On Thursday, the 2011 NBA Draft takes place. In this year's draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers are lucky enough to have both the first and fourth picks in the draft. However, this year's draft class is considered the weakest in years, and even the top players, such as Duke PG Kyrie Irving and Arizona F Derrick Williams, aren't considered likely to develop into superstars. Anyway, the Cavs are at least hoping that whoever they pick won't go on to have the careers of the following men, the worst NBA draft picks of the 1980s. In the first of a three part series, the Canon Review takes a look back at the men who had the hopes of an entire franchise pinned on them, and then proceeded to dash those hopes for any number of reasons. Some men got hurt, some men fell into drugs, while others just weren't good enough to live up to the hype. Whatever the reason, here are the worst NBA draft picks of the 1980s.
1980: James Ray, Forward, Denver Nuggets, 5th Pick
I suppose I could have gone with Joe Barry Carroll or Kelvin Ransay in this spot, but at least those men had a few stretches of solid play in their careers. The same can not be said about Ray, a 6'8" forward from Jacksonville University. After the Nuggets selected him ahead of Mike Gminski, Andrew Toney, and Kiki Vandeweghe, Denver coach Donnie Walsh said that Ray "may be the best out of all the player's in this year's draft" and "There's no doubt in my mind that he's going to be a very good player in the NBA for a very long time." So, what happened? Well, Ray started to have knee problems almost as soon as he entered the league, and never stayed healthy long enough to develop his game. As a result, he lasted only three years in Denver, playing 103 games and scoring 334 points. After that, it was off to Europe for Ray.
1981: Al Wood, Guard-Forward, Atlanta Hawks, 4th Pick
Picked over Tom Chambers and Rolando Blackman, among others, Wood was a second-team All American for the North Carolina Tar Heels and helped lead his team to the championship game in 1981. The Hawks decided that was good enough for them, and were so impressed that they traded him after 19 games to the Clippers for the immortal Freeman Williams (who would become part of the deal that landed Dominique Wilkins for Atlanta). Wood lasted two seasons with the Clippers with mixed results, and was soon sent to Seattle along with Tom Chambers for James Donaldson, Greg Kesler, and Mark Radford. While this would turn out to be yet another bad trade for the Clippers, it wasn't because of Wood. Wood had his moments as a Supersonic, though, and in 1984-85 Wood averaged 15.0 a game. By 1986, the Sonics were looking for someone with a little more range, so they traded Wood to the Mavericks for Dale Ellis. While Ellis blossomed in Seattle, Wood languished on the Dallas bench, averaging 6.6 points in 54 games for the Mavericks in 1986-87 before being waived in November. Wood went on to continue his career in the CBA and in Europe, never to regain the glory of his college days.
1982: Bill Garnett, Forward, Dallas Mavericks, 4th Pick
1982 turned out to be a three player draft (James Worthy, Terry Cummings, and Dominique Wilkins). Unfortunately for the Mavericks, they picked fourth that year. So they took Garnett, the 1982 WAC Player of the Year out of the University of Wyoming. Garnett spent two seasons in Dallas, and proved to be too inconsistent to get major minutes on a Dallas team that was desperate for front court help. In two seasons in Dallas, Garnett averaged 5.7 points and 4.8 rebounds. When he was traded to Indiana prior to the start of the 1984-85 season, he was referred to as a "liability" by Dallas GM Norm Sonju. Garnett did little to prove Sonju wrong, lasting two seasons in Indiana and averaging a mere 5.3 points per game. By 1986, Garnett was out of the NBA for good.
1983: Russell Cross, Center, Golden State Warriors, 6th Pick
I suppose I could have gone with Steve Stipanovich, who was picked second by the Pacers, but at least Stipanovich was a decent center for five seasons in Indianapolis. Instead, the choice here is Cross, who came out a year early out of the University of Purdue. Even though he had a history of knee injuries, the Warriors drafted him anyway and teamed him up with Joe Barry Carroll in the hopes that they could become a pair of stalwarts in the Warriors' frontcourt. However, Cross only played one year in Golden State, playing 45 games and scoring a grand total of 166 points. The Warriors released him before the 1984-85 season, and Cross signed with Denver shortly after. But Cross's knees acted up again, and he never saw any action for the Nuggets, or any other team, for that matter.
