Finally someone smart....Jordan = best ever, case closed all the other legends is just icing on the cake..class of Jordan > all
I would have to agree that 84 will go down as one of the best drafts ever. Just becuase of what kind of players it produced. 83 wasn't bad...but it will go down in Houston memory as the time they didn't take Drexler and took McCray. Still don't know why, with the numbers Drexler was putting up at that time in College.
I'll take Melo and Bosh over O'Neal and Camby because O'Neal and Camby would probably be hurt. Although Nash would have the advantage over any PG from '03, but why choose Ford over Hinrich. You are also looking at them differently. We have all seen the 1996 class in their primes, which all of those players are still in. We haven't seen the primes of the players in the 2003 class. I think in ten years it would look like this: Camby < Bosh O'Neal = Melo Bryant = James Allen < Wade Nash > Ford/Hinrich
Its clear to me at least that 1984 was better than all the others except 2003. However, 2003 is still very young, with some of them straight out of high school. So they MIGHT end up looking better. We cant answer that now of course, but how good were 1984 2 years into their time in the league? Thats a legit comparison.
Going strictly by numbers: Dream -- 23.5 pts, 3.4 blks, 1.97 stls 2.0 assts, 11.5 rebs, .526 fg% MJ (year he broke his leg and played 18 games) -- 22.7 pts, 1.17blks 2.9 assts, 3.60 rebs, 45 fg% Sir Charles -- 20 pts, 1.56 blks, 2.16 stls, 3.9 assts 12.8 rebs, 57 fg % Stockton -- 7.7 pts, 1.91 stls, 7.4 assts, 2.2 rebs, 48 fg% Pretty impressive if you ask me!
I think it's a case-closed winner in '84. There are some compelling arguments for other years, but like other posters have said, if you take a starting five, or even a team of 12 from '84, they demolish even '96 and '03. That said, it's still early to say with '03. I really, really doubt that in ten years we can have this argument again and it turns out differently. I would like to see a playoff mockup of all drafts from 84 on up to see who is the clear winner in the end... anyone have some software that would do it? Or maybe just some BBall genius who knows the stats inside and out could lay it out. Let's go for odd years vs evens in the first brackets. *Side Notes: Magic is the best point guard of all time, but his draft doesn't touch the ones in discussion, so it's fair not to include him. Saying that Stockton or Nash are better is a joke. And anyone who thinks that Hakeem isn't the best center of all time is on crack. He had it all.
