We now move on to the 2005 Draft. At this point in our draft reviews we generally know what to expect, and this draft seems pretty par for course. There is a lot of talent in it, the best of which goes off the board early, and plenty of depth.
There are five players that have made the All-Star team from this draft: Deron Williams (picked #3), Chris Paul (#4), Andrew Bynum (#10), Danny Granger (#17) and David Lee (#30.)
Paul somewhat surprisingly dropped to fourth, mainly it seems because of concerns about his size. He is clearly the best player from this year. Bynum, picked tenth, surely would have gone earlier if he ever played in college.
Andrew Bogut was a mediocre pick at #1, and maybe worse than that, given that both Paul and Williams were available and rated highly. Marvin Williams was a terrible selection at #2 for that same reason. Raymond Felton was the fifth pick, and third point guard in a row to go off the board. He has had an adequate career given his draft position.
Many late first round selections picked between Granger and Lee have had decent careers; Nate Robinson (#21), Jarrett Jack (#22) and Jason Maxiell (#26) stand out as particularly good value picks.
The second round of 2005 is very impressive. Two high scoring guards - Monta Ellis (#40) and Lou Williams (#45) - were superb selections in the forties. Marcin Gortat was an equally impressive pick at #57. And Brandon Bass (#33), Ersan Ilyasova (#36), Ronny Turiaf (#37), Andray Blatche (#49), Ryan Gomes (#50) and Amir Johnson (#56) all have had productive pro careers. Also Chuck Hayes and Kelenna Azubuike are two undrafted players worth mentioning, so later picks in 2005 ended up having a lot of worth.
This draft fulfills our expectations by having both star power and ample depth, which at this point seems the norm. A rough approximation of the top ten players from 2005, with their actual pick number in parenthesis:
1. Chris Paul (4)
2. Deron Williams (3)
3. Andrew Bynum (10)
4. Danny Granger (17)
5. David Lee (30)
6. Andrew Bogut (1)
7. Monta Ellis (40)
8. Lou Williams (45)
9. Marcin Gortat (57)
10. Ersan Ilyasova (36)
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