The 2004 NBA draft wasn’t a completely weak one per se, but it did feature merely two players who would make at least one All-NBA team in their careers, and they were Dwight Howard and Al Jefferson.
Besides Howard, the 2004 class didn’t produce another superstar, though it did have some decent depth. Among the solid players who enjoyed long careers drafted that year: Andre Iguodala, Luol Deng, Jameer Nelson, Emeka Okafor, Trevor Ariza and Devin Harris.
Below, we re-draft the 2004 class in the order we believe they should have gone.
No. 1 pick: Dwight Howard
Actual position: No. 1
Career earnings: $243,671,002
Career stats: 16.3 ppg, 12.1 rpg, 1.9 bpg, 58.6 FG%
No. 2 pick: Andre Iguodala
Actual position: No. 9
Career earnings: $184,074,259
Career stats: 11.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 4.2 apg, 46.4 FG%, 33.3 3P%
No. 3 pick: Al Jefferson
Actual position: No. 15
Career earnings: $136,519,285
Career stats: 15.7 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 1.5 apg, 49.9 FG%
No. 4 pick: Luol Deng
Actual position: No. 7
Career earnings: $163,520,376
Career stats: 14.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.3 apg, 45.6 FG%
No. 5 pick: Josh Smith
Actual position: No. 17
Career earnings: $121,626,310
Career stats: 14.5 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 3.1 apg, 45.2 FG%
No. 6 pick: Trevor Ariza
Actual position: No. 43
Career earnings: $116,320,528
Career stats: 10.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.2 apg, 42.3 FG%, 35.2 3P%
No. 7 pick: JR Smith
Actual position: No. 18
Career earnings: $87,749,432
Career stats: 12.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.1 apg, 41.9 FG%. 37.3 3P%
No. 8 pick: Jameer Nelson
Actual position: No. 20
Career earnings: $72,802,422
Career stats: 11.3 ppg, 5.1 apg, 3.0 rpg, 43.6 FG%, 36.8 3P%
No. 9 pick: Tony Allen
Actual position: No. 25
Career earnings: $40,698,419
Career stats: 8.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.3 apg, 47.5 FG%
No. 10 pick: Devin Harris
Actual position: No. 5
Career earnings: $76,066,493
Career stats: 10.8 ppg, 3.9 apg, 2.2 rpg, 43.2 FG%, 32.5 3P%
No. 11 pick: Kevin Martin
Actual position: No. 26
Career earnings: $83,151,440
Career stats: 17.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.9 apg, 43.7 FG%. 38.4 3P%
No. 12 pick: Emeka Okafor
Actual position: No. 2
Career earnings: $90,502,146
Career stats: 12.0 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 1.6 bpg, 51.2 FG%
No. 13 pick: Anderson Varejao
Actual position: No. 30
Career earnings: $85,246,276
Career stats: 7.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.2 apg, 51.0 FG%
No. 14 pick: Shaun Livingston
Actual position: No. 4
Career earnings: $58,438,228
Career stats: 6.3 ppg, 3.0 apg, 2.4 rpg, 48.6 FG%
No. 15 pick: Ben Gordon
Actual position: No. 3
Career earnings: $84,617,019
Career stats: 14.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, 43.2 FG%, 40.1 3P%
No. 16 pick: Dorell Wright
Actual position: No. 19
Career earnings: $28,711,258
Career stats: 8.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.5 apg, 42.4 FG%, 36.5 3P%
No. 17 pick: Kris Humphries
Actual position: No. 14
Career earnings: $66,220,233
Career stats: 6.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 0.6 bpg, 46.3 FG%
No. 18 pick: Vassilis Spanoulis
Actual position: No. 50
Career earnings: $3,744,000
Career stats: 2.7 ppg, 0.9 apg, 0.7 rpg, 31.9 FG%
No. 19 pick: Beno Udrih
Actual position: No. 28
Career earnings: $44,490,820
Career stats: 8.4 ppg, 3.4 apg, 2.1 rpg, 46.3 FG%, 34.9 3P%
No. 20 pick: Delonte West
Actual position: No. 24
Career earnings: $16,463,022
Career stats: 9.7 ppg, 3.6 apg, 2.9 rpg, 44.8 FG%, 37.2 3P%
No. 21 pick: Sasha Vujacic
Actual position: No. 27
Career earnings: $22,324,686
Career stats: 5.3 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 1.3 apg, 39.0 FG%, 36.7 3P%
No. 22 pick: Josh Childress
Actual position: No. 6
Career earnings: $45,776,318
Career stats: 9.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.6 apg, 52.2 FG%, 32.9 3P%
No. 23 pick: Sebastian Telfair
Actual position: No. 13
Career earnings: $19,475,455
Career stats: 7.4 ppg, 3.5 apg, 1.6 rpg, 39.0 FG%, 31.9 3P%
No. 24 pick: Andris Biedrins
Actual position: No. 11
Career earnings: $62,208,776
Career stats: 6.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.1 bpg, 59.4 FG%
No. 25 pick: Damien Wilkins
Actual position: Undrafted
Career earnings: $18,996,132
Career stats: 6.2 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.4 apg, 42.6 FG%, 32.7 3P%
No. 26 pick: Chris Duhon
Actual position: No. 38
Career earnings: $33,254,077
Career stats: 6.5 ppg, 4.4 apg, 2.3 rpg, 39.3 FG%, 36.3 3P%
No. 27 pick: Hamed Haddadi
Actual position: Undrafted
Career earnings: $7,600,000
Career stats: 2.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 0.6 bpg, 46.3 FG%
No. 28 pick: Pero Antic
Actual position: Undrafted
Career earnings: $2,450,000
Career stats: 6.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 0.9 apg, 39.2 FG%
No. 29 pick: Viktor Khryapa
Actual position: No. 22
Career earnings: $5,216,358
Career stats: 4.5 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.0 apg, 44.3 FG%
No. 30 pick: Jackson Vroman
Actual position: No. 31
Career earnings: $1,067,328
Career stats: 3.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.6 apg, 40.8 FG%
