Best Draft Class, Worst Draft Class

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

What is the best draft class in the history of the NBA?

Most of us will say 1984. Others will point to 1996. Our younger friends will look to 2003 or even 2005.

Who ya got?


Which was the worst draft class? 1986? 2000? 2001?

 

[Manic Devourer]

I think 2004-05 draft class is quite under-rated. From top of the first round, to the bottom of the first round there are plenty of really good players. Maybe not a boat load of superstars or hall of fame players, but still very good all-star calibre players throughout.

 

[dougthonus]

1984 is certainly the most top heavy given that it has Jordan and Hakeem, then a couple other HOFers in Stockton and Barkley. I wasn't a huge follower of the NBA as a whole back then, so I may be missing some valuable role players, but the only ones that stick out to me are Perkins, Thorpe, and Willis.

1996 had star power and depth. Kobe, Nash, Iverson, Camby, Marbury, Ray Allen, Antoine Walker, Peja, Jermaine O'Neal, and Ilgauskas were stars on some level for their teams. Dampier, Wright, Delk, Kittles, McCarty, Roy Rodgers, Othella Harrington, Jeff McGinnis, Jerome Williams, Derek Fisher, Malik Rose, Shandon Anderson, and probably a few more guys were good role players.

I mean the 1996 class is probably the deepest class of all time by a huge margin.

2003 doesn't match up to 84 in star power most likely, and it's dicey whether it will even match up to 96 in star power. It definitely doesn't match up to 96 in depth. It's still the best draft class in a long time though.

I'd order them as 96, 84, 2003 most likely. I also think 2000 is the worst draft class by a million. I mean nothing is even close to the wretched trash that was in the 2000 draft class. The best players out of it are Michael Redd and Kenyon Martin who both had a couple good years, got max contracts and then have been albatrosses on their teams.

 

[Newskoolbulls]

dougthonus wrote:

1984 is certainly the most top heavy given that it has Jordan and Hakeem, then a couple other HOFers in Stockton and Barkley. I wasn't a huge follower of the NBA as a whole back then, so I may be missing some valuable role players, but the only ones that stick out to me are Perkins, Thorpe, and Willis.

1996 had star power and depth. Kobe, Nash, Iverson, Camby, Marbury, Ray Allen, Antoine Walker, Peja, Jermaine O'Neal, and Ilgauskas were stars on some level for their teams. Dampier, Wright, Delk, Kittles, McCarty, Roy Rodgers, Othella Harrington, Jeff McGinnis, Jerome Williams, Derek Fisher, Malik Rose, Shandon Anderson, and probably a few more guys were good role players.

I mean the 1996 class is probably the deepest class of all time by a huge margin.

2003 doesn't match up to 84 in star power most likely, and it's dicey whether it will even match up to 96 in star power. It definitely doesn't match up to 96 in depth. It's still the best draft class in a long time though.

I'd order them as 96, 84, 2003 most likely. I also think 2000 is the worst draft class by a million. I mean nothing is even close to the wretched trash that was in the 2000 draft class. The best players out of it are Michael Redd and Kenyon Martin who both had a couple good years, got max contracts and then have been albatrosses on their teams.

When Mike Miller wins ROY in 2000 you knew something was wrong :laugh:

 

[sdeezy]

2000 was a horrific class

 

[Newskoolbulls]

sdeezy wrote:

2000 was a horrific class

Marcus Fizer and Darius Miles

barf :laugh:

 

[Diddy1122]

dougthonus wrote:

1984 is certainly the most top heavy given that it has Jordan and Hakeem, then a couple other HOFers in Stockton and Barkley. I wasn't a huge follower of the NBA as a whole back then, so I may be missing some valuable role players, but the only ones that stick out to me are Perkins, Thorpe, and Willis.

1996 had star power and depth. Kobe, Nash, Iverson, Camby, Marbury, Ray Allen, Antoine Walker, Peja, Jermaine O'Neal, and Ilgauskas were stars on some level for their teams. Dampier, Wright, Delk, Kittles, McCarty, Roy Rodgers, Othella Harrington, Jeff McGinnis, Jerome Williams, Derek Fisher, Malik Rose, Shandon Anderson, and probably a few more guys were good role players.

I mean the 1996 class is probably the deepest class of all time by a huge margin.

2003 doesn't match up to 84 in star power most likely, and it's dicey whether it will even match up to 96 in star power. It definitely doesn't match up to 96 in depth. It's still the best draft class in a long time though.

I'd order them as 96, 84, 2003 most likely. I also think 2000 is the worst draft class by a million. I mean nothing is even close to the wretched trash that was in the 2000 draft class. The best players out of it are Michael Redd and Kenyon Martin who both had a couple good years, got max contracts and then have been albatrosses on their teams.

'84 also had Jerome Kersey & Rick Carlilse in the later rounds. But I agree '96 is the best & deepest draft class of all time. '84 had 3 of arguably the all time best players at their respective positions, but '96 had a bunch of stars, probably 4 future HOFers, & endless amounts of quality role players who played in the league 10+ seasons.

