If you've been reading this blog recently, you'd know that I've been all over NBATV's replays of old drafts. It's cool to see where the mistakes were made, how young these kids were and just the overall feel of the league again.
So the 1996 Draft comes on and I am reminded how amazing of a draft it really was.
#1-Allen Iverson. Probably a Hall of Fame player and is one of the freakiest talents we have ever seen in this league. He has an MVP award and an NBA Finals apperance to go with one of the best career scoring averages anyone has ever had [27.1 ppg].
#2-Marcus Camby. Camby may not have been the second best player to come out of this draft, but he is still a nice role player. He's been a defensive MVP and went to the Finals with the Knicks. He's a walking double-double with career averages of 10 ppg and 10 rpg.
#3-Shareef Abdur Rahim: The shame of Reef's career was that it was spent on bad teams. Still, he made one all star game and was one of those "great players on poor teams". An 18.1 ppg career average.
#4-Stephon Marbury: Say what you want about him right now, but Starbury has been one of the most exciting players in the league. His problem is that he wears out his welcome at every one of his stops and his fighting with the Knicks has completely derailed his career. Still, he's averaged nearly 20 ppg for his career.
#5-Ray Allen: One of the purest shooters the NBA has ever seen. He won a title with the Celtics last year and has been a 9-time All Star. Another 20 ppg career average.
#6-Antoine Walker: Our second NBA Champion drafte so far has a career scoring average of 17.5 ppg. People forget that when he was in Boston, he was routinely among the league leaders in scoring.
#7-Lorenzen Wright: Not a bad player, but he was mainly a role player on some bad teams. His best years came when he was with Atlanta and Memphis in the early 2000s. He wasn't a bust, but this is the first selection that didn't really make it huge.
#8-Kerry Kittles: Nice player who averaged 14.1 ppg for his career. A major knee injury ended his career a couple of years ago. Still, he was a very productive player for the Nets.
#9-Samaki Walker: Our 3rd champion. He may be the first true bust of this draft. He averaged just 5 ppg for his career but was on the Lakers' 2002 title team.
#10-Erik Dampier: Like Wright, Dampier isn't a star [7 ppg] but he isn't a bum, either. He's still doin' work as a defensive presence and a shot blocker.
#11-Todd Fuller. Bust. The one thing I remember about Fuller was that I went to high school with him. My sophomore year at Independence High School in Charlotte was his junior season.
#12-Vitaly Potepenko: He was nothing more than a journeyman.
#13-Kobe Bryant: Probably has the greatest resume in the draft. Four-time NBA Champion, MVP award, Finals MVP, 81 points and a couple of scoring titles. Needless to say that if they did this draft over again, Kobe would have been the top pick in the draft to his native Philadelphia.
#14-Peja Stojakovic: He's had a solid NBA career [17 ppg] including three All Star apperances and the runner-up in the scoring race one year. Injuries have slowed him down recently.
#15-Steve Nash: Another MVP winner (two times). Those two awards probably gets him into the Hall of Fame.
#16-Tony Delk: A classic journeyman. He was too small and wasn't more than a change-of-pace guard.
#17-Jermaine O'Neal: He was one of the top players in the league when he got the opportunity to play in Indiana. Injuries have slowed him down too.
#18-John Wallace, #19-Walter McCarty: Neither guy did much of anything. The only thing either did of note was the Celtics announcer Tom Heinsoln's "I love Walter" comments.
#20-Zydrunas Ilgauskas: He could have been one of the league's top centers if he could stay healthy. Still, he is a skilled big man who started for the Cavaliers this past season.
#21-Dontae Jones, #22-Roy Rogers: Neither player amounted to anything.
#23-Efthimios Rentzias: Neither did he. Effy averaged just 1.5 ppg in his lone NBA season.
#24-Derek Fisher: Another four-time champion. He's best known for hitting some of the biggest clutch shots in postseason history. Still is one of the most respected players in the NBA.
#25-Martin Muursepp: Just three seasons where he did nothing.
#26-Jerome Williams: The "Junkyard Dog" wasn't flashy by any means but he brought a ton of effort every night.
After that, there aren't too many good finds (Malik Rose and Jeff McInnis weren't bad). What is interesting is some of the names that didn't get drafted. Ben Wallace went undrafted. So did Chucky Atkins and Adrian Griffin.
