3. Drafting Al-Farouq Aminu
The NBA Draft isn’t an exact science. In fact, more times than not, it’s a guessing game. Sure certain players will look terrific on the colligate level but the NBA is a different animal entirely.
During the 2010 NBA Draft, Al-Farouq Aminu looked the part. He stood at a towering 6’8” and weighed approximately 220 pounds, an ideal size for a modern-day NBA wing. He wasn’t much of a shooter during his time in Wake Forest but the league was different. Players weren’t expected to hoist up countless 3-point balls on a nightly basis.
It took only one season for the LA Clippers to regret drafting Aminu with the the eighth overall pick as he averaged just 5.6 points on 39.4% shooting from the field. What makes the drafting of Aminu an erroneous move on the Clippers’ behalf was the two subsequent picks that came shortly after his selection.
Not only were both Paul George and Gordon Hayward still on the board with the 9th and 10th picks but both players played the exact same position as Aminu and had better colligate careers.
Needless to say, this move was a disaster for the Clippers. At the age of 30, Aminu has failed to latch onto another NBA team, while George, who ironically enough now plays for the Clippers, carved out a Hall of Fame level career. Hayward, on the other hand, was an All-Star in his own right and has morphed into one of the best wings in the entire association.