I would vote for the 1984 draft. 1. Akeem 2. Sam Bowie (would have been an all star if not for his injuries) 3. Michael 4, Sam Perkins 5. Sir Charles 6. Mel Turpin (dud #1) 7. Alvin Robertson 8. Lancaster Gordon (who was he?) 9. Otis Thorpe 10. Leon Wood (dud #2) 11. Kevin Willis 14. Michael Cage 16. Johnny Stockton (no one figured Malone would make him an allstar) 3rd Round (yes they had 3 rounds in those days) 23. Rick Carlisle 6th Round 15. Oscar Schmidt (One of the early great foreign players, though he never did play in the NBA)
1970 NBA DRAFT Here are the guys who had significant pro careers to the best of my recollection: First Round 1 Det Bob Lanier St. Bonaventure 2 SD Rudy Tomjanovich Michigan 3 Atl Pete Maravich Louisiana State 4 Bos Dave Cowens Florida State 5 Cin Sam Lacey New Mexico State 7 Clev John Johnson Iowa 8 Port Geoff Petrie Princeton 9 Balt George Johnson Stephen F. Austin 13 LAL Jim McMillian Columbia Second Round 1 SD Calvin Murphy Niagara 2 Cin Nate Archibald Texas–El Paso 7 Buff Cornell Warner Jackson State Third Round 1 SD Curtis Perry SW Missouri 6 Sea Garfield Heard Oklahoma [defensive ace, awful coach] 12 Phil Dennis Awtrey Santa Clara Seventh Round 1 SD Bill Paultz St. John's [ABA All Star] 4 Bos Charlie Scott North Carolina [starred in ABA, then NBA] Eighth Round 1 SD Don Adams Northwestern 3 Det Dan Issel Kentucky [ABA superstar] 6 Sea George Irvine Washington [later coached Pistons] Tenth Round 2 SF Coby Dietrick San Jose State [ABA/NBA] Fourteenth Round 2 Det Randy Smith Buffalo State [2 time NBA All Star]
1984 vs 1970 Draftees Would make for an interesting best of 7 series. In my opinion I don't think that the 70 guys would beat the 84 guys with Michael, Sir Charles and Akeem running the triangle.
You'd better keep it low-scoring, because the Class of '70 will run your legs off with Murphy, Archibald, Maravich and Randy Smith. Meanwhile you're going to have ZERO inside game with all the bigs I've got to beat up Hakeem. Heck, I'll even match up your North Carolina guy with another 6'6" Tarheel in Charlie Scott. And it's not like Barkley would defend anybody. Series might go six.
IRREGARDLESS of how Darko pans out, I think the draft of 2003 will go down as one of the best ever. If TJ Ford can make a comeback, it's all that much better First Round Lebron 'Melo Bosh Wade Ridenour Hinrich Ford Kaman Josh Howard Then Second Round Kapono Luke Walton Mo Williams Steve Blake Willie Green James Jones Kyle Korver Zaza Pachulia Lots of NBA quality ballers. 3 years from now, that could be considered one of the greatest. All comes down to Ford and DMC IMHO.
That 70's Team Is loaded with firepower. The "midget" backcourt of murphy and "tiny" would have been impossible to defend, lot of power up front with the bigs and tremendous depth. All 3 of those drafts great drafts.
1996 Draft was the best: Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury, Ray Allen, Kobe Bryant, Peja Stojakovic, and Steve Nash are only some the players in that draft that are really good.
