NBA Draft: Looking at Recent Players Selected With 10th Overall Pick

Jun 26, 2014; Brooklyn, NY, USA;

(Louisiana-Lafayette) shakes hands with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the number ten overall pick to the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2014 NBA Draft at the Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

If the Miami Heat retain the 10th overall pick, it will be the first time they will pick in the lottery since 2008, when they made Michael Beasley the second overall pick. The top of the draft offers teams an opportunity to draft impact players and superstars. The 10th pick is on the cusp of the lottery, and the players picked there have been a mixed bag in recent years.

Since 2007, we’ve had straight-up busts and full-blown super stars emerge from the 10th pick.

As for the demographical breakdown, a guard has been selected in five of the last six years (unless you count Paul George as a shooting guard, in which case a guard has been picked in each of the last six drafts). Before that, we saw four-straight centers drafted at no. 10.

We’ll start with the most recent pick, whose NBA script is yet to be written, but seems to have an exciting career ahead of him.

Next: 2014: Elfrid Payton