The AltRaps Blog

Altraps.com Blog: Yi Jianlian: This Year’s Araujo?
In 2004 — one of the deepest drafts in the years prior to this season — a recently hired GM broke his NBA cherry by drafting a foreign player far higher than anyone expected. Rob Babcock really didn’t have a prayer of winning any Executive of the Year awards after he plucked Rafael Araujo out of obscurity and made him the Raptors’ #8 pick, passing on Andre Iguodala (#9), Andris Biedrins (#11), Al Jefferson (#15) and even Josh Smith (#17) along the way. Three years later, the scorned players (all but Iguodala were teenagers on draft day; Iggy was all of 20) are coming into their own, while Araujo is out of the NBA.