Why Was The 2006 NBA Draft So Bad?

The 2006 NBA Draft has been labeled one of the worst draft classes in history due to many players never living up to their expectations whether that be just because they were straight up bad or got injured along the way. Today we find out what happened to these players both in their careers and where they are now.

The 2006 NBA draft is widely regarded as one of the worst in that decade along with the 2000 draft so we’re here today to find out exactly why that is now honestly we got some pretty good names here I can’t even lie to you guys LaMarcus Aldridge Rudy Gay JJ reick

Rondo Lowry Milsap and then oh my God the fall off is crazy it would be a little bit different if we were talking about the entire draft but overall it was just really disappointing in the top 10 sums that up pretty well let’s start it off with number one Toronto Raptor

Shall we we look at their 2005 to 2006 roster here some names will jump out to you of course like Chris Bosch maybe villan NOA who was a rookie at the time Jaylen Rose or the redheaded goat Matt Boner but the most surprising player to

Me was a guy named Mike James the guy averaged 9.9 points throughout his career but he locked in and scored 20.3 points per game for the Raptors in ‘ 05 and they were were holding it down on offense too scoring at a top five rate in the league but the defense was second

To last giving up 104 points per game which is 100% one of the reasons they finished the year at 27 and 55 and they knew they needed another big man to help out Bosch in the paint so they went out and got Andrea barani at the number one

Pick he was a great shot blocker and Scouts thought he could turn into a great player down the road they were high on his three ball and his footwork in the post which led him to being compared to get ready for this one Dirk

Nowitzki no no no no I don’t think so I do not think so what is he doing folks why would he shoot the ball now he got off to a strong start in his career earning a spot on the all rookie team even though he was mainly coming off the

Bench in March of that year though he had to undergo an emergency appendectomy surgery which caused him to miss 13 games leading up to those playoffs he made his return but they eventually lost to the Nets in the first round in the next season he saw a bigger role

Breaking into the team’s starting lineup on a more frequent basis but there was no breakout year like many were expecting you know sometimes you get that soft more leap year nah not this time with baryani instead he slowly started improving over the next two years leading to his best season as a

Rapor and probably the best year of his entire career which came in the 2010 to 11 season with Chris posos leaving the Raptors to join Lebron and weade on the Miami Heat barani was moved to the center position where he started in every game that he played in and stepped

Up huge averaging 21.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game the previous offseason baryani signed a hefty contract with the Raptors for 5 years and $50 million which of course was looking like the perfect move at the time unfortunately not even two years later injuries would start to take a serious toll on him

Barani played in 66 games that season we just talked about but he wouldn’t play in more than 46 games in any other season after two more seasons and more injuries that were clearly wearing on his mental health in the 2013 off season barani was traded to the New York Knicks

This was supposed to be exactly what the Knicks needed to finally make a deep playoff run with Melo leading the team but that wouldn’t be the case with the Knicks missing the Playoffs in both of his Seasons with the team and barani missing a lot more time after two years

With the Knicks barani would be on the move once again signing with the Brooklyn Nets after just 46 games with the Nets he was waved from the roster putting an end to his time in the NBA now the potential that barani had coming into the league is undeniable and maybe

If it weren’t for all those injuries he could have been a multiple time Allstar but I guess we will just never know after being waved by the Nets he spent some time playing professionally overseas in Spain and after retiring I think it’s safe to say barani really isn’t thinking too much about basketball

Anymore I mean look at this man now his Instagram biography we got he’s a DJ he’s an influencer blogger lifestyle advisor I mean hey if these are actually all true he’s enjoying retirement which is always a good thing to see all right so I guess the number one pick didn’t

Exactly work out in the long term but what would the Bulls do at number two would they make the same mistake and take the wrong player well yes and no they traded away the rights to LaMarcus Aldridge for the number four pick who didn’t exactly turn out anywhere close

To what Aldridge did but we’re going to get into that in a minute so instead of the Bulls getting Aldridge the Trailblazer did and boy were they happy about that move he was coming off being the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year in his sophomore season at Texas and

