Ed Rendell: Plenty of bad picks among local draft selections

It's said that the saddest phrase in the English language is "what might have been."

I thought of those words this week watching the Celtics' gallant and amazing run against the Heat. It has been truly a team effort by a gritty bunch of veterans and the brilliant Rajon Rondo. While watching I was particularly taken with the effort, talent and leadership of the great Paul Pierce and the brilliance of Rondo's game. And then it struck me that both players could have been, and should have been Sixers.

In perhaps the worst draft blunder by any Philadelphia sports team in the last 25 years, in the 1998 NBA draft, with the eighth pick, the Sixers chose Larry Hughes. In selecting Hughes, who never became a bona fide NBA starter, the Sixers passed over Pierce, who was taken by Boston with the10th pick, and Dirk Nowitzski, who was taken by Dallas with the ninth pick. In 2006, we did it again passing over Rondo to choose Thabo Sefolosha with the 13th pick. Oh my, just think of "what might have been." Think of how this year's star-starved Sixers would have fared with Pierce up front and Rondo running the point. My guess is that Mayor Nutter would have had to make plans for a parade!

All of this made me curious about our teams' worst draft blunders of the past quarter century. I wonder how the Phillies' recent first-round pick will turn out and whom the Sixers will pick in the upcoming NBA draft. Will Fletcher Cox turn out to be the real deal for the Eagles?

So I am going to list some of the worst draft choices our teams have made in the last 25 years. I want you to email me your top five, with No. 1 being the very worst. You can pick from my list or come up with someone I left off. If the order of your worst five list matches mine exactly, I'll send you an autographed copy of my new book, "A Nation of Wusses." Before I begin, a disclaimer — I full well realize our teams have also made some choices that turned out great as well. The Bobby Clarkes, the Mike Schmidts, the Cole Hamelses, the Brian Westbrooks, the Shady McCoys, the Allen Iversons and the Jrue Holidays. But nevertheless, it will be fun to look back and think "what might have been!"

Eagles 2000: Corey Simon (at 6) over Brian Urlacher (9). Urlacher could really have helped the transition to the wide nine.

Eagles 2001: Freddie Mitchell (25) over Reggie Wayne (30), Drew Brees (32), Chad Ochocinco (36). Fourth-and-26 only goes so far.

Eagles 2003: Jerome McDougle (15) over Troy Polamalu (16); Dallas Clark (24); Nnamdi Asomugha (31); Anquan Boldin (54); Osi Umenyiora (56); LJ Smith (61) over Jason Witten (69). So much talent, so little of it ended up on the Eagles. But, hey, if one of these other guys got shot in the offseason, who knows how he would've turned out?

Eagles 2006: Winston Justice (39) over Greg Jennings (52), Devin Hester (57). Winston has actually had some solid games …

Eagles 2010: Brandon Graham (13) over Jason Pierre-Paul (15), Dez Bryant (24). Even Graham himself acknowledges this was quite a reach. JPP will haunt us for years to come.

Sixers 1993: Shawn Bradley (2) over Penny Hardaway (3). Possibly the worst pick in Philadelphia sports history. Just embarrassing.

Sixers 1997: Keith Van Horn (2) over Tracy McGrady (9). Van Horn a No. 2 pick? Ugh.

Sixers 2001: Samuel Dalembert (26) over Tony Parker (28) - can you imagine a backcourt of Tony and AI? Do you believe in magic?

Phillies 1989: Jeff Jackson (4) over Frank Thomas (7). This caused a "Big Hurt" that lasted for 15 years.

Phillies 1993: Wayne Gomes (4) over Billy Wagner (12), Derrek Lee (14), Chris Carpenter (15), and Torii Hunter (20). Wayne who?

Phillies 1997: J.D. Drew (2) over Troy Glaus (3), Lance Berkman (16). Most hated draft pick ever?

Flyers 1985: Glen Seabrooke (21) over Mike Richter (28). Glen played only 19 games, while Richter became an all-time Flyers nemesis.

Flyers 2006: Andreas Nodl (ninth pick in second round, 39th overall) over Milan Lucic (50), who led the Bruins to the cup in 2011.

So read 'em and weep. I know this brings back some very bad memories, but remember the good picks — Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, or Jeremy Maclin, McCoy and DeSean Jackson for example. Now get your rankings in. There are a heck of a lot of disasters to choose from!