Ranking Top 7 draft busts with the No. 5 pick in lottery era
Draft Bust No. 1: Thomas Robinson, 2012
Drafting a big man out of Kansas would work out in 2013 (Joel Embiid) but it was a mistake in 2012, when the Sacramento Kings ended up with the biggest draft bust in the history of the No. 5 pick. A consensus All-American his junior year at Kansas, Thomas Robinson looked like a dominant post force heading into the NBA.
Part of why Robinson flamed out was the changing of the NBA. He was a power forward who couldn’t defend in space or shoot from outside, and that put him in the lurch in a modernizing league. He played 70 games as a rookie but averaged only 4.8 points per game. The Kings moved him halfway through his first year to the Houston Rockets, and he would bounce around from then on.
Robinson played four more seasons for four different teams, never averaging more than 14.8 minutes per game. He looked the part of an NBA star, but he never put it together. Robinson would attempt just six 3-pointers for his career, missing them all, and wasn’t enough of a rim protector to make the shift to center. That led to his NBA career ending at the age of 25.
Just Missed: This one stings; Sacramento fans, you may want to look away. One pick after Robinson the Portland Trail Blazers took Damian Lillard, who has been a perennial All-Star and is a future Hall of Famers.
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Pistons that Year: The state of Michigan had a great draft in 2012. The Pistons took Andre Drummond ninth overall, and while they never put a true contender around him he was one of the most productive players from the class. The Pistons also took Khris Middleton with the 39th pick, and while he would explode into an All-Star it wouldn’t happen in Detroit. Finally, Saginaw native and Michigan State forward Draymond Green went 35th and would turn into a Hall of Famer.