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.
So far through six draft slots we are batting .500 on finding Hall of Famers, as Dennis Johnson, Dennis Rodman and Vlade Divac all made the cut. We continue our careful analysis as we move up a spot and focus in on the 24th slot in the draft. I do believe that we hit the bottom last go-round with the 25th draft slot as Mark Price was the shining star among the bunch. I have higher expectations as we move forward in our quest to anoint a greatest at each draft position.
As promised the 24th draft slot offers considerably stiffer competition. The group as a whole has 14 NBA Championships to it’s class and one player has his jersey hanging from the rafters to honor his accomplishments. Despite the high accolades, the top-pick from this draft class has zero championships to his name, his jersey does not hang from the rafters of any NBA arena and he played only seven season in the Association.
Before we get to our crowned champion, let’s take a look at the competition. The last decade has not been overly kind in terms of talent as only Serge Ibaka and Kyle Lowry have made any kind of impact. Prior to that; however, the 1990’s saw a wealth of talent as Andrei Kirilenko, Derek Fisher, Sam Cassell, Latrell Sprewell and Rick Fox were drafted.
Not to be outdone, the 1980’s also brought some talent to the league as Brian Shaw, Terry Porter and Jay Vincent came to the Association. It was tough to not pick Porter from this draft class as the best of the best; however, he narrowly lost out to another Portland Trailblazer. Not to take away from Porter’s impressive career as he did play for 17 years, was named to two NBA All-Star teams, is still the Blazers franchise leader for assists and he ranks 12th overall in the league for career assists. Porter certainly enjoyed solid success in Portland and the Blazers honoured his contributions by retiring his jersey in 2008.
The best in class honours for the 24th overall draft slot however goes to the Lithuanian sensation, Arvydas Sabonis who was drafted 24th overall by the Portland Trailblazers in the 1986 entry draft. Sabonis didn’t actually make his NBA debut until 1995 by which time he was a shell of his former International-playing self.
Still an extremely skilled big man, the 7’3” Sabonis could pass like a point guard, shoot three-pointers and dominate the paint area. There is no question that had Sabonis sacrificed his International career, his NBA one would have been legendary. As it stands now Sabonis’ most accomplished years were spent overseas where he won multiple gold medals, countless Euro League titles, numerous league MVP’s and represented his country at every significant tournament for the better part of a decade. Sabonis was named one of FIBA’s 50 greatest players ever and he was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.
Arvydas Sabonis earns our nod as the greatest player ever to be drafted 24th overall. Stay tuned as we continue our ascent to the number spot in the draft. Next up are the 23rd overall picks, who will take home the honour of best ever?