Along with the great defense that he played Scouts were in love with his post and mid-range jump shot one of their only concerns though was if injuries was going to follow him throughout his NBA career because in his freshman year at Texas he suffered a season ending hip

Injury he later went on to say that it gave him even more motivation to be great and he carried that right into his rookie season earning himself a spot on the all rookie team even though he wasn’t quite a starter at that point in time it did not matter but that changed

In his second year where he started in every game that he played in this much bigger role led to Aldridge taking a huge statistical jump averaging nearly double the points per game of his rookie season while still being a pest on the defensive end he wouldn’t stop there though he continued improving almost

Every year with the Blazers eventually becoming the main guy for the team starting with the 2011 and 2012 season he turned it up to another level making the All-Star Game each of the next Four Seasons averaging a combined 22.4 points and 9.7 rebounds per game throughout those Seasons unfortunately this was not

Resulting in any deep postseason success for the Blazers though an injury ruined their chances of making it in the 2011 to 12 season and they just couldn’t get everything clicking even with Damen Lillard being on the come up for the next three seasons according to the two

Of them the relationship was a bit Rocky mainly due to out side voic is spreading some misinformation about the two’s intentions such as that Lillard was trying to take the spotlight from Aldridge when it was later stated that he was just trying to be a nice compliment to him nonetheless Aldridge

Said that he wanted to remain in Portland but he also wanted a stronger Supporting Cast around him so in the 2015 offseason he signed a 4-year $80 million deal with the San Antonio Spurs while there are plenty of what if situations surrounding Aldridge’s time in Portland him signing with the Spurs

Was ultimately the right move at the end of the day on paper it was a match made in heaven he fit perfectly into their system and made San Antonio arguably the deepest team in the league at the time featuring Hall of Famer Tim Duncan kawi Leonard monu job and Tony Parker

Aldridge bought heavily into the team first mindset of the Spurs at the time and as a result of this of course he saw a dip in his production despite serving as the team starting power forward he still found a way to his fifth consecutive All-Star appearance though

And in the 2016 to 17 season he would see his deepest playoff run they took down the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round in six games the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference semi-finals in six games as well then they got matched up against the crazy Warriors team with

Durant on the roster the warriors were just a little bit too much to handle for the Spurs roster and they swept them in the Western Conference Finals Aldridge spent three more full seasons with the Spurs returning to the All-Star Game in two of those seasons and then towards

The tail end of his career in the regular season of the 2020 to2 one season he would reach a buyout agreement with the Spurs and just 3 days later he would join Kevin Durant Kyrie Irving and James Harden on the Brooklyn Nets now it was thought of that this team could be

Unstoppable with all of its veteran star power and Aldridge might finally get that ring that he deserved but he would have a season cut short and would be forced into retirement due to serious health concerns coming from an irregular heartbeat after being medically cleared Aldridge returned to action for the Nets

Mainly playing a bench role for the team and at the tail end of the regular season he would retire from the league ending his career with seven All-Star appearances five appearances on the all NBA team and an appearance on the 2006 to 2007 all rookie team recently aldes has expressed interest in potentially

Becoming a part of the Spurs coaching staff which would probably benefit Victor wanyama greatly I’m just saying I would love to see that I’m sure he is much more focused on his health now as well that he’s retired and just enjoying spending time with his family I hope

He’s doing well time to move on to number three the poor Charlotte Bobcats were on the clock to be fair with you meca Oka for was looking like a good pick from two years ago after winning Rookie of the Year award so this could be the start of a big turnaround for

This franchise nope it was certainly not that actually anything but that they decided to go with Adam Morrison who many people compared at the time to Larry Bird he looked like an old school talent coming out of college who did whatever it took to win and was a great

Leader went on to have a solid rookie season where he averaged 11.8 points per game earning him a spot on the all rookie team however he struggled to break into the starting lineup starting in only 23 out of 78 games that he played in mainly due to his poor defense

