Didn't You Use to Be Josh Childress?

We recently had a "Was drafting Josh Smith a success?" thread, and if there is ever consensus to be had, it seems there was general agreement that taking Smoove with the 17th pick turned out pretty nice. But there was one other Josh in that same draft, taken with the 6th-overall lottery pick. That was one spot after former All-Star Devin Harris and one pick before Luol Deng, three spots before Andre Iguodala.

The other night the 4th overall pick in 2004, Shaun Livingston, came off the bench for Milwaukee to drop 12 points and 4 assists on the Phoenix Suns. On the other side of the floor, the player taken two spots after Livingston, gets just 6 minutes of burn, subbing for Hakim Warrick of all people, in his only appearance in the last 5 Suns games. He did get a steal in the books for his trouble, but that's it.

There were a few bombs in that draft to be sure, especially in the back half of the lottery (Hoffa Araujo, Luke Jackson, Robert Swift, and the Suns' Sebastian Telfair). But who could guess that among existing players in 2012, Josh Childress, an NBA All-Rookie Second-Teamer, has turned into the ugliest cherry on the bad-2004-lottery-pick sundae?

When the impatient restricted free agent left the shores of the Chattahoochee River for the Aegean Sea in 2008, pundits pointed to Childress' decision as the reason the Hawks' postseason voyage would not repeat itself. When he was ready to return to the States, ~~lethalweapon3~~ many clamored for him to re-sign with Atlanta and serve as a major player off the bench, perhaps even start ahead of a sluggish Marvin Williams, eventually lamenting that we let such talent go without getting much more than a footnote in return.

Boasting the fourth-highest salary on the Suns' roster, and owed up to $21 million over the next three seasons, Chillz has slid further and further down the depth chart since a triumphant return from Greece had him as the top sixth man for Phoenix's 2010-11 season opener. He'll slide even further behind as new acquisition Michael Redd starts seeing the floor.

Right now, he's down to 11 minutes per game and fading fast. Thus far, he's shooting 33.3% overall and 14.3% from 3-point territory, amassing 1.8 PPG and 1.4 RPG. And it's not just a matter of limited minutes hampering production. Childress' 7.96 PER makes last season's 13.24 rating look Herculean by comparison.

We always knew he was clunky with his mechanics on his jumpshot. But even his legendary heaves during his ATL tenure had him shooting 37-40% from outside. Since going 6-for-8 in the climactic Game 6 victory over Boston in the 2008 playoffs, he has made six or more field goals on just four occasions with Phoenix (twice with seven FGs, twice with six). The player who managed to shoot 22-for-60 from 3-point land in 2008 in Atlanta was 1-for-16 last year on a team pretty much known for 3-point shooting.

So what is it that has Josh Childress free-falling so badly? Was it a lack of NBA-quality player development during his time in Greece? Was it a fractured finger in preseason 2010 that messed up an already awkward jumpshot? Is it an inability to prove effective as a defender on a team that usually needs one badly? Is it a lack of commitment to fit within Alvin Gentry's coaching schemes? An inability to get to the basket and make plays? He's a bust now, sure. But he certainly didn't start out that way.

~lw3