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2011: Cory Joseph (Texas) #29. Passed on: Kyle Singler (Duke) Detroit pick #33, Jon Leuer (Wisconsin) Milwaukee pick #40.
Ádám Hanga (Hungary) #59. Passed on: Isaiah Thomas, Jr. (Washington) Sacramento pick #60.
2010: James Anderson (Oklahoma St.) #20. Passed on: Jordan Crawford (Xavier) NJ Nets pick #27, Dexter Pittman (Texas) Miami pick #32, Landry Fields (Stanford) NY Knicks pick #39.
Ryan Richards (United Kingdom) #49. Passed on: Jeremy Evans (W.Kentucky) Utah pick #55.
2009: DeJuan Blair (Pittsburgh) #37. Passed on: Jodie Meeks (Kentucky) Milwaukee pick #41, Marcus Thornton (LSU) Miami pick #43 (to Sacramento), Danny Green (North Carolina) Cleveland pick #46.
Jack McClinton (Miami) #51.
Nando de Colo (France) #53.
2008: George Hill (UIPUI) #26. Passed on: Darrell Arthur (Kansas) New Orleans pick #27 (to Memphis), Donte Green (Syracuse) Memphis pick #28 (to Sacramento), Nikola Peković (Montenegro) Minnesota pick #31, DeAndre Jordan (Texas A&M) LAC pick #35.
Goran Dragić (Slovenia) #45 (traded to Phoenix).
James Gist (Maryland) #57.
2007: Tiago Splitter (Brazil) #28. Passed on: Carl Landry (Purdue) Seattle pick #31 (to Houston).
Marcus Williams (Arizona) #33. Passed on: Marc Gasol (Spain) LA Lakers pick #48 (to Memphis)
2006: Damir Markota (Croatia) #59.
2005: Ian Mahinmi (France) #28. Passed on: David Lee (Florida) NYK pick #30, Brandon Bass (LSU) New Orleans pick #33 (to Dallas), CJ Miles (Skyline HS, Dallas) Utah pick #34, Monta Ellis (Lanier HS, MS) Golden State pick #40, Andray Blatche (S.Kent Prep) Washington pick #49, Marcin Gortat (Poland) Phoenix pick #57 (to Orlando - to Phoenix)
(Today I am reminded Andrew Bogut was the #1 overall pick in 2005.)
2004: Beno Udrih (Slovenia) #28. Passed on: Anderson Varejão (Brazil) Orlando pick #31, Trevor Ariza (UCLA) NY Knicks pick #44.
Sergei Karaulov (Uzbekistan) #58. Ehh..
2003: Leandro Barbosa (Brazil) #28. Passed on: Josh Howard (Wake Forest) Dallas pick #29, Matt Bonner (Florida) Chicago pick #45 (to Toronto), Mo Williams (Alabama) Utah pick #47, James Jones (Miami) Indiana pick #49, Kyle Korver (Creighton) NJ Nets pick #51 (to Philly), and undrafted players Marquis Daniels (Auburn), and José Calderón (Spain).
2002: John Salmons (Miami) #26 (to Philly). Passed on: Carlos Boozer (Duke) Cleveland pick #35, Matt Barnes (UCLA) Memphis pick #46, Rasual Butler (La Salle) Miami pick #53.
Luis Scola (Argentina) #56 (rights traded to Houston 2 years later). Passed on: Devin Brown (UTSA), Reggie Evans (Iowa), Udonis Haslem (Florida) - all 3 undrafted.
2001: Tony Parker (France) #28. Passed on: Gilbert Arenas (Arizona) Golden State pick #30, Mehmet Okur (Turkey) Detroit pick #37, Earl Watson (UCLA) Seattle pick #39, and undrafted players Carlos Arroyo (Florida Int'l), Maurice Evans (Texas), Jamario Moon (Meridian CC), Andres Nocioni (Argentina).
2000: Chris Carrawell (Duke) #41. Passed on: Michael Redd (Ohio St.) Milwaukee pick #43.
Cory Hightower (Indian Hills CC) #54 (to LA Lakers). Passed on: Malik Allen (Villanova), Ime Udoka (Portland St.) - both undrafted.
(Today I learned Kenyon Martin was the #1 overall pick in 2000.)
1999: Leon Smith (MLK HS, Chicago) #29. Passed on: Gordan Giriček (Croatia) Dallas pick #40.
Manu Ginobili (Argentina) #57. Passed on: Chris Andersen (Blinn), Raja Bell (Florida Int'l) - both undrafted.
1998: Felipe López (St. John's) #24. Passed on: Al Harrington (St.Patrick's HS, NJ) Indiana pick #25, Rashard Lewis (Alief Elsik HS, Houston) Seattle pick #32
Derrick Dial (E.Michigan) #52. Passed on: Brad Miller (Purdue), Earl Boykins (E.Michigan), Anthony Carter (Hawaii) - all 3 undrafted.
1997: Tim Duncan (Wake Forest) #1. Passed on: Everybody else. If you need to see who could've been better in this case, you shouldn't be reading this, but here you go.
1996: NONE
1995: Cory Alexander (Virginia) #29. Passed on: Tyus Edney (UCLA) Sacramento pick #47.
