Which NBA Draft Class Would Form the Best Team?
As milestones approach, it’s human nature to reflect on what’s come before.
That’s why, on the eve of the 2017 NBA Draft, we decided to take a look back on the Drafts of Days Past (please Marvel, don’t sue), and examine them not in the ‘Why In The Name Of All That Is Holy Didn’t They Pick HIM’ retrospective, but something equally as unnecessary and futile — a comparison of which Draft Class would form the best team.
To perform this thought experiment, we stuck with the draft classes of the past decade, in order to exclude LeBron, and the inevitable Jordan class of 1984 debate tangent it would lead to, as it would surely derail everything else written in this piece (Plus, we all know the ’03 class of Bosh, Wade, Anthony, James and Darko would easily crush the ’84 lineup Jordan-Barkley-Stockton-Olajuwan-Robertson-Willis team, right? Right? RIGHT?).
Second, we left out the 2016 Draft Class, because, well, we just assumed everyone (except Vlad. Bless him.) would by default put it last on the list. What’s that Kris Dunn apologists? I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over Tom Thibodeau’s exasperated screaming.
Finally, the last little note to keep in mind is that we conducted this exercise and settled on the rankings based on how we think the teams would perform in a seven-game series, competing head-to-head. Sure, it might be an imperfect hypothetical, and there’s a million other factors to consider, but its our system, and that’s the way we did it, so there. On to the rankings!
10. 2015 Draft Class
Starting Lineup:
PG — D’Angelo Russell
SG — Devin Booker
SF — Justice Winslow
PF — Kristaps Porzingis
C — Karl Anthony Towns
Bench:
Jahil Okafor, Willie Cauley-Stein, Norman Powell, Myles Turner, Emmanuel Mudiay, Terry Rozier.
Although it’s still early, 2015’s Draft Class might go down as the ‘Year of Millenial Angst-iness’. Between Russell narking on his teammates, Booker trying to publicly roast a team that he lost to, and the Kristaps/Jackson will they/won’t they get along triangle tension, it might require a herculean effort to get these guys on the same page, both on and off the court. While the talent is definitely there, a team with this much drama could easily end up with the dreaded ‘less than the sum of their parts’ tag.
9. 2014 Draft Class
Starting Lineup:
PG — Marcus Smart
SG — Andrew Wiggins
SF — Jabari Parker
PF — Julius Randle
C — Joel Embiid
Bench:
Nikola Jokic, Jusuf Nurkic, Aaron Gordon, Nik Stauskas, Noah Vonleh, Zach LaVine, Dante Exum, Dario Saric, Rodney Hood.
In many ways, the 2014 Draft Class is the anti-2015. Outside of Embiid’s charming courtship of all of our hearts and minds, this lineup is generally keeps to themselves, and is stacked with glue guys. While injuries have played a major role in diminishing the luster attached to a few of these names, there’s no doubt that the talent and cohesion would make this a dangerous lineup that could push some of the other Draft Classes on this list to the brink. But until we see more of how each guy performs in do-or-die scenarios, 2014 remains at number 9.
8. 2006 Draft Class
Starting Lineup:
PG — Kyle Lowry
SG — JJ Reddick
SF — Rudy Gay
PF — Paul Millsap
C — LaMarcus Aldridge
Bench:
Rajon Rondo, P.J. Tucker, Andrea Bargnani, Tyrus Thomas, Thabo Sefolosha, Ronnie Brewer, Two-Time NBA Champion Adam Morrison.
Yes, this Draft Class looks about as brutal now as it did at the time. But between the leadership of Millsap, the steadiness of Reddick, and the occasional flashes from Lowry, this team is just good enough to beat the 2014 and 2015 teams in seven games, especially if they can find a way to avoid Aldridge Caspering on them.
7. 2013 Draft Class
Starting Lineup:
PG — Dennis Shroder
SG — C.J. McCollum
SF — Giannis Antetokounmpo
PF — Nerlens Noel
C — Rudy Gobert
Bench:
Victor Oladipo, Kelly Olynyk, Matthew Dellavedova, Michael Carter-Williams, Alex Len, Lucas Noguiera, Mason Plumlee, Ben McLemore, Kentavius Caldwell-Pope, Steven Adams, Trey Burke, Shabazz Muhammad.
The Greek Freak. ‘Nuff said.
6. 2007 Draft Class
Starting Lineup:
PG — Mike Conley
SG — Wilson Chandler
SF — Kevin Durant
PF — Marc Gasol
C — Al Horford
Bench:
Joakim Noah, Thaddeus Young, Nick Young, Arron Affalo, Ramon Sessions, Aaron Brooks, Jeff Green, Rodney Stuckey.
