2014 NBA Draft Thread

Osh Kosh Bosh said:
The game done changed. Back injuries are one thing, but big man foot problems have a far longer history of derailing careers. The level of risk just rose dramatically.
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Word to Brook Lopez.




Maple Jordan going #1 after all. :pimp:



:lol: :lol: @ Cavs looking at Exum with the #1 pick, I believe in the boy but they're already knee deep in guards drafted in the lottery.


What happened to letting Waiters be the next Wade?
 
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Watch Embiid slip to the Lakers, they fill him HGH and experimental medicine and he continues the lineage of great bigs they have.


Do It Mitch.


#drbusssmilingdown
 
Embiid needs to find his way to PHX.

If that happens, he'll probably be the greatest big of his generation 
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Best, worst NBA draft classes

The 2014 draft was initially considered to go down as one of the most loaded classes we've ever seen. Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid and Dante Exum may be talented and young enough enough to one day get there, but the 2014 hype has cooled down after some injuries and up-and-down college campaigns.

Where will the 2014 class rank among the best? It's hard to say. But we need a ranking first, don't we? To do that, I've dusted off the DRAFT Initiative database to rank the best and worst drafts of the modern draft era beginning in 1989 when the draft went to the two-round format.

How do we grade each draft? By calculating each class' production in the NBA as measured by annual Estimated Wins Added (EWA), a value derivative of Player Efficiency Rating (PER) developed by John Hollinger. We're not looking at total raw EWA. If that were the case, earlier draft classes would have more EWA simply by virtue of having more seasons in the league.

To grade players on the same scale, we'll use annual EWA for each player since they were drafted. Keep in mind, we're dividing their total EWA by years since drafted, not by played seasons. That way, we account for players who missed seasons due to injury (Greg Oden) or staying overseas (Ricky Rubio). Missed seasons hurt a player's résumé and therefore, a class' résumé.

So, which is the best class of the modern draft era? And which is the worst? Here's a rank of the top five and bottom five since 1989.

Get ready to size yourself up, 2014 draft class.

Best of the best

1. 2008 draft class
Annual EWA: 127.5

Not what you expected, huh? This is the deepest class of the last 25 years. By far. At the top, there are some potential Hall of Famers in Russell Westbrook (No. 4), Kevin Love (No. 5) and Derrick Rose (No. 1). The next tier features All-Stars and All-NBA players in Goran Dragic (No. 45), Roy Hibbert (No. 17) and Brook Lopez (No. 10). That's some serious high-end talent.

But that's not where this class shines. The list of near All-Stars is astounding. Serge Ibaka, Ryan Anderson, DeAndre Jordan, Eric Gordon, Danilo Gallinari, Nikola Pekovic, Nic Batum and Omer Asik all were part of the 2008 class. Sure, Michael Beasley and O.J. Mayo haven't lived up to expectations as top-five picks, but this class was absolutely stacked with talent from start to finish. Consider that this class has 14 draftees who have yielded at least an annual 4.0 EWA and the 2003 class has only five.

2. 1996
Annual EWA: 114.0

Perhaps only the 2003 draft can match this class' superstar talent. This crop boasts three former MVPs in Kobe Bryant (No. 13), Allen Iverson (No. 1) and Steve Nash (No. 15), which is more than any other class can claim. Throw in another Hall of Famer in Ray Allen (No. 5) and a Defensive Player of the Year in Marcus Camby (No. 2) and all-time "shimmier" Antoine Walker (No. 6), and you have yourself the makings of one of the best draft classes ever.

All in all, the 10 All-Stars in this class (Bryant, Iverson, Nash, Allen, Walker, Jermaine O'Neal, Peja Stojakovic, Stephon Marbury, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Shareef Abdur-Rahim) combine for 62 total All-Star appearances, which his more than the 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993 classes combined. This group may not feature the sheer depth of the 2008 class, but if you prefer pure star power, then the 1996 class is for you.

3. 2005
Annual EWA: 113.1

When we think about draft classes, we tend to think of those who were picked in the beginning, which is probably why this ranking may raise some eyebrows. But the 2005 class has produced the most talent outside the lottery (59.6 annual EWA) with exception of the 2008 fleet (63.1). Yes, there's All-Stars in Chris Paul (No. 4), Deron Williams (No. 5) and Andrew Bynum (No. 10), but the real beauty of this draft lies in the second round where Brandon Bass (No. 33), Ersan Ilyasova (No. 34), Monta Ellis (No. 40), Lou Williams (No. 45), Andray Blatche (No. 49), Amir Johnson (No. 56) and Marcin Gortat (No. 57) were picked.

The 2005 class represents by far the best second-round crop in the study. Here's a staggering fact: The second round of the 2005 draft has produced more value than the entire first round in 2000. And don't forget about All-Stars Danny Granger (No. 17) and David Lee (No. 30) outside the lottery. Draft order didn't seem to matter in this one. Such a weird year.

4. 2009
Annual EWA: 112.3

Behold "The Point Guard Draft." It's hard to imagine a draft that was more fertile at one position than this one. It featured Stephen Curry (No. 7) , Ty Lawson (No. 18), Jrue Holiday (No. 17), Jeff Teague (No. 19), Ricky Rubio (No. 5), Brandon Jennings (No. 10), Darren Collison (No. 21) and Patrick Beverley (No. 42). If the NBA is in the midst of a point guard era, then this class is a big reason why.