1984: Sam Bowie, Center, Portland Trailblazers, 2nd Pick
Like Cross, Bowie was a center who had a history of knee problems. Unlike Cross, Bowie at least lasted more than one season and proved to be a halfway decent player on the rare occasions where he stayed healthy. In his first year, the All-American from Kentucky made the NBA All-Rookie Team and finished third in blocked shots per game (2.7). Then the injuries started happening, and over the next four years Bowie played a total of 63 games before Portland traded him along with a first round pick for Buck Williams. While in New Jersey, Bowie actually stayed healthy to play 280 games over the next four seasons, and was a solid player for the Nets (12.8 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 1.64 blocks per game). After playing two seasons with the Lakers, Bowie retired in 1995. On one hand, Bowie fought his way to have a decent career that lasted over a decade in the NBA. On the other hand, he never stayed healthy and his selection has been question by every basketball fan ever since, mainly because the Trailblazers took him one pick ahead of Michael Jordan, only the greatest player in NBA history.
1985: Benoit Benjamin, Center, Los Angeles Clippers, 3rd Pick
If you look at Benjamin's stats, you might come to the conclusion that all in all, he wasn't a bad player. After all, for his career he averaged 11.4 ppg, 7.5 rpg, and 2.0 bpg. During his days with the Los Angeles Clippers, he was constantly in the top 10 in the league in blocked shots, and in 1987-88 Benjamin averaged 3.4 blocks per game to finish second in the NBA. However, stats are only part of the story, as Benjamin was one of the most frustrating players to ever put on a uniform. He constantly struggled with his weight, put in inconsistent effort, and nearly every coach he ever had despised him for his attitude and lackadaisical play. During his 15 year career, Benjamin played for nine teams, as every one of them tried to convince themselves that they were the team that could turn Benjamin around. As it turns out, no one could, and Benjamin, who had all the talent in the world, is remembered today as a bust and as a cautionary tale.
1986: Len Bias, Forward, Boston Celtics, 2nd Pick
The 1986 Draft class is one that is full of heartbreak and disappointment. Just in the top 10 alone, there's Chris Washburn, Kenny Walker, William Bedford, Roy Tarpley, and Brad Sellers. All those guys, for a number of reasons, were colossal disappointments, but at least they suited up for their teams. The same can not be said for Bias, as I'm sure most of you know. Coming out of the University of Maryland, Bias was supposed to be the man that challenged Michael Jordan's status as the best player in the league and would be the next star of the Celtics' dynasty. Instead, just two days after being drafted, Bias died of a cocaine overdose. Sadly, we'll never know what kind of player Bias would have been in the NBA.
1987: Dennis Hopson, Guard, New Jersey Nets, 3rd Pick
Hopson was an All-American guard at Ohio State who averaged 29 points a game his senior season. The Nets, in dire need for backcourt help, picked Hopson with the third pick in the Draft over Scottie Pippen and Kevin Johnson. Hopson was supposed to be the Nets' version of Michael Jordan, even wearing the number 23 during his first year in the NBA. However, he played more like Michael Ruffin, shooting just over 40 percent from the field in his first season. In 1989-90, Hopson was the Nets' leading scorer with 15.8 ppg. But his shot continued to be inconsistent (.434 field goal percentage) so they traded him to the Bulls for a first round pick. Hopson won a ring in Chicago, but was buried on the bench and fell out of favor with coach Phil Jackson, so off he went to Sacramento, where he average 10.7 ppg coming off the bench for the Kings in 1991-92. After that season, Hopson went on to play in Spain, and over the next eight years traveled the world, playing for 10 different teams in six different countries.
1988: Tim Perry, Forward, Phoenix Suns, 8th Pick
1988 was actually a pretty decent year for draft picks, so we had to go all the way down to number eight to find a selection that didn't quite work out. That pick was Perry, a 6'9" power forward from Temple. In his first three seasons with the Suns, Perry spent most of the time on the bench, averaging 4.2 points a game in those first three years. In 1991-92, Perry stepped up his game somewhat, starting 69 games for the Suns and averaging 12.3 points and 6.9 rebounds a game. After the 1992 season, Perry was one of three players traded to the Philadelphia 76ers for Charles Barkley. While it would be unfair to suggest that the 76ers expected Perry to become the next Charles Barkley, it would be fair to say that Perry was a bit of a disappointment for the 76ers. As the Great Book of Philadelphia Sports Lists put it; Perry "was a tall guy who couldn't pass, couldn't shoot, couldn't rebound". That may be overestimating things slightly, but Perry averaged a mere 7.3 ppg and 4.3 rpg during his four years with the Sixers. After that, Perry finished his career with the New Jersey Nets, getting released by the team in 1996.
