Entry drafts, in any sport, are essentially one of the biggest gambles a team can take. Front offices across all sports have branches of their staff devoted exclusively to scouting future talent. The NBA and the NFL take virtually all of their draft picks from college or high school, so their scouts will rarely travel abroad to find their picks. When it comes to the NHL and the MLB, that’s when international waters often get crossed. MLB scouts will spend time across South America and even Korea and Japan to find their talent. NHL scouts, however, cover the most ground by scouting in Canada, Russia and all across Europe for fresh talent to bring on draft day.
The most maddening thing about all this effort and time invested in scouting is that sometimes, as is with any gamble, it doesn’t pay off.
Draft busts make fans lose their minds. It especially hurts when your team picks a bust in the middle of a really strong draft class. Let’s look at who the biggest draft busts were in the strongest draft classes across sports.
The 1983 NFL draft is one of the strongest draft classes in the history of the game. For example, Pro-Football Reference lists this draft featured six future Hall Of Famers— five of them in the first round. John Elway, Eric Dickerson, Bruce Matthews, Jim Kelly, Dan Marino and Darrell Green all were selected in the first round of this draft, and Hall of Fame defensive end Richard Dent was selected in the eighth round. The 1983 draft featured players that changed the scope of the game.
Michael Conroy / AP Photo:
Penn State offensive lineman John Urschel answers questions during the NFL draft combine.
And then there’s Michael Haddix. Selected eighth overall (just behind Hall Of Famer Bruce Matthews) by the Philadelphia Eagles, Haddix’s running back career never panned out to what should come from a top-ten pick. Haddix did play for eight seasons, but his numbers were what drove Philadelphia fans insane. He scored a whopping three touchdowns in his career. Three. A top-ten pick in the strongest NFL draft in history scored three touchdowns. His six seasons in Philadelphia yielded a total of 1,189 rushing yards. Barry Sanders rushed for more yards than that in one season ten separate times in his career. Picking the strongest NBA draft isn’t the easiest task. According to Basketball Reference, the 1984 Draft boasted the greatest player to ever hit the court, Michael Jordan, along with Charles Barkley and John Stockton. 1996 saw Kobe Bryant get selected, and 1998 showcased names like Paul Pierce and Dirk Nowitzki.
But the makeup of the 2003 draft has to make it one of the top drafts. Miami’s Big Three of LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade got drafted in the top five. Including those three, eight all-stars got drafted that year, including Carmelo Anthony, Chris Kaman, Josh Howard, David West and Mo Williams.
The Boston Celtics held the sixteenth pick in the draft and selected the 6’1” point guard from Boston College, Troy Bell. During draft night however, he was dealt to the Memphis Grizzlies, where he played six total games. The first-rounder averaged just 5.7 minutes during those six games. Bell never played in the NBA again, and considering two all-stars were picked after him, he became a pretty big bust.
The first round of the 1973 MLB June Amateur Draft was stunningly strong. John Stearns, Robin Yount, Dave Winfield, Gary Roenicke and Lee Mazzilli all went in the first round. Yount, Winfield and Stearns all were elected to the Hall of Fame, and Roenicke and Mazzilli both have World Series titles.
And then there’s David Clyde. The Texas Rangers drafted left-hander David Clyde first overall in the draft. According to Sporting News, Clyde dominated the high school scene and jumped right to the big leagues after the draft. He pitched in 84 games in five seasons, and posted an 18-33 record. After suffering arm issues with the Rangers, he was traded to the Indians, where he continued to disappoint, and was subsequently put in the minors in 1979. The Rangers could’ve had their pick of three Hall-of-Famers, but they went with him. What a disappointment.
Finally, the 2003 NHL draft. If you know hockey, this draft is the strongest in history; and in my opinion, this draft is the strongest draft across any and all sports. The first round featured 14 All-Stars and nine Stanley Cup winners. This draft was so deep that goalie Brian Elliott, who is currently second in the NHL in goals against average, and an All-Star, was selected second-to-last at two-hundred-ninty-first overall in the draft. This draft seems like it would be impossible to pick a bust. The New York Rangers made the impossible possible.
New York picked the hulking 6’6” forward Hugh Jessiman twelfth overall in the draft. Hockey scouting website HockeysFuture.com lists that Jessiman had been projected to go as far as fourth overall in the draft.
He excelled through college at Dartmouth and joined the Rangers organization in 2005. According to Hockey Reference, he never cracked the Rangers’ pro roster and bounced through the minors for ten seasons, never playing in a single NHL game. In 2013, he joined Medvescak Zagreb of the Russian Kontinental Hockey League. So what does all of this disappointment and failure mean?
Scouting all you want doesn’t necessarily give you an edge in any draft. David Clyde went before anyone else in the MLB draft and never amounted to anything as a pitcher. What if the Texas Rangers picked Dave Winfield instead? Or what if the Philadelphia Eagles picked Jim Kelly?
What if, what if, what if….
Ray Waldron can be contacted at rwaldron@keene-equinox.com