All-Time NBA Draft: Discussion

[Inqui]

About time Mikan went. I was going to catch him if he fell much further. I was sketchy on his size (everyone else catching up) but he's good value here.

[SecretAgentMan]

MoveTheseChains is up! 

[SecretAgentMan]

I'll take Parish at this point... Just saying

[MoveThoseChains]

Pretty stoked to get Cousy here. One of the first stars in the NBA, and revolutionized the "flashy" style of play. Great passer and playmaker, will fit my team real nice in my opinion. 6x champion, 10x all nba first team, 2x all nba second team, 13x all star and all star MVP twice. Not known for his defense, but with Wade, Pippen, McHale, and Olajuwon, I can sacrifice Cousy's defense for his ability to operate my offense. He led the league in assists per game 8 straight seasons, averaging 7.7 and that was before the shot clock era. People say he was an offensive master with his court vision, amazing passes, dribbling, and ability to score. I like his value here.

Edited September 2, 2014 by MoveThoseChains

[SecretAgentMan]

Floor General: Jason Kidd

The Richard Sherman of the NBA: Kobe Bryant

Dunk Specialist: Dominique Wilkins

Big Fundamental: Tim Duncan

Chief: Robert Parish

 

I like this lineup. 3 great defenders, two great rebounders, 4 scorers in the top 25 of all time, flashy dunks, fundamentals, not only that but a great floor general to take care of it. 

[-Truth-]

Love Chris Paul pick. He was never going to drop to my next but if he did, he'd be my backup PG.

 

You are on the clock.

[SecretAgentMan]

Did he forget he was on? 

[allblackraven]

Did he forget he was on? 

You thought me? No, just a little bit of discussion with myself. Looking for photo, too.

[allblackraven]

Oh, haha - Worthy was a guy I was discussing. Excellent choice!

[-Truth-]

Very good pick in Worthy.

[-Truth-]

Wade was already taken homie. I believe I'm on the clock. My pick will be in shortly.

 

You are up again.

[Gordo52]

Love the Worthy, Allen, Mutombo picks. All great value.

Wade was spectacular in his prime and one of my faves, but he shouldn't of been taken so early IMO. (First & 2nd time) even though at 50 overall isn't as bad as 30 I still feel like it's too soon for him.

[MoveThoseChains]

Went with Walt Frazier as my other point guard. 2 titles, 4 time all nba first team, 2 time all nba second team, 7 time all defense first team. Took down the great Lakers (West, Wilt, and Elgin Baylor) with a historic 39 points, 19 assists, and 5 steal performance in Game 7 of The Finals. At 6'4 200 lbs, he's a great complement to Cousy (6'1 175 lbs). Real solid career averages, great leader on the court, solid defender, rebounder, and scorer.

[MoveThoseChains]

PS: I've been doing this thru my phone my last few picks, and I can't upload images on here thru my phone. I will upload photos for my previous picks once I access my laptop.

[codizzle]

Walt Frazier and James worthy finally gone..

Been waiting to see them go for a long long time

[Inqui]

I was hoping Frazier would be around to back Nash up. Disappointed about Ray Allen too. Ah well.

 

I have beanfigger's pick, which I'll post when work finishes in two hours' time unless he comes online again before then.

Edited September 2, 2014 by Inqui

[Birdest]

Hehe, my bad. Changing my pick.

[Inqui]

Hehe, my bad. Changing my pick.

And you're up.

[Birdest]

Changed my pick to Pierce.

[beanfigger]

PS: I've been doing this thru my phone my last few picks, and I can't upload images on here thru my phone. I will upload photos for my previous picks once I access my laptop.

You got insane value with those last two picks. Awesome choices. Cousy at the point after waiting so long? Ridiculous.

[beanfigger]

I was hoping Frazier would be around to back Nash up. Disappointed about Ray Allen too. Ah well.

I have beanfigger's pick, which I'll post when work finishes in two hours' time unless he comes online again before then.

Thanks for the help buddy. Since I waited so long for a center, I figured I might as well double up. Two top ten ones, in my opinion.

[beanfigger]

Here's some boring analysis on our draft thus far:

 

Before the '96-97 season, the NBA released it's all time Top 50 Players list in celebration of their 50th anniversary of league play. This list was voted on by an extensive list of ex-players, coaches, executives, analysts and sportswriters. The youngest player named to the list was Shaq, so his draft year is a great place to draw a line in this analysis.

