Like many of the top 10 selections of the NBA draft – including the prized No. 1 spot – the recent history of the sixth pick is a mixed bag. When the New Orleans Pelicans select at No. 6 on June 23, they’ll hope to find a player who eventually makes All-Star appearances, as several “6s” have done over the past three decades, as opposed to washing out of the league (no No. 6 from the 2009-11 drafts is currently on an NBA roster).
Over the past 30 years of NBA drafts, a countdown of the six best players picked sixth overall:
6) Shane Battier, 2001
Battier’s arrival in the NBA coincided with the Grizzlies’ debut season in Memphis; the forward helped that franchise reach the playoffs for the first time in 2004.