I looked at players drafted number five overall since 1995. The results should cheer up any Mavericks fan who is feeling blue about Dallas falling in the draft order. Don’t get me wrong, the number one pick would have been better. It’s always nice to have first choice.
But as you’ll see, picking this high in the draft almost always results in a quality NBA player. The busts are rare, and you get an all-star about half the time. I divided the 20 picks up into four categories–hall-of-famers, all-stars, quality rotation players, and busts. I chose the 20 year period of 1995-2015 because I wanted a large sample size and felt it unfair to evaluate the picks from the last couple years.