The 2009 NBA draft saw Blake Griffin get picked number one by the Los Angeles Clippers ahead of players like Hasheem Thabeet, James Harden and Stephen Curry, but if the draft happened today, would Griffin still go number one?
Griffin has established himself as one of the best players in the NBA since being drafted by the Clippers, but Stephen Curry has also proven to be a superstar, winning an MVP and a championship last season with the Warriors. While Griffin has not been able to get the Clippers to that point, he has had a very strong career and while some may think that Curry would go number one if the draft were done again, Griffin would have a strong case to stay in that spot.
Griffin has averages of 21.6 points and 9.6 rebounds per game for his career and he has been durable as well, playing in at least 80 games in three of his first five seasons. Griffin has not been able to lead his team to the finals yet, but he has shown that he can be the centerpiece of a playoff team and while the Clippers may re-think things if they had the chance, they likely are happy with how the draft pick turned out.
Curry has been a strong player for the duration of his career, but he had a breakout season last year while winning the MVP and has shown that he is one of the best shooters in the game. Curry averaged 23.8 points and 7.7 assists last season and shot 48 percent from the field and he has followed that up this season by averaging 32 points and shooting over 52 percent from the field. Curry and Griffin are very different players and with Chris Paul in Los Angeles, the Clippers likely would be fine sticking with Griffin.
But if the draft did happen again, Curry would absolutely be the second overall pick to the Grizzlies, as Hasheem Thabeet turned out to be one of the biggest draft busts ever. Thabeet likely would not even be drafted if the draft happened again and that would shuffle things up quite a bit over the first stretch of picks. If Griffin and Curry went one-two in either order, that would leave the Oklahoma City Thunder next in line to make a pick.
The Thunder drafted James Harden then and they likely would have drafted him if the picks were done again today. Harden has established himself as one of the best scorers in the NBA and he put up MVP numbers last season for the Rockets. Tyreke Evans went number four to the Kings and while he has not turned out to be a bad player, the team likely would go for either DeMar DeRozan or Wesley Matthews.
The Timberwolves likely would love to have another chance, as they passed on Curry twice in the draft to take Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn, but if the draft was done again, Curry would be gone already. The new draft would likely have players like DeRozan, Wesley Matthews, Ricky Rubio, Tyreke Evans, Brandon Jennings, Ty Lawson, Jeff Teague and Taj Gibson drafted over names like Jordan Hill and Thabeet.
The new top 5-10 picks likely would be:
Blake Griffin
Stephen Curry
James Harden
DeMar DeRozan
Wesley Matthews
Ricky Rubio
Tyreke Evans
Brandon Jennings
Ty Lawson
Jeff Teague/ Taj Gibson
