Best #1, best #2, best #3, etc. pick from every draft since 2000

[Moranis]

If it was pretty close I just put multiple players.  If I forgot anyone or you think my close aren't really that close, let me know and I can fix.

1 - Lebron James
2 - Kevin Durant
3 - Pau Gasol/Camelo Anthony/Deron Williams
4 - Chris Paul (Bosh is also here, but for me it is Paul all the way, though I could see an argument for Bosh)
5 - Dwyane Wade
6 - Danilo Gallinari (B. Roy if not for the knees)
7 - Eric Gordon/Steph Curry
8 - Rudy Gay
9 - Amare Stoudemire
10 - Andrew Bynum
11 - JJ Redick/Mickael Pietrus
12 - Thaddeus Young
13 - Richard Jefferson
14 - Troy Murphy
15 - Al Jefferson
16 - Hedo Turkoglu
17 - Josh Smith/Danny Granger/Roy Hibbert
18 - David West
19 - Zach Randolph
20 - Jameer Nelson
21 - Rajon Rondo
22 - Jarret Jack
23 - Tayshaun Prince
24 - Kyle Lowry
25 - Gerald Wallace/Nicolas Batum
26 - Kevin Martin/Samuel Dalembert
27 - Kendrick Perkins
28 - Tony Parker
29 - Josh Howard
30 - David Lee


Found this interesting just to see the caliber of player at every spot.  Obviously with an all time great at #1, you miss out on other HOF type players like Howard and Rose, so this isn't meant as these are all the great players, I was just trying to pick at the best at each draft position.  Also, picks 12 and 16 are absolutely horrid year after year (some other spots like 11 are also surprisingly weak, while a spot like 24 was surprisingly strong).  Not sure why, just one of the strange things I found.

[indeedproceed]

Dear Diary, don't ever actually make the 11th overall pick. You'll hate it.

[33-00-32]

What about 14th? Is Murphy really the best taken there since 2000?
Give me the 17th all day versus that one.

[letsgoblue86]

How about I start off the worst from every draft:
10 - Keyon Dooling

[indeedproceed]

1) Bron
2) Durantula
3) Melo
4) CP3
5) D-Wade
6) Gallo (Roy's knees and short career killed this)
7) Luol Deng
Rudy Gay
9) Amar'e
10) Joe Johnson
11) Fran Vasquez (cuz I've never seen him play and the rest of the #11's are turrible)
12) Gerald Hendersen
13) R-Jeff
14) Luke Ridnour? Anthony Randolph's hype?
15) Al Jeff
16) Hedo
17) Josh Smith
18) David West
19) Z-Bo
20) Jameer Nelson
21) Rondo
22) Jared DUdley
23) Tay Prince
24) Kyle LalalalalalalOWWWWRYYYYYYY
25) Crash Wallace
26) kevin Martin
27) Arron Afflalo
28) Tony Parker
29) Josh Howard
30) David Lee

[Moranis]

What about 14th? Is Murphy really the best taken there since 2000?
Give me the 17th all day versus that one.

14th picks from 2000 to now - Cleaves, Murphy, Fred Jones, Ridnour, K Humphries, McCants, R Brewer, Al Thornton, A Randolph, Earl Clark, Pat Patterson, Marcus Morris

Humphries is the best current player, but he was pretty poor for a long time before the last couple and Anthony Randolph is starting to come on, but for me it was Murphy (people forget that murphy has had 5 double double seasons and was a pretty darn good outside shooter for a big man - sort of a poor man's dirk).  But yeah, that is another terrible position, not like 16, but bad nonetheless.

[bdm860]

It's tough because everyone has different preferences, and it's tough to compare guys who were drafter in the early 2000's vs the last few years, are we going with how well they played, or how well they're playing right now, or what we expect for them in future, so with that being said, some other players to give consideration to:

#10 - Joe Johnson
#18 - Ty Lawson
#23 - Wilson Chandler

And I may be a terrible GM, but I might choose to build my team around Dwight instead LeBron.  (But that's probably what the Blazers were going for when they chose Oden over Durant...)  If you put Bosh into consideration next to Chris Paul, gotta do the same for Dwight I think.

