Are we wasting our 1st round picks?

[OrlandoMagic]

i still cant believe Boozer went in the 2nd rd.... I had him locked in the 1st rd on my mock draft.... he must have had a bad workout or something... that still bugs me to this day

[lovehoops01]

Well before Dwight it was a different management group, in which Otis and Twardzik had less or no input. Since then they've done better. As for Fran and JJ, both were the 11th pick, which IMO is a cursed spot in the NBA Draft. Look back at past 11th picks, just bad.

Eleventh picks over the years:

Andris Biedrins
Mickael Pietrus
Bonzi Wells
Allan Houston
Robert Horry
Terrell Brandon
Tyrone Hill
Nick Anderson
Will Perdue
Reggie Miller
John Salley
Kevin Willis
Derek Harper
Fat Lever
Kiki Vanderweghe

While I will agree with you that the Magic have done a poor job drafting most years, about half the players on your list -- all the ones starting with Will Perdue on down -- were drafted before the Magic even were in the NBA. So I think that's kind of overselling your point.

Here are the guys who have been drafted No. 11 since the Magic have been in the league.
Nick
Tyrone Hill
Terrell Brandon
Robert Horry
Allan Houston
Carlos Rogers (1994)
Gary Trent
Todd Fuller
Tariq Abdul-Wahad
Bonzi Wells
Trajan Langdon
Jerome Moiso
Kedrick Brown
Jared Jeffries
Mickael Pietrus
Andris Biedrins
Fran Vazquez
J.J. Redick

So, starting with the 1994 draft and Carlos Rogers, there have been more misses than hits at that spot. At this point, I'm not calling Redick either way. I just know that two coaches haven't played him so if that was going to be the case, maybe they should have drafted someone the coaches would play.

[Bucky O'Hare]

You've been the worst drafting team in the league over the past 5 years, imo. You lucked into Howard in 2004, but other than that, you have nothing to show for the draft. I think it will come back to haunt your team, as I don't think you have the talent to compete with Boston or Detroit, and as of now have no way acquiring said talent to reach their level.

[drsd]

You've been the worst drafting team in the league over the past 5 years, imo. You lucked into Howard in 2004, but other than that, you have nothing to show for the draft. I think it will come back to haunt your team, as I don't think you have the talent to compete with Boston or Detroit, and as of now have no way acquiring said talent to reach their level.

Jameer Nelson was obtained in a draft-day deal. But in general, GM Smith does not value rookies and is not focused on the draft.

[lovehoops01]

You've been the worst drafting team in the league over the past 5 years, imo. You lucked into Howard in 2004, but other than that, you have nothing to show for the draft. I think it will come back to haunt your team, as I don't think you have the talent to compete with Boston or Detroit, and as of now have no way acquiring said talent to reach their level.

Hmmm....some people said that about Detroit, too, when Grant Hill left and they had been struggling. The Pistons made some smart moves to acquire guys that weren't wanted that badly via trade and free agency and turned them into a nice team with a young GM in Joe Dumars that people didn't know much about at the time. Their smartest pick was Tayshaun. Boston might not have that group around for long. Is Kevin McHale going to send them another whole group of stars to rebuild them after that? I'd think that the T'wolves would fire him first. And Bucky....your first few posts here haven't been too friendly. What's your issue?

[Cammo101]

You've been the worst drafting team in the league over the past 5 years, imo. You lucked into Howard in 2004, but other than that, you have nothing to show for the draft. I think it will come back to haunt your team, as I don't think you have the talent to compete with Boston or Detroit, and as of now have no way acquiring said talent to reach their level.

We surely did not luck into Howard. Most people thought we should have taken Okafor, we smartly went with the unsafe pick and it payed out. Nothing lucky about that.