I think the '85 draft is pretty underrated. It was a much deeper draft than '84, & stocked with more All-Stars as well. Ewing, Malone, Dumars, Mullin, Schrempf, Xavier McDaniel, AC Green, Terry Porter, Michael Adams, Sabonis, Spud Webb, & Mario Elie all were selected that year.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the '89 class either. Kemp, Hardaway, Rice, Elliot, Armstrong, Mookie, Dana Barros, Vlade, Nick Anderson, & Cliff Robinson. Other than '86 it's really tough not to find a really solid draft during the 1980's.

But there's no question that the 2000 draft was the most putrid collection of overrated talent ever in one draft. We had 4 picks, 3 in 2nd round & we ended up with Fizer, Guyton, Voskuhl, & El-Amin. Puke.

 

[Bullsman24]

the '08 class has some potential to be one of the deepest classes ever. picks 1,2,3,4,5,7,9,10 were all solid contributers, and 6 (gallinari) was gone for most of the season, and joe alexander will be a bust FOR SURE. but still, even if you look at the 96 draft, there were 2 possibly: lorenzen wright and samaki walker, and more starpower but less depth in the rest of the draft.

and there are tons of other solid players later in the draft.

 

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

Diddy1122 wrote:
[quote

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the '89 class either. Kemp, Hardaway, Rice, Elliot, Armstrong, Mookie, Dana Barros.

Man, Dana Barros. I used to love watching him play - when he was feeling it he couldn't miss a shot (more notably in Philadelphia).

 

[Shakes]

Hard to argue with 1996 being the best based on having 10 all stars drafted (and Ben Wallace undrafted). At least three first ballot hall of famers too (Kobe, Iverson and Nash), with Ben Wallace and Ray Allen also strong candidates.

 

[Bullsman24]

do you think ben wallace will be a HOF?

 

[Newskoolbulls]

bullsman24 wrote:

do you think ben wallace will be a HOF?

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Not in a million years.


Ben wallace :X :X :X

 

[Diddy1122]

Newskoolbulls wrote:

bullsman24 wrote:

do you think ben wallace will be a HOF?

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Not in a million years.


Ben wallace :X :X :X

He's not a first ballot but he'll make it there eventually I think. He's arguably one of the best post defenders of his generation at barely 6' 7". He's the only player in NBA history to have 1,000rebs, 100blks, & 100stls in 4 consecutive seasons. He was a 4-time DPOY, 6 All-Defensive teams, & the only undrafted player ever voted as a starter in an All-Star game.

Even though I wasn't a fan of his, can't knock the guy for some of the great things he's accomplished throughout his career.

 

[Frank Breakfast Styleham]

Diddy1122 wrote:

Newskoolbulls wrote:

bullsman24 wrote:

do you think ben wallace will be a HOF?

He's not a first ballot but he'll make it there eventually I think. He's arguably one of the best post defenders of his generation at barely 6' 7".


Ben Wallace is really just 6-7?" Is he another one of those guys who is listed as a height (6-9") but is really much shorter?

Like Charles Barkley (listed as 6-6" really 6-4") and Olajuwon (listed 7-0, actually more like 6-10")

 

[??? ??????]

Ben Wallace put up the best D-Rtg in an NBA regular season for any player who put up any amount of meaningful minutes, and then followed that up with the best D-Rtg in a post season ever, while anchoring the Pistons to an NBA championship.

It's a shame that things didn't work out with him here. That one year, before he fell off too much athletically, was showing his worth. He anchored the best defense in the league. If we could have had the Ben Wallace of a few years ago on that team, then the 06-07 Bulls might have been able to win a championship. He was just too far declined, even in the first year to make us championship contenders.

Also, there's a chapter in the Macrophenomenal Basketball Encyclopedia about how bad the 2000 draft class is.

 

[clonetrooper264]

2000 draft is probably the most epic fail draft until this point in time.

Ben Wallace might make it into the HOF, but he definitely won't be first ballot. I remember how excited I was when the Bulls signed him. It's too bad he fell off the face of the earth after coming here.

 

[dougthonus]

bullsman24 wrote:

the '08 class has some potential to be one of the deepest classes ever. picks 1,2,3,4,5,7,9,10 were all solid contributers, and 6 (gallinari) was gone for most of the season, and joe alexander will be a bust FOR SURE. but still, even if you look at the 96 draft, there were 2 possibly: lorenzen wright and samaki walker, and more starpower but less depth in the rest of the draft.

and there are tons of other solid players later in the draft.

08 has a chance at being a very good class. However, it will need two players to become superstars and several other all stars to become all stars. I think while people were off to a fairly good start last year, I'm not sure if there's superstars coming out of the group.

Rose has the best shot at being a superstar, but I don't see any others. Even all stars are kind of dicey depending how guys improve.

 

[Shakes]

bullsman24 wrote:

do you think ben wallace will be a HOF?

He's a 4 time defensive player of the year, made 6 all defensive and 5 all NBA teams. I suspect that's enough to get him in eventually.

 

[Bullsman24]

but then rodman is on the line, and he's an even better version of ben wallace.

 

[Shakes]

I think Rodman's personality issues are hurting him getting in more than anything.