Yes, there were some wild misses in this one, including Hasheem Thabeet at No. 2 (nope, still can't believe it either) and Jonny Flynn at No. 6. But this draft has really blossomed over the past season. Blake Griffin (No. 1), James Harden (No. 6) and Curry started for the West All-Stars and DeMar DeRozan (No. 9) received his first All-Star nod as well. Plus, there are some great late finds here in Taj Gibson (No. 26), DeJuan Blair (No. 37), Marcus Thornton (No. 43), Danny Green (No. 46) and Patty Mills (No. 55). This class already ranks this high and they're just getting started.

5. 2003
Annual EWA: 111.4

Most folks put this class on top of their list because of LeBron James (No. 1), Carmelo Anthony (No. 3), Chris Bosh (No. 4) and Dwyane Wade (No. 5) right off the bat. Even with the Darko Milicic bust at No. 4, this top five has yielded 22.4 more wins than any top five over the past 25 years.

But this class was exceptionally top-heavy. A whopping 61 percent the value of the 2003 draft was soaked up in the James, Anthony, Wade and Bosh picks. Outside of that quartet and David West (No. 29), most of the talent has dried up. Looking at the top producers in the 6-30 range, the 2003 class ranked just 10th in the study. It's worth pointing out here that the 1996, 2005, 2008 and 2003 drafts are separated by less than three wins, so we're splitting hairs here for the last four spots.

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Worst of the worst

1. 2013
Annual EWA: 7.3

Yes, 7.3 EWA. Michael Carter-Williams may end up as the best player in the class and he barely shot 40 percent on a team that lost 26 straight games at one point. Granted, we only have one year of sample size, but the 2013 class have dug themselves such a hole that it's hard to imagine they'll find themselves in a different spot on this list anytime soon. Of the top-10 picks, only Victor Oladipo, Cody Zeller and Trey Burke posted a postive EWA last season; the 2000 class had twice as many their rookie season. Can we just hit the reset button and lump the 2013 draft class with the 2014 class? Anyone opposed to that?

2. 2000
Annual EWA: 35.0

I didn't think it could get any worse than the 2000 class, but that was before the 2013 class had a say in the matter. Where do I begin? Kenyon Martin was drafted No. 1 overall despite breaking his leg earlier in the year. The 2000 draft class features only three All-Stars (if we generously count Jamaal Magloire) and none made it more than once. The entire 2000 lottery produced about as many wins (18.0 EWA) annually as 1998 draftee Dirk Nowitzki (17.6) did by himself. Five of the top seven picks were out of the NBA by 2010; only Martin and Mike Miller stuck it in the league.

3. 1991
Annual EWA: 50.6

Even with the career-ending knee injuries at age 31, Terrell Brandon (No. 11) actually had the highest average EWA of the 1991 class. But looking at this class, that's not saying much. Dikembe Mutombo (No. 4) was one of the greatest defenders of his generation and Steve Smith enjoyed a solid career, but the rest of the top 10 underperformed according to their draft slot. Thanks to Doug Smith (No. 6) and Mark Macon (No. 8), Larry Johnson wasn't nearly the biggest disappointment in the draft at No. 1 overall.

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4. 1990
Annual EWA: 55.9

After Gary Payton, there's not much to see here. The entire 1990 class made only 14 All-Star appearances and Payton owns nine of them himself. And no other player other than The Glove made the All-Star game more than once. Hurting this class was how poorly the back half of the top 10 turned out; Felton Spencer, Lionel Simmons, Bo Kimble, Willie Burton and Rumeal Robinson were all top-10 picks but performed like second-rounders. It's never a good sign when Toni Kukoc, Elden Campbell and Derrick Coleman are some of the biggest names in a draft class.

5. 2012
Annual EWA: 56.7

Anthony Davis (No. 1), Damian Lillard (No. 6), Andre Drummond (No. 9) and Bradley Beal (No. 3) headline this class, but it's worth noting that this doesn't incorporate Beal's breakout postseason, which would boost his EWA rating. Of course, it's way too early to say anything definitive about this class, but so far there's an enormous drop-off after the first few big names. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (No. 2), Dion Waiters (No. 4), Thomas Robinson (No. 5), Harrison Barnes (No. 7) and Austin Rivers (No. 10) have all underperformed in their short time in the league. Draymond Green (No. 35) and Mike Scott (No. 43) have been good finds in the second round, but hardly diamonds in the rough. With just two seasons under their belt, the 2012 class has plenty of time to improve their standing. Stay tuned.
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Couldnt have come at a better time for the Cavs. If the injury didnt happen now it would have happened in the middle of his rookie year. Couldnt have come at a worse time for the Sixers. You needed this injury to hold off for one more week to get the guy you wanted. This screwed everyone over except for the Cavs and Bucks.

Wiggins
Parker
Exum
Embiid
 
awwsome said:
Somebody need to investigate that medical staff. :lol:


Basically brought Grant Hill back from the gates of heaven.
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Grant was ready to walk with a medical boot for the rest of his life. Prolly got the cure for AIDs down there too and holdin' out :smh:
 
DaComeUP said:
5-6 years of Embiid > 10 years of LaVine, or whoever you grab at 15. 
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Yup don't loose sight of this, the median win share production from even the 4th pick historically is the much maligned Tristan Thompson. 5-6 years of Embiid is still worth a top 5 pick.
 
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It's probably has been posted before but I can't find online when the start time of the draft is. Does anyone know what time the draft starts? Thanks.
 
AceMaster193 said:
Embid automatically bounced out the first pick with the injury?
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Without a doubt.

Back problems at Kansas... now a foot injury?

Too damn risky.

They thought Noel was too risky last year... what the **** would change their minds this time?

Parker or Wiggins.
 
In terms of the Draft do you think the bulls two picks For Eric Gordon would be a good deal?

If they can't get Melo EG can be a hell of a second option for Rose.
 
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