2007: Jazz select Morris Almond (25) and Herbert Hill (55) (Hill’s rights traded to Philadelphia 76ers for Kyrylo Fesenko (38))
The 2007 NBA Draft is known more than anything for the Portland Trail Blazers’ infamous selection of Greg Oden over Kevin Durant. While many argued that Oden was the right pick at the time, his injury-riddled career made it abundantly clear that the Seattle SuperSonics undoubtedly came out on top as Durant fell to them with the second pick.
The first 24 picks featured a number of solid NBA players such as Al Horford, Mike Conley and Joakim Noah, but when it came to be the Jazz’s turn to pick they selected Morris Almond out of Rice University.
Once again, there were high hopes for the shooting guard who had been a prolific scorer in college. Nevertheless, Almond’s career was very short-lived as he posted just two unimpressive years with the Jazz. He later appeared in four games for the Washington Wizards two years later during the 2011-12 campaign.
What makes the Almond pick hurt isn’t just the fact that, once again, the Jazz drafted a player whose career fizzled out a couple of years later, but that the next three picks in a row all turned out to be solid players.
Picks 26 through 28 were Aaron Brooks, Arron Afflalo and Tiago Splitter, all of which have turned out to be contributing rotation players on their respective teams. Of the three, Afflalo is likely the top option having posted the best stats and being the most versatile as a three-and-D player.
The real prize that could’ve gone to Utah in the 2007 draft, however, wasn’t selected until late in the second round. While it would have been quite a risk at the time, the Jazz probably wish they had used their 25th pick, or even the 38th pick that they traded up for, on Marc Gasol, who wasn’t taken until 48th in the draft.
Marc Gasol has turned into one of the top centers in the league on both ends of the floor. In 2014-15, Gasol put up his best season yet, appearing in 81 games while logging 17.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.
Gasol certainly would have been a better selection in hindsight than Almond or truly any other player after him.
Had the Jazz somehow known how good Gasol was going to be, but that he would also still be available so late in the draft, drafting Afflalo with the 25th selection then trading up to nab Gasol with the 38th pick instead of Kyrylo Fesenko, who also had a short and underwhelming NBA career (2008-2012), would have been by far the optimal result.
Who they should have taken: Arron Afflalo (27), Marc Gasol (48)
Next: 2008