As the NBA Draft is quickly approaching we have seen players become stars from lower in the Draft. But, who are the ones that were drafted in the top-10 that just did not perform?
Since 2010 there has been a vast increase of stars in the league recently coming out of the NBA Draft. This might be due to the fact that players are coming into the NBA at a much younger age now. But, there is also players that make that choice and their careers take a turn for the worse. Many of them are still in the NBA for one reason or another, but they do not play hardly at all. For some it is still early in their professional careers, but they have not performed to expectations.
2010 – Ekpe Udoh
With the 6th selection in the 2010 NBA Draft the Warriors selected Ekpe Udoh. Udoh is still in the NBA to date, but he does not play many minutes for the Utah Jazz. What makes it even worse for the Warriors is that he only appeared in 96 games for them before being traded to Milwaukee.
For his career Udoh averaged 3.5 points and 2.9 rebounds a game not something you want from a 6th overall selection. The one good part of Udoh’s game is that he has been very solid on defense when he has been on the floor.
2011 – Jan Vesely
It must be a thing with the number six pick in the draft because the Wizards selected Vesely here in 2011. Vesely is now playing again in Europe after only spending three seasons in the NBA. He appeared in 162 games the amount of one year of major league baseball while starting 25 of those games for the Wizards. Vesely was someone that was compared to one of the great foreign players in Andrei Kirilenko, but he never even came close.
Vesely averaged 3.6 points and 3.5 rebounds in his short career. The worst part for Vesely might just be the fact his per 36 fouls per game was an astounding 5.6. Without any fatigue Vesely was on pace to foul out more often that not. He did have a very good point guard in John Wall so it would have been interesting to find Wall a pick-and-roll partner but it was not to be for Vesely. The 2011 class was filled with players that were just alright aside from Kyrie Irving, but Vesely was just not what anyone thought he was going to be.