I have looked back at the 1998 draft and found that is compares similarly to this draft. Take a look. 1. Michael Olowokandi - Like Yao Ming, relatively unknown and taken on potential 2. Mike Bibby - Like Jay Williams, came off of winning championship, thought to be able to turn a team into a winner(he did but not exactly as planned) 3. Raef LaFrentz - Scarily similar to KU's Drew Gooden, also somewhat like Borchardt 4. Antawn Jamison - Can't really compare him to anyone, but Mike Dunleavy would seem to be most similar 5. Vince Carter - This is a stretch, like Qyntel Woods, Carter didn't show too much in college but taken purely on athleticism and potential 6. Robert Traylor - This one's obvious, like Chris Wilcox, never showed anything to warrant position but drafted because of "NBA body", am I the only one who thinks Wilcox is not that good??? 7. Jason Williams - No one in particular 8. Larry Hughes - Damn similar to DaJuan Wagner, coming off one year of college ball and thought to be possible next superstar, apparently AI didn't think so 9. Dirk Nowitzki - is this Tskitishvili guy a clone? 10. Paul Pierce - Caron Butler has been compared numerous times to Pierce, don't you think GM's will get the memo this time and pick him before TEN!? Hopefully I'm not crazy and everyone else can see how closely these drafts are. But if they turn out anything like each other, please Rockets trade down!
"Carter didn't show too much in college but taken purely on athleticism and potential " He was 3rd team All-American his junior year.
1. Rememer that Bibby was only 19 with just one year of college when he started his pro career as opposed to JayWill that has 3 years of college. 2. I think you can compare Antawn to Caron Butler. 3. Robert Trailor could be compared to Chris Marcus. Both are slow footed fat asses that clog the middle. Overall these are nice and erie comparisons. I just hope that Houston has better luck with the number one pick than LAC did.
Da Man: Carter averaged 15.6 and 5.1. He was second wheel on a UNC team that was led completely by Antawn Jamison. Vince was clearly the second best guy on the team at that time. If draft selections were based on merit, Carter would've been a mid to late first rounder, but his potential was great so he was picked high. Also, notice how I called the comparison a stretch.
I'm sorry. I gave an erroneous factoid in my previous post. Vince Carter was 2nd team All-American, not 3rd team. Anyways, the only point I'm trying to make is that Vince Carter wasn't just picked that high based on potential. There was tremendous production on his part to deserve the selection based on merit. Just because he was the 2nd wheel on his team doesn't mean that he wasn't one of the top 10 college basketball players in the country during the 97-98 season. It's just a small pet peeve of mine when people discount that fact that Vince Carter was a very, very good college basketball player, who had a very good outside shot even back then. Also, Bibby played two years of college basketball. He helped lead the Wildcats to a championship his freshmen year with overrated Miles Simon and he was completed dominated by Andre Miller in the Elite Eight his sophomore year.
