In my view there are two candidates for best overall draft in NBA history: (1) the 1984 draft; and (2) the 1996 draft.
The 1984 draft included Hakeem, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Kevin Willis, John Stockton, Sam Perkins and Jerome Kersey. Our own Jim Petersen was also drafted that year as was Rick Carlisle.
The 1996 draft included Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen, Steve Nash, Jermaine O'Neal, Ilgauskas, Steph Marbury, Kerry Kittles, Marcus Camby, Shareef Abdul-Rahim, Antoine Walker and Peña Stojakovic. An impressive lineup.
I'm watching the 1996 NBA draft retrospective on NBA TV right now. I've seen it before. it's a fascinating draft and one that figured prominently in the troubled history of the Wolves franchise. It looked back then like Kevin McHale did everything right. He picked Ray Allen and swapped him along with a future 1st-round pick for Steph Marbury. Milwaukee wanted Ray Allen all along while McHale wanted Marbury. The Bucks front office played hard ball and squeezed McHale for Antonio Lange and a future first, but that didn't matter to McHale or Wolves fans at the time. We got our guy - an elite PG who was already friends with the Wolves 2nd-year superstar, Kevin Garnett.
In retrospect, many wish the Wolves had just kept Ray Allen. But hindsight suggest the best move for McHale would have been to trade down and taken Kobe Bryant. It's interesting to watch McHale on the show say that he considered taking Kobe Bryant but he said, "I didn't want to take two high school kids back to back." That's really dumb, but that was McHale. The fact that Jerry West was desperately trying to trade for Kobe should have given further impetus to McHale and other GMs to draft Kobe. Of course, Kobe probably would have forced his way out of Minnesota. In retrospect, Ray Allen or Steve Nash would have been the best long-term bet for McHale in that draft. The Steve Nash option was intriguing because the Wolves could have traded down and picked up a valuable additional asset or two in addition to drafting Nash.
If we re-ordered the draft with hindsight, Kobe be #1, Iverson #2 and probably Ray Allen #3. Marcus Camby never lived up to being the #2 pick by the Raptors. What's particularly interesting about Camby is that his best seasons statistically were his 10th, 11th and 12th seasons when he was 30, 31 and 32 years old. Hmm. Makes me feel better about the Gobert deal. :)
I'll confess I had no clue about Kobe at the time. I had Iverson #1 on my own board, Abdur-Rahim #2 and Marbury #3. I I can't remember the rest of my draft order. I just remember loving Iverson and really liking Rahim. Marbury was the guy I wanted for the Wolves once those two guys were off the board.
Another interesting story was how John Wallace dropped in the draft. The Knicks eventually drafted him. As it turns out, NBA GMs were right to be wary of him. He turned out to be a bust.
Anyway, if you haven't seen the 1996 draft documentary, I encourage you to watch it. It's really interesting.