Best NBA Draft Class
The Case for 1996
The 1996 draft class is the best of all time. There is no need to cite statistics or recap these players' careers, because you already know how good they are by just hearing their names. These are not names you sort of remember. They are the guys on your fantasy team that you know by one name.
Starting with the No. 1 pick, Allen Iverson was the Rookie of the Year. The Georgetown guard started with a bang, scoring 40 or more points in five consecutive games his rookie season, and he is still making an impact. He has been the league MVP, he is an all star and he carried the Philadelphia 76ers to the NBA Finals in 2001. Always among the league leaders in points, steals and minutes played, Iverson is all heart and one of the greatest players in NBA history.
Kobe Bryant scored 81 points in a game this season and led the NBA in scoring.
With the 13th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, the Charlotte Hornets selected some high school kid from Philadelphia. After a draft day trade to the Lakers, a few air balls in the playoffs and a Zen-like coach, Kobe Bryant became a three-time World Champion with Los Angeles. Whether you love him or hate him, you can not deny that Kobe is one of the greatest to ever play the game.
Even lower than Kobe, Phoenix drafted Steve Nash with the 15th pick in 1996. Who would have known that a Canadian out of Santa Clara would become a two-time league MVP (Mark Cuban probably didn't think this would happen when he let Nash leave Dallas). Nash makes everyone look like a superstar and took the Suns to the sixth game of the western conference finals without Amare Stoudemire. If the mark of a great player is making your teammates better, Nash is one of the best.
Jermaine O'Neal is also a member of the 1996 draft class. After sitting on the bench for four years in Portland, O'Neal broke out after being traded to Indiana and won the Most Improved Player award. Now he is a perennial all-star and the leader of the Pacers. Do you think that high schoolers Kwame Brown, Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry would have been drafted in the top four picks if Kobe and O'Neal were not as good as they are?
You also might not mind having a few other guys from the 1996 class on your team: Stephon Marbury (the Knicks seem to like him), Ray Allen, Peja Stojakovic, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Marcus Camby, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Antoine Walker and Kerry Kittles. Even Derek Fisher and Samaki Walker have championship rings.
The 1996 draft class has everything: superstars who can score 81 points in a game, most valuable players, all-stars, world champions and role players. It is obviously the best class the NBA draft has seen.
The Case for 2003
"We are all witnesses."
This is the slogan that has been beat about the heads of NBA fans this postseason as Nike extols the virtues of LeBron James. Though "King James" is the most high-profile member of the 2003 draft class he certainly is not the only star. For all the hype (much of it deserved: 2006 All-Star MVP, 2006 league MVP runner-up) that has surrounded James's first postseason appearance, more needs to be said of his classmates.
No. 3 pick Carmelo Anthony has been a key part of the renaissance his team has enjoyed as he has led the Nuggets to three straight playoff berths.
No. 5 pick Dwyane Wade was just named Finals MVP and lead the Miami Heat to their first NBA championship.
Speaking of renaissances, what about the Clippers who finally ended their playoff drought this year thanks in large part to the awkwardly talented Chris Kaman, selected with the sixth pick in '03 out of Central Michigan.
Let us also not forget the dynamic third year duo that Phoenix possesses in Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa. Barbosa has proven to be a lightning fast scoring machine well-suited for the run-and-gun Suns and the French-born Diaw was named this year's most-improved player.
Still out West is Dallas forward Josh Howard who very quietly has turned out to be quite a nice pick for the Mavericks who took him with the last selection in 2003's first round.
Though it may seem odd to think of leadership just three years into someone's career, three point guards have turned out to be the workhorses of their teams. It wasn't too long ago that Kirk Hinrich (No. 7, Chicago), T.J. Ford (No. 8, Milwaukee) and Luke Ridnour (No. 14, Seattle) were lounging out on the quad.
Forgotten in basketball Siberia is the raw talent of Chris Bosh. Bosh (No. 4) is probably the best young player no one knows about, having completed his third year in Toronto ranking in the NBA Top 15 in 13 categories.
Finally, there is the second member of the 2003 draft class that owns an NBA title - Darko Milicic. The Serbian version of Sam Bowie had the honor of riding the coattails of the Detroit Pistons to a championship ring before being shipped off to Orlando. At just 20 years old, Milicic still has plenty of time to prove that the hype that got him selected second overall was deserved.
Sure the other classes have had more time to pad their résumés but the Class of 2003 is well on its way to earning the distinction of being the best draft class ever and we are all witnesses.
The Case for 1984
Quite simply, the 1984 NBA draft class was the best of the last 25 years, bar none. It contained the player widely considered to be the best of his generation, if not of all time, Michael Jordan - and he was not even the first overall pick! That distinction went to one of the best centers in the history of the game, Hakeem Olajuwon.
Those two players won a combined eight championships (Jordan 6, Olajuwon 2) and were both named to the NBA's list of the 50 greatest players. Jordan took a traditionally inept Bulls team to a dynasty and Olajuwon led the Rockets to their only two titles. While often belittled, because he was selected before Jordan, even No. 2 pick Sam Bowie carved out a solid career, averaging 10.9 ppg and 7.5 rpg over 10 years.
At pick No. 5, Charles Barkley went to the Philadelphia 76ers. Barkely became one of the best power forwards in NBA history. He is one of only four players to ever compile 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 4,000 assists.
Demonstrating the great depth of the 1984 class are John Stockton and Tony Campbell. Stockton, taken at No. 16 by the Utah Jazz would go on to become one of the greatest point guards in NBA history and the all-time assist leader. Campbell, while not as accomplished as any of the above players, nonetheless played a key role on the Lakers' 1988 championship team, averaging 11 ppg. Spannin an often overlooked 11-year NBA career, Campbell averaged 11.6 ppg and even poured in 23.2 a game for the expansion Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1989-1990 season.
Besides the sheer talent and success of the class (12 total championships, with Otis Thorpe and Kevin Willis adding 3 to the players listed above), the players drafted in 1984 would have made a perfect roster.
I would strongly argue that John Stockton, Michael Jordan, Charles Barley, Kevin Willis and Hakeem Olajuwon would comprise the best starting five of any draft class in the past 25 years. When you throw in superb role players Otis Thorpe, Sam Perkins, Alvin Robertson, Michael Cage and the aforementioned Tony Campbell on the bench, I think it is the most well-rounded and cohesive unit of any possible in any draft.