And bad streaky shooting nights shortly before The Following Season kicked off Morrison tore his ACL in a preseason game against the Lakers that would force him to miss the entirety of the 2007 to 2008 season unfortunately once he made his return from this injury his numbers

Would then take a huge plunged down to him scoring just four points per game and having his minutes more than cut in half as well towards the tail end of his returning season the Bobcats had enough of him and Morrison was sent to the Lakers along with Shannon Brown in

Exchange for Vladimir radmanovic even when he got to La nothing was going right for him individually and he was only on the court enough to attempt about one to two shots per game at the end of the day if there was one bright spot about Morrison’s career is that he

Walked away from the Lakers with two championships under his belt after the the 2009 to 2010 season was over Morrison’s time in the league came to an end he went to play overseas in Serbia after retiring from basketball he has done a lot with radio and podcasting he’s also a basketball analyst for

Gonzaga and has taken the mustache completely off clean shaven looks like a whole new person honestly moving on to number four we mentioned the Bulls earlier passing up Lamarcus alri to take a shot on another player here and let’s just say the trend of mediocrity would continue at this point with Tyrus Thomas

Over the long term but it actually didn’t start off too bad Thomas wasn’t the type of player to take 15 shots a game he was the guy hustling for rebounds and doing everything he possibly could to block shots which he was great at by the way because of his

Insane 73 Wings span coming off being named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year at LSU his help defense was some of the best that the league had to offer which helped the Bulls to a 49 and 33 record in his rookie year Thomas struggled however to break into the

Starting lineup in his rookie season starting at only four of the 72 games that he played in but he was a very effective player coming off the bench which earned him a spot on the all rookie team as well the Bulls also made the playoffs this year but lost to the

Pistons in the second round in six games Thomas continued playing well and working his way up the rotation throughout the next few seasons starting in 61 of the 79 games he played in during his final full season with the bulls now this would arguably be the best season of his entire career in

Which he averaged 10.8 points 6.4 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game but around the Midway point of the 2009 and 2010 season he found himself on the Charlotte Bobcats despite a change of scenery that he likely did need Thomas would go back to struggling to see the starting lineup during his time in

Charlotte he continued to regress and see a lesser role with the team in each of his three seasons as a bobcat and was waved from the team in the 2013 off season after that year found himself in the D-League and his final stop in the

NBA would come in the middle of the 2014 to 15 season when he received a 10-day contract with the Memphis Grizzlies Thomas played in just two games during that contract shooting 100% from the field making the only shot he took after retiring from the NBA Thomas has went on

To become an assistant coach at Liberty High and is a mental health Advocate on the clock at number five the Hawks took a player that was completely dominant in college but his skill just never translated well to the NBA if I told you Sheldon Williams averaged over three

Blocks in college and over nine rebounds per game you would have to think his defense would at least translate to the next level I’m sure that’s also what the Hawks thought too he entered the draft after two consecutive Defensive Player of the Year selections and three ACC all

Defensive Selections in his four years at Duke and Scouts thought he was one of the best shot blockers in all of college basketball so when the Hawks select in with the fifth overall pick they were expecting a big help on that side of the basketball but his abilities wouldn’t

Translate too well throughout his NBA career although he started in under half of the games that he played in it would be the strongest season of his career offensively and defensively averaging 5.5 points 5.4 rebounds and .5 blocks per game midway through the 2007 to 2008 season Williams found himself on the

Sacramento Kings but would not start in a single game for them at times even struggled to see the floor at all this TR would continue throughout his time on the Timberwolves and Celtics as well but in the 2010 offseason Williams signed a one-year deal with the Denver Nuggets

Where it appeared that things were finally starting to turn around for him despite averaging similar stats to what he put up almost every season up to this point in his career he would start in 32 out of 42 games that he played in with the nuggets at least averaging over five

Rebounds right when things looked to be turning around though he would be part of a blockbuster deal that sent Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks he then found himself on the New Jersey Nets next season where he finished out his career despite playing a larger role

