unbelievable depth and talent throughout the draft with a combination of incredibly talented athletes, big men and skill players. with the east owning a majority of the high picks, the balance of talent will sway each year and i believe very soon the east will come full circle and have very dominant teams for years.

Can't argue with last years draft, the deepest I've seen in years and maybe the deepest of all time.

Lebron, Carmelo, Bosh, Ford, Kaman, Hinrich, Wade, Hayes, Banks, Howard, and now even Sweetney and Ridnour have all seen significant time. If Darko comes along and a few other guys who haven't played a lot (Collison comes to mind), it could become one of the best of all-time.

I completely disagree. This is one of the worst drafts in some time, especially from the standpoint that there is only one sure thing- Emeka Okafor. There are only a few other top 10 worthy college bball players- Ben Gordon, Igoudoula, Josh Childress...but the rest all have question marks. Most of the talent comes from high schoolers and Euros, which is all well and good, but we're talking long-range, high bust potential projects. This is a lot like the Brown-Curry-Chandler draft. However, the addition of the Euro big men makes it a bit better than that one. But its absolutely no where close to last year's talent. There just aren't enough good college players in this draft IMO. This is definitely a wait and see kind of draft.

[Edited by - VDesai on 04/06/2004 14:07:45]

the best draft of all time was the 84 draft. they had four players that were named the 50 greatest players of all-time ( jordan, malone, olojowan and barkley). 96 was great also. if you look at last year's draft there are maybe four perenial all-stars coming out of it( james, anthony, wade and bosh). the rest are solid players ( hinrich, hayes , howard, sweetney, ridnour, ford, etc.). i mean the draft was the better draft of recent memory but that is not saying much. so to say this is the best draft ever is way over the top.

impossible to compare drafts after the paradigm shift of high school players and foreign athlete dominating the draft. im talking 1-50, im not talking top 8 picks, this draft is extremely deep in depth and talent way down the line. i think we will see a lot more of what we saw with dallas last year picking up two college seniors -one late first and one not even making the second--while both now play prominent roles on a good team right away. thats what i mean--the talent pool is rich and now the 2nd round pick is valuable when it was just a junk pick for years. no MJ will play 3 yeasr in college anymore--even what you saw with emeka is just an aberration. i saw that kid jr smith play 3 times in two weeks and you can plainly see he is a superstar prospect---this kid is all set ready to go to NC but now the stigma of money is placed in his lap and for most people--how can you pass on 4-10mm$? 98% of people would take it and figure if they want to go to college later on they can and be set for life as well.

but this draft IMHO--is unbelievable when you consider who you could get at pick 45 compared to drafts even 3-4 years ago.

Posted by fishmike:

"This is definitely a wait and see kind of draft."

They all are.

I KNOW Isiah wants into this draft. I dont know what went on behind the scenes with the Rose #1/KT trade but you know Isiah likes the draft and like to scout young players

My point was that there are very few sure things and a lot more projects at the top. I don't think there was very much wait and see to guys like Lebron, Darko, Wade, Ford, Bosh, Hinrich etc. To me the only guy you can really say that for is Okafor.

there is no rooom for another PF on this team. Also i think they like jaric but wont surprise me if they would like to acquire frank williams. However, I dont see them sending us a 1st rd pick for him neither. I guess depending where they will fall though...

Posted by gunsnewing:

you can't win without a great bigman. That is why The T-wolves won't win this year.

and here i am thinking it was just me.ok, everyone's top five draft picks? (pleez make them reasonable) remember, no number one, unless zeke pulls something out his.....

I agree... protect anyone with an expiring deal, because you never know who is available.

Posted by VDesai:

I completely disagree. This is one of the worst drafts in some time, especially from the standpoint that there is only one sure thing- Emeka Okafor. There are only a few other top 10 worthy college bball players- Ben Gordon, Igoudoula, Josh Childress...but the rest all have question marks. Most of the talent comes from high schoolers and Euros, which is all well and good, but we're talking long-range, high bust potential projects. This is a lot like the Brown-Curry-Chandler draft. However, the addition of the Euro big men makes it a bit better than that one. But its absolutely no where close to last year's talent. There just aren't enough good college players in this draft IMO. This is definitely a wait and see kind of draft.

[Edited by - VDesai on 04/06/2004 14:07:45]

exactly, this draft is weak at the top and okafor is probably the only immediate impact player available, I mean even in last years draft there were at least 4 players who made immediate impacts on their teams. Saying this draft may be the best ever is a huge stretch, too many question marks..