Jonathan Bender, Pacers (1999)
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In an era when NBA teams scoured the high school ranks to find the next Kevin Garnett or Kobe Bryant, the Toronto Raptors selected Jonathan Bender right out of Picayune Memorial High School in Mississippi, with the fifth overall pick in the 1999 NBA Draft; they then traded him in a draft-day deal to the Indiana Pacers, for forward Antonio Davis. Bender was a legit seven-footer with a tantalizing combination of size, skills, and athleticism. While Bender did go on to have a decent NBA career, the fact that he was taken ahead of Richard “Rip” Hamilton, Shawn Marion, and Ron Artest (now known as “Metta World Peace”), in a draft class that many consider to be one of the best in history, gives him an entry on this list.
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