Than he had through the middle stretch of his career he still wouldn’t see another opportunity in the league after his time with the Nets was over and would be forced into retirement after the 2011 to 2012 season I think it’s safe to say that at the end of the day

Williams’ size was one of his biggest downfalls sitting at around 6’8 6’9 might have worked in college but once he was playing against bigger competition in the NBA who was also more athletic he just couldn’t keep up Williams used to be married to Candice Parker and they actually have a teenage girl together

But after retiring he spent some time scouting for the Nets coaching in the G league and played a bit of basketball in China as well up at number six the Blazers would trade with the Timberwolves for Brandon Roy who would turn into the biggest wh if of this

Entire draft coming out of Washington Roy looked like the complete package his IQ shooting ability and ball handling were all top tier and he got off to a scorching hot start to his career averaging 16.8 points 4.4 rebounds and four assists per game while shooting an elite

37.7% for three all this earned him the Rookie of the Year award even though he missed a fair amount of the Season due to an impingement in his left heel in only his second season in the league Roy would make his first All-Star appearance

And it was clear that he was well on his way to potentially being one of the biggest names that the league had to offer he averaged 19.1 points 4 point seven rebounds and 5.8 assists per game made the All-Star Game in the following two seasons as well with the best year

Of his career coming in the 2008 2009 season but he would never be able to lead the Trailblazers to a deep playoff run due to constant injuries these would come to a head in the 2010 to 11 season where he underwent surgery on both of his knees he would end up retiring from

The league following this surgery but would make a short return onto the Timberwolves in the 2012 to 13 season he could only sadly muster five games before undergoing another surgery ending his season anyone who got the privilege to watch Roy during his short time in the league knows he had the potential to

Be great had he been able to avoid these constant and serious injuries that played his career there is a strong chance that he could have gone on to have a Hall of Fame caliber career and likely would have been the best player from the straft class after all the

Surgeries Roy is forced to live with severe arthritis that is just one step away from a double knee replacement since retiring Roy has made a huge impact act as a high school basketball coach in Seattle he led Nathan hail to a perfect 29 and zero record and a

National championship in the 2016 to 17 season won three more titles after that one coach of the year and several of his proteges have made it to the NBA including Michael Porter Jr up at the seventh overall pick would be another from the top 10 that would struggle to

See anywhere near the same success in the NBA that they did in college during his time at Villanova Randy Foy came away with two consecutive all Big East selections and one big East Player of the Year award and the Celtics would take him with the seventh overall pick

But he bounced between the Blazers and then the Timberwolves before he played in a single game this was yet another player from this list that would struggle to break into the starting lineup but despite that Foy still had a very solid rookie season averaging 10.1 points per game while shooting a very

Respectable 36.8% for three which earned him a spot on the all rookie team boy’s best year as a member of of the Timberwolves and arguably the strongest year of his entire career would come in the 2008 to 2009 season where he averaged 16.3 points and 4.3 assists per

Game the 2009 off season is when Foy started his journey throughout the league from the Wizards to the Clippers to the Jazz to the Nuggets to the Thunder and finally the Nets all of these seasons were just a bit lackluster compared to what many knew his potential

Could have been although he did perform okay for about 5 years after his Timberwolves run after averaging around 11 points per game many people might not know this but Foy actually has a rare condition that one in every 10,000 people have called cus inversus which means all his organs are on the opposite

Side of his body the heart for example is usually on your left side but Foy is on his right just something I found interesting but after retiring from the NBA Foy has been focused on Landing more players and iil Deals based at villain NOA and used to have an apple podcast

Called outside shot with Rand 4 all right finally at number eight things were starting to look up again as the Rockets took Rudy Gay but immediately traded him in Strow M Swift to the Grizzlies for Shane Bader Bader turned out to be a solid player though so you

Really can’t hate on this decision to give up gay gay started off his career hot starting in over half of the games that he played in and averaging 10.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game Landing him a spot on the all rookie team then he took a massive jump in his second

Season starting in all 81 games that he played in and averaged 20.1 points 6.2 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game after that season he continued playing well averaging close to 20 points per game for four more full seasons before being traded in the middle of the 2012 to 13

