http://www.hobbyinsider.com/articles/article_22_96draft.asp <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Wow! The 1996- 97 Draft class was by far the best of the decade, Producing 10 future all- stars, that?s right 10- Iverson, Shareef, Allen, Marbury, Walker, Bryant, Peja, Nash, Jermaine, and Ilgauskas have all made appearances in the All- Star game. With ten all-stars on the list, only 4 players in the first round have one a ring, and only 1 of them was an all- star. Kobe Bryant has led the Lakers to 3 rings, but also had some help from Samaki Walker, Derek Fisher, and Travis Knight, these players are the other 3 who have one a ring and each with the Lakers. This draft also contained 2 High School kids who weren?t even drafted in the top 10 but have gone on to prove themselves as worthy all- stars. The 96-97 Draft class is continuing to prove today why they were the best of the decade. 1996 NBA Draft -1st Round- First Round Player College 1. Philadelphia Allen Iverson Georgetown 2. Toronto Marcus Camby Massachusetts 3. Vancouver Shareef Abdur-Rahim California 4. Milwaukee (a) Stephon Marbury Georgia Tech 5. Minnesota (a) Ray Allen Connecticut 6. Boston (from Dallas) Antoine Walker Kentucky 7. LA Clippers Lorenzen Wright Memphis 8. New Jersey Kerry Kittles Villanova 9. Dallas (from Boston) Samaki Walker Louisvile 10. Indiana (from Denver) Erick Dampier Mississippi State 11. Golden State Todd Fuller North Carolina State 12. Cleveland (from Wash.) Vitaly Potapenko Wright State 13. Charlotte Kobe Bryant Lower Merion HS 14. Sacramento Predrag Stojakovic PAOK (Greece) 15. Phoenix Steve Nash Santa Clara 16. Charlotte (from Miami) Tony Delk Kentucky 17. Portland Jermaine O'Neal Eau Claire HS 18. New York (from Detroit) John Wallace Syracuse 19. New York (from Atlanta) Walter McCarty Kentucky 20. Cleveland Zydrunas Ilgauskas Lithuania 21. New York Dontae Jones Mississippi State 22. Vancouver (from Houston) Roy Rogers Alabama 23. Denver (from Indiana) Efthimis Rentzias PAOK 24. LA Lakers Derek Fisher Arkansas-Little Rock 25. Utah ( Martin Muursepp BC Kalev Tallinn 26. Detroit (from San Antonio) Jerome Williams Georgetown 27. Orlando Brian Evans Indiana 28. Atlanta (from Seattle) Priest Lauderdale Peristeri (Greece) 29. Chicago Travis Knight Connecticut The Biggest Winner- LA Lakers- Vlade for Kobe Bryant, nuff said...Derek Fisher in the 20?s, another steal for LA. Has been their starting PG and a 3rd scoring option for 3 straight titles. The Biggest Loser- Charlotte Hornets- Kicking themselves after trading a potential MVP for Vlade Divac The Best Players- Allen Iverson- The #1 pick, the Answer has lived up to all expectations, after winning the ROY AI led his team 3 years later to the NBA Finals, and leading Philly to round 2 this year Kobe Bryant- 3 Rings and only 24 years old Kobe has made a name for himself in this league and just last year won MVP of the all- star game. The Worst Players Todd Fuller- Another dud lottery pick by the warriors. Marcus Camby- Marcus hasn?t been all that bad, but for a #2 pick he hasn?t lived up to expectations at all, and has yet to see the playoffs. The Cards Kobe Bryant Topps Chrome RC- truly set the standard for Topps Chrome RCs, the best RC from the year, and of the best player. Kobe Bryant EX RC- EX brought a 3-d type look collectors had never seen before, which makes this one of the hottest sets of the year. Kobe Bryant Finest RC- Finest once again returned as one of the best sets of the year Kobe Bryant Lucky 13 Insert- Only Available Via Redemption, Lucky 13 was something new Fleer brought to the trading world, draft redemptions Allen Iverson Topps Chrome RC- One of