re: Worst Case Hypothetical Draft Scenario

We also had the pick for Alrdrich, which came right after George and Hayward, but we traded it away for two later picks, which turned out to be Brackins and QPon.
They guys that have gone right before we picked, back a few years ago when we were picking in this range have been perennial all stars, like PG/Hayward and Drummond. now we would have never taken AD and Drummond in the same draft, but in hindsight, that would have been nice, and then we would have never traded for Asik, giving up a first round pick too.

The bad luck of ours is that the top 10 picks in the 2 years after AD, when we were still picking in the top 10, were really shitty classes as far as top 10's go, really pretty much every top 10 class since AD/Beal/Lillard/Drummond/Barnes in 2012 has been pretty shitty.

Best player in 2013 top 10 is McCollum, at 10, then Otto Porter, who took 3 years to be good.
Best player in 2014 top 10 is Wiggins, the #1 pick, then I guess Marcus Smart since the rest of them either suck or are always hurt like Parker and Embiid. A lot of mediocrity in those two drafts in the top 10.

Seems like the better players have been going in the teens and the few gems in the early 2nd round lately.