 

We've selected 57 players as of this post, including 34 from the Top 50 list. There have also been seven selections of players drafted before Shaq who were not named to the Top 50. This goes to show difference in opinion, and some players in this group still had some excellent years of play and maybe should have been included in this list in the first place. Five of these players were very prominent in the 90s, so it also makes sense for a group of contemporary fans to select them based on their fanhood and the memories they have watching these players growing up.

 

Sixteen players have been selected in our game who were drafted after Shaq*. I guess that's to be expected, but it is a much higher rate of selection from the last 18 years compared to the first 50. One of these players was even selected twice. This is what I mean by the contemporary bias. It was even more lopsided in rounds 3 and 4, where 10 of these 16 players were selected. That means half of our collective picks during that span were players from the last 18 years from a league that has a history of almost 70. I'm not saying any of these picks are bad because many of these players certainly deserved to go in a draft like this; I just think many went a little early.

(*I counted Alonzo Mourning in this group because, technically, he was drafted after Shaq...one pick after Shaq.)

 

Note: Three teams took their first four players from the Top 50 list (Inqui, Birdest, allblackraven), but all three went contemporary with their most recent selection. SAM did the exact opposite, drafting four from off the list (one of which was actually drafted before Shaq) and then picking a player from the Top 50 in the fifth. So far, I believe I'm the only one with at least five players from the Top 50.

[beanfigger]

Other boring analysis from bean:

 

My thoughts on the best values by round:

 

   -Round One - Oscar Robertson (pick 11). I know Magic falling to seven was surprising, but getting perhaps the greatest all-around talents after every other team made a choice is crazy.

 

   -Round Two - Elgin Baylor (pick 18). The West pick was considered, as well, but Baylor gets it because it was a later selection.

 

   -Round Three - John Havlicek (pick 28). The Jazz players and also Hayes were great values, but 28 for Havlicek is unbelievable.

 

   -Round Four - Clyde Drexler (pick 33). I know this was the first pick in the round, but judging by the perimeter players selected ahead of The Glide in the previous round, this pick was crazy value. Pistol Pete was also great value later.

 

   -Round Five - Bob Cousy (pick 50). I was thinking it would be Mikan, and I was hoping to snag Cousy after, which would have been back-to-back rounds with best value, but Cousy was taken just after me. Cousy at 50 is borderline grand theft.

 

I'm not gonna do biggest reaches, but I will say this: If you select a player who isn't a lock for the Hall of Fame in a draft like this, especially in the first five rounds, it's a reach. That's under each owner's discretion (unless of course you selected older players who haven't been elected Hall of Famers after years of eligibility), but if you have any hesitance about whether or not your guy will go straight to the hall as soon as he's eligible, it's a reach for this game. I know we're doing the whole "best stretch" thing, but I don't think there should be a place for non-Hall of Famers in an all time draft with only 132 players in it.

[-Truth-]

I have to play Jordan at some point.

[Gordo52]

Finally The Worm goes. Great pick in Rodman. I felt he should have went earlier but I can understand the slide.

Also really like Dumars pick.

[-Truth-]

Finally The Worm goes. Great pick in Rodman. I felt he should have went earlier but I can understand the slide.

Also really like Dumars pick.

Thank you. And I agree about Rodman. He likely would've been my selection had he fallen a little further. Beyond the antics and the current craziness, he was one of the best rebounders of all time and was an elite defender as well.

[beanfigger]

I just saw that TNT did a "Next Ten" list ten years after the Top 50 was released as sort of an unofficial addition of ten players to that list. We have already selected 9 of the 10 from that list (Bryant, Duncan, Garnett, Iverson, Kidd, McAdoo, Miller, Payton, Wilkins). The widdles that group down in stages from 32 nominees to 21 (Nowitzki, Nash, Wade among that first cut) and finally from 21 to 10 (Dumars, James, King, McGrady, Rodman part of the final cut). So I guess you could say we've selected 51 of what was considered to be the 82 greatest players of all time as of 2006. Only 7 from off that list have been selected, and at least 3-5 of those have played what can be considered some of the best portions of their careers post-2006.

[beanfigger]

Nice. Had Walton still been there for my next pick, I would have likely gone with three straight centers. I'm fairly certain he would have been my pick if Reed was gone.

[Inqui]

Nice. Had Walton still been there for my next pick, I would have likely gone with three straight centers. I'm fairly certain he would have been my pick if Reed was gone.

Cheers, from here the picks are about value and at this point I love what I'm getting with Walton.

Unrelated, but is anyone watching the World Cup match atm? NZ not getting beaten as badly by Team USA as I expected

[gabefergy]

Anthony was a tough pick, but after looking at the available players it was hard to find anyone that stood up to his overall offensive game.