Having avoided the pressure that comes with being the No. 1 pick, Shane Battier's modest statistics have drawn the ire of few. Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images

For the uninitiated, a bust is a player who fails to live up to the hype created by fans and media who get spectacularly overheated about the latest prospect to come down the assembly line. For some reason, the people who competed to be the first to call a player a franchise savior are the same ones who declare, usually prematurely, that he hasn't panned out, that he's a bust.

In '01, when Battier was chosen sixth overall, the first player picked was high school star Kwame Brown, a McDonald's All-American from Glynn Academy High School in Brunswick, Ga. Brown was selected first by the Washington Wizards, whose basketball decisions at the time were being made by Michael Jordan and Doug Collins.

But when Brown's career got off to a rocky start, who took the blame? Was it Jordan and Collins, two NBA icons who between them had 45 years of experience in the NBA? Or was it Brown, an immature and sometimes lazy 19-year-old who wasn't nearly ready for the attention and expectations, the spotlight burning him beyond recognition?

Brown took the fall, and he fell hard. Even after a third season in Washington where he averaged a respectable 10.9 points and 7.4 rebounds in the post-Jordan, post-Collins Wizards era, the stigma created by the enormous expectations soured his relationship with the organization and the fans, and he was unceremoniously traded to the Lakers with Laron Profit for Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins on Aug. 2, 2005.

"Someone has a full career ahead of them and you're already calling him a bust?" Brown said in an interview with The Washington Post after details of the trade were announced. "Most of the people who write that never picked up a basketball in their life. I still have a full career ahead of me."

Jordan, meanwhile, has done just fine in the court of public opinion, recently buying into the Charlotte Bobcats, where he will resume his career as the top talent evaluator for one of the NBA's 30 franchises. Collins returned to broadcasting, where he is regarded as one of the best and most knowledgeable color commentators ever to wear a headset.

As he had predicted, the denouement of Brown's career is hardly at hand. In his first season in Los Angeles, Brown averaged 7.4 points and 6.6 rebounds, starting 49 of 72 games as part of Kobe Bryant's supporting cast. He is just 24-years old, and if Phil Jackson and Brown are together in Los Angeles for a few years, the smart money says Brown will develop into a pretty good player.

But what can we learn in the aftermath of the '01 draft? An examination of where Battier and Brown sit in the estimation of basketball experts right now leads us to an inescapable conclusion: a player's draft position (something that is obviously totally out of the hands of any player) has a disproportionate and unmerited impact on the perception of your relative worth as a player for the rest of your playing days.

Forget the modest numbers. Here is how they are regarded. Battier, picked sixth, is a respected role player, Brown, picked first, is a BUST. In fact, if you go to your favorite search engine and type in Brown's name and the word BUST, you will likely get more than 23,000 responses. The verdict in the court of public opinion is decidedly in.

But imagine for a minute if Battier had been the first pick and Brown was sixth. Battier might have been insulated somewhat from the most mean-spirited attacks on his playing ability due to his personal magnetism and his status as a Golden Child from saintly Duke University. But he would still make most lists of the most disappointing No. 1 picks in recent NBA history -- 10.5 points and 4.8 rebounds, remember? How disappointing!

But what is really striking is to think about how Brown would be regarded today if he had been the sixth pick.Only now is he at an age when most NBA big men are just starting to feel at ease with the huge bodies they possess, and are starting to "get it," as far as listening and trying to do what their coaches have been telling them to do. With career averages of 7.6 points and 5.7 rebounds, the catch phrase you would hear is "he's just starting to scratch the surface of what he could become." That's one phrase basketball people have been using for years.

It would be better for everyone concerned if a player's draft night position was forgotten soon after the draft, and he was judged solely on what he produced going forward, because it's not up to the players where they get picked. You can blame or praise the general managers for that.

Top Photo Galleries Rafael Nadal Through Time Did You See That? 100 Memorable Olympic Moments The NHL's Great Game 7s Best Players Without An NBA Title

Most Popular Stories Jessica Lucas; Jon Beason calls out Alex Smith for knocking Cam Newton: Hot Clicks Jessica Rafalowski; Snoop Dogg Tebowed after throwing first pitch: Hot Clicks Expert: DNA on evidence matches Clemens' Diamond: Success as players a plus for Titans coaches, but there's more to it Ex-Penn State president Spanier sues, eyes Sandusky emails