Season to the Toronto Raptors this would end up being a short stint in Toronto though as he was traded to the Kings just after about a year gay was still a great addition to this king’s team and played a huge role in His Four Seasons team still averaging close to 20 points

And six rebounds per game in the 2017 to 18 season gay was seeking out greener pastures in free agency and signed with the San Antonio Spurs in hopes of winning a ring he took a reduced role with the Spurs mainly serving as a bench piece but despite this he was still a

Very reliable scorer and a solid Defender however his hopes of winning a ring with the Spurs would never come to fruition and after 4 years with the team he was on the move yet again this time Landing him on the Utah Jazz with the Jazz he would still be a bench player

However he would begin to show massive signs of regression him being 35 years old in his first year with the team his final season playing in the league came in the following year where he averaged a respectable 5.2 points and 2.9 rebounds per game while playing just

Under 15 minutes a game despite only retiring with an all rookie appearance that doesn’t quite do Rudy Gay Justice while he was never the star player he was an incredible supporting piece and a player that any team would love to have on their roster since leaving the Jazz

Just last year gay has been bouncing around in free agency went to the Hawks then to the Thunder and finally to the Warriors but was W before the current season began now we have to shift back to the reality of this draft class which would be another player at number nine

Who didn’t live up to his potential the warrior selected Patrick O’Brien and let me tell you this was a big dude his 75 to 76 wingspan and 9′ 4 in standing reach made Scouts think that if he was molded by the right coaching staff he could end up being a generational Talent

Despite this it was well known that obriant would be a project player while he showed a good amount of potential during his time at Bradley he was still a very raw talent despite all the question marks the Warriors still selected him with the ninth overall pick but almost immediately it was made clear

That things were not going to work out in Golden State this was through no fa of the coaching staff but more on the front office for taking such a risk on o’briant was all right in the G league but he had to fight to even see the

Floor at all in Golden State he played in just 40 total games throughout his first two years with the Warriors coming off the bench in all of them where he averaged 1.7 points and 1.3 rebounds per game Golden State didn’t pick up his third-year option and O’Brien hit the

Free agency market he ended up signing a 2-year $3.1 million deal with the Boston Celtics after an impressive workout in the 2008 off season while Boston had high hopes for him as a backup for kend Perkins they would end up trading him at the deadline to the Toronto Raptors for

Will Solomon o’briant would be given a chance early on with the Raptor starting in three out of 13 games that he played in in this role he saw an uptick in minutes but not nearly enough that a normal starter would and it was still clear that he didn’t have what it took

To see regular minutes every single game his final year in the league would come in the 2009 to 2010 season in which he played in only 11 games with the Raptors while o’briant had a lot of potential coming into the league no coaching staff was able to develop him into a star that

He could have very well been after retiring Patrick has spent most of his time doing private coaching sessions with coachup in Las Vegas and finally at number 10 the SuperSonics took a near 7ot Center who would not turn out nearly to be what they had hoped muhamad seni

Was another big man with a 7 fo8 wingspan making him an elite shot blocker along with this he was very athletic for his size and a force on the defensive end of the basketball the weird part about this is that he only began playing basketball just 3 years

Before he was drafted and as a result of this he still had a lot to learn and many areas of his game to developed many were comparing him to DMI Matumbo at the time and despite there being more than a few red flags around sening the Seattle supersonic selected him with the 10th

Overall pick he struggled through his rookie season only playing in 28 games and starting in just three of them averaging 1.9 points and 1.6 rebounds per game things would not get any better in his second season with the team either and mid way through the 2008 to

2009 season he was cut from the Thunder and picked up by the New York Knicks for just one single game scoring three points and pulling in five rebounds and unfortunately that would be the last time we saw him play in an NBA game after retiring from the NBA s spent some

Time bouncing between different overseas leagues along with being a part of the Austin Spurs or a part of the G league if you guys enjoyed this video as always make sure to drop a thumbs up subscribe to the channel if you’re new and check out some of my other videos oh