What do you all think about the recent drafts? Is the 03 class (Bron, Melo, Wade, Hinirch etc) the best in recent memory? When all is said and done, will 04 (Okafor, Gorden, Howard, Livingston) be one to remember as well? All tree of the celtics picks, West, Jefferson, and Allen, look like they'll be players.
I think the 03 class is the biggest in a long time (well I dont know very much) and it is definetly bigger than the 04 class.
2003 was most definately a dominant draft class, you won't see one like that in a long time. I'll just take the top three picks and see if they even compare, and let's just screw Darko for now. LeBron James or Dwight Howard- I think this one is very obvious, James has already deawn tons of Jordan comparisons, and some consider him to be better than Kobe Bryant already. Darko Milicic or Emeka Okafor- I would want someone that actually plays, so I take 'Meka. Carmelo Anthony or Ben Gordon- I think mostly everyone would take Carmelo, he is just plain out better than Gordon.
As far as potential superstars, the 2003 class is loaded with at least 5 of them. However, the players that came out of last year's draft will have long and successful careers as well. But not as big as the 2003 draft.
The 03' class has been the best in a long time when you look at how the picks are doing now. i think it will be one of the best draft class for the next10-15 years.
The 03' class is probably the best. The talent available were amazing. Lebron, Melo, Bosh, Hinrich........there's plenty more worth mentioning.
The 2003 draft is already showing its greatness after just one year. Just wait a few more years, and see how many more stars develop. Other great draft classes IMO are the 1996 draft (Allen Iverson, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Stephon Marbury, Ray Allen, Antoine Walker, Kobe Bryant, Peja Stojakovic, Steve Nash, Jermaine O'Neal) and the 1998 Draft (Mike Bibby, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Larry Hughes, Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce).
The 2003 Draft Class is the best draft Class since 96 IMO, but we have to see how some the players turn out first. 1999 had a pretty good draft class too, but the Raps screwed up on both picks. 1996 Kobe Bryant Jermaine O'Neal Ray Allen Stephon Marbury Peja Stojackovic Steve Nash Antoine Walker Zydrunas Ilgauskas Others: Marcus Camby, Kerry Kittles, Erick Dampier, Derek Fisher, Jeff McInnis, Lorezen Wright 1999 Elton Brand Steve Francis Baron Davis Lamar Odom Shawn Marion Richard Hamilton Andrei Kirilenko Jason Terry Andre Miller Corey Maggette Wally Szcerbiak Manu Ginoboli James Posey Others: Jonathan Bender, Kenny Thomas, Jeff Foster, Devean George, Todd MacCulloch and more 2003 LeBron James Dwyane Wade Carmelo Anthony Chris Bosh Kirk Hinrich TJ Ford Josh Howard Marquis Daniels Chris Kaman? Jarvis Hayes Luke Ridnour The above have players that are already proven, have show many flashes of being a good player. Others: Darko Milicic?, Mickael Pietrus, Nick Collison, Michael Sweetney, Marcus Banks, Carlos Delfino, Boris Diaw, David West, Brian Cook, and the list goes on. Their are a lot more players listed for 2003 because they still have potential to pan out as good players.
I don't think that 2003 draft was so good. Sure we have there one fantastic player (LBJ) and couple of great players (melo,wade,hinrich), but lots of players from that draft underachieved: milicic, kaman, ford(injury), collison(injury), banks, gaines... to name a few. They also lost against sophmores in the all star game. Now look at the 2002 class: amare, yao, gooden, butler, prince, boozer... it's not much worse than the 2003 class. And then the 2001 class: gasol, j-rich, joe johnson, jefferson, murphy, randolph, tinsley, parker, arenas... It seams to me that 2001 was better than 2003 and no one is saying anything about 2001. Conclusion is that 2003 class would be very weak witout lebron, and even with him it's still just average. All time best is without a doubt 1996
If you want to go back in time awhile... how about 1970... Among the top picks were: Bob Lanier, Pete Maravich, Rudy Tomjanovich, Dave Cowens, Geoff Petrie, Calvin Murphy, Nate Archibald. Also, of course, Jordan's 1984: Hakeem Olajuwon (then Akeem), Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins, John Stockton, Charles Barkley, Kevin Willis 95 was pretty good too, with Garnett, Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess, Damon Stoudemire, Kurt Thomas, Brent Barry, Corliss Williamson, Mike Finley.
I think the 04 Draft is and will be one of the weakest draft in a long time. And yes someone please quote me on that.