1989: Pervis Ellison, Center, Sacramento Kings, 1st Pick
Ellison was the MVP of the Final Four as a Freshman at Louisville in 1986 and picked up the nickname "Never Nervous" for his play. Even though at 6'9", he was undersized for a center, the Kings picked him first anyway and figured at the worst, he could play at the power forward spot. After an injury plagued rookie season, the Kings shipped Ellison to the Washington Bullets in a three team trade in which the Kings ended up with Eric Leckner, Bobby Hansen, and some low draft picks. I'm not sure what the Kings were exactly thinking here, but Ellison turned into a heck of player in 1991-92, averaging 20 points and 11.2 rebounds per game and winning the NBA's Most Improved Player award. However, Ellison couldn't stay healthy after that season long enough to repeat that year's success, and in 1994 the Bullets let Ellison go. Ellison signed with the Celtics during the 1994 offseason, and spent the next six years either backing up at center or on the injured list. Had Ellison's body held up, it's likely that he would have been an All-Star at least once in his career and Danny Ferry would have been on this list. But instead, here we are, and Ellison is just one of many who couldn't reach greatness due to injury.
Well, that's it for the Worst NBA Draft Picks of the 1980s. Tomorrow we'll have the Worst NBA Draft Picks of the 1990s and rest assured there's a whole lot of centers to be featured. Thanks for reading, and if you have any thoughts about this list, then feel free to share them either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at kthec2001@yahoo.com
Showing posts with label Sam Bowie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sam Bowie. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Canon Book Review: Tip-Off: How the 1984 NBA Draft Changed Basketball Forever
Recently, I finished reading the book Tip-Off: How the 1984 NBA Draft Changed Basketball Forever by Filip Bondy. This book is surprisingly about the 1984 NBA Draft and how the players selected changed the sport of basketball forever. The 1984 Draft featured arguably four of the top 25 players in NBA history; Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton. The first three players were picked in the top 5 of the draft, while Stockton, a little-known point guard from Gonzaga, was picked by the Utah Jazz with the 16th pick. Bondy, an NBA beat writer for many tears, tales the tale of the 1984 Draft focusing on six players, the four greats along with Sam Bowie and Sam Perkins, and how they ended up with the teams they did. A few thoughts about this book:
- One thing that I found interesting was just close that teams such as the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, and Philadelphia 76ers were to drafting Michael Jordan, only the best basketball player of all time. For example, the Mavs owned the Cleveland Cavaliers' first round pick that year, and the Cavs finished exactly one game ahead of the Bulls. If one game had been different, than the Mavericks would have the third pick in the draft, which is the pick the Bulls used to select Jordan. The same goes for the 76ers, which had the San Diego Clippers' first round pick. The Clippers finished one game ahead of the Rockets that year. If the Clippers lost one or two more games, Philadelphia would be guaranteed one of the first two picks of the draft due to the Clippers having the worst record in the Western Conference. As for the Rockets, the Bulls considered an offer which would send the third pick in the draft to Houston for Ralph Sampson, who at the time was considered a can't miss prospect at center. If the trade had gone down, the Rockets would have Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon on the same team, and who knows how many titles the team would have won. Wisely, the Bulls decided to keep the pick.
- So Houston selected Olajuwon with the first pick, which was a no-brainier because not only was he a can't miss big-man prospect, but also because Hakeem played his college ball at the University of Houston. The Rockets, behind last year's number one pick Sampson and Olajuwon, instantly became a dangerous team, making the playoffs in Olajuwon's rookie year and the NBA Finals in his second year. Of course, Sampson was brought down due to injuries and other players on that team lost much of their careers to drug use, but Hakeem remained in Houston, and was the main man on two NBA Championship teams. Some pundits may say that Houston made a mistake in taking Hakeem over Jordan, but I don't see how it's a mistake to pick one of the four of five best centers in history, even if you do pass on Jordan. As the book illustrated, the Rockets brass at the time was tickled pink that they landed the big man, and Olajuwon proved to be everything a 1st overall pick is supposed to be and more.
- The big mistake, and probably the most famous missed draft pick in NBA History, was perpetrated by the Portland Trailblazers, a team that needed a center at the time, and felt that Bowie was the man that would push them over the top. Before we get into all of that, keep in mind that the Blazers were a playoff team that year, and had the second pick because of an ill-fated trade with the Indiana Pacers three years prior, for which Indiana got one season out of journeyman center Tom Owens. Nobody brings this up, and really the only person in this book to bring it up was Stu Inman, Portland's general manager at the time. Basically, the Pacers traded the chance to draft the greatest player of all-time for one year out of an average center. With hindsight being 20/20 in all, that has got to rank among the worst trades in NBA history.
