NBA Draft 2004

First Round
 
Orlando decided to build for the future and took high schooler Dwight Howard over proven college star Emeka Okafor, which delighted Charlotte at #2 since with Okafor they get a player they can build up as their star and who they hope will be ready to make immediate contributions.
 
Bit of a puzzle was why Chicago took Ben Gordon #3 when they all ready got Kirk Hinrich and Jamal Crawford. They later traded with Phoenix to get Luol Deng (pick #7), who everyone thought the Bulls would take in the first place; since the Suns had no cares about the draft they just want their free-agent money ready for Kobe.
Washington also seemed un-impressed by this draft trading their pick, #5 Devin Harris, to Dallas in the Antwan Jamison deal. Now with Harris aboard looks like this could be the end of the Steve Nash era in Dallas.
 
High school star and probably the biggest named prep star in this draft, Sebastian Telfair, went to the high school drafting happy Portland Trailblazers. Let’s just hope none of Trailblazers’ old ways rub off on the youngster.
 
College star Jameer Nelson slipped a ways down the board but wasn’t a total shock, as Denver took him (#20) then immediately traded him to the now re-building (again) Orlando Magic.
 
Massive Pavel Podkolzine (7’5" 260) was traded from Utah to foreign big man favorite Dallas. Whether Pavel will even play this year is a question but if Dallas is serious about getting Shaq that wouldn’t be a bad tutor for the Russian Podkolzine.

My favorite picks were right near the end of the 1st round as Boston selecting back-to-back (#25-26) took Delonte West and Tony Allen. Two guys I really think are going to make it in the NBA, maybe not right from the start but given time Boston make have gotten two of the better first-rounders. West can grow into a
starting point guard, and Allen for now will be a great back up for Pierce.
 
Second Round
 
First off a quick note, Milwaukee drafted nobody, not one pick for Milwaukee.
Just found that kind of interesting.
 
2nd round always yields at least one or two good players, here are a few college stars taken Round 2 Andre Emmett (#35 Memphis), Chris Duhon (#38 Chicago),Bernard Robinson Jr. (#45 Charlotte), Ricky Paulding (#54 Detroit), and Xavier backcourt tandem Lionel Chalmers (#33 LA Clippers) and Romain Sato (#52 San Antonio). While all those guys may get a shot at some playing time, I like
Dallas trading for Manhattan guard Luis Flores, he’s small (6’1") but strong and a great scorer and with Steve Nash likely gone Flores definitely will have a shot at point guard. While Flores may not start he should make for at least a solid reserve player.
 
Overall this draft was dominated by high schoolers and foreign players, as 8 prep stars, and 6 foreigners made up the 14 of the first 29 1st Round picks.
David Stern, big advocate of age limit, obviously wasn’t at all thrilled with the high number of younger draftees, but Stern has to realize teams seem very willing to give these young guys a large sum of money and hope they can mature into the next Kobe, McGrady, or Garnett, while the risk of a flop is always their teams prefer "up-side" to college degrees.