Who Are the True Franchise Players?

Since 2010 was our reset year, after three years of the old cycle, I wanted to take a look at which of those franchise cornerstones were still with their original teams. Here is that original draft article, plus the link to that entire draft. As you'll see, most of those guys were jettisoned.

Round One (2010)
"Nothing surprising up top. Lebron, CP3, and Dwayne Wade in short order. This being a dynasty league, taking LBJ was definitely the right move despite CP3's fantasy dominance. And while Kevin Durant and Danny Granger are hyped as the next best things, Wade is still a numbers monster -- if he can stay healthy. The only semi-surprise was Lakers' fan Steve passing up Kobe Bryant at five (very defensible since Kobe ain't that young anymore) and nabbing Dwight Howard. If you draft Dwight, the rest of your draft has to be carefully orchestrated and built around his strengths. It was a bold move and could pay big dividends as many of the lower drafting GMs were hoping to get Howard.

A slew of big men went in the latter half of the first round, in this order: Bosh, Nowitzki, Stoudemire, Jefferson, and Gasol. We'll see if that was the correct choice since all of them come with some red flags (age, injury, situation). The big shocker in Round One was Mikey's drafting of Gilbert Arenas. He's counting on the Hibachi returning to fantasy prominence but this was a huge gamble with Arenas' injury history. In a slightly smaller surprise, Suns superfan Eric-L takes old man Steve Nash, who has another two years max at elite level."
-The Jump Off (2010)-

Where Did They Go:

• #1 Lebron James, traded from Sour Snails (2011)
• #2 Chris Paul, traded from Chunky Monkeys (2014)
• #5 Dwight Howard, traded from Eron, Joven and Chandler, formerly 2005 NBA All-Star Team (2013)
• #6 Danny Granger, traded from Inept Henchmen, formerly Human Amoebas (2011)
• #8 Chris Bosh, traded from Fob Stars (2012)
• #9 Dirk Nowitzki, traded from Jedi Knights (2012)
• #10 Deron Williams, traded from Funk Coalition (2011)
• #11 Amare Stoudemire, traded from MoRRie's Pogiboys (2013)
• #12 Brandon Roy, traded from Buffy (2011)
• #13 Al Jefferson, traded from Squirtle Squad (2010)
• #15 Gilbert Arenas, traded from NJ All-Stars, formerly Nande? ReBuRonSAN (2011)
• #16 Steve Nash, cut from Fat Jubas' keeper roster (2014)

So who's still around on their original teams? It's a short list: Dwayne Wade, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, and Pau Gasol. Steve Nash technically made it back to the Jubas after he was unceremoniously dumped this off-season, but being selected in the normal draft -- even with Eric's 2014 RD1 pick -- isn't the same. It's safe to say that Nash lost his franchise player status.

Of the remaining original franchise guys, we are confident that Durant will likely stay with Half Man Half ImAsian for the next decade or so, but there's a decent chance that Wade could be traded eventually. I mean, CP3 just got moved so anything can happen. Will Kobe and Pau get to retire their numbers with their original teams? (Kobe is back on the same squad after being up for the dispersal draft this year.) Everyone else clearly had little to no loyalty to their original first rounders.

While we're here, let's take a look at how keepers have evolved over the past few seasons. We did this this right after our first season, Keeper Analysis 2011, so let's do it again. Bolded names are players drafted in the first six rounds that still remain as keepers with their original team.

Teams with the most top six players still around: Super Ninja, who amazingly still has four of their top six. Dwayne Wade, Paul Pierce, Andrew Bynum, Rudy Gay. In order to boot. That's great drafting by Thien. Buffy, Human Amoebas, and 100 Acre Wood Heffalumps all retain three of their original draft picks.

Teams with zero players left from their top six rounds: Chunky Monkeys, Squirtle Squad, NJ All-Stars, Fat Jubas, and Eron Joven Chandler. (Although the NJ All-Stars had Andre Iguodala moved off due to the dispersal draft.) The Squirtles moved four of their top six through trades: Al Jefferson, Carmelo Anthony, Tyreke Evans, and Blake Griffin, which is impressive.

A lot of teams are down to one lone original keeper, especially after this off-season: Sour Snails (Steph Curry), Oliver (Kevin Durant), Fob Stars (Zach Randolph), Funk Coalition (Tony Parker), Pogiboys (Brandon Jennings), and So Buckets (Pau Gasol). And how about that OJ Mayo? He surprised as an unexpected long time keeper. Jedi Knights have kept Mayo -- and David Lee -- for the haul.

Now to take a look at the lower round selections that ended up being keepers still -- not necessarily with their original team. As you can see, James Harden, taken late in 2010 RD11, has clearly gone from scrub to All Star in impressive fashion. Plus he's still on the team that drafted him, Evan's Chunky Monkeys!

Rodney Stuckey and Luol Deng, both 2010 RD7 picks, almost made the cut for this list but were dumped this past off-season. Spencer Hawes and Jamal Crawford are new keepers this year, both playing for their non-original teams. Hawes had never been a keeper before, but Crawford was one in 2011. And how about that Kyle Lowry, 2010 RD11.12 pick and still going strong!