the most sought of AI cards available and his best RC. </div> I believe that this article is very true, if you look at all the other draft classes there aren't as many stars as there are in the 96 class. Even the 03 draft class doesn't seem to contain the amount of stars that the 96 class did. Here are the draft classes from 91 to 02(http://forums.operationsports.com/ubbthrea...rt=1#Post724632): <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">2002 Yao Ming, Jay Williams, Mike Dunleavy, Amare Stoudemire (ROY), Caron Butler, Ronald "Flip" Murray, Carlos Boozer 2001 Tyson Chandler, Pau Gasol (ROY), Eddy Curry, Jason Richardson, Joe Johnson, Richard Jefferson, Troy Murphy, Zach Randolph, Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas 2000 Kenyon Martin, Darius Miles, Mike Miller (ROY), Jamal Crawford, Desmond Mason, Quentin Richardson, Michael Redd 1999 Elton Brand (ROY), Steve Francis (ROY), Baron Davis, Lamar Odom, Wally Szczerbiak, Richard Hamilton, Andre Miller, Shawn Marion, Jason Terry, Corey Maggette, Ron Artest, Andrei Kirilenko, Emmanuel Ginobili 1998 Michael Olowokandi, Mike Bibby, Raef LaFrentz, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter (ROY), Jason Williams, Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce, Bonzi Wells, Matt Harpring, Rasho Nesterovic, Ricky Davis, Rashard Lewis 1997 Tim Duncan (ROY), Keith Van Horn, Chauncey Billups, Tim Thomas, Tracy McGrady, Bobby Jackson, Adonal Foyle, Danny Fortson 1996 Allen Iverson (ROY), Marcus Camby, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Stephon Marbury, Ray Allen, Antoine Walker, Kobe Bryant, Peja Stojakovic, Steve Nash, Jermaine O'Neal, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Derek Fisher, Moochie Norris, Malik Rose 1995 Joe Smith, Antonio McDyess, Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, Kevin Garnett, Damon Stoudamire (ROY), Kurt Thomas, Corliss Williamson, Brent Barry, Theo Ratliff, Michael Finley, Eric Snow 1994 Glenn Robinson, Jason Kidd (ROY), Grant Hill (ROY), Juwan Howard, Brian Grant, Eddie Jones, Jalen Rose, Aaron McKie 1993 Chris Webber (ROY), Shawn Bradley, Anfernee (Penny) Hardaway, Jamal Mashburn, Vin Baker, Allan Houston, Sam Cassell, Nick Van Exel 1992 Shaquille O'Neal (ROY), Alonzo Mourning, Christian Laettner, Jimmy Jackson, Tom Gugliotta, Robert Horry, Doug Christie, Latrell Sprewell, P.J. Brown 1991 Larry Johnson (ROY), Kenny Anderson, Dikembe Mutombo, Steve Smith, Terrell Brandon, Dale Davis, Rick Fox </div> Thoughts?
Camby yet to see the playoffs? He went all the way to the finals with the Knicks when the Spurs won their first title.
98 was a good draft year too, especially Lewis in the second round. Larry Hughes was part of that class too - hasn't lived up to expectations, but has still been a solid producer.
1993 was a good year too.And 1995 is a good look. Its kind of crazy I remember when Joe Smith was drafted #1 out of Maryland alot of people felt he was going to be one of the best Forwards ever. but look nearly ten years later Joe Smith is a role player on the bucks.And the High Schooler drafted with 5th pick is the one with the hall a fame career,doing things on the basketball court that alot of people never seen before by a player almost 7 feet. Things like this kind of put a block on the NBA's "everybody should go to college" speech. I know, I know everbody isnt KG. But stuff like this make young ballers think why college. But for every KG there is a lenny cooke.
1999 has to be the runner-up after '96. If one really wanted to they can probably make a case that it's atleast equal to 1996, but that would take too much effort and of course would be shot down.
