Is the 1996 Draft the best ever?

[xmuscularghandix]

Allen Iverson  Georgetown   27.5 pts, 6.3 asts
Marcus Camby  Massachusetts  10.7 pts, 9.7 reb, 2.7 blks
Shareef Abdur-Rahim  California  18.1 pts, 7.5 reb, 2.5 ast
Stephon Marbury  Georgia Tech  19.7 pts, 7.8 ast
Ray Allen  Connecticut  21.1 pts, .890 ft%, 4.5 ast, 3.8 reb
Antoine Walker  Kentucky  17.5 pts, 7.7 reb, 3.5 ast
Lorenzen Wright  Memphis  8 pts, 6.5 reb
Kerry Kittles  Villanova  14.1 pts, 3.9 reb, 2.6 ast
Samaki Walker  Louisvile  5.3 pts, 4.7 reb,
Erick Dampier  Mississippi State  8.1 pts, 7.4 reb
Todd Fuller  North Carolina State  3.7 pts, 3 reb
Vitaly Potapenko  Wright State  6.5 pts, 4.5 reb
Kobe Bryant  Lower Merion HS  25 pts, 5.3 reb, 4.6 ast
Predrag Stojakovic  PAOK (Greece)  18 pts, 5 reb
Steve Nash  Santa Clara  14.3 pts, 7.9 ast
Tony Delk  Kentucky  9.5 pts, 2.5 reb. 1.9 ast
Jermaine O'Neal  Eau Claire HS  14 pts, 7.7 reb, 2 blk
John Wallace  Syracuse   7.6 pts, 2.8 reb
Walter McCarty  Kentucky  5.2 pts, 2.6 reb
Zydrunas Ilgauskas  Lithuania  14.5 pts, 7.9 reb
Dontae' Jones  Mississippi State  2.9 pts,
Roy Rogers  Alabama  4.8 pts, 3.8 reb
Efthimis Rentzias  PAOK  1.5 pts
Derek Fisher  Arkansas-Little Rock  9 pts, 3.2 ast
Martin Muursepp  BC Kalev Tallinn  4.7 pts, 2.2 reb
Jerome Williams  Georgetown  6.6 pts, 6.4 reb
Brian Evans  Indiana  3.7 pts, 1.6 reb
Priest Lauderdale  Peristeri (Greece)  3.4 pts, 1.9 reb
Travis Knight  Connecticut  3.4 pts, 3.1 reb


2nd Round Standouts.

Jeff McInnis  North Carolina  9.4 pts, 4.4 ast
Shandon Anderson  Georgia 7.4 pts, 3.1 reb


if not what it?

[Roy Hobbs]

1996 is definitely a good one.  I know it's early, but what about 2003?

Lebron
Wade
Carmelo
Bosh
David West
T.J. Ford
Josh Howard
Etc., etc.

Any draft that has four potential Hall of Famers, and arguably one of the top ten players of all-time, is pretty special.

1956 has to be the best draft for any one *team* in history.  The Celts picked up three Hall of Famers in Bill Russell, Tommy Heinsohn, and K.C. Jones.

[Truck Lewis]

i've had this discussion a couple times around closing time at the bar.....

my general conclusions is that 2003 is the best draft a the top...but 96 is the best overall for depth

[Truck Lewis]

1956 has to be the best draft for any one *team* in history.  The Celts picked up three Hall of Famers in Bill Russell, Tommy Heinsohn, and K.C. Jones.

i am assuming that you forgot the celtics 2001 draft when considering the best draft in team history.....too soon? 

[BudweiserCeltic]

No bold for Shareef Abdur-Rahim? He had some great years.

[Redz]

for instant impact I'll rate this past year's up there with any

[Pierce4Prez]

1996 is definitely a good one.  I know it's early, but what about 2003?

Lebron
Wade
Carmelo
Bosh
David West
T.J. Ford
Josh Howard
Etc., etc.