- Of course, the Blazers didn't make the right call either, as they selected Sam Bowie. The prevailing wisdom at the time said that you always pick a very good big man over a great guard. Well, that wisdom changed not too long afterwards. Bowie actually seems like a good guy, and in the book he takes his particular place in history in stride, not seeming bitter or anything like that. Sam Bowie's problem was not his play, it was that his body just couldn't handle the strain of being a top-level NBA player. Of course, the Blazers probably should have realized this after Bowie missed two seasons of college ball with a serious shin injury. Or maybe the fact that they needed a seven-hour medical exam to clear Bowie medically before the draft should have been a red flag. But Portland needed a center, and was set at the shooting guard position with Jim Paxson and future Hall-of-Famer Clyde Drexler, so Bowie was their man. In his first year, Bowie played well enough to make the All-Rookie team, but things quickly fell apart from there, as Bowie reinjured his left shin and fractured his right shin twice over the course of three years. In a four year stretch from the 1985-86 season until 1988-89, Bowie played a grand total of 63 games. The Blazers gave up and traded Bowie to the Nets, where he stayed relatively healthy for a few years and played decently, but not at the same level of Jordan or Olajuwon.
- Throughout the book, people defend Inman's decision to draft Bowie over Jordan by saying that nobody was quite sure of Jordan's potential. Well, that's all fine and dandy, but I'm just not buying it. For one, both Dallas and Philadelphia offered major trades to get the third pick, Dallas offering Mark Agguire, who was only the second leading scorer in the NBA the previous season, and Philadelphia owner Harold Katz offering the legendary Julius Erving, perhaps one of the three most famous basketball players on the planet at the time and still a great player, straight up for the third pick in the draft. Adding the Sampson for Jordan rumor (although in the book, the Rockets claim that it never was a serious trade offer), and it was pretty clear that a lot of NBA executives knew that Michael Jordan was a special ball player. Hell, watch the video of Michael Jordan being drafted by the Bulls, and listen to the announcers gush over his potential.
The book also touches on Charles Barkley, who was selected by the 76ers with the fifth pick. Barkley was a larger-than-life character who was considered a bit of a question mark due to his height (listed at 6'6" but closer to 6'4", short for a post player) and weight (somewhere around 300 pounds). Barkley showed up at the 1984 Olympic team tryouts, along with Jordan, Perkins, Stockton, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Joe Dumars, Jon Koncak, and every other major college player at the time excluding Olajuwon (not a U.S. citizen at this time) and Bowie (who turned down his invitation to focus on the draft). From all the accounts given in the book, Barkley was, other than Jordan, the best player at the camp, which raised his draft status immensely. According to the book, Barkley's goal wasn't to make the team, but dominate the first two weeks when NBA scouts were watching in order to improve his draft stock, and coast from there. That makes a lot of sense considering that the coach was Indiana University's Bobby Knight, who was not easy on any player, to be sure. Knight wanted Barkley to come in at 215 pounds, which was a ridiculous request to make, all things considered, and Knight was a hard-ass on everyone, even Jordan. To be honest, Knight comes across as a cranky man who was never satisfied, and picked players he could control (such as Vanderbilt's Jeff Turner and Indiana's Steve Alford), over more talented players like Barkley and Stockton, who also made quite an impression during the camp. The 76ers' thought process is also dissected in this book, as the team really didn't want Barkley, but due to the needs of the roster and his immense talent, could not pass on him.
- Sam Perkins and John Stockton are also profiled in this book. Perkins and Stockton came from opposite spectrums of college basketball, as Perkins was an All-America center at North Carolina, winning national championship and spending most of his college career in the limelight, while Stockton was a point guard at little known Gonzaga, playing in relative obscurity. Oddly enough, they both seem to share a lot of qualities, as both men were humble and praised for their loyalty. Perkins was a starter for many seasons who was considered too laid-back to lead a team, but he definitely contributed and worked as hard as any other player, while Stockton became the all-time assists leader through a mixture of talent, durability, and basketball smarts.
