1993, an underrated year, plenty of role players in this draft that forged reasonable careers eg Lindsey Hunter, George Lynch, Rodney Rogers, Byron Russell, Chris Whitney, Lucious Harris and a few more
1) Webber (1)- Gets the bod ahead of Penny due to the length of career, will be a HOFer
2) Hardaway (2)- Robbed of a stellar career with bad knees
3) Mashburn (4)- Could always score, even when the body failed him in the early 2000's
4) Cassell (24)- Very high IQ for the game, 3 don't hurt either
5) Van Exel (37)- Got in because he was a 2nd rounder and had a more meaningful career over Baker, Rider, Bradley and co
I agree with you 100%, the 93 draft class is one of my favorite years.
It would have been nice to see how Bobby Hurley would have developed, if not for his accident.
Looks like its just you and me doing this thread Marko... I guess most of these 'new breed' of collectors wouldn't know much about this era
1) Kidd (2) - Mr Triple Double himself, had to surpass at the top
2) Hill (3) - Robbed of being a perenial All NBA 1st team guy with those ankles!
3) Jones (10) - Long career, could score and defend which lands him in the top 3
4) Robinson (1) - Scoring machine early in the career in fell away later into obscurity; does have a ring though which many don't realise.
5) Howard (5) - 19 NBA seasons with a couple of rings, wasn't that bad if you look at the stats
90's BBall....the golden era...wish I could live it all again.
I've always felt the The Big Dog never quite reached his potential. It seemed that he could have been as prolific a scorer as karl malone, but lost his way after about 4 or 5 seasons.
95 up tomorrow.
To watch the nba with Jordan ruling the game was a true blessing, my only wish would be to go back and truly value what I was watching, most likely a once in a life time player
You mean, it would be interesting to see what my post will be . Too many fan boys out there to bother putting in some decent feedback. I've tried starting interesting threads that aren't bitching about Panini and they sink like lead balloons....
Anyway, back to the topic at hand!
1) Garnett (5) - Hard to argue otherwise, MVP, Champion, DPOY and about 15 all star appearances.
2) Wallace (4) - Getting the ring with a long career gets him to the 2nd spot.
3) Finley (21) - He was the Ironman, played a lot of minutes for a lot years with plenty of points. A ring never hurts either.
4) Stackhouse (3) - From about 99-02 was a scoring machine, didn't have many injury free seasons unfortunately.
5) Stoudamire (7) - Mighty Mouse was very proficient for such a small guy, plenty of assists across his career
Stoudamire and McDyess were the two I tossed around for the 5th spot.
Seeing as its probably only going to be you, mabey jkid and myself, I'll start getting through these quicker.
1996 up top.
Sounds like a plan, maybe we can go do the 80's after this!
1) Kobe (13) - Really not much of a choice, nuff said.
2) Iverson (1) - You either love him or hate him. I was a fan, still have my 2000 Iverson home jersey.
3) Allen (5) - Can't keep Jesus Shuttlesworth out of the top 3.
4) Nash (15) - Didn't like him for leaving my Mavs, but can't leave him off the list
5) Stojakovic (14) - Whilst didn't come over for another 2 years, Peja gets the nod for that stroke and a ring
Obviously names like Camby, Kittles, Marbury, Walker, Abdur-Rahim, O'Neal and Ilgauskas were hard to leave out and would make other top 5 years. Even 2nd rounders like Othella Harrington, Moochie Norris Jeff McInnis, Malik Rose, Jamie Feick and Shandon Anderson had some years in the league with some relative success. Probably goes down as the deepest draft of the decade.
I'm a late inclusion here, unfortunately not offering too much when it comes to the 1996 class. But what a class it was.
1) Kobe Bryant (13th pick) - one of the best of all time.
2) Steve Nash (15th pick) - MVP. Assists. Great shooter.
3) Allen Iverson (1st pick) - its shows the depth of this class that he's only 3rd. Rare player.
4) Ray Allen - (5th pick) - Two championships, clutch shooter, most 3's ever.
5) Jermaine O'Neal (17th) - Six time All Star, bit of a fave of mine. Hope he comes back to Dallas this year.
#1 for 1997 has to just about be the easiest selection!
1) Duncan (1) - The big fundamental, more credentials than 10 cases of 06/07 EX
2) Billups (3) - Finals MVP, hard to top that. Journeyman in the early going, but forged a HOF career
3) McGrady (9) - Had there been some more post season success, than would have taken #2
4) Van Horn (2) - Despite falling off very quickly in his career, put up very strong numbers from 98-02
5) Jackson (44) - Gets the nod due to 2nd round pick, despite being a complete mental case, did play some strong ball 5+ years ago
Also, was this the first draft were multiple players from Australia were drafted? (Anstey and Pepper)
1) Tim Duncan (1st pick) - An absolute standout, champion player.
2) Chauncey Billups (3rd pick) - MVP and Championship put him ahead of the rest.
3) Tracey McGrady (9th pick) - Amazing athlete, and could been so much better.
4) Keith Van Horn (2nd pick) - Was a key player on the Nets when they were good.
5) Stephen Jackson (42nd pick) - Helped ruin my Pacers team after the Malice at the Palice.
(1) Dirk Nowitzki (9th pick) MVP winner, 12-time All Star, Championship winner, currently 7th top scorer in NBA History. Easy.
(2) Paul Pierce (10th pick) Championship winner and Finals MVP. And still going strong.
(3) Vince Carter (5th pick) Half man-half amazing. No top 10 dunk highlights is complete without him.
(4) Rashard Lewis (32nd pick) He gets in for earning a ridiculously overpaid 6 year $120 million deal. Also a 2 time All Star.
(5) Sean Marks (44th pick) First NZer to play in the NBA. Carried the Spurs to the 2006 championship (player) and 2014 championship (assistant coach, but probably the main guy because what has Popovich ever done?). Also, he once got a double-double for Phoenix.