1996 NBA Draft

[Lipoli390]

I watched a retrospective on the 1996 draft on NBA TV this afternoon. It was a really interesting draft.

Iverson was the top pick in that draft.

Kobe was also drafted that year. The Nets thought about drafting Kobe at #8, but opted for Kerry Kittles because he was a more finished product for a Nets team that wanted to win right away. Jerry West desperately wanted Kobe and had him pegged as the best player in the draft. He finally ended up trading Vlade to Charlotte for the draft rights to Kobe at #13. Great move by Jerry. Bad move by Charlotte. I'm still surprised Charlotte didn't at least get the Lakers #24 pick as well. As it turned out, the Lakers used the 24th pick to draft Derek Fisher. The Nets and Charlotte both screwed up, but so did every other team that passed on him, except maybe the Sixers who drafted Iverson. McHale was interviewed as part of this show. He said they wanted to get a dynamic guard who could break down defenses to pair with KG. Interestingly, he said they thought of Kobe, but decided to pass on him because they couldn't see drafting high-school players two years in a row. I guess it wasn't crazy to think that way at the time, but it sure seems like shallow thinking after already seeing first hand what KG did as a rookie.

The Wolves were apparently trying to trade up for Toronto's #2 pick to make sure they got Marbury. Ultimately, the Wolves drafted Ray Allen at #5 and then swapped him along with a future 1st for Marbury who the Bucks drafted at #4. Marbury was #1 on the Wolves board - ahead of Iverson. The deal for Marbury made sense at the time and was panning out until Marbury surprisingly pushed for a trade in a couple years out of jealously over KG's contract. The Wolves were also interested in Nash if they couldn't get Marbury. That would have been interesting because the Wolves could have traded down and picked up another asset along with Nash, who was ultimately drafted at #15. Note that it took Nash 5 seasons before he started playing at anything close to an all-star level and he didn't start playing at a superstar level until his 9th season. There's a lesson there - i.e., the need for patience with young players. Chauncey Billups career teaches the same lesson.

There are some who argue the 1996 draft class was the best of all time with Iverson, Kobe, Marbury, Ray Allen, Steve Nash, Peja, Kerry Kittles, Antoine Walker and Derek Fisher. It was a great class, but I still see the 1984 draft as the best ever. That draft included Jordan, Hakeem, Barkley, Stockton, Sam Perkins, Kevin Willis and Jerome Kersey. That's impressive. The 1985 draft was a pretty good one too with Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Detlef Schrempf, Chris Mullin, Joe Dumars, Charles Oakley, Xavier McDaniel, A.C. Green, and Terry Porter.

When I think about the 1996 draft I think about what almost was for the Wolves. Trading up for Marbury looked like the best move for the Wolves at the time. Marbury was the perfect fit for KG as a player and the two were good friends as well. But what if Milwaukee had refused to do the swap for Marbury and the Wolves had ended up keeping Allen? What if the Wolves had taken and kept Kobe Bryant? What if the Wolves had taken Kobe and traded him to the Lakers for Vlade and the Lakers' #24 pick and used that pick to take Derek Fisher? What if the Wolves had traded down and drafted Steve Nash? Would the Wolves have been patient enough with Nash's relatively slow development? I think Nash's development probably would have been accelerated playing with KG. Anyway, it's fun to speculate.

[Monster]

I watched a retrospective on the 1996 draft on NBA TV this afternoon. It was a really interesting draft.

Iverson was the top pick in that draft.

Kobe was also drafted that year. The Nets thought about drafting Kobe at #8, but opted for Kerry Kittles because he was a more finished product for a Nets team that wanted to win right away. Jerry West desperately wanted Kobe and had him pegged as the best player in the draft. He finally ended up trading Vlade to Charlotte for the draft rights to Kobe at #13. Great move by Jerry. Bad move by Charlotte. I'm still surprised Charlotte didn't at least get the Lakers #24 pick as well. As it turned out, the Lakers used the 24th pick to draft Derek Fisher. The Nets and Charlotte both screwed up, but so did every other team that passed on him, except maybe the Sixers who drafted Iverson. McHale was interviewed as part of this show. He said they wanted to get a dynamic guard who could break down defenses to pair with KG. Interestingly, he said they thought of Kobe, but decided to pass on him because they couldn't see drafting high-school players two years in a row. I guess it wasn't crazy to think that way at the time, but it sure seems like shallow thinking after already seeing first hand what KG did as a rookie.

