After tonight’s draft lottery, the Warriors will know their draft selection slot, which could be as high as No. 1 all the way down to No. 7. How important is this process? If the Warriors jump up to No. 1, are they set for the playoffs and championship contention for the next decade? If they fall to No. 7, will the Warriors continue to struggle as they have the past two seasons?

The answers to both of these questions is an obvious no. Not every No. 1 pick turns out to be an elite all-NBA player and there have been plenty of good draft picks as low as No. 7 (the Warriors drafted Stephen Curry in that spot last season). That being said, it’s fun to look back at history and see the type of players the Warriors have a shot at drafting in their projected range. Here are all the picks from No. 1 to No. 7 for the past 10 years of drafts:

2000 (considered one of the worst drafts of all time)
No. 1: Kenyon Martin, PF
No. 2: Stromile Swift, PF
No. 3: Darius Miles, SF
No. 4: Marcus Fizer, PF
No. 5: Mike Miller, SF
No. 6: DerMarr Johnson, SF
No. 7: Chris Mihm, C

2001
No. 1: Kwame Brown, C
No. 2: Tyson Chandler, C
No. 3: Pau Gasol, PF
No. 4: Eddy Curry, C
No. 5: Jason Richardson, SG
No. 6: Shane Battier, SF
No. 7: Eddie Griffin, F

2002
No. 1: Yao Ming, C
No. 2: Jay Williams, PG
No. 3: Mike Dunleavy, SF
No. 4: Drew Gooden, PF
No. 5: Nikoloz Tskitishvili, SF
No. 6: Dajuan Wagner, PG
No. 7: Nene Hilario, C

2003 (hope that the 2010 draft has this depth of talent)
No. 1: LeBron James, SF
No. 2: Darko Milicic, C
No. 3: Carmelo Anthony, SF
No. 4: Chris Bosh, PF
No. 5: Dwyane Wade, SG
No. 6: Chris Kaman, C
No. 7: Kirk Hinrich, PG

2004
No. 1: Dwight Howard, C
No. 2: Emeka Okafor, C
No. 3: Ben Gordon, SG
No. 4: Shaun Livingston, PG
No. 5: Devin Harris, PG
No. 6: Josh Childress, SF
No. 7: Luol Deng, SF

2005
No. 1: Andrew Bogut, C
No. 2: Marvin Williams, SF
No. 3: Deron Williams, PG
No. 4: Chris Paul, PG
No. 5: Raymond Felton, PG
No. 6: Martell Webster, SF
No. 7: Charlie Villanueva, F

2006
No. 1: Andrea Bargnani, PF
No. 2: LaMarcus Aldridge, PF
No. 3: Adam Morrison, SF
No. 4: Tyrus Thomas, PF
No. 5: Shelden Williams, C
No. 6: Brandon Roy, SG
No. 7: Randy Foye, SG

2007
No. 1: Greg Oden, C
No. 2: Kevin Durant, SF
No. 3: Al Horford, C
No. 4: Mike Conley, PG
No. 5: Jeff Green, SF
No. 6: Yi Jianlian, F
No. 7: Corey Brewer, SF

2008
No. 1: Derrick Rose, PG
No. 2: Michael Beasley, SF
No. 3: O.J. Mayo, SG
No. 4: Russell Westbrook, PG
No. 5: Kevin Love, PF
No. 6: Danilo Gallinari, SF
No. 7: Eric Gordon, SG

2009
No. 1: Blake Griffin, PF
No. 2: Hasheem Thabeet, C
No. 3: James Harden, SG
No. 4: Tyreke Evans, G
No. 5: Ricky Rubio, PG
No. 6: Jonny Flynn, PG
No. 7: Stephen Curry, PG

(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)