Any draft that has four potential Hall of Famers, and arguably one of the top ten players of all-time, is pretty special.

1956 has to be the best draft for any one *team* in history.  The Celts picked up three Hall of Famers in Bill Russell, Tommy Heinsohn, and K.C. Jones.

2003 definitely looks like it is going to be an all-time great one but I would say that 1996 is going to have four Hall of Famers as well - Iverson, Ray, Kobe, and Nash - and a potential top ten player of all-time in Kobe.

[TripleThreat]

Any draft that has four potential Hall of Famers, and arguably one of the top ten players of all-time, is pretty special.

You've got to throw the 1984 draft class in for consideration then too with four Hall of Famers in John Stockton, Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley. And there's no question that Jordan is one of the greatest, if not the greatest of all time. This draft doesn't have the depth of the 1996 or 2003 but it did have Jordan. 

[celticmaestro]

1996 is definitely a good one.  I know it's early, but what about 2003?

Lebron
Wade
Carmelo
Bosh
David West
T.J. Ford
Josh Howard
Etc., etc.

Any draft that has four potential Hall of Famers, and arguably one of the top ten players of all-time, is pretty special.

1956 has to be the best draft for any one *team* in history.  The Celts picked up three Hall of Famers in Bill Russell, Tommy Heinsohn, and K.C. Jones.

Well, the '96 draft is in that category. AI, Ray, Kobe and Nash are definite Hall of Famers and Kobe, as much as it pains me to say this, will probably be a top 10 player when all is said and done.

[KG Living Legend]

For me, gotta be the 2000 draft. I mean.

1 kenyon martin

2 Stromile

3 D Miles

4 Fizer - He's out of the Nba Isn't he?

5 Mike Miller

8 Jamal Crawford

11 Jerome Moiso Celtics Awesome pick Wallace
16 Turk
18 Q Richardson
19 Jamal Magloire

And then the Sleepers Like Eddie House at 37

And Mike Redd At 43.

Can't get much deeper than this Draft.

Also Mo Pete, Deshawn Stevenson, Marc Madsen,Marko Jaric,Najera, Brian Cardinal.

The List of NBA Players seems Like it goes on forever.

[BUTerrier]

1996 is definitely a good one.  I know it's early, but what about 2003?

Lebron
Wade
Carmelo
Bosh
David West
T.J. Ford
Josh Howard
Etc., etc.

Any draft that has four potential Hall of Famers, and arguably one of the top ten players of all-time, is pretty special.

1956 has to be the best draft for any one *team* in history.  The Celts picked up three Hall of Famers in Bill Russell, Tommy Heinsohn, and K.C. Jones.

Well, the '96 draft is in that category. AI, Ray, Kobe and Nash are definite Hall of Famers and Kobe, as much as it pains me to say this, will probably be a top 10 player when all is said and done.

I've got to maintain that 1984 was the best draft of all time. Honestly, maybe in 10 or 15 years 2003 will be up in that level too, but while 96 brought one potential top 5 player at his position (Kobe; I'd argue it's possible, though he's certainly top 10 or top 15 at the SG)and a bunch of above-average players (AI, Ray, Nash, Camby, and maybe Ilgauskas, Jermaine O'Neal, and Peja if you want to include them), it's hard to argue that it's better than 1984, where the only position NOT to have a definite Top 10 and probable Top 5 player drafted is SF (PG is Stockton, SG is Jordan, PF is Barkley, C is Hakeem). Plus, you had a bunch of long-time productive NBA players (Sam Perkins, Otis Thorpe, Kevin Willis, and maybe even Jerome Kersey).

I'm not saying the 1996 and 2003 drafts are bad; in any discussion of the Top 5 draft years in NBA history, it HAS to be in the discussion. But better than 1984? I don't know.