Overall, this book is a fine read, but it doesn't really go into how the draft changed the NBA until the very end of the book, where a few pages are devoted to it. Even then, I'm not sure if it was the draft that changed the game or Michael Jordan that changed it. Either way, it is an interesting look back at the events and the people that shaped up what would become maybe the most important draft in NBA History. Because of the Rockets and other teams "tanking" games to gain draft position, the NBA Draft Lottery was put into place the next season. Because of Jordan's success, the idea of drafting a big man over a guard every time was no longer in vogue, and largely due to Jordan's success, the game has evolved from a battle of the big men into a game where players such as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Dwyane Wade can dominate the game just as much, if not more, than centers such as Dwight Howard. Today, a Sam Bowie type player would never be selected over a Michael Jordan type, no matter if the team selecting needed a center and was set at guard. Now, 26 years later, Jordan, Barkley, et. al have all retired, but their impact on the game is still being felt today.
If you are a fan of the NBA, than this book will prove to be very interesting to you. My only complaint is that the book kind of skimmed through the actual draft itself, focusing more on the actions of the teams and players before the draft. It also didn't go into a whole lot of depth on other stars selected such as Otis Thorpe and Kevin Willis. But these are minor complaints, so overall I'll give the book a 7.9 out of 10. Thanks for reading, and remember if you have any ideas for future reviews, than send them to me at KtheC2001@gmail.com and I'll see if I can fulfill your request.
- One thing that I found interesting was just close that teams such as the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, and Philadelphia 76ers were to drafting Michael Jordan, only the best basketball player of all time. For example, the Mavs owned the Cleveland Cavaliers' first round pick that year, and the Cavs finished exactly one game ahead of the Bulls. If one game had been different, than the Mavericks would have the third pick in the draft, which is the pick the Bulls used to select Jordan. The same goes for the 76ers, which had the San Diego Clippers' first round pick. The Clippers finished one game ahead of the Rockets that year. If the Clippers lost one or two more games, Philadelphia would be guaranteed one of the first two picks of the draft due to the Clippers having the worst record in the Western Conference. As for the Rockets, the Bulls considered an offer which would send the third pick in the draft to Houston for Ralph Sampson, who at the time was considered a can't miss prospect at center. If the trade had gone down, the Rockets would have Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon on the same team, and who knows how many titles the team would have won. Wisely, the Bulls decided to keep the pick.
- So Houston selected Olajuwon with the first pick, which was a no-brainier because not only was he a can't miss big-man prospect, but also because Hakeem played his college ball at the University of Houston. The Rockets, behind last year's number one pick Sampson and Olajuwon, instantly became a dangerous team, making the playoffs in Olajuwon's rookie year and the NBA Finals in his second year. Of course, Sampson was brought down due to injuries and other players on that team lost much of their careers to drug use, but Hakeem remained in Houston, and was the main man on two NBA Championship teams. Some pundits may say that Houston made a mistake in taking Hakeem over Jordan, but I don't see how it's a mistake to pick one of the four of five best centers in history, even if you do pass on Jordan. As the book illustrated, the Rockets brass at the time was tickled pink that they landed the big man, and Olajuwon proved to be everything a 1st overall pick is supposed to be and more.
- The big mistake, and probably the most famous missed draft pick in NBA History, was perpetrated by the Portland Trailblazers, a team that needed a center at the time, and felt that Bowie was the man that would push them over the top. Before we get into all of that, keep in mind that the Blazers were a playoff team that year, and had the second pick because of an ill-fated trade with the Indiana Pacers three years prior, for which Indiana got one season out of journeyman center Tom Owens. Nobody brings this up, and really the only person in this book to bring it up was Stu Inman, Portland's general manager at the time. Basically, the Pacers traded the chance to draft the greatest player of all-time for one year out of an average center. With hindsight being 20/20 in all, that has got to rank among the worst trades in NBA history.
- Of course, the Blazers didn't make the right call either, as they selected Sam Bowie. The prevailing wisdom at the time said that you always pick a very good big man over a great guard. Well, that wisdom changed not too long afterwards. Bowie actually seems like a good guy, and in the book he takes his particular place in history in stride, not seeming bitter or anything like that. Sam Bowie's problem was not his play, it was that his body just couldn't handle the strain of being a top-level NBA player. Of course, the Blazers probably should have realized this after Bowie missed two seasons of college ball with a serious shin injury. Or maybe the fact that they needed a seven-hour medical exam to clear Bowie medically before the draft should have been a red flag. But Portland needed a center, and was set at the shooting guard position with Jim Paxson and future Hall-of-Famer Clyde Drexler, so Bowie was their man. In his first year, Bowie played well enough to make the All-Rookie team, but things quickly fell apart from there, as Bowie reinjured his left shin and fractured his right shin twice over the course of three years. In a four year stretch from the 1985-86 season until 1988-89, Bowie played a grand total of 63 games. The Blazers gave up and traded Bowie to the Nets, where he stayed relatively healthy for a few years and played decently, but not at the same level of Jordan or Olajuwon.
