When everyone retires, who do you think will have the best draft class? 84, 96, or 03?

Question

84-Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Sam Perkins, Kevin Willis
96-Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen, Stephon Marbury, Marcus Camby, Allen Iverson, Peja Stojakovic, Jermaine O'Neal, Antoine Walker
03-LeBron James, Darko Milicic, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Chris Kaman, Kirk Hinrich, T.J. Ford, David West, Josh Howard, Boris Diaw, Leandro Barbosa

Answer 1

84

Answer 2

84-Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Sam Perkins, Kevin Willis....Otis Thorpe, Alvin Robertson, etc.

It could be argued that John Stockton, Michael Jordan, Charles Barley, Kevin Willis and Hakeem Olajuwon would comprise the best starting five of any draft class in the past 25 years. When you throw in superb role players Otis Thorpe, Sam Perkins, Alvin Robertson, Michael Cage and Tony Campbell on the bench, it is the most well-rounded and cohesive unit of any possible in any draft.

Answer 3

1996 class is THE BEST!!!
C MARCUS CAMBY
F JERMAINE O'NEAL
F KOBE BRYANT
G ALLEN IVERSON
G STEVE NASH
C ZYDRUNAS ILGAUSKAS
F ANTOINE WALKER
F PEJA STOJAKOVIC
G RAY ALLEN
G STEPHON MARBURY
F SHAREEF ABDUR-RAHIM
G KERRY KITTLES

and theres still a lot more......

im tired of typing names of all this players above... 84 and 03 are much like the same... with 3 SUPERSTARS who can be a first pick overall if u knew what cud hev they done in the nba. but the 1996 hev more ALL-STAR APPEARANCE, MORE ALL-NBA FIRST TEAM, 2ND TEAM, 3RD TEAM, ETC. ETC. ETC. BLAH BLAH BLAH... and the list goes on... this is the best class MORE ACCOMPLISHEMENT as a group than anyone else rookie class!...
yo!!!!!

Answer 4

1. '84 - Jordan, Stockton, Barkley, Olajuwon all top 5 at their respective postitions with Jordan being the best ever
2. '96 - Between Kobe and A.I. they have two of the best scorers in recent memory... nevermind Nash, Ray Allen and J-O'Neal, Camby
3. '03 - LBJ, D-Wade, Bosh, and Melo all have the potential to be great career players but none of them compare to Jordan

Answer 5

1996 class is THE BEST!!!
C MARCUS CAMBY
F JERMAINE O'NEAL
F KOBE BRYANT
G ALLEN IVERSON
G STEVE NASH
C ZYDRUNAS ILGAUSKAS
F ANTOINE WALKER
F PEJA STOJAKOVIC
G RAY ALLEN
G STEPHON MARBURY
F SHAREEF ABDUR-RAHIM
G KERRY KITTLES

and theres still a lot more......

im tired of typing names of all this players above... 84 and 03 are much like the same... with 3 SUPERSTARS who can be a first pick overall if u knew what cud hev they done in the nba. but the 1996 hev more ALL-STAR APPEARANCE, MORE ALL-NBA FIRST TEAM, 2ND TEAM, 3RD TEAM, ETC. ETC. ETC. BLAH BLAH BLAH... and the list goes on... this is the best class MORE ACCOMPLISHEMENT as a group than anyone else rookie class!...

Answer 6

For me there's no doubt it's the '84 class. MJ, The Dream and The Mouth ...
The other two classes are real close, but I'd choose the 03 class before the '96 class

Answer 7

I went through your list and picked who I thought would be a Hall of Famer or in some cases IS.

84 - I came up with 4
96 - I came up with 3
03 - I came up with 3

Answer 8

Is this a joke? 84 easily

Answer 9

96 BABYYY!!!

Answer 10

Personally, I kind of like the 1997 draft class the best.

Or, how can the 1956 draft class be outdone?

#2 pick, 1st Round-St. Louis Hawks drafted Bill Russell who won 11 NBA rings and became the first African-American head coach in NBA history.

#3 pick, 1st Round-Minneapolis Lakers drafted Jim Paxson, Sr., a University of Dayton Flyer, who would be father of two future NBA players in Jim Paxson, Jr. and John Paxson of Spurs and Chicago Bulls fame in the Jordan era where John Paxson is best remembered for closing out the third straight championship in Game 6 of the 1993 NBA Finals won by the Bulls 4 games to 2 games over Phoenix as it was John Paxson hitting the closeout shot of the 1993 NBA Finals with the Bulls down by 2 points, Jordan passed the ball with the Bulls down by 2 points and 3 seconds left in the game to John Paxson where John Paxson promptly hit a 3 pointer closing out the Bulls threepeat from 1991 to 1993. And, everyone remembers Jordan for hitting those closeout NBA Final shots at the buzzer, so I won't mention former Bulls/Spurs guard Steve Kerr a few years later hitting another Bulls NBA Finals closeout 3 pointer at the buzzer to win that game at the buzzer for another Jordan Bulls championship. Son John Paxson won 3 NBA rings (okay, that is 14 NBA rings so far related to the draft class of 1956)

#6 pick, 1st Round-Boston Celtics drafted Tom Heinsohn who won 10 NBA rings (that is 24 NBA rings so far related to the draft class of 1956) and a Celtics head coach.

