« Reply #1325 on: December 14, 2020, 09:40:51 AM »
Just for fun here are some of the players that were not drafted
PG's - Nick Van Exel, Archie Clark, Darrell Armstrong, Lou Williams, Doc Rivers
SG's - Joe Caldwell, Eddie Johnson, Nate McMillan
SF's - Bojan Bogdanovic, Jerome Kersey, Rick Fox, James Posey
PF's - Bill Bridges, Nikola Mirotic, PJ Brown, Jayson Williams, Loy Vaught
C's - Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Nikola Pekovic, Hassan Whiteside, Dale Davis, Jamaal Magloire
I'm sure I missed a few, but in other words, I think we overall did a pretty darn good job drafting as there isn't a whole lot of talent left on the board.
I listed a couple of my favorites above. Historically, Bill Sharman has got to be the best undrafted player. 7x All NBA.
A couple of other centers: Hot Rod Williams, Kevin Duckworth
Sharman was another one of those old timers like Mikan that is hard to place in these things, but was obviously very good. But all those reasons you don't like Mikan, apply to Sharman, and unlike Mikan, Sharman wasn't the best player in the world.
I don’t like Milan because his biggest talent was being big. He was a 40% shooter at center. The basketball he played was barely recognizable.
Sharman was small by today’s standards, but he had actual basketball skills.
Mikan shot 40.4% in a time when the league average was 35% (he was a 78% foul shooter). Sharman only shot 42.6% for his career in a time when the league average was around 39%. And they had overlap in their career as they both played in several of those early 50's season. I just think the criticism of Mikan is misplaced if you don't also hold the same criticism to guys like Sharman. It really wasn't until the very late 50's and early 60's when the league started to resemble a more modern game. Heck, the league average FG% didn't even hit at least 45% until the 69-70 season (and didn't hit at least 43% until 62-63). So even in the 60's it was a different type of basketball then today. It is just strange to hold only specific players to certain standards and not apply those standards to everyone. Mikan was better than Sharman.
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2023 Historical Draft - Brooklyn Nets - 9th pick
Bigs - Pau, Amar'e, Issel, McGinnis, Roundfield
Wings - Dantley, Bowen, J. Jackson
Guards - Cheeks, Petrovic, Buse, Rip