Many people seem to think that the 1984 draft was the best ever (Hakeem and Jordan) but this last draft has great potential. At least six (or seven) have good numbers already: 1. Ming (PPG 11.4, RPG 7.0, APG 1.1) 2. J. Williams (PPG 10.5, RPG 3.8, APG 5.5) 4. Drew Gooden (PPG 14.6, RPG 6.3, APG 1.8) 6. D. Wagner (amazing talent 21.2, RPG 1.7, APG 4.9) 7. Nene Hilario (PPG 7.2, RPG 5.4, APG 1.4) 8. Stoudemire (another amazing talent: PPG 10.3, RPG 8.4, APG .8) 10. Caron Butler (PPG 12.2, RPG 5.9, APG 2.6) More gems: Gadzuric (PPG 5.0, RPG 5.3, APG .3) Carlos Boozer: PPG 7.9, RPG 4.9, APG .8) A lot of very talented (and big) players haven't yet had an opportunity to play meaningful minutes (Wilcox, Haislip, Ely, Jeffries) What do you think. Will this draft be thought of as equally good as the 1984 draft?
At this time, there is no comparision. Its not close. 84 is far superior. Perhaps in 5 years, there might be a more favorable comparison once these players mature.
There are some players that could turn out to be great, like Yao Ming, Armare Stoudemire(my pick for the best after Yao), Jay Williams, Drew Gooden, Dajuan Wagner, and many others. I think that the 99 draft class was pretty good too. (Francis, Brand, Miller, Marion, etc.)
Sure the class of 2002 may end up being good. But how many HOF'ers will it have? Olajuwon, Jordan, Barkley, Stockton. Plus there's a handful of other very solid, above-average players. The HOF question will be the ultimate judge, in my mind. We'll have to wait at least 10 years for the answer. Decisions can't be made, formulated, or even fathomed 25 games into their rookie seasons.
Well it is never too early to speculate! At least I can't remember any draft where there were so many talented big men (Ming, Gooden, Tsikvitishvili, Stoudemire, Hilario, Wilcox, Ely, Gadzuric, Boozer et cet.). That is the main thing that, I suspect, will separate it from other good drafts like the 1999 draft, because, as you know, good big men don't grow on trees!
Most of those "big men" you name aren't really that big, though. Gooden, Hilario, Stoudemire, and Wilcox are all 6'9" or under, I believe. (And Joe Smith put up better rookie numbers than all of them, which should be a clue of some sort.) Moreover, a lot of the higher-scoring rookies, like Stoudemire, Williams, and Butler, have a horrible FG%. When you're getting a ton of shots on a bad team, 10-15 points per game is not terribly impressive. I saw the Suns play the Warriors in Oakland, and based on that game I'd have to say that Stoudemire in particular is overrated right now. Sure, he had 14 points and 11 rebounds -- but nearly all of his numbers came off dunks, layups, and putbacks set up by penetration by Stephon Marbury (or occasionally another guard) that forced Stoudemire's defender to rotate away. On plays when Phoenix tried to post him up, Stoudemire was 0-for-7, with 3 or 4 turnovers. So I didn't exactly walk out considering him a lock for the Hall of Fame.
The players of '84 might have the longest average career of any draft as well. Three players are still around from that draft(Jordan, Stockton, Willis)! Stockton- 19 seasons (and counting) Willis- 19 seasons (and counting) Olajuwon- 18 seasons Barkley- 16 seasons Perkins- 16 seasons Jordan- 15 seasons
I agree with you, but really haven't seen craploads of publications proclaiming Amare to be a one on one post up, sweet shooting demon. Yet, he still gets 14 and 11. He's all atheltic ability right now, and that IS impressive. Give him three years and he'll be what, 21, and still have that athletic ability and most likely have developed a decent post up/drive game at that point. He may very well turn into an Antonio McDyess player, who, if he stays healthy for a long career and plays on some winning and playoff teams, would have a solid career.
yes it is too early to speculate because i'm pretty sure the average age of everyone in this draft is the youngest ever. meaning that we have no idea how good or bad these players will be 3 years from now. they have a long way to go in their development. not every player develops like ming has...in fact almost no player develops as fast a ming has and it certainly doesn't hurt him that he has a strong background in fundamentals. hell even next year the top 2 picks are gonna be 18 years old...darko and james...we won't know how good they will truly be for awhile.
Maybe it's just what I'm hearing from Warriors fans who wish GS had drafted him instead of Dunleavy. They call Amare a surefire All-Star, the next Shawn Kemp (uh, the Seattle version), etc. Actually, he'll be 23, since he turned 20 last month. To me, the key thing is that he'll need a better than decent set of skills, because although he's athletic, he's not really that big. A more athletic Brian Grant seems like a better reference point than Antonio McDyess (who had a great turnaround jump shot before he came into the league at 21).
