A break down of the evolution of the NBA Draft, as well as a look into drafts of the past decade.
The NBA Draft has been one of the more intriguing off season events for decades. Watching the top college and foreign prospects take their first steps into the realm of professional basketball is enough to leave goosebumps on the arm of any true fan.
In its current set up, the NBA Draft Lottery is available only to those 14 teams that did not make the playoffs. Those 14 teams have a chance to land one of the top three picks with each team's chances being determined by their season record. The team that finished with the worst record has the best chance of landing the top pick.
Yet, the Lottery wasn't always set up this way. It's undergone several face lifts over the years.
From 1947-1965, the Draft included what was called territorial picks. Teams that were having a harder time drawing fans could opt not to use its first-round pick and select a local player instead. The idea was that that player might already have a fan base.
From 1966-1984, the teams with the two worst records would flip a coin to determine which would land the top pick of the Draft.
1985 marked the first real Draft Lottery that resembles the current system. Teams picked in inverse order of their records in rounds two and beyond, but the Lottery made the top picks much more interesting. The New York Knicks won the 1985 Lottery and selected Georgetown star center Patrick Ewing, who went on to become the Rookie of the Year, an 11-time NBA All-Star and one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, as well as a two-time Olympic gold medalist. [Source: NBA.com].
From 1987 until the present, the Lottery changed from determining the order of every non-playoff team to determining just the top three picks. After that, non-playoff teams were ordered inversely by their season record.
In 1989, the league decided to cut from seven rounds (which it had been since 1987) to just two rounds, thereby giving undrafted players the chance to try out for whichever teams they please.
Since then, only eight second-round picks have played in an All Star game:
- G Jeff Hornacek, Utah Jazz (1992)
- F Dennis Rodman, Detroit Pistons (1992)
- F Cedric Ceballos, LA Lakers (1995)
- C Antonio Davis, Toronto Raptors (2001)
- G Michael Redd, Milwaukee Bucks (2004)
- G Gilbert Arenas, Washington Wizards (2005)
- G Manu Ginobili, San Antonio Spurs (2005)
- F Rashard Lewis, Seattle Supersonics (2005)
Only two undrafted players, Ben Wallace - then of the Detroit Pistons, and Brad Miller - then of the Indiana Pacers, have become All Stars. Both were on the team in 2003.
In 1990, the league decided to weight team's chances of winning the number one pick.
NBA Drafts of the past ten years
- 2006 NBA Draft
- 2005 NBA Draft
- 2004 NBA Draft
- 2003 NBA Draft
- 2002 NBA Draft
- 2001 NBA Draft
- 2000 NBA Draft
- 1999 NBA Draft
- 1998 NBA Draft
- 1997 NBA Draft
Sources consulted:
- "NBA Encyclopedia Playoff Edition", NBA.com, Accessed on 15 April, 2008.
- "Draft List", BasketballReference.com, Accessed on 15 April, 2008.
- "Evolution of the Draft and Lottery", NBADraft.net, Accessed on 15 April, 2008.