Also:
Kevin Martin >>> Dalembert
Gerald Wallce >> Batum

Really #3 is the toughest spot, no clue who I'd go with there.  That's a legitimate 3 way tie in my eyes.

[indeedproceed]

#3 I decoded by their probably HOF scores.

[Moranis]

It's tough because everyone has different preferences, and it's tough to compare guys who were drafter in the early 2000's vs the last few years, are we going with how well they played, or how well they're playing right now, or what we expect for them in future, so with that being said, some other players to give consideration to:

#10 - Joe Johnson
#18 - Ty Lawson
#23 - Wilson Chandler

And I may be a terrible GM, but I might choose to build my team around Dwight instead LeBron.  (But that's probably what the Blazers were going for when they chose Oden over Durant...)  If you put Bosh into consideration next to Chris Paul, gotta do the same for Dwight I think.

Also:
Kevin Martin >>> Dalembert
Gerald Wallce >> Batum

Really #3 is the toughest spot, no clue who I'd go with there.  That's a legitimate 3 way tie in my eyes.

Bosh and Paul are much closer than James and Howard in my eyes.  James is by far the best player of his generation.  Even Larry Bird recently said that Lebron James is the best player in in the NBA right now by a wide margin.  Now if you had a team in place that had a really good wing already and no one down low, I could see the argument for picking Howard instead of James (you know Portland's reasoning for taking Bowie over Jordan), but if you are talking about starting from scratch you have to take James.

[KCattheStripe]

#3 I decoded by their probably HOF scores.

Shoulda gone with Rings.

[indeedproceed]

#3 I decoded by their probably HOF scores.

Shoulda gone with Rings.

Look bro, he's the best pure scorer in basketball. Pau Gasol isn't even the best 'wispy bearded guy' in basketball anymore.

[mgent]

It's tough because everyone has different preferences, and it's tough to compare guys who were drafter in the early 2000's vs the last few years, are we going with how well they played, or how well they're playing right now, or what we expect for them in future, so with that being said, some other players to give consideration to:

#10 - Joe Johnson
#18 - Ty Lawson
#23 - Wilson Chandler

And I may be a terrible GM, but I might choose to build my team around Dwight instead LeBron.  (But that's probably what the Blazers were going for when they chose Oden over Durant...)  If you put Bosh into consideration next to Chris Paul, gotta do the same for Dwight I think.

Also:
Kevin Martin >>> Dalembert
Gerald Wallce >> Batum

Really #3 is the toughest spot, no clue who I'd go with there.  That's a legitimate 3 way tie in my eyes.

Bosh and Paul are much closer than James and Howard in my eyes.  James is by far the best player of his generation.  Even Larry Bird recently said that Lebron James is the best player in in the NBA right now by a wide margin.  Now if you had a team in place that had a really good wing already and no one down low, I could see the argument for picking Howard instead of James (you know Portland's reasoning for taking Bowie over Jordan), but if you are talking about starting from scratch you have to take James.

At least both James and Howard are dominant in multiple areas of the game.  What has Bosh ever done to be put in the discussion with an annual top 10 player?

[Moranis]

It's tough because everyone has different preferences, and it's tough to compare guys who were drafter in the early 2000's vs the last few years, are we going with how well they played, or how well they're playing right now, or what we expect for them in future, so with that being said, some other players to give consideration to:

#10 - Joe Johnson
#18 - Ty Lawson
#23 - Wilson Chandler

And I may be a terrible GM, but I might choose to build my team around Dwight instead LeBron.  (But that's probably what the Blazers were going for when they chose Oden over Durant...)  If you put Bosh into consideration next to Chris Paul, gotta do the same for Dwight I think.

Also:
Kevin Martin >>> Dalembert
Gerald Wallce >> Batum

Really #3 is the toughest spot, no clue who I'd go with there.  That's a legitimate 3 way tie in my eyes.