Class of '99 ----------- (1) Elton Brand (2) Steve Francis (3) Baron Davis (4) Lamar Odom (5) Jonathon Bender (6) Wally Szczerbiak (7) Richard Hamilton (8) Andre Miller (9) Shawn Marion (10) Jason Terry (13) Corey Maggette (16) Ron Artest (18) James Posey (24) Andrei Kirilenko (36) Wang Zhi-Zhi (40) Gordon Giricek (47) Todd MacCulloch (57) Emmanuel Ginobili
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting allnet:</div><div class="quote_post">Tony Parker as the 28th pick in the 2001 NBA draft was also a steal.</div> Considering both Indiana and Boston both passed on him cos they didn't trust a Euro point guard, and instead drafted Joe Forte and Jamaal Tinsley respectively. Tinsley's done OK, but you can bet your bottom dollar both teams would kill to have that decision again.
I'll still choose 1984 as the best year of All Time. 1984 DRAFT First Round 1 Akeem Olajuwon 2 Sam Bowie 3 Michael Jordan 4 Sam Perkins 5 Charles Barkley 6 Mel Turpin 7 Alvin Robertson 8 Lancaster Gordon 9 Otis Thorpe 10 Leon Wood 11 Kevin Willis 12 McCormick 13 Jay Humphries 14 Michael Cage 15 Terence Stansbury 16 John Stockton 17 Jeff Turner 18 Vern Fleming 19 Bernard Thompson 20 Tony Campbell 21 Kenny Fields 22 Tom Sewell 23 Earl Jones 24 Michael Young
Hell yeah shape, '84 is generally regarded as the greatest draft of them all. MJ, Sir Charles, Stock and Hakeem are all future HOFers, Big Smooth, Willis and Thorpe have all had very productive careers. Cage, Fleming, Robertson all had their moments, the list goes on... Also Jerome Kersey went 2nd round, Oscar Schmidt went 6th round, and Carl Lewis went 10th round, even though his success wasn't on the court Who knows what Sam Bowie could have turned into if it wasn't for injuries.
Alvin Robertson was a stud, and always played Michael Jordan tough. Michael Cage lead the league in rebounding at least one year. Kevin Willis, Otis Thorpe, what can you not say about these guys? Solid starters for years and NBA Champions. Was a pleasure watching Tony Campbell score as well. MJ, Dream, Chuck, Stockton, very very sick.
I think 5-10 years from now the 2003 draft class will be up there with the 84, 96, and 99 classes. They got LBJ and Carmelo already producing big numbers and have guys like Hayes, Wade, Bosh and many more showing huge potential.
Lets not forget about 2002 with Ming, Stoudemire, Butler, Nene, Gooden, Giricek, Wagner (please get healthy) and lets not forget about TayShaun Prince either. The last 2 draft classes have spoiled us big time.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting King James:</div><div class="quote_post">The last 2 draft classes have spoiled us big time.</div> You are right about that, next year could be a big let down other than getting Okafor.
The 87 draft is underrated it has a lot of depth and a few greta players. 1987 DRAFT First Round 1 SA David Robinson Navy 2 Phoe Armon Gilliam Nevada-Las Vegas 3 NJ Dennis Hopson Ohio State 4 LAC Reggie Williams Georgetown 5 Sea Scottie Pippen Central Arkansas 6 Sac Kenny Smith North Carolina 7 Clev Kevin Johnson California 8 Chi Olden Polynice Virginia 9 Sea Derrick McKey Alabama 10 Chi Horace Grant Clemson 11 Ind Reggie Miller UCLA 12 Wash Tyrone Bogues Wake Forest 13 LAC Joe Wolf North Carolina 14 GS Tellis Frank Western Kentucky 15 Utah Jose Ortiz Oregon State 16 Phil Christian Welp Washington 17 Port Ronnie Murphy Jacksonville NY Mark Jackson St. John's 19 LAC Ken Norman Illinois 20 Dall Jim Farmer Alabama 21 Atl Dallas Comegys DePaul Bos Reggie Lewis Northeastern 23 SA Greg Anderson Houston
