We continue our eDraft exclusive look at the top NBA draft choices over the past 40 years. Our continued look back through history will determine who was the best draft selection through each slot in the draft. We don’t stop with the first overalls, we will go pick by pick, year by year to to identify the very best selections of all-time.
As we continue our climb to the top we make our next stop at the 11th draft slot. Before we get into the candidates we take pause to look back at the greatest 12th overall pick. Our eventual champion and newly crowned as eDraft’s greatest 12th overall pick was drafted in 1977 and it is there that we find the Boston Celtics Cedric Maxwell. Maxwell won two championships as was named Finals MVP in 1981. Maxwell had his #31 jersey retired to the rafters by the Boston Celtics. Given the competition and the career accomplishments; The Celtics Cedric Maxwell is eDraft’s greatest 12th overall draft pick of all-time.
OK, lets move on. Up next is the 11th overall selection and after interrupting our streak of finding Hall of Famers, let’s see if we can’t run the table the rest of the way. Our analysis of this draft slot turned up no fewer than 18 quality picks; that is a near 50% success rate, a stark contrast to the 12th overall spot.
The theme of this draft spot is that of the perimeter sharpshooter and we will get it started by highlighting two of the league’s current threats; Klay Thompson was taken by Golden State in 2011 while J.J. Redick went to Orlando in 2006. Two back-to-back foreign players were then selected by Golden State as they nabbed Andris Biedrins in 2004 and Mickael Pietrus in 2003.
The Detroit Pistons had three players selected and they were Bonzi Wells who was taken in 1998, Allan Houston in 1993 and John ‘The Spider’ Salley in 1986. Keeping with the shooter theme, we find Robert ‘Big Shot Bob’ Horry who was drafted in 1992 by Houston. Two more shooters were nabbed as Terrell Brandon went to Cleveland in 1991 and Nick Anderson was grabbed by Orlando in 1989.
A break from the perimeter guys takes us back to the bigs as Will Perdue and Kevin Willis were both 11th overall picks. Digging even deeper into the draft almanacs we find Derek Harper and Fat Lever who went back-toback in the 1983 and 1982 drafts. The 1980 draft saw the highly profficient perimeter shooter Kiki Vandeweghe get selected by Dallas while the 1979 draft had New Jersey select Cliff Robinson with their selection.
This truly boiled down to a two-horse race as two NBA greats were drafted 11th overall. Both of these guys were sharpshooters who made their careers as being tremendous spot-up shooters and both went to UCLA before joining the pro-ranks.
One of these NBA legends was drafted 11th overall in 1987 by the Indiana Pacers and he played his entire career for the Pacers. Reggie Miller went on to earn five All-Star nominations and an Olympic Gold medal. Miller retired as the all-time career leader in three pointers made; however, he has since been knocked off that perch by Ray Allen. Miller has his #31 jersey retired by the Indiana Pacers and he was inducted in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.
So if Reggie Miller isn’t the greatest 11th overall draft pick then who is? Well, back in 1974 the Golden State Warriors selected Jamaal Wilkes and he made an immediate impact as he won NBA Rookie of the Year. Wilkes went on to be a four time NBA Champion and he earned three All-Star nods. Wilkes had his jersey retired by the Los Angeles Lakers and also received his call to the Naismith Hall of Fame.
This truly came down to comparing one’s sucess against that of another and while Miller had a better individual career; basketball is a team sport. Wilkes won two NCAA titles with UCLA while Miller had zero. Wilkes also won four NBA Championships while Miller ended up with none. With his winning track record, it was Jamaal Wilkes that edged out the ‘Knick Killer’ Miller for eDraft’s honour as the greatest 11th overall draft pick.