Yellow Dog had an interesting post on whether the NBA draft is overrated, looking at the lineups ofthe teams in the playoffs. This really sparked my interest, since I initially assumed the NBA draft to be the most important in all sports: since you only start five players, adding one quality player must be important, right?
To add further research, here’s a quick glance at the top 8 lottery picks of the last four drafts.
I almost wanted to include the 2002 draft just to show how special the 2003 was… but coding this kind of table is pretty boring. I don’t think it is easy to draw any clear conclusion, other than Darko being the worst pick in the history of the NBA draft (in context). Besides that, even in 2003, half of the top picks failed to make the all-star team. So, Jeff’s probably right–the draft is overrated. Still, given how bad the Celtics have been, chances are I’ll be watching. I just hope I only have to watch one pick:
With the first pick in the 2007 draft, the Boston Celtics select G. Oden, center, Ohio State University