It pains me to speak ill of a team consisting of Conley, Horford, Durant and Gasol, but I get the sense that this team might suffer from a case of Clipper-itis, especially with the likes of Nick Young, Rodney Stuckey, and Ramon Sessions being asked to play meaningful minutes off the bench. Kevin Durant, I look forward to you mocking me about this placement on Twitter.
5. 2012 Draft Class
Starting Lineup:
PG — Damian Lilliard
SG — Bradley Beal
SF — Harrison Barnes
PF — Draymond Green
C — Anthony Davis
Bench:
Andre Drummond, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Dion Waiters, Terrence Ross, Austin Rivers, Jae Crowder, Kris Middleton, Festus Ezeli, Terrence Jones.
Analysis:
Having one of either Draymond or The Brow is enough to make your defense elite. Having them both is just plain unfair. Couple that a Lilliard-Beal 1–2 punch on the other end of the floor, and you’ve got yourself a scary good lineup.
4. 2008 Draft Class
Starting Lineup:
PG — Russell Westbrook
SG — Eric Gordon
SF — Danilo Gallinari
PF — Kevin Love
C — DeAndre Jordan
Bench:
Derrick Rose, Goran Dragic, Brook Lopez, Serge Ibaka, George Hill, Nikola Pekovic, Luc Mbah a Moute, Brandon Rush, Robin Lopez, Ryan Anderson.
How They’d Do:
If Westbrook was responsible for fan ficting his own dream team, it would look something like this. Surrounded by a bevy of above average to excellent three point shooters, Westbrook wouldn’t even need to pretend to call plays. Everyone could just wait around on the perimeter, on the off chance that Westbrook felt like passing on any given possession. And the crazy part is, it might just work.
3. 2010 Draft Class
Starting Lineup:
PG — John Wall
SG — Avery Bradley
SF — Gordon Hayward
PF — Paul George
C — DeMarcus Cousins
Bench:
Derrick Favors, Wesley Johnson, Hassan Whiteside, Jeremy Lin, Al-Farouq Aminu, Evan Turner, Greg Monroe, Patrick Patterson, Eric Bledsoe, Ed Davis.
Forget a tournament, I want this team to play a full regular season, embedded with a camera crew to capture every second of dysfunction. If Paul George was upset about CJ Miles taking the last shot, just wait until he shows up at the airport to find that Cousins chartered the team plane for a personal weekend away in Cabo. But between George and Wall’s killer instincts, and Hayward’s steady improvement (not to mention a stacked and malleable bench) this Draft Class would be a dangerous foe to match up against. Let’s just set the over/under at 3 games for the entire starting lineup to get T’ed up for fighting amongst themselves.
2. 2009 Draft Class
Starting Lineup:
PG — Steph Curry
SG — James Harden
SF — DeMar DeRozan
PF — Blake Griffin
C — Taj Gibson?
Bench:
Patty Mills, DeMarre Carroll, Patrick Beverly, Jonas Jerebko, Danny Green, Jrue Holiday, Jeff Teague, James Johnson, Jordan Hill, Brandon Jennings, Ricky Rubio, Darren Collison.
Last year, James Harden made Lou Williams and Trevor Ariza look like Klay Thompson and Steph Curry. Now with the actual Steph Curry by his side, Harden’s bound to make him look like…a 16-foot love child of Reggie Miller and Ray Allen? Sure this Draft Class lacks for size (Only three centres were taken in the entire 2009 draft: Hasheem Thabeet (2nd overall) Byron Mullens (24th) and something called Goran Sutton at 50), but it more than makes up for it with the fact James Harden and Steph Curry will be sharing the same floor, and can occasionally pass to 4th option DeMar DeRozan.
1. 2011 Draft Class
Starting Lineup:
PG — Kyrie Irving
SG — Klay Thompson
SF — Kawhi Leonard
PF — Tristan Thompson
C — Enes Kanter
Bench:
Jimmy Butler, Isaiah Thomas, Kemba Walker, Jonas Valancuinas, Iman Shumpert, Kenneth Faried, Reggie Jackson, Nikola Vucevic, Brandon Knight, Bismack Biyombo, the Morris Twins, Tobias Harris, Cory Joseph, Bojan Bogdanovic, Chandler Parsons.
A Draft Class so stacked, you could form a 2011 B-Team using players from the bench, and form a starting five of Thomas-Walker-Butler-Faried-Valancuinas, which might just be the fourth best team in this hypothetical tournament. There’s no possible way to account for all the weapons they have on offense, especially if they go small, play Leonard at the four, and spread the floor with Kawhi, Irving, Klay and Butler. This is the kind of lineup you build when you turn on force trade in 2k.
