The 2014 NBA Draft holds some prolific players that we all seen at least once or twice. Do names like Marcus Smart, Karl Anthony Towns, Joel Embiid, Jabari Parker and Zach Lavine sound familiar?
Now was it me or did the 2014 NBA draft seem like the worse draft in the 2010s?? The only real big names that has played on a consistent basis happens to be Karl Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins and they play for the same team.
Some of the 10 picks of the NBA 2014 draft happen to suffer from the hands of bad luck. Suffering from early career injuries, the 2014 Top 5 picks were having their attention taken away by players who we thought had no chance to become who they are. Players like Nikola “No-Look” Jokic, the 41st pick and Jordan Clarkson, the 46th pick.
We are going to look at the TOP 5 Unfortunate draft picks out of 2014!
#5 Zach Lavine 13th overall pick
We all know Zach Lavine as being an high-flyer and dunk contest champion. His hang time is something special!
What a lot of people who don’t follow Zach Lavine closely don’t know is that second teenager to have 25 points and 5 assists as a back up and the 4th teenager to have a 20 point 10 assist game against the Powerhouse San Antonio Spurs.
Zach Lavine’s numbers consistently improved each year and he was setting in well with the starting point guard role after the Rubio injury until February 4th 2017, he was official out for the remainder of the season with a torn ACL.
Zach Lavine was traded to the Chicago Bulls in the following offseason along with Kris Dunn for exchange of Jimmy Butler and Justin Patton
We should expect to see Lavine’s debut sooner than later.
#4 Dante Exum 5th overall pick
Unfortunately for the Jazz, Dante Exum was just a complete bust. He average 7 points in the 2014 NBA Summer League, which is a place where an NBA player is competing with his class.
His best rookie game happens to be against Milwaukee Bucks when he scored 15 points and had 5 assists.
In June 2015, after his 4.8 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 2.4 assists rookie season, Dante Exum took his talents (or lack) back to Australia where he suffered an ACL injury just 2 months later.
After sitting out the 15-16 season, Dante Exum came back to the Jazz and even participated in the G-league.
#3 Jabari Parker 2nd overall pick
Jabari Parker is a special man. His accolades are through the roof. Racking up impressive numbers from high school and through college while playing for duke and Coach K.
He was voted most likely to be Rookie of the Year and most likely to have to the best NBA career of the 2014 draft class.
Well, we know that is not the case.
In December 2014, Jabari Parker suffered a season-ending ACL injury. He returned the following year after the beginning of the season.
As Jabari was finding his rhythm and getting back into the flow of a NBA game, he was setting new personal season and career high in points and got invited to the 2016 NBA all-star game.
The following season, Jabari was finally finding his way on the bucks and becoming a prolific all-star averaging 20 points and 6 rebounds per game.
After 51 games, Jabari suffered another ACL injury in the same knee ruling him out for another 12 months.
Jabari was assigned to the Wisconsin Herd G- League to help him with his recovery and game.
December 19th, He was recalled back to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Return is TBD
#2 Noah Vonley 9th overall pick
Now thats a name we don’t hear that often. Here is one of the bad draft picks by the Charlotte hornets.
2 months after signing Noah Vonleh, he underwent surgery to remove a sports hernia. After Vonleh’s first couple of games, the Hornets organization assigned him to the Development League… where all the bust eventually go. He got recalled only to be part of a trade deal to Portland for the acquisition of Nicholas Batum
He is currently playing for the trailblazers behind Jusuf Nurkic.
#1 Joel Embiid
The Process himself.
Joel Embiid, the 3rd pick of the 2014 draft out of Kansas, recorded his 1st NBA game two years later after recovering from a broken bone in his foot.
He gave the fans a glimpse of what the future holds that night after dropping 20 points 7 rebounds and 2 blocks vs OKC.
After being selected to the Rising Stars challenge and Taco Bell skills challenge, Embiid suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee.
Even though Embiid missed the 2nd half of the 2016-17 season, he still was on the All-Rookie First Team.
Embiid signed a fat rookie scale max contract the following year. He has been proving that he is worth the max dollars in each game that he play.
He is currently on minute restrictions. The 76ers want to avoid anymore costly injuries to Embiid so they limit his back to back games sthat he play.
You can catch Embiid on the sidelines watching Netflix on a massage table during NBA games.
Each year that goes by, we are getting closer to seeing the return on investment of the 2014 Draft class. With the return of Embiid, Jabari and Zach Lavine, the NBA is going to BLOW UP!!
We should be thankful of all the young talent we can watch before our eyes… AND THAT YOUNG TALENT BETTER PERFORM!!
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