In light of tomorrow's upcoming NBA draft, I decided to take a look at some of the best draft years of the past. NBA TV has been showing classic drafts all the way back from the 70s to the present. Since I wasn't even alive in the 70s, and 4 years old during the Sam Bowie debacle(Known to most as the year Jordan was drafted) I wanted to take a look at the two best drafts that took place since I've adopted hoop as a religion: 1996 and 2003. I had a serious debate with one of my boys about these two drafts a while back. My pick was the 96' class, not only because Kobe Bryant entered the league, but because there were 10 all starts and a plethora of players who had promising careers in the league. The 03' is a very close second in my book, but can easily be argued as the superior draft with the likes of Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony leading the pack. Now imagine if these two classes were to duke it out for supremacy----who would come out on top?
Let's pick 9 of the best players from each class and match them up by position for the 5 starters along with 4 bench players. Now we would have to assume that the 1996 players are in their prime since the 2003 class are just entering theirs.
1996 Draft Class:
C - Marcus Camby -Defensive player of the year, Shot Blocking maniac.
PF - Jermaine O'neal - Former all star but was a true leader before all the injuries. Indian was on their way to possible championship contention before before Artest started throwing haymakers at women and children.
F - Peja Stojakovic - This was a tough one. I could've went with Antoine Walker here, but despite Peja's years riddled with injury, he beats walker out. Peja can make threes while Walker just thought he could.
SG - Kobe Bryant - Nuff Said
PG - Allen Iverson - Best little guy to ever play the game and then some. The way people talked about him after his stint in Detroit made me sick.
Bench - These bench players were a tough call. Other possible entries would have been Zydrunas Illgauskus, Kerry Kittles, Derek Fisher, and Shareef Abdur-Rahiem. They were all really good players in the prime of their careers before injuries and age slowed them down. But none of them could be chosen over these 4
Steve Nash
Ray Allen
Stephon Marbury
Antoine Walker
2003 Draft Class:
C - Chris Bosh - He's an all-star fo sho. The question is rather he can produce on a winning team or go down as the next Abdur- Raheim? He was the most underrated player on the "Redeem Team"
PF - David West - His mid range jumper is like a lay-up. He's emerged as one of the top players from this class, and one of the better 4s in the league
SF - Carmelo Anthony - Finally took his team from the first round and deep into the post season. He took a step closer to having his name mentioned with his fellow top draft mates.
SG - Lebron James - Arguably the best player on the planet.
PG - Dwayne Wade - NBA champion. He had one of the best performances in the finals in history.
Bench - Their bench thins out a bit in comparison to to the 96' class, but there are still some quality players. Honorable mention goes to Kendrick Perkins, Travis Outlaw, Boris Diaw and T.J. Ford.
Josh Howard
Leandro Barbosa
Kris Kaman
Kirk Heinrich
My argument for the 96' draft having the better class is due mainly to the bench. The starting line up for the 03' squad is only slightly superior when compared to the 96' class in their primes. Bosh and West vs. Camby and Oneal is a stale mate. I would definitely give the nod to Melo over Peja, but after that the match ups even out. Yes, Lebron and Wade are both bigger than Kobe and Iverson. But neither of them have the post game to take advantage. Iverson in his prime could score on anyone in the league, as well as Kobe. Once you bring in a fresh Ray Allen, Marbury or Nash off the bench its a wrap. Sound off in the comments!
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