Is the 1996 Draft the best ever?

[crownsy]

Agreed on '84, it's the best ever in my opinion also. Conversely, I'm interested to hear your 15 better shooting guards in the history of the NBA that rank ahead of Kobe Bryant. I was talking top 10 period, not of his position.

Well, first, I was saying that Kobe would be Top 15, not that 15 SGs were better. Second, I said that more as a "hedging my bets" kind of thing, as in "Maybe someone will say he's not Top 5 . . . maybe they'll say he's not top 10 . . . but we can DEFINITELY all agree he's very certainly going to be Top 15." Contrast this with Jordan, who I'd argue was unquestionably Top 10 in everyone's mind (at the absolute worst) after 12 years in the league. Personally, I'd rank Kobe in the Top 10 historically, with the very real potential that he could crack the top 5.

What SGs would I rank ahead of Kobe historically? Well, let me preface this by saying that I'm only 24, and so I can't promise that I might not forget to list one or two of the old players from the 50s and 60s who would qualify for this list. Also, let it just be stated that there are some players (Oscar Robertson and Allen Iverson, for example) who I could probably successfully argue to effectively be a SG based on how they played, but I'm not including them because I don't think many would consider them to be a pure SG. So, based on my knowledge, I'd rank the following above Kobe (in no particular order):

Michael Jordan
Jerry West
Clyde Drexler
George Gervin
Pete Maravich
Earl Monroe
Sam Jones
Joe Dumars
Dave Bing (maybe)
Reggie Miller (maybe)
Paul Arizin (maybe)
Bill Sharman (maybe)

So, assuming someone believed ALL of those players should be above Kobe, he checks in at #13.

you could mabey, IMO argue Kobe is 4th behind jordan, west and pistol. I have him third out of that list, assuming that he doesn't get a major injury or two in the upcoming 6-7 years he has left.

[BUTerrier]

Well, first, I was saying that Kobe would be Top 15, not that 15 SGs were better. Second, I said that more as a "hedging my bets" kind of thing, as in "Maybe someone will say he's not Top 5 . . . maybe they'll say he's not top 10 . . . but we can DEFINITELY all agree he's very certainly going to be Top 15." Contrast this with Jordan, who I'd argue was unquestionably Top 10 in everyone's mind (at the absolute worst) after 12 years in the league. Personally, I'd rank Kobe in the Top 10 historically, with the very real potential that he could crack the top 5.

What SGs would I rank ahead of Kobe historically? ... So, based on my knowledge, I'd rank the following above Kobe (in no particular order):

Michael Jordan
Jerry West
Clyde Drexler
George Gervin
Pete Maravich
Earl Monroe
Sam Jones
Joe Dumars
Dave Bing (maybe)
Reggie Miller (maybe)
Paul Arizin (maybe)
Bill Sharman (maybe)

So, assuming someone believed ALL of those players should be above Kobe, he checks in at #13.

I'd like to have whatever you're smoking. From your list, only Jordan and West are better than Kobe. Joe Dumars and Reggie Miller? Really!?!?!? IMO, Dumars doesn't even belong in the HOF. At least not until DJ gets in.

Let me clarify. When I said "I'd rank the following above Kobe," I meant that as a list of players people could argue at this moment in time would be higher on the list than Kobe. That's why I put some with "maybe"s after their names; they're ones that I could see someone arguing about, but I'd never do it.

Where do I rank Kobe? Well, at this moment, I'd say he's below Jordan, West, Drexler, and Pistol Pete without question. I'd personally put him below Gervin at the moment as well, and my gut tells me that Monroe and Sam Jones were better if you don't extrapolate Kobe's numbers or truncate theirs. Part of me wants to say Dumars is better too (since I don't think people fully appreciate the kind of things Joe D did for those Pistons teams), but I'll concede the "Kobe is better than Dumars" point. Given all that, that would put Kobe at #8 all-time on my list, which isn't bad given that he's still arguably got at least 5 years left in his career at an absolute minimum and not a lot of work to do to overtake Jones, Monroe, and maybe Gervin.