The NBA Draft is a time of great excitement and rightfully so:  The next crop of young players is thrust into the league and it creates all manner and hue of stories.

You get your stars, like Lebron James and most of the top 5 from the '03 draft, and you get your busts, like Kwame Brown and DerMarr Johnson, and those are the extremes.  Sometimes they are hailed all the way from high school (like James) and sometimes they make names for themselves in college (like Carmelo Anthony).  Sometimes, you have never heard of the guy in your life (Amare Stoudemire was that for me, until a few weeks leading up to the draft).  Sometimes the draft is deep, sometimes it's weak.  

What follows is the first section in a 7-part series reflecting on the first round of the NBA Draft since the 2000 draft, capped off by my thoughts on the upcoming draft.  So without further ado...

In the year 2000, the first round went like this:

1.  Kenyon Martin, New Jersey
2.  Stromile Swift, Vancouver
3.  Darius Miles, L.A. Clippers
4.  Marcus Fizer, Chicago
5.  Mike Miller, Orlando (from Golden State)
6.  DerMarr Johnson, Atlanta
7.  Chris Mihm, Chicago (to Cleveland)
8.  Jamal Crawford, Cleveland (to chicago)
9.  Joel Przybilla, Houston (to Milwaukee)
10. Keyon Dooling, Orlando (to L.A. Clippers)
11. Jerome Moiso, Boston
12. Etan Thomas, Dallas
13. Courtney Alexander, Orlando (to Dallas)
14. Mateen Cleaves, Detroit
15. Jason Collier, Milwaukee (to Houston)
16. Hidayet Turkoglu, Sacramento
17. Desmond Mason, Seattle
18. Quentin Richardson, L.A. Clippers (from Toronto)
19. Jamaal Magloire, Charlotte
20. Craig Claxton, Philadelphia
21. Morris Peterson, Toronto (from Minnesota via Denver)
22. Donnell Harvey, New York (to Dallas)
23. DeShawn Stevension (Utah, from Miami)
24. Dalibor Bagaric, Chicago (from San Antonio)
25. Jake Tsakalidis, Phoenix (from Orlando)
26. Mamadou N'Diaye, Denver (from Utah)
27. Primoz Brezec, Indiana
28. Erick Barkley, Portland
29. Mark Madsen, L.A. Lakers

Before anything else is said, it's clear that this is one of the most disappointing drafts in recent memory.  In fact, I can't remember a draft that was as bad as this. There are three All-Stars in this draft and one of them came out of the second round (Michael Redd).

Of the above players, only seven of them are starting.  The number one pick was an All-Star once, when he averaged 16.7 ppg and 9.5 rpg in 65 games during the 03-04 season (both career-highs).  Martin has been plagued by injuries (77 is the most games he's played in a season and he's played 68, 73, 65 and 70 in the other seasons, including 43 this season out of a possible 56 or so).

Courney Alexander hasn't played since the 02-03 season, although that had more to do with injury concerns.  He showed himself a capable player, including a career season with Washington in his second campaign in which he averaged 17 ppg on 44.8% shooting.  Donnell Harvey, Dalibor Bagaric and Erick Barkley are no longer in the league.  Mamadou N'Diaye has amounted to nothing, plagued by injuries, a lack of bulk and little improvement.  Mark Madsen is an energy guy who is largely a spectacle (and an ugly one, if you were subjected to his dancing while he was a Laker...).  He plays about 12 minutes per for the Wolves and doesn't do much in that time.  Marcus Fizer was recently named the NBDL player of the month... DerMarr Johnson, despite a riveting "return from injury" story, is nothing more than a rotation player despite 20 starts for a Denver team with a real problem at the shooting guard position.  He's been fighting for time with Greg Buckner. I rest my case.  Jerome Moiso is out of the league at the moment.  

There are some decent players in this draft, of course.  Kenyon Martin, for all his technical fouls and injury problems, is still a key part of Denver's team when he's healthy.  Stromile Swift, while absolutely not worth his draft pick (and I'd venture to say not worth a lottery selection) is a competent rotation player for Houston.  

Mike Miller has been a good player.  He probably wasn't worth the 5th selection (at least in so far as the 5th pick goes; in this draft, he could have gone higher) but he's had some nice seasons, especially earlier in his career while playing with the Magic.  He doesn't start much for Memphis (though he had 51 starts last season, he has 8 so far this season, benched in favor of Eddie Jones) but he's a good hustle player and he's got a shot.  

Chris Mihm is starting for L.A. on most nights.  He had 40 starts in his rookie season and 60 in his second season but then saw none in his third year and 17 in his fourth year.  He's been the Lakers best big man but that's not saying much with Kwame Brown and high school rookie Andrew Bynum as his main competition.  One might argue Brian Cook but that's for another time.  He's been a solid player for the Lakers and has been developing under Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's coaching but under no circumstances can a rational basketball fan be persuaded to believe that he was worth the 7th overall pick.  

Jamal Crawford was selected with the 8th overall pick and traded to the Bulls for the 7th pick (it was Mihm for Crawford).  He's proved to be a talented player but he's a selfish shot-chucker who plays no defense.  Still, in this draft class, he's probably one of the six or seven best players (behind Mike Miller, Jamaal Magloire, Speedy Claxton, Morris Peterson and Kenyon Martin and on par with or slightly below Darius Miles).  That tells you a fair bit about this draft right there.  

