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Bullets passing on Karl Malone in Draft

I was at the draft party in 1985 and I remember how excited I was when the Bullets took Kenny Green. Shortly afterwards, the Jazz announced the Malone pick and everyone went nuts.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaxJc7jdp5g

Apparently, this Keith Lee expectation mentioned at the beginning of the clip was a common one, according to Google newspaper archives. It's interesting reading the newspaper articles from 1985. The Mavs were apparently expected to take Malone. They took Schrempf, a really fine player himself, though no Malone. Nor would he reach his potential with the Mavs.

Some pretty atrocious players were drafted before Malone. Joe Kleine and Jon Concak's combined career averages don't add up to a double-double! Benoit Benjamin was selected third and made Ostertag look like an All-Star. Ed Pinckney was not too far behind these 3, but at least all 4 of these managed to play 10+ seasons. Keith Lee and Kenny Green were out of the league by the time the decade was over.
 
I like reading about teams that pass on players that turned into stars, you wonder why they did it and why couldn't they see the talent; but i would have done the same thing if i was the bullets. You go so much on what a college coach says about their players. Now, I would have assumed that the Trailblazers would have learned from Sam Bowie; but i guess not....
 
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