Kyrie goes 2nd assuming he were able to stay healthy that second year.
Thompson goes somewhere in the late lottery (10-14ish)
edit: misread. with the injury kyrie still likely goes 2nd tho.
it's really not "revisionist history."
i wasn't referring to quality of the trade. i was simply stating the spurs pretty much always crush their draft picks no matter where they are picking.
This is hyperbole then. Spurs haven't really crushed a draft pick in almost 10 years and when they have--they traded it for something worse. They drafted Cory Joseph this past draft and passed on Charles Jenkins and Isaiah Thomas. The year before they picked James Anderson, when they could have had Landry Fields or Jordan Crawford.
The year before that, they selected DeJuan Blair-- a guy that was very obviously talented, but had knee concerns. The jury is still out on this pick because the Spurs traded their own 2nd rounder for that pick (Goran Dragic--one of the best young backup PGs out there-- a guy that they gave up on too soon because of George Hill--who is so good that he plays on another team) and we have no idea how long Dejuan will stay healthy in the league.
The aforementioned George Hill was drafted in 08. A good pick but not as good as the subsequent Timberwolves, Clippers, and Bulls picks (Pekovic, Jordan, and Asik--all talented big men that are still with their original teams. Spurs could have had much bigger trade chips/players than George Hill).
In 2007, it was a Tiago Splitter draft and stash. An oft-injured offensive bigman who projects as a backup in the nba. Not a bad pick by any means, but a luxury pick that a team like the Spurs could afford coming off of a NBA championship. He entered in the NBA last year as a 26 year old rookie, which furthers along the low-ceiling, high floor guys that a team with an established core and a closing window can take shots on. For arguments sake, Carl Landry, Glen Davis, and Marc Gasol were all selected after this--Gasol and Davis were selected after the Spurs 2nd pick in this draft, the wonderful Marcus Williams.
In 2006, they didn't really have draft picks (swung and missed on the very late one they had on Damir Markota.) In 2005, it was Ian Mahinmi. Who was cut and has turned into an okay role player for Dallas five years later.
In 04, it was Beno Udrih --career journeyman and the ultimate one way player. Moving along..
The 03 pick was Leandro Barbosa, who was actually selected by the Suns. Spurs traded this pick for the pick that turned into David Lee in 05. Which was insanely lucky--for NY. Lee's pick turned into basically Nazr Mohammed. Can't fault them for this too much as Nazr was a big role player for them during their championship run.
In 02, they drafted John Salmons and Luis Scola. Scola was traded for peanuts to the rockets, Salmons was traded for to the 76rs for Speedy Claxton. Neither played for the spurs.
Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli were drafted in 2001 and 1999, when teams didn't scour Europe the way they do now. And ever since, the Spurs front office has been given more credit than they deserve, especially when they havn't been as effective in a decade