- Throughout the book, people defend Inman's decision to draft Bowie over Jordan by saying that nobody was quite sure of Jordan's potential. Well, that's all fine and dandy, but I'm just not buying it. For one, both Dallas and Philadelphia offered major trades to get the third pick, Dallas offering Mark Agguire, who was only the second leading scorer in the NBA the previous season, and Philadelphia owner Harold Katz offering the legendary Julius Erving, perhaps one of the three most famous basketball players on the planet at the time and still a great player, straight up for the third pick in the draft. Adding the Sampson for Jordan rumor (although in the book, the Rockets claim that it never was a serious trade offer), and it was pretty clear that a lot of NBA executives knew that Michael Jordan was a special ball player. Hell, watch the video of Michael Jordan being drafted by the Bulls, and listen to the announcers gush over his potential.
The book also touches on Charles Barkley, who was selected by the 76ers with the fifth pick. Barkley was a larger-than-life character who was considered a bit of a question mark due to his height (listed at 6'6" but closer to 6'4", short for a post player) and weight (somewhere around 300 pounds). Barkley showed up at the 1984 Olympic team tryouts, along with Jordan, Perkins, Stockton, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Joe Dumars, Jon Koncak, and every other major college player at the time excluding Olajuwon (not a U.S. citizen at this time) and Bowie (who turned down his invitation to focus on the draft). From all the accounts given in the book, Barkley was, other than Jordan, the best player at the camp, which raised his draft status immensely. According to the book, Barkley's goal wasn't to make the team, but dominate the first two weeks when NBA scouts were watching in order to improve his draft stock, and coast from there. That makes a lot of sense considering that the coach was Indiana University's Bobby Knight, who was not easy on any player, to be sure. Knight wanted Barkley to come in at 215 pounds, which was a ridiculous request to make, all things considered, and Knight was a hard-ass on everyone, even Jordan. To be honest, Knight comes across as a cranky man who was never satisfied, and picked players he could control (such as Vanderbilt's Jeff Turner and Indiana's Steve Alford), over more talented players like Barkley and Stockton, who also made quite an impression during the camp. The 76ers' thought process is also dissected in this book, as the team really didn't want Barkley, but due to the needs of the roster and his immense talent, could not pass on him.
- Sam Perkins and John Stockton are also profiled in this book. Perkins and Stockton came from opposite spectrums of college basketball, as Perkins was an All-America center at North Carolina, winning national championship and spending most of his college career in the limelight, while Stockton was a point guard at little known Gonzaga, playing in relative obscurity. Oddly enough, they both seem to share a lot of qualities, as both men were humble and praised for their loyalty. Perkins was a starter for many seasons who was considered too laid-back to lead a team, but he definitely contributed and worked as hard as any other player, while Stockton became the all-time assists leader through a mixture of talent, durability, and basketball smarts.
Overall, this book is a fine read, but it doesn't really go into how the draft changed the NBA until the very end of the book, where a few pages are devoted to it. Even then, I'm not sure if it was the draft that changed the game or Michael Jordan that changed it. Either way, it is an interesting look back at the events and the people that shaped up what would become maybe the most important draft in NBA History. Because of the Rockets and other teams "tanking" games to gain draft position, the NBA Draft Lottery was put into place the next season. Because of Jordan's success, the idea of drafting a big man over a guard every time was no longer in vogue, and largely due to Jordan's success, the game has evolved from a battle of the big men into a game where players such as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Dwyane Wade can dominate the game just as much, if not more, than centers such as Dwight Howard. Today, a Sam Bowie type player would never be selected over a Michael Jordan type, no matter if the team selecting needed a center and was set at guard. Now, 26 years later, Jordan, Barkley, et. al have all retired, but their impact on the game is still being felt today.
If you are a fan of the NBA, than this book will prove to be very interesting to you. My only complaint is that the book kind of skimmed through the actual draft itself, focusing more on the actions of the teams and players before the draft. It also didn't go into a whole lot of depth on other stars selected such as Otis Thorpe and Kevin Willis. But these are minor complaints, so overall I'll give the book a 7.9 out of 10. Thanks for reading, and remember if you have any ideas for future reviews, than send them to me at KtheC2001@gmail.com and I'll see if I can fulfill your request.
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