1994: Bill Curley (Boston College) #22. Passed on: Wesley Person (Auburn) Phoenix pick #23, Monty Williams (Notre Dame) NY Knicks pick #24, Greg Minor (Louisville) LA Clippers pick #25, Charlie Ward (Florida St.) NY Knicks pick #26, Voshon Lenard (Minnesota) Milwaukee pick #46.
1993: Chris Whitney (Clemson) #47. Passed on: Bruce Bowen (Cal St.-Fullerton), Bo Outlaw (Houston) - both undrafted.
1992: Tracy Murray (UCLA) #18 (traded to Milwaukee). Passed on: Latrell Sprewell (Alabama) Golden St. pick #24, PJ Brown (Louisiana Tech) NJ Nets pick #29, Popeye Jones (Murray St.) Houston pick #41
Henry Williams (UNC-Charlotte) #44. Passed on: David Wesley (Baylor) undrafted.
1991: Greg Sutton (Oral Roberts) #49. Passed on: Darrell Armstrong (Fayetteville State), David Benoit (Alabama) - both undrafted.
1990: Dwayne Schintzius (Florida) #24. Passed on: Lance Blanks (Texas) Detroit pick #26, Elden Campbell (Clemson) LA Lakers pick #27, Toni Kukoč (Yugoslavia) Chicago pick #29.
Tony Massenburg (Maryland) #43. Passed on: Antonio Davis (UTEP) Indiana pick #45, Cedric Ceballos (Cal St.-Fullerton) Phoenix pick #48.
Sean Higgins (Michigan) #54.
1989: Sean Elliott (Arizona) #3. Passed on: Glen Rice (Michigan) Miami pick #4, JR Reid (North Carolina) Charlotte pick #5, Stacey King (Oklahoma) Chicago Bulls pick #6, Nick Anderson (Illinois) Orlando pick #11, Mookie Blaylock (Oklahoma) NJ Nets pick #12, Tim Hardaway (UTEP) Golden St. pick #14, Dana Barros (Boston College) Seattle pick #16, Shawn Kemp (Trinity Valley CC) Seattle pick #17, BJ Armstrong (Iowa) Chicago pick #18, Vlade Divac (Yugoslavia) LA Lakers pick #26, Cliff Robinson (UConn) Portland pick #36.
1988: Willie Anderson (Georgia) #10. Passed on: Will Perdue (Vanderbilt) Chicago pick #11, Harvey Grant (Oklahoma) Washington pick #12, Dan Majerle (Central Michigan) Phoenix pick #14, Brian Shaw (UC-Santa Barbara) Boston pick #24.
Shelton Jones (St. John's) #27. Passed on: Vinny Del Negro (NC St.) Sacramento pick #29, Vernon Maxwell (Florida) Denver pick #47, Steve Kerr (Arizona) Phoenix pick #50, Anthony Mason (Tennessee St.) Portland pick #53.
Barry Sumter (Austin Peay St.) #56.
Archie Marshall (Kansas) #75. Passed on: Avery Johnson (Southern), Tim Legler (La Salle) - both undrafted.
1987: David Robinson (Navy) #1. Passed on: Everybody else! Notables: Scotty Pippen, Kenny Smith, Kevin Johnson, Horace Grant, Reggie Miller, Mark Jackson, Reggie Lewis.
Greg Anderson (Houston) #23.
1986: Johnny Dawkins (Duke) #10. Passed on: John Salley (Georgia Tech) Detroit pick #11, Del Curry (Virginia Tech) Utah pick #13, Scott Skiles (Michigan St.) Milwaukee pick #22, Arvydas Sabonis (USSR) Portland pick #24, Mark Price (Georgia Tech) Dallas pick #25 (to Cleveland), Dennis Rodman (SE Oklahoma St.) Detroit pick #27.
Kevin Duckworth (E.Illinois) #33. Passed on: David Wingate (Georgetown) Philly pick #44, Jeff Hornacek (Iowa St.) Phoenix pick #46.
1985: Alfredrick Hughes (Loyola) #14. Passed on: Joe Dumars (McNeese St.) Detroit pick #18, AC Green (Oregon St.) LA Lakers pick #23, Terry Porter (Wisc.-Stevens Pt.) Portland pick #24.
Mike Brittain (South Carolina) #29. Passed on: Manute Bol (Sudan) Washington pick #31.
Tyrone Corbin (DePaul) #35. Passed on: Michael Adams (Boston College) Sacramento pick #66, Mario Elie (American Int'l) Milwaukee pick #160 (wow).
1984: Alvin Robertson (Arkansas) #7. Passed on: Otis Thorpe (Providence) KC Kings pick #9, Kevin Willis (Michigan St.) Atlanta pick #11, John Stockton (Gonzaga) Utah pick #16, Jerome Kersey (Longwood) Portland pick #46.
Joe Binion (NC A&T) #57. Passed on: Rick Carlisle (Virginia) Boston pick #70.
Ozell Jones (Cal St.-Fullerton) #90.
1983: John Paxson (Notre Dame) #19.
I stop here because, well our franchise was frankly very young. Not only that, but only Gene Banks and a handful of players were decent noteworthy picks from the first 6 seasons. We all know about the Iceman, George Gervin, but the details of how we acquired the Hall of Famer from the Virginia Squires is still very sketchy.
Sources: Basketball-Reference.com, and Wikipedia's yearly "NBA draft [year]" pages.
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