A Tale of Two Undersized Point Guards

While Dwight Howard will go down as the best player to be drafted in the 2004 NBA draft, there was another story line that was being played out later on in the first round. Jameer Nelson, the college player of the year, kept on getting bypassed in favor of players straight from high school. While some of those players (Al Jefferson, Josh Smith, J.R. Smith) have become quality NBA players and some (Dorrell Wright, Robert Swift) haven't done much in the league, the selection that must have hurt most was the Blazers selecting Sebastian Telfair. These two point guards shared a spirited pre-draft tryout for the Clippers, with the two playing to a draw. But while Telfair was watching the draft with Jay-Z, Nelson was in attendance at the draft and had to wait almost 2 hours before his name was called. After being drafted Jameer Nelson quickly declared:

I am the steal of the draft. And I am going to go out there and play with a chip on my shoulder.

The difference in NBA readiness of these two players quickly became apparent, as Nelson had a much more productive rookie campaign than did Telfair. While Telfair was getting caught up in several off of the court shenanigans over the next several years and was unable to develop a consistent outside shot, Nelson was improving his game each year.

Nelson's superiority over the other undersized point guard of his draft class was etched in stone Thursday when he was named to the NBA All-Star team. Telfair on the other hand toils in semi-obscurity in Minnesota having been part of the trades that lead to Brandon Roy ending up in Portland and the trade that sent Kevin Garnett to Boston. Perhaps Sebastian should have spoken to Omar Cook about how fleeting fame can be in the NBA and basketball.