NBA Draft History

How does the 2008 Draft stack up against the last 10 drafts?  The answer of course is that there’s no way to tell yet. As always, it usually takes a couple years to fully analyze a draft class, especially in the NBA, where so many young players enter their names. But here’s a look at the drafts from 1998 – 2007, including biggest surprises, biggest busts, and deepest class. How will 2008 stack up?

The title of the article pretty much sums it up – do the number of lottery drafted players on a NBA team’s roster affect the team’s outcome on the court? At first blush the obvious answer would be yes – more often than not talent wins out on the court, so more talent on a roster should equal more wins. On the other side of the coin, normally the worst teams in the league are the ones drafting in the lottery, so therefore crummy teams should have their rosters saturated with lottery picks.

With just two rounds, the current NBA Draft isn’t like it used to be. At times in the past, the Draft lasted into the 20th round. Even more surprising is that some guys drafted that late made NBA rosters. In fact, 1958 15th round pick Adrian Smith actually made an all-star game..

This is part two of Jon Teitel's All-Time Draft Pick Recap. Part One Features the First Round.

ALL-TIME BEST NBA DRAFT PICKS BY ACTUAL ROUND/PICK IN DRAFT
(MINIMUM 10 GAMES, WITH NBA STATISTICS)

With just two rounds, the current NBA Draft isn’t like it used to be. At times in the past, the Draft lasted into the 20th round. Even more surprising is that some guys drafted that late made NBA rosters. In fact, 1958 15th round pick Adrian Smith actually made an all-star game.

Tip Off – How The 1984 NBA Draft Changed Basketball Forever
Filip Bondy
Da Capo Press
$25.00 ($30.00 Canada)

New York Daily News columnist Filip Bondy’s Tip Off is out just in time to put this year’s NBA draft in perspective. While Greg Oden and Kevin Durant appear destined for greatness, there isn’t any other “superstar” apparent in the mix. On the other hand, four of the greatest players of all-time were picked in the 1984 draft – Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and John Stockton.