[KCattheStripe]

I was looking at past drafts and it stuck me how badly the Raps screwed up in 2005. They draft Villanueva instead of Bynum, wich would be forgivable if they hadn't then drafted Joey Graham instead of Danny Granger. Those two picks would have solved the Raps current problems, lack of wing play and a low post player to compliment Bosh. The Raps would be filthy.

[celticmaestro]

1996 is definitely a good one.  I know it's early, but what about 2003?

Lebron
Wade
Carmelo
Bosh
David West
T.J. Ford
Josh Howard
Etc., etc.

Any draft that has four potential Hall of Famers, and arguably one of the top ten players of all-time, is pretty special.

1956 has to be the best draft for any one *team* in history.  The Celts picked up three Hall of Famers in Bill Russell, Tommy Heinsohn, and K.C. Jones.

Well, the '96 draft is in that category. AI, Ray, Kobe and Nash are definite Hall of Famers and Kobe, as much as it pains me to say this, will probably be a top 10 player when all is said and done.

I've got to maintain that 1984 was the best draft of all time. Honestly, maybe in 10 or 15 years 2003 will be up in that level too, but while 96 brought one potential top 5 player at his position (Kobe; I'd argue it's possible, though he's certainly top 10 or top 15 at the SG)and a bunch of above-average players (AI, Ray, Nash, Camby, and maybe Ilgauskas, Jermaine O'Neal, and Peja if you want to include them), it's hard to argue that it's better than 1984, where the only position NOT to have a definite Top 10 and probable Top 5 player drafted is SF (PG is Stockton, SG is Jordan, PF is Barkley, C is Hakeem). Plus, you had a bunch of long-time productive NBA players (Sam Perkins, Otis Thorpe, Kevin Willis, and maybe even Jerome Kersey).

I'm not saying the 1996 and 2003 drafts are bad; in any discussion of the Top 5 draft years in NBA history, it HAS to be in the discussion. But better than 1984? I don't know.

Agreed on '84, it's the best ever in my opinion also. Conversely, I'm interested to hear your 15 better shooting guards in the history of the NBA that rank ahead of Kobe Bryant. I was talking top 10 period, not of his position.

[Hoops]

I've got to maintain that 1984 was the best draft of all time. Honestly, maybe in 10 or 15 years 2003 will be up in that level too, but while 96 brought one potential top 5 player at his position (Kobe; I'd argue it's possible, though he's certainly top 10 or top 15 at the SG)and a bunch of above-average players (AI, Ray, Nash, Camby, and maybe Ilgauskas, Jermaine O'Neal, and Peja if you want to include them), it's hard to argue that it's better than 1984, where the only position NOT to have a definite Top 10 and probable Top 5 player drafted is SF (PG is Stockton, SG is Jordan, PF is Barkley, C is Hakeem). Plus, you had a bunch of long-time productive NBA players (Sam Perkins, Otis Thorpe, Kevin Willis, and maybe even Jerome Kersey).

I'm not saying the 1996 and 2003 drafts are bad; in any discussion of the Top 5 draft years in NBA history, it HAS to be in the discussion. But better than 1984? I don't know.

I like '84 as well. In addition to the 4 HOFers, 1984 included notables:

Sam Perkins
Alvin Robertson
Otis Thorpe
Kevin Willis
Michael Cage
Vern Fleming

Terence Stansbury didn't have much of a career but he did have some nice statue of liberty 360 dunks in the '84 dunk contest. That counts for something, right?

[celticsmaniac]

TP and major LOLz @ 2000 being the best draft ever!!

The top pick was Kenyon Martin. And considering how the other picks turned out, it wasn't even a bad pick!

The top ten in that draft is a trainwreck. Joel Pryzbilla...DerMarr Johnson... Marcus Fizer...darius miles with the third pick... Stromile Swift at #2!!!


the "best" draft really depends on how you value each one. Is a draft with 5 hall of famers and 20 guys out of the league within ten years "better" than a draft with no hall of famers and 18 guys who were serviceable players for a decade or so?