So the 1996 Draft comes on and I am reminded how amazing of a draft it really was.
#1-Allen Iverson. Probably a Hall of Fame player and is one of the freakiest talents we have ever seen in this league. He has an MVP award and an NBA Finals apperance to go with one of the best career scoring averages anyone has ever had [27.1 ppg].
#2-Marcus Camby. Camby may not have been the second best player to come out of this draft, but he is still a nice role player. He's been a defensive MVP and went to the Finals with the Knicks. He's a walking double-double with career averages of 10 ppg and 10 rpg.
#3-Shareef Abdur Rahim: The shame of Reef's career was that it was spent on bad teams. Still, he made one all star game and was one of those "great players on poor teams". An 18.1 ppg career average.
#4-Stephon Marbury: Say what you want about him right now, but Starbury has been one of the most exciting players in the league. His problem is that he wears out his welcome at every one of his stops and his fighting with the Knicks has completely derailed his career. Still, he's averaged nearly 20 ppg for his career.
#5-Ray Allen: One of the purest shooters the NBA has ever seen. He won a title with the Celtics last year and has been a 9-time All Star. Another 20 ppg career average.
#6-Antoine Walker: Our second NBA Champion drafte so far has a career scoring average of 17.5 ppg. People forget that when he was in Boston, he was routinely among the league leaders in scoring.
#7-Lorenzen Wright: Not a bad player, but he was mainly a role player on some bad teams. His best years came when he was with Atlanta and Memphis in the early 2000s. He wasn't a bust, but this is the first selection that didn't really make it huge.
#8-Kerry Kittles: Nice player who averaged 14.1 ppg for his career. A major knee injury ended his career a couple of years ago. Still, he was a very productive player for the Nets.
#9-Samaki Walker: Our 3rd champion. He may be the first true bust of this draft. He averaged just 5 ppg for his career but was on the Lakers' 2002 title team.
#10-Erik Dampier: Like Wright, Dampier isn't a star [7 ppg] but he isn't a bum, either. He's still doin' work as a defensive presence and a shot blocker.
#11-Todd Fuller. Bust. The one thing I remember about Fuller was that I went to high school with him. My sophomore year at Independence High School in Charlotte was his junior season.
#12-Vitaly Potepenko: He was nothing more than a journeyman.
#13-Kobe Bryant: Probably has the greatest resume in the draft. Four-time NBA Champion, MVP award, Finals MVP, 81 points and a couple of scoring titles. Needless to say that if they did this draft over again, Kobe would have been the top pick in the draft to his native Philadelphia.
#14-Peja Stojakovic: He's had a solid NBA career [17 ppg] including three All Star apperances and the runner-up in the scoring race one year. Injuries have slowed him down recently.
#15-Steve Nash: Another MVP winner (two times). Those two awards probably gets him into the Hall of Fame.
#16-Tony Delk: A classic journeyman. He was too small and wasn't more than a change-of-pace guard.
#17-Jermaine O'Neal: He was one of the top players in the league when he got the opportunity to play in Indiana. Injuries have slowed him down too.
#18-John Wallace, #19-Walter McCarty: Neither guy did much of anything. The only thing either did of note was the Celtics announcer Tom Heinsoln's "I love Walter" comments.
#20-Zydrunas Ilgauskas: He could have been one of the league's top centers if he could stay healthy. Still, he is a skilled big man who started for the Cavaliers this past season.
#21-Dontae Jones, #22-Roy Rogers: Neither player amounted to anything.
#23-Efthimios Rentzias: Neither did he. Effy averaged just 1.5 ppg in his lone NBA season.
#24-Derek Fisher: Another four-time champion. He's best known for hitting some of the biggest clutch shots in postseason history. Still is one of the most respected players in the NBA.
#25-Martin Muursepp: Just three seasons where he did nothing.
#26-Jerome Williams: The "Junkyard Dog" wasn't flashy by any means but he brought a ton of effort every night.
After that, there aren't too many good finds (Malik Rose and Jeff McInnis weren't bad). What is interesting is some of the names that didn't get drafted. Ben Wallace went undrafted. So did Chucky Atkins and Adrian Griffin.
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