The Wolves were apparently trying to trade up for Toronto's #2 pick to make sure they got Marbury. Ultimately, the Wolves drafted Ray Allen at #5 and then swapped him along with a future 1st for Marbury who the Bucks drafted at #4. Marbury was #1 on the Wolves board - ahead of Iverson. The deal for Marbury made sense at the time and was panning out until Marbury surprisingly pushed for a trade in a couple years out of jealously over KG's contract. The Wolves were also interested in Nash if they couldn't get Marbury. That would have been interesting because the Wolves could have traded down and picked up another asset along with Nash, who was ultimately drafted at #15. Note that it took Nash 5 seasons before he started playing at anything close to an all-star level and he didn't start playing at a superstar level until his 9th season. There's a lesson there - i.e., the need for patience with young players. Chauncey Billups career teaches the same lesson.

There are some who argue the 1996 draft class was the best of all time with Iverson, Kobe, Marbury, Ray Allen, Steve Nash, Peja, Kerry Kittles, Antoine Walker and Derek Fisher. It was a great class, but I still see the 1984 draft as the best ever. That draft included Jordan, Hakeem, Barkley, Stockton, Sam Perkins, Kevin Willis and Jerome Kersey. That's impressive. The 1985 draft was a pretty good one too with Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Detlef Schrempf, Chris Mullin, Joe Dumars, Charles Oakley, Xavier McDaniel, A.C. Green, and Terry Porter.

When I think about the 1996 draft I think about what almost was for the Wolves. Trading up for Marbury looked like the best move for the Wolves at the time. Marbury was the perfect fit for KG as a player and the two were good friends as well. But what if Milwaukee had refused to do the swap for Marbury and the Wolves had ended up keeping Allen? What if the Wolves had taken and kept Kobe Bryant? What if the Wolves had taken Kobe and traded him to the Lakers for Vlade and the Lakers' #24 pick and used that pick to take Derek Fisher? What if the Wolves had traded down and drafted Steve Nash? Would the Wolves have been patient enough with Nash's relatively slow development? I think Nash's development probably would have been accelerated playing with KG. Anyway, it's fun to speculate.

There are a lot of what if's there. :) It is interesting to think about. Kobe also bluffed his way into teams not picking him.

I think Nash is a guy that played with more of a free flowing type of game but I also think Flip and him would have been a nice pairing.

[FNG]

Lip, I think you missed my post a couple months ago about Nash. I actually got to watch his workout over at the downtown NW Club in 1996 (the only other Wolves pre-draft workout I have ever watched was Paul Grant...he was terrible and I couldn't believe it when we actually drafted him!). I have to admit I had never heard of Nash, but I was dazzled by the workout. I watched for a half hour and they were still going, and he had a good sweat going by the time I got there, so it must have been a long workout. I was puzzled by why we were spending so much time on a guy I had never heard of when we only had one pick in the draft...I knew we weren't going to use the #6 pick to take a short guy I had never heard of. But the more I watched him, the more I was impressed. I told my basketball friends I was convinced we were either going to trade down or find some other way to get this guy late in the first round (or even the second). I took a lot of crap from those guys when Nash was so awful his first 5 seasons!

Thanks for filling in some of the details I didn't know at the time.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Stephon Marbury is the biggest "what if" in this franchise's history, in my opinion, because of what the combination of him and Kevin Garnett could have achieved. It wasn't that they were two highly-talented players, but their games complimented each other's and they had great on-court chemistry. Fans of the game today laugh and point out the 2009 draft where the Wolves passed over Steph Curry, and that's justified, but that group of talent with Curry wasn't going anywhere. The duo of Garnett and Marbury could have eventually won a championship, I feel. And that's why it's utterly disappointing -- more so than any other blunder in team history.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Also, I feel like the 2003 NBA draft should be mentioned in any conversation regarding the best drafts of all-time. Like you, I still think the 1984 draft is the best ever, but I think 2003 has a very good argument for second.

