 21.0 | 6.1 | 5.3 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 53.2% | 21.0% | 72.7% | 44.0 | 0.115 | |||
| 19 | 2004 | SEA | Robert Swift | 18.2 | C | High School | 97 | 15.5 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 50.6% | 61.0% | 1.7 | 0.054 | ||||
| 20 | 2005 | LAC | Yaroslav Korolev | 18.1 | F | International | 34 | 4.9 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 28.3% | 25.0% | 62.5% | -0.1 | -0.024 | |||
| 21 | 2006 | NOK | Hilton Armstrong | 21.2 | F-C | UCONN | 292 | 11.6 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 50.1% | 28.6% | 58.2% | 3.9 | 0.055 | |||
| 22 | 2007 | PHI | Thaddeus Young | 19.0 | F | Georgia Tech | 665 | 30.6 | 13.9 | 5.9 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 49.7% | 31.9% | 68.8% | 42.6 | 0.101 | |||
| 23 | 2008 | SAC | Jason Thompson | 21.3 | F-C | Rider | 588 | 25.2 | 8.9 | 6.6 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 49.6% | 14.3% | 65.7% | 23.8 | 0.077 | |||
| 24 | 2009 | CHA | Gerald Henderson | 21.2 | G | Duke | 463 | 26.3 | 11.5 | 3.3 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 44.2% | 31.9% | 79.1% | 16.2 | 0.064 | |||
| 25 | 2010 | MEM | Xavier Henry | 19.1 | G | Kansas | 185 | 15.7 | 5.7 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 40.6% | 32.5% | 63.5% | 0.8 | 0.013 | |||
| 26 | 2011 | UTA | Alec Burks | 19.3 | G | Colorado | 259 | 23.0 | 10.6 | 2.9 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 43.2% | 36.5% | 75.1% | 8.9 | 0.071 | |||
| 27 | 2012 | HOU | Jeremy Lamb | 20.0 | G-F | UCONN | 214 | 16.6 | 7.5 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 43.2% | 33.6% | 80.5% | 7.8 | 0.106 | |||
| 28 | 2013 | OKC | Steven Adams | 19.3 | C | Pittsburgh | 231 | 21.6 | 6.2 | 6.0 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 56.5% | 0.0% | 55.1% | 13.5 | 0.130 | |||
| 29 | 2014 | ORL | Dario Saric | 20.1 | F | International | |||||||||||||||
| 30 | 2015 | UTA | Trey Lyles | 19.2 | F | Kentucky | 80 | 17.3 | 6.1 | 3.7 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 43.8% | 38.3% | 69.5% | 2.3 | 0.079 | |||
| 31 | 2016 | UTA | To Be Determined |
Thanks to Basketball-Reference for the data, by the way!
Utah has gone with #12 before and each time taking a younger player, an underclassman, who had an NBA ready talent. Alec is great at slashing and finishing at the rim. Trey isn't as amazing at one thing, but his mix of face-up abilities makes him a a Tom Chambers like load to defend as a stretch big. Both can do it at NBA ready levels and will be leaning on their talents while attempting to better round out their games. Notable on the list is Adams of the Thunder. He's a starter on a final four NBA team. Of course, that team has two super stars on it. But if you are trying to build quality depth the #12 is a good place to fill out an established roster with.
Don't expect: a star.
Do expect: someone who is an immediate upgrade over some of our rotation guys from last year's injury plagued season.
Prediction: if the Utah Jazz go best player available it could be a big like D. Sabonis, or wings like D.Valentine or foreigners like F.Korkmaz or T.Luwawu. If the team is looking for fit, it could be Wade Baldwin, another point guard. I'm "iffy" on the concept of drafting three lotto pick point guards in a row though (Trey Burke, Dante Exum). But what can you do, right?
Gut Feeling: All the chatter is that the Jazz will trade down. If you look at their work out list they didn't work out a lot of lotto talent. That could be the smoking gun. They did work out a lot of bubble 1st rounders though.