#6 pick, 2nd Round-Boston Celtics drafted K.C. Jones who would not be available for play for another 2 years until completing 2 years of active U.S. Army duty after being drafted in the peacetime Cold War. By NBA regulations at the time, K.C. Jones who had already been drafted the year before by the Minneapolis Lakers was free to sign with whichever NBA team he wished upon finishing his U.S. Army active duty and signed with the Boston Celtics where K.C. Jones won 10 NBA rings with the Celtics (that is 34 NBA rings so far related to the draft class of 1956). K.C. Jones, although drafted in 1955 by the Minneapolis Lakers and in 1956 by the Boston Celtics, did not play in the NBA until 1958 and later became a Celtics head coach.

#6 pick, 4th Round-Boston Celtics drafted Dan Swartz of Morehead State University who finally played his first year in the NBA in 1962 won 1 NBA ring with the Celtics (that is 35 NBA rings so far related to the draft class of 1956). I don't know why it took 6 years for Dan Swatz to make it from the NBA draft into the NBA with the Boston Celtics.

Sixth Round - Minneapolis Lakers drafted 6' 10" tall center Phil Jordan who the starting center and was sick with the flu and did not play when the Philadelphia Warriors' Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points against the New York Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania in that March 2, 1962 game. Knicks center for that game was Darrell Imhoff, later a NBA All Star and starting center particularly with the Lakers during the primes of teammates Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, while Chamberlain went on to score 100 points. So, the rumors of Chamberlain scoring 100 points against a bunch of slouches is not true as Darrell Imhoff was a long time starting NBA center particularly for the Lakers and also a future NBA All Star.

8th Round-Minneapolis Lakers drafted Sam Jones, Jr. of North Carolina Central College who was also drafted into U.S. Army active duty service for 2 years at around the same time. Sam Jones, Jr. won 10 NBA rings as a player with the Celtics, second only to Bill Russell. Sam Jones, Jr. is also the father of Sam Jones, III, the actor, best known for his role in Smallville. Sam Jones, Jr.'s 10 NBA rings means a total of 45 rings for the 1956 draft class so far.

3rd Round-Philadelphia Warriors drafted Bevo Francis of Rio Grande College

Born Clarence Francis on 4 September 1932, Bevo Francis went on to become one of the greatest scorers in college basketball history during his career at Rio Grande College. He was 6'9, and was known for his great shooting touch.

In 1953, Bevo averaged 48.3 points a game, which is an NCAA record. This included a record 113 in a single game. He actually averaged 50.1 points per game over the season, but the NCAA excluded some of his best games because they were against lesser competition, such as Junior Colleges. One of the games that did not count during his career, was an 116 point game against Ashland Junior College. In 1954, he averaged 48.0 points a game. He still holds the top two scoring averages in NAIA history, along with many NCAA records.

Bevo Francis and his coach Newt Oliver later signed with Boston Whirlwinds, a barnstorming team that played against the Harlem Globetrotters. He was later drafted by Philadelphia of the NBA in 1956 but after two seasons of constant travel with the Whirlwinds opted to return home to his wife and family.

"Francis was a great player in his own right. He proved that. He was the (George) Mikan of his time. He would have been a great player at any time.....(After the betting scandals) Bevo brought back some dignity to the sport. He took the sting out of it. He restored it to its place, the way Ruth and Gehrig had done for baseball after the "Black Sox" scandal. He had a unique ability to stimulate the crowds. He mesmerized the country." -Former Villanova University Coach, Alex Severance.

"Bevo had the finest touch I’ve ever seen." -Ron Shavlik, North Carolina State All-American, 1954

"Bevo was a real fine ball player. He was a pure shooter." -Ned "Dickie" Hemric, Wake Forest All-American. ACC player of the year,1954.

"Francis convinced me. He was a great player. He was an excellent shooter from the floor and was big enough to control the boards. And don’t overlook his playing companions. They were an excellent college team. Bevo was to Rio Grande what Larry Bird was to Indiana State later." -Tony Hinkle, Hall of Fame former Coach, Butler University.

"There wasn't a stiff among them. They could all pass and handle the ball. Bevo could shoot with anyone in the game– even today." -Norm Ellenberger,Butler University,1954 and former head Coach, New Mexico University.

"He was one of those drum-beat stories. You sit by the tree, you hear people talking about the great legends of the game, then you hear people talk about Bevo, yeah," says former Georgetown coach John Thompson.

3rd Round-Philadelphia Warriors drafted Joe Belmont who would be future head coach of the Denver Rockets (now the Denver Nuggets).

#2 pick, 2nd Round-St. Louis Hawks drafted Willie Naulls, the first African American team captain in any American sport with the Knicks, won 3 NBA rings with the Celtics (48 NBA rings related to the draft class of 1956)

4th Round-Syracuse Nationals drafted Swede Halbrook, a 7' 3" center, the tallest player up until that time in NBA history, who in 1961 led Syracuse to a 3 game playoff sweep against Wilt Chamberlain and the Philadelphia Warriors.

10th Round-Syracuse Nations drafted Bob Hopkins who played 4 years in the NBA later to replace Bill Russell as the head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics and was then replaced by Lenny Wilkens.

14th Round-Minneapolis Lakers drafted Elgin Baylor who lost in at least 7 NBA Finals without a ring while setting many NBA and Lakers records and later head coach for the New Orleans Jazz.

The draft class of 1956 produced 48 NBA rings in close to 60 NBA Finals, 6 head coaches, 5 Hall of Famers, and 4 of the Greatest 50 NBA players in NBA history including Hall of Famers like Bill Russell, Elgin Baylor, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones, and Tom Heinsohn. Not bad for a draft class. I don't know if that can be beaten by any draft class in NBA history.