[Lipoli390]

Stephon Marbury is the biggest "what if" in this franchise's history, in my opinion, because of what the combination of him and Kevin Garnett could have achieved. It wasn't that they were two highly-talented players, but their games complimented each other's and they had great on-court chemistry. Fans of the game today laugh and point out the 2009 draft where the Wolves passed over Steph Curry, and that's justified, but that group of talent with Curry wasn't going anywhere. The duo of Garnett and Marbury could have eventually won a championship, I feel. And that's why it's utterly disappointing -- more so than any other blunder in team history.

I agree, Cam. You could see this team gelling into a great team with KG and Marbury. They were great players who complemented each other perfectly. The Wolves had the best record in the the Western Conference when the Wolves traded Marbury. Ah, what might have been.

[Lipoli390]

Lip, I think you missed my post a couple months ago about Nash. I actually got to watch his workout over at the downtown NW Club in 1996 (the only other Wolves pre-draft workout I have ever watched was Paul Grant...he was terrible and I couldn't believe it when we actually drafted him!). I have to admit I had never heard of Nash, but I was dazzled by the workout. I watched for a half hour and they were still going, and he had a good sweat going by the time I got there, so it must have been a long workout. I was puzzled by why we were spending so much time on a guy I had never heard of when we only had one pick in the draft...I knew we weren't going to use the #6 pick to take a short guy I had never heard of. But the more I watched him, the more I was impressed. I told my basketball friends I was convinced we were either going to trade down or find some other way to get this guy late in the first round (or even the second). I took a lot of crap from those guys when Nash was so awful his first 5 seasons!

Thanks for filling in some of the details I didn't know at the time.

Yes, I missed that post. Thanks for including that story here. What a great draft workout to see. I saw the Jonny Flynn workout. It was a group PG workout with Jrue Holiday, Ty Lawson, Tyreke Evans and Jonny Flynn. There were two others and they played full court three on three. It was a lot of fun and highly competitive. Holiday was clearly the best of the six in my view and in the view of some others who were also there as observers. Tyreke Evans was the most physically impressive. And Ty Lawson was the best shooter. Flynn was OK, but not particularly impressive in that workout.

[FNG]

Lip, I think you missed my post a couple months ago about Nash. I actually got to watch his workout over at the downtown NW Club in 1996 (the only other Wolves pre-draft workout I have ever watched was Paul Grant...he was terrible and I couldn't believe it when we actually drafted him!). I have to admit I had never heard of Nash, but I was dazzled by the workout. I watched for a half hour and they were still going, and he had a good sweat going by the time I got there, so it must have been a long workout. I was puzzled by why we were spending so much time on a guy I had never heard of when we only had one pick in the draft...I knew we weren't going to use the #6 pick to take a short guy I had never heard of. But the more I watched him, the more I was impressed. I told my basketball friends I was convinced we were either going to trade down or find some other way to get this guy late in the first round (or even the second). I took a lot of crap from those guys when Nash was so awful his first 5 seasons!

Thanks for filling in some of the details I didn't know at the time.

Yes, I missed that post. Thanks for including that story here. What a great draft workout to see. I saw the Jonny Flynn workout. It was a group PG workout with Jrue Holiday, Ty Lawson, Tyreke Evans and Jonny Flynn. There were two others and they played full court three on three. It was a lot of fun and highly competitive. Holiday was clearly the best of the six in my view and in the view of some others who were also there as observers. Tyreke Evans was the most physically impressive. And Ty Lawson was the best shooter. Flynn was OK, but not particularly impressive in that workout.

That must have been fun! I'm thinking there are a whole lot of Wolves' fans who loved Flynn in the NCAA tournament but didn't want the Wolves to draft him...even if they hadn't just taken Rubio. Maybe he would have been more successful if he were healthy, but I guess I never thought his game would translate to stardom in the NBA.

[Monster]

Joseph Blair was in that 1996 draft.

Guess who originally owned that 2nd round pick?