Bosh and Paul are much closer than James and Howard in my eyes.  James is by far the best player of his generation.  Even Larry Bird recently said that Lebron James is the best player in in the NBA right now by a wide margin.  Now if you had a team in place that had a really good wing already and no one down low, I could see the argument for picking Howard instead of James (you know Portland's reasoning for taking Bowie over Jordan), but if you are talking about starting from scratch you have to take James.

At least both James and Howard are dominant in multiple areas of the game.  What has Bosh ever done to be put in the discussion with an annual top 10 player?

22/10 multiple times, led a terrible team to the playoffs.  I mean Toronto goes from 40-42 with Bosh to 22-60 without him.  He is a solid rebounder, good all around offensive game, and a better defender than he is given credit for.  He is also a big man, which historically are much more valuable than a PG and he is probably a top 3 PF in the game right now (behind Dirk and Gasol). I clearly have said Paul is better than Bosh, but I could see an argument where someone would want a 22/10 PF over a small PG (even one as skilled as Chris Paul).

[Boris Badenov]

Danny Ainge has three players on that list, and he's only been a GM since 2003!

Here's hoping he adds to that total this year...

[bdm860]

It's tough because everyone has different preferences, and it's tough to compare guys who were drafter in the early 2000's vs the last few years, are we going with how well they played, or how well they're playing right now, or what we expect for them in future, so with that being said, some other players to give consideration to:

#10 - Joe Johnson
#18 - Ty Lawson
#23 - Wilson Chandler

And I may be a terrible GM, but I might choose to build my team around Dwight instead LeBron.  (But that's probably what the Blazers were going for when they chose Oden over Durant...)  If you put Bosh into consideration next to Chris Paul, gotta do the same for Dwight I think.

Also:
Kevin Martin >>> Dalembert
Gerald Wallce >> Batum

Really #3 is the toughest spot, no clue who I'd go with there.  That's a legitimate 3 way tie in my eyes.

Bosh and Paul are much closer than James and Howard in my eyes.  James is by far the best player of his generation.  Even Larry Bird recently said that Lebron James is the best player in in the NBA right now by a wide margin.  Now if you had a team in place that had a really good wing already and no one down low, I could see the argument for picking Howard instead of James (you know Portland's reasoning for taking Bowie over Jordan), but if you are talking about starting from scratch you have to take James.

At least both James and Howard are dominant in multiple areas of the game.  What has Bosh ever done to be put in the discussion with an annual top 10 player?

22/10 multiple times, led a terrible team to the playoffs.  I mean Toronto goes from 40-42 with Bosh to 22-60 without him.  He is a solid rebounder, good all around offensive game, and a better defender than he is given credit for.  He is also a big man, which historically are much more valuable than a PG and he is probably a top 3 PF in the game right now (behind Dirk and Gasol). I clearly have said Paul is better than Bosh, but I could see an argument where someone would want a 22/10 PF over a small PG (even one as skilled as Chris Paul).

Well everyone has different opinions and preferences so no surprise there are disagreements, but I'll just clarify mine a little.

To me LeBron/Dwight is similar to Kobe/Shaq.  Kobe has always been the better player, and Shaq's skillset is pretty limited.  But going back I would definitely take Shaq over Kobe.  (And during Shaq's Lakers years, he said Kobe was better too).

Although I do think LeBron > Kobe (at least when it comes to actual skill and strength/athleticism), and Dwight < Shaq, but building a team it may be easier to do it around Dwight. I personally think the Heat would be better if they swapped Dwight and LeBron, though unfortunately either way they'll probably win it all this year.  (I know I've seen that discussion here somewhere before, but now that's a thread idea: go through every team in the league, would they be better if you added LeBron or Dwight?).

I can't really think of any situation where a team would be better with Bosh than Chris Paul (ignoring the obvious logjam problems of a team like New Jersey with a dominant point guard already, ok they'd be better with Bosh than Paul, but take Deron out of the equation and the team is better with Paul.)