Houston GM calls Royce White arguably ‘the worst first-round pick ever’; Boston and other teams may beg to differ

In a recent Q&A with Rockets season-ticket holders, GM Daryl Morey made a strange comment about the team's 2012 first round pick Royce White.

“I take some sort of pride that you could argue that Royce White is the worst first-round pick ever. He’s the only one that never played a minute in the NBA that wasn’t just a foreign guy staying in Europe. It just shows we swing for the fence,” Morey quipped.

White has not stepped foot on an NBA court as he deals with anxiety issues. He was traded to Philadelphia and then cut by the 76ers before this season started.

On its face, this comment is preposterous. Boston fans would be quick to point out that Len Bias never played a minute in the NBA either as he died of a cocaine overdose just days after the Celtics drafted him second overall in 1986, not 16th where White was picked.

There are plenty of horrid picks teams have made over the years. Injury plagued Greg Oden being selected first overrall by Portland over Kevin Durant, never amounting to anything Darko Milicic getting picked second overrall by Detroit before Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh. One could make a very strong argument that this past year's first overall pick Anthony Bennett has been the worst pick as he just scored double digits for the first time and we are more than halfway through the season.

To put it in perspective:



So in short, no, there is no argument. White was a bad pick, but worst ever at 16th overall? Get out of here. If you believe White was the worst pick ever, I heard there was this amazing player named Sam Bowie that you may want to check out.

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