Joel Przybilla labored in Milwaukee for three years before being traded to the Hawks.  He started all 12 of his games there and averaged about eight and a half rebounds per.  He ended up in Portland and started 50 of 76 games last year, rebounding well and blocking lots of shots.  He has started 42 of the 44 games in which he has played this year, and while his rebounding has dropped a little, he has improved his shot-blocking abilities while continuing to be an efficient garbage scorer.  Not worth the 9th pick but he's an excellent addition to Portland's squad.  

Dooling went to the Clippers and was buried behind Jeff McInnis and Lamar Odom as a ball-handler in his first two years, then behind Odom and Andre Miller in his third year.  He played about 20 minutes per game in 58 games (with 24 starts) in his fourth year and only managed 6 points and 2.2 assists.  He showed some flashes of being a decent scorer off the bounce but certainly nothing spectacular and not worth the 10th pick.  He signed with Miami the next year and is playing for Orlando this year.  In Orlando, he's posting 9 and 2 in about 22 minutes per.  He's been a solid rotation player... a phrase that is repeated throughout this article.  There is not a single player who has played in multiple All-Star games, which is disappointing.

Etan Thomas has had his ups and downs as a player; he's got clear limitations, most noticeably as a passer, from the foul line, he fouls too much and has some injury issues.  Not lottery material.  Again, not a terrible guy to have on your team but not worth his spot.  He is, however, a pretty talented poet.  That aside, he's not a bad player, I mean Etan Thomas goes into the game and goes after the ball.  With his broad frame, he's not a bad rebounder and he's a decent shot-blocker as well.  Solid rotational player.  

Turkoglu and Desmond Mason have both turned out to be good sixth men types who can start from time to time.  Quentin Richardson is a chucker but he played reasonably well as a Clipper (where he and Darius Miles began that damnable fist-tapping gesture) and he shined in the Phoenix offense last year, even if his percentages weren't exactly All-NBA material.  He's one of the better post-up guards in the league and has always been a pretty decent rebounders.  

Jamaal Magloire is the best big man in the draft and has had some nice seasons.  Magloire is one of the three All-Stars in the draft, though he didn't deserve it.  As I recall, he was selected as an injury replacement during a season in which he averaged 13.6 ppg and 10.3 rpg (03-04).  It was reminiscent of Antonio Davis' selection in the '01 season.  Still, he's a solid rebounder (and a very good offensive rebounder), he's got some post moves (though he's shown little improvement or consistancy in this regard) and prior to this season, he's also been a decent shot-blocker and he's not far from that now either.  

Speedy Claxton has had some really good seasons, 10 and 6 stuff.  He's one of the better bench point guards in the league and played 30 games for the '02-'03 Spurs who won the title, including 24 games in the postseason in which he averaged 5, 2 and 2.  He's among the better pick-pockets in the league as well and has filled in for and played well alongside Chris Paul this year for the Hornets.   Since his third season in the league, he has averaged 4.5 or more assists per game and has averaged 2+ turnovers per game twice.  He's good with the ball and passes well.  

Morris Peterson is another guy who's a solid rotational player.  One year, during the Raptors' playoff run in '00-'01, there was even some brief talk of him making the All-Star team in the future.  That died down very quickly and he's never done anything to ressurect the talk but Peterson is a solid defender, can stick the three and slash a bit...  He's a starting-caliber small forward/shooting guard and he's definitely worth his pick.  In this draft, he could have gone much higher given how the rest of this players in this draft have performed.  He should have gone 4th or 5th in this draft and is probably worth a late lottery pick.  The Raptors nabbed him at the 21st spot and only rued trading the 18th pick (which would have allowed them to snag Magloire or Speedy) a little bit.  Minor ruing (rueage?), really.  

DeShawn Stevenson struggled in Utah for a while but has apparently found a home in Orlando, where he's starting and playing pretty well.  He's very athletic and has radically improved his shot selection, mid-range jumper and his foul shooting.  

Primoz Brezec broke out when he went to the Bobcats and continues to play well.  He's not and will not likely ever be an All-Star but he's definitely a starting caliber center, though he's a miserable shot-blocker for a guy who's over seven feet.  

The last guy I haven't talked about is Darius Miles; he coasted on athleticism for the most part as a Clipper and didn't really show any inclination to improve until he got to Portland (though he showed some ball-handling and passing skills while he was in Cleveland).  This year, he was really getting it before his injury and has played well since his return.  He's not the greatest of passers, of course, but he's scoring more at a reasonable level of efficiency and he's rebounding well.  In his 19 starts (22 games played),  he's averaging 17.6 ppg (on 51.3% shooting), 5.2 rpg and 2.3 apg while adding 1.37 bpg.  He's long and athletic and he'll surprise the Hell out of you if you don't keep track of his whereabouts. He did his best work in November but he's played well since returning.  He didn't start in 3 of the 7 games he played in February and that affected his stats but he still posted 14.4 ppg (47% shooting) and 4.9 rpg.  In his last five games, his scoring has begun to increase and he's had two 20-point performances in his last 4 games, so he's getting it back. Miles has been starting to get it in Portland and that's nice to see. He's got more potential to improve than the rest of the players in this draft, given his situation with the Blazers and his position as one of the better players in the draft to begin with.