NBA Draft history - the best draft picks since 1980

Basketball place has made top 3 lists comparing the players selected with first seven picks during the last 28 years.

Top 3 players selected with the:

Nr. 1 pick:
1) Shaquille O`neal (1992)
2) Hakeem Olajuwon (1984)
3) Tim Duncan (1997)

Pretty hard to compare those 3 legendary big men because they all have more than 1 championship ring, they all have received the finals MVP award more than 1 time, they all have won at least 1 regular season MVP trophy and they all were dominant during their prime years. However I have chosen to give Shaq the 1st place. I did not put LeBron on the list because he is still too young and have not achieved anything much yet. Other great players like Iverson, Ewing, David Robinson, Webber and many more did not make the top 3 too.


Nr. 2 pick:
1) Isiah Thomas (1981)
2) Jason Kidd (1994)
3) Gary Payton (1990)

If all 3 top number one picks are big men then in contradistinction to that all 3 top number two picks are guards. Thomas, Kidd and Payton are great passers and they all rank in the top 7 all time leaders in total assists. Unfortunately I did not find a place in top 3 for Alonzo Mourning.





Nr. 3 pick:
1) Micheal Jordan (1984)
2) Dominique Wilkins (1982)
3) Kevin McHale (1980)

I guess that no one is going to argue with me about giving the first place to MJ and giving the second to Dominique but it was hard to choose the third place winner. I could choose Anfernee Hardaway, Grant Hill, Chauncey Billups, Baron Davis, Sean Elliott, Carmelo Anthony and many more great players but I went for the good old McHale - nevertheless he is a hall of famer.






Nr. 4 pick:
1) Dikembe Mutombo (1991)
2) Glen Rice (1989)
3) Rasheed Wallace (1995)









Nr. 5 pick:
1) Charles Barkley (1984)
2) Scottie Pippen (1987)
3) Kevin Garnett (1995)






Nr. 6 pick:
1) Kenny Smith (1987)
2) Antoine Walker (1996)
3) Tom Gugliotta (1992)







Nr. 7 pick:
1) Chris Mullin (1985)
2) Kevin Johnson (1987)
3) Richard Hamilton (1999)