The Draft: NBA vs. NHL

(Picture from rushthecourt.com)

I opened up my beloved website this afternoon to see a delightful post by our NHL writer, Paul Czerwein, who wrote about different sports leagues drafts. He argued that the NHL has the best evaluators of young talent, especially in the past 10 years. His list, which included the top three picks of the past decade was intriguing, star studded, and extremely hard to beat. With names like John Taveres, Steven Stamkos, Patrick Kane, Erik Johnson, Sidney Crosby, and Alexander Ovechkin, how could he not argue this point?

Being the NBA fan I am, I started running through the past 10 years of my life and the leagues drafts. Just going by his question, "Is there any other sport where so much star power is consolidated in the top 3 draft picks from the past 10 years?", I realized I had an answer. YES!

Let me break this down:

2000's top three draft picks were Kenyon Martin to New Jersey, Stromile Swift to Vancouver, and Darius Miles to the Clippers. Darius Miles and Stromile Swift can be scratched from my argument, but Kenyon Martin was an NBA All-Star and an NBA All-Rookie. He's averaged 13.9 points in his career, along with 1.2 blocks, and 7.3 rebounds per game. Not bad to start off the decade.

2001's top three draft picks were Kwame Brown to Washington, Tyson Chandler to Chicago, and Pau Gasol to Memphis. As Paul said, "the only #1 pick I can question from my lifetime is Kwame Brown" and I agree whole heartedly.  Kwame Brown was a giant bust. 

Tyson Chandler is a solid eight and eight guy for any team in this league, and when he is healthy, he can be a dominate force with the proper guard on his team (as the NBA has seen with his connection with CP3).

Then of course there's Pau Gasol, an NBA Champion, Rookie of the Year, NBA All-Rookie, and a three time All-Star. He's averaged 18.8 points per game, nine rebounds, 1.7 blocks, 3.2 assists, and 35.8 minutes for his career.

Only two years through, we have two high quality players, and a quality starting center.

2002 top three draft picks were Yao Ming to Houston, Jay Williams to Chicago, and Mike Dunleavy to Golden State. I'll start with the seven time NBA All-Star Yao Ming. The 7-6 center from Shanghai, was an NBA All-Rookie, a two time All-NBA Second Team, and three time All-NBA Third Team player. Despite constant injuries, Yao has averaged 19.1 points per game, 1.9 blocks, 9.3 rebounds, and has played in 481 games.

Jay Williams showed signs of promise in the 2002-03 season before he got into a motorcycle accident that launced him into a steep decline that he could never crawl out of. I still think he could have been a viable starter for any team in this league if that accident never happened. I call this a great pick still.

Mike Dunleavy is just a consistent player. He does a little bit of everything.  The only knock he might have is that his game never quite transitioned from Duke to the pros.

2003's top three draft picks were LeBron James to Cleveland, Darko Milicic to Detroit, and Carmelo Anthony to Denver (oh and I should mention that Chris Bosh went fourth, Dwayne Wade went fifth, and Chris Kaman went sixth). I don't need to talk about the two obvious All-Stars. Dark Milicic was a soft, wimpy Serbian that was never going to be able to take the pressure that was cast on him in Detroit and the league. He is now being axed out of my brain forever (but I will say, imagine if Detroit took Bosh.  Good lord that would have been an even bigger dynasty).

2004's top three draft picks were Dwight Howard to Orlando, Emeka Okafor to Charlotte, and Ben Gordon to Chicago. We all know about Dwight. He's got a terrific smile, he's a Slam Dunk Champion, Defensive Man of the Year, as well as a viable MVP choice. He is one of the leagues brightest stars as well as one of it's most entertaining.

Some might think Ben Gordon was a bust, but I would argue against that. Sure he couldn't stop Stromile Swift from getting to the hoop, but the guy can make a basket in the clutch. In 2004-05 he was the NBA's Sixth Man award winner, as well as an NBA All-Rookie selection. In his career he has averaged 17.9 points per game, while shooting 85% from the line, 40% from three, and 43% from the field. Throw in the fact that he was the soul reason the Bulls made it to the playoffs a few times and I'd say that's pretty solid talent (offensively of course).  Check out this video if you still doubt me.


2005's top three draft picks were Andrew Bogut to Milwaukee, Marvin Williams to Atlanta, and Deron Williams to Utah (just for kicks and giggles, Chris Paul was picked fourth). Andrew Bogut was one of the most under rated players in the league this year. He's a consistent big man that averaged a double-double with 15.9 points per game, and 10.2 rebounds. He's easily going to be an All-Star in the years to come.

Also coming out of this draft is arguably the leagues best scoring point guard, Deron Williams. He averaged 24.3 points in this years playoffs, all the while dropping 10.2 assists per game. One more season like the one he posted this year (18.7 points and 10.5 assists) and Williams will be averaging a double-double for his career. As a point guard mind you.

2006's top three draft picks were Andrea Bargnani to Toronto, LaMarcus Aldridge to Chicago, and the awful, bench riden Adam Morrison to Charlotte. I'll skip the yammering, but Aldridge was a solid pick, that Chicago let slip away and I'm done talking about it.

2007's top three draft picks were Greg Oden to Portland, Kevin Durant Seattle, and Al Horford to Atlanta (and Joakim Noah in the ninth, thank you very much). Oden can still have an impact if he ever gets healthy enough. If not he should turn to an acting career. Kevin Durant is one of maybe three players that will contend for the MVP trophy with LeBron for the next ten years. Al Horford is just another solid Florida player, who gets the dirty work done.

2008 was one of the best days of my life. The top three draft picks were Derrick Rose to Chicago, Michael Beasley to Miami, and O.J. Mayo to Memphis. If you read this site at all, you know I think Derrick Rose will be the best point guard in the game. I think he will be an MVP at least once, and that he will return Chicago to the promise land. Beasley has landed himself into some early troubles but it seems that D-Wade and Pat Riley are lifting him out of them. Don't lose hope on that kid yet, he was special at Kansas State.

O.J. Mayo will be an All-Star, period.

2009's first three draft picks were Blake Griffin to the Clippers, Hasheem Thabeet to Memphis, and James Harden to Oklahoma City. Two future All-Stars, one major bust.

2010's first three will be John Wall, Evan Turner, and Derrick Favors. Calling these three All-Stars now seems a little premature, but three of these guys will be faces of their franchises, and terrific NBA players.  I think future All-Stars.

So, I guess what I was trying to get at is, don't count out the NBA. When the league has a track record of Top Three picks that include LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Deron Williams, Carmelo Anthony, LaMarcus Aldridge, Andrew Bogut, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, Yao Ming, Kenyon Martin, Blake Griffin, O.J. Mayo, Al Horford, Ben Gordon, and Tyson Chandler, I'd say it matches Paul's amazing list. 

I'd say it's even better.