New Orleans Pelicans: Ranking the Last Ten 1st Round Draft Picks
#10 and 9: The Grim Years
There was a time in the mid-2000’s when it looked like the New Orleans Pelicans (then the Hornets) were going to be a mainstay of the NBA playoffs.
They had a dynamic young point guard in Chris Paul, a versatile post player in David West and sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic.
light. Related Story. Aaron Nesmith could be Redick's replacement
They made it to the Western Conference semi-finals in 2007-8 and it appeared the Pelicans were poised to go even further.
If the New Orleans Pelicans could just continue to supplement their talent in the draft, surely they’d be in the playoffs for years to come, right?
Wrong. The Pelicans/Hornets lost in the first round the next year and then didn’t see the playoffs until 2010-11, when they also lost in the first round.
The New Orleans Pelicans can point to the draft as the main reason they were unable to remain a fixture in the playoffs, as they had some of the worst draft picks in the entire NBA between 2006-2010, when they should have been adding to a playoff roster instead of destroying one.
#10: Cedric Simmons, 15th Pick, 2006
Cedric Simmons, who was picked just outside the lottery, is one of the worst Pelicans’ draft picks of all time, not just of the last ten years.
Most guys who are picked in the mid-lottery do not end up being superstars, though there have been some recent notable exceptions including Kawhi Leonard and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
While you don’t expect the 15th pick to be a multiple MVP winner, you do expect him to actually make the team and stay in the league.
Simmons played for parts of just three seasons, logging a whopping 75 career games, where he averaged just 2.2 points per game more than me. And to think they could have had Rajon Rondo or Kyle Lowry. Ouch.
#9: Julian Wright, 13th Pick, 2007
Julian Wright continued the New Orleans Pelicans’ streak of choosing incorrectly. Wright managed to play four seasons before being chucked from the league.
He did play 57 games in his rookie season when the Pelicans/Hornets were good, but he wasn’t, averaging just 3.9 points per game, which turned out to be the second best of his career.
We’ll give the Pelicans some slack here, as this was a weak draft outside of the top-three where the second best player (Marc Gasol) wasn’t chosen until the 48th pick.