1st Round Picks vs Playoff Success

 

 

FACT #1: Most homegrown 1^st round picks since 2000: Celtics, Hawks, and Supersonics with 5 each (but these 3 teams have combined for only 7 playoff appearances in 8 years)

CONCLUSION #1: Drafting a lot of players in the 1^st round and keeping them on your team will not necessarily lead to success, as each of these teams have a top-5 lottery pick this year.

 

FACT #2: Most acquired 1^st round picks since 2000: Trailblazers with 9 (but only 4 playoff appearances in 8 years)

CONCLUSION #2: Portland has been busy signing/trading for former 1^st round picks for much of the decade, but it has not helped a lot so far, although I have a feeling that their newest homegrown addition (Oden) might turn them from losers into winners.

 

FACT #3: Most homegrown/acquired 1^st round picks since 2000: Trailblazers with 12 (but only 4 playoff appearances in 8 years)

CONCLUSION #3: Portland can bring five former 1^st round picks off of their bench, but apparently potential will only get you so far, as they had one of the worst teams in the league last year.

 

FACT #4: Least homegrown 1^st round picks since 2000: Bucks, Nuggets, Suns, Timberwolves, and Wizards with 1 each (these 5 teams have combined for 23 playoff appearances in 8 years)

CONCLUSION #4: Despite the fact that 2 of these 5 teams missed out on the playoffs this year, and the Suns were the only team to win a single playoff series, these teams have shown that you can get to the playoffs year after year without developing your own 1^st round picks.

 

FACT #5: Least acquired 1^st round picks since 2000: Clippers with 0 (and only 1 playoff appearance in 8 years)

CONCLUSION #5: I suppose that Clippers owner Donald Sterling might be the X-factor in this one, but the fact remains that one reason the Clippers keep ending up in the lottery is because they rarely trade for/sign players who are recent 1^st round picks.

 

FACT #6: Least homegrown/acquired 1^st round picks since 2000: Bucks, Clippers, Jazz, Spurs, Timberwolves with 3 (these 5 teams have combined for 24 playoff appearances in 8 years)

CONCLUSION #6: Sterling’s distaste for re-signing his 1^st round picks has cost him in the past, but the other 4 teams have consistently made the playoffs with a combination of players who are either older, not former 1^st round picks, or both.

 

FACT #7: Most playoff appearances since 2000: Spurs with 8 (despite only having 2 homegrown and 1 acquired 1^st round pick in 8 years)

CONCLUSION #7: The NBA’s defending champion has proven that the addition of recent 1^st round picks is completely irrelevant to success, although this year’s NBA Finals MVP is one of their 2 homegrown 1^st round picks.

 

8 playoff appearances in past 8 years

Spurs:              2 homegrown (Parker, Udrih)

1 acquired (Ely)

 

7 playoff appearances in past 8 years

Kings:               3 homegrown (Douby, Garcia, Martin)

1 acquired (Salmons)

Lakers:              4 homegrown (Bynum, Cook, Farmar, Vujacic)

3 acquired (Brown, Mihm, Radmanovic)

Mavericks:        2 homegrown (Ager, Howard)

2 acquired (Diop, Harris)

Pacers:             3 homegrown (Granger, Harrison, Williams)

4 acquired (Diogu, Dunleavy, Murphy, Tinsley)

 

6 playoff appearances in past 8 years

Nets:                4 homegrown (Boone, Krstic, Williams, Wright)

3 acquired (Collins, Jefferson, Nachbar)

Suns:                1 homegrown (Stoudemire)

3 acquired (Banks, Barbosa, Diaw)

 

5 playoff appearances in past 8 years

Bucks:              1 homegrown (Bogut)

2 acquired (Hodge, Villanueva)

Hornets:            4 homegrown (Armstrong, Paul, Simmons, West)

2 acquired (Chandler, Mason)

Jazz:                 2 homegrown (Brewer, Williams)

1 acquired (Araujo)

Sixers:              2 homegrown (Dalembert, Iguodala)

2 acquired (Carney, Hunter)

Timberwolves:   1 homegrown (McCants)

2 acquired (Griffin, Madsen)

 

4 playoff appearances in past 8 years

Celtics:             5 homegrown (Allen, Foye, Green, Jefferson, West)

3 acquired (Perkins, Rondo, Telfair)

Magic:              2 homegrown (Howard, Redick)

3 acquired (Dooling, Nelson, Turkoglu)

Nuggets:           1 homegrown (Anthony)

5 acquired (Hilario, Johnson, Kleiza, Martin, Smith)

Raptors:           4 homegrown (Bargnani, Bosh, Graham, Peterson)

4 acquired (Dixon, Ford, Humphries, Jackson)

Trailblazers:       3 homegrown (Outlaw, Randolph, Webster)

9 acquired (Aldridge, Dickau, Jack, Jones, Magloire, Miles, Przybilla, Rodriguez, Roy)

 

3 playoff appearances in past 8 years

Bulls:                2 homegrown (Gordon, Hinrich)

5 acquired (Deng, Khryapa, Sefolosha, Sweetney, Thomas)

Grizzlies:           3 homegrown (Lowry, Swift, Warrick)

4 acquired (Gasol, Gay, Jones, Miller)

Knicks:             4 homegrown (Balkman, Collins, Frye, Lee)

5 acquired (Crawford, Curry, Jeffries, Richardson, Robinson)

Rockets:           2 homegrown (Head, Ming)

3 acquired (Battier, Snyder, Tsakalidis)

Supersonics:     5 homegrown (Collison, Petro, Ridnour, Sene, Swift)

1 acquired (Wilcox)

Wizards:           3 acquired (Haywood, Stevenson, Thomas)

1 homegrown (Hayes)

 

2 playoff appearances in past 8 years

Cavaliers:          2 homegrown (Brown, James)

2 acquired (Gooden, Pavlovic)

 

1 playoff appearance in past 8 years

Clippers:           3 homegrown (Kaman, Korolev, Livingston)

                        0 acquired

Warriors:           4 homegrown (Biedrins, O’Bryant, Pietrus, Richardson)

2 acquired (Cabarkapa, Wagner)

 

0 playoff appearances in past 8 years

*Bobcats:         4 homegrown (Felton, May, Morrison, Okafor)

2 acquired (Brezec, Wallace)

Hawks:              5 homegrown (Childress, Johnson, Smith, M. Wiliams, S. Williams)

1 acquired (Claxton)

*only in existence since 2004