NBA Draft Busts & Steals (1996–2005): Stories Behind the NBA Draft's Hits and Misses

Every June, NBA teams bet millions of dollars on teenagers. Sometimes they're right. Often, spectacularly, they're not.The NBA Draft is one of sport's great promises — and one of its greatest sources of heartbreak. For every pick that builds a dynasty, another haunts a franchise for a decade. But what really happened to the players who vanished? And what about the ones nobody saw coming?NBA Draft Busts & Steals traces ten landmark drafts, from 1996 — the year a kid named Kobe Bryant fell to 13th overall — to 2005, setting the champions aside to focus on everyone else: the high first-round picks who flamed out, the second-round steals who quietly outplayed them all, and the undrafted players who slipped in through the back door and never left.Inside, you'll find:The bona fide busts: can't-miss prospects who, somehow, missedThe steals of the draft: unheralded picks who became (more or less) solid pros — or full-blown starsThe strangest post-NBA second acts: coaches, farmers, fugitives, businessmen, and at least one Hall of Famer who slipped through everyone's fingers until the second-to-last pickFull statistics and career earnings for every player covered, sourced from Basketball ReferenceThis isn't a stats book. It's a storytelling deep-dive into the human side of the draft: the franchises that got burned, the scouts who missed, and the players who defied every expectation — in both directions.Ten drafts. Hundreds of players. One fascinating, inexact science.Whether you're a die-hard NBA historian or simply nostalgic for '90s and early-2000s basketball, this is the book for you. Read more