Chad Ford's top 25 prospects of the century

[BigAlTheFuture]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11099139/nba-draft-lebron-james-leads-rank-top-25-draft-prospects-last-15-years

Note that this ranking has nothing to do with how a player has -- or has not -- performed in the NBA. Rather, it's solely based on each prospect's perceived potential coming into the draft.

Here are the top 25 prospects from the past 15 years to enter the NBA draft.

1. LeBron James (2003)
2. Greg Oden (2007)
3. Yao Ming (2002)
4. Kevin Durant (2007)
5. Anthony Davis (2012)
6. Darko Milicic (2003)
7. Carmelo Anthony (2003)
8. Jay Williams (2002)
9. Joel Embiid (2014)
10. Andrew Wiggins (2014)
11. Derrick Rose (2008)
12. Jabari Parker (2014)
13. Blake Griffin (2009)
14. Ricky Rubio (2009)
15. Chris Paul (2005)
16. John Wall (2010)
17. Michael Beasley (2008)
18. Dwight Howard (2004)
19. O.J. Mayo (2008)
20. Marvin Williams (2004)
21. Adam Morrison  (2006)
22. Nikoloz Tskitishvili (2002)
23. Kwame Brown (2001)
24. Shaun Livingston (2004)
25. Emeka Okafor (2004)

Don't quite remember the Yao hype. Had no idea he was such a highly regarded prospect.

[Donoghus]

Ha...it's a bit ironic.

Darko probably wouldn't crack the top 20 if it wasn't for Chad Ford, himself.

[LarBrd33]

Yeah Yao was the first I remember seeing get super hyped in the internet generation.  All things considered, he really didn't disappoint.  He was a solid 20 and 10 center, but injuries slowed him.

[Fafnir]

Yeah Yao was the best offensive C in the league and a good team defender/rebound till his body gave out on him.

[rondoallaturca]

I'm surprised Andrea Bargnani didn't make the list. There was a whole slew of Euro's after Dirk that people were really enamored with, but wasn't Barg the first Euro people thought had a legitimate chance of matching Dirk's greatness? His draft class also happened to be in the middle of Dirk's prime years.

[saltlover]

A few thoughts:

1) This is a good demonstration of why people are so hyped about this draft.  There could be a little bias towards drafts from long ago, but at the same time, 3 of the top 12 players on the list are from this year, and 2010-2013 only had one (Anthony Davis) over four years.

2) I'm sick of people saying Embiid = Oden, and also saying Oden was a bad pick.  I completely agree with Ford here (something I don't often do) -- Oden was the best college center I've seen.  I'm too young to have seen Ewing, but Oden could do it all.  I'd probably have put Yao above him, remembering the hype of Yao, but Oden was much younger when picked, so probably had more room for growth. 

3) Draft picks, even top picks, are inherently risky.  Something to keep in mind when thinking about trading #6 and more for Love.  I see this list, and names like Jay Williams and Shaun Livingston make me sad.  I will always say that I thought Kwame Brown was overrated, however.

[Donoghus]

Obviously, hindsight is 20/20 but its funny to think back to some of the debates at the time.

Yao/Jay Williams
Howard/Okafor
Oden/Durant
Rose/Beasley

Makes you wonder if we'll be looking back at Embiid/Wiggins/Parer and laughing at the thought five years from now.

[BballTim]

  Blake should be higher than that, probably above Williams.

[BigAlTheFuture]

Also shocked to see Jay Williams so high. Was he destined to be a top 3 PG?

[BudweiserCeltic]

This is a very weird list, he's clearly using some "in hindsight" info to rationalize the inclusion of some big names (and also using it to include some big busts that he wanted to include in the list as well) instead of using the actual hype that those players received for their perceived potential.

[footey]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11099139/nba-draft-lebron-james-leads-rank-top-25-draft-prospects-last-15-years

Note that this ranking has nothing to do with how a player has -- or has not -- performed in the NBA. Rather, it's solely based on each prospect's perceived potential coming into the draft.

Here are the top 25 prospects from the past 15 years to enter the NBA draft.

1. LeBron James (2003)
2. Greg Oden (2007)
3. Yao Ming (2002)
4. Kevin Durant (2007)
5. Anthony Davis (2012)
6. Darko Milicic (2003)
7. Carmelo Anthony (2003)
8. Jay Williams (2002)
9. Joel Embiid (2014)
10. Andrew Wiggins (2014)
11. Derrick Rose (2008)
12. Jabari Parker (2014)
13. Blake Griffin (2009)
14. Ricky Rubio (2009)
15. Chris Paul (2005)
16. John Wall (2010)
17. Michael Beasley (2008)
18. Dwight Howard (2004)
19. O.J. Mayo (2008)
20. Marvin Williams (2004)
21. Adam Morrison  (2006)
22. Nikoloz Tskitishvili (2002)
23. Kwame Brown (2001)
24. Shaun Livingston (2004)
25. Emeka Okafor (2004)

Don't quite remember the Yao hype. Had no idea he was such a highly regarded prospect.

I would put Embiid higher than Jay Williams, or even Melo maybe.  Did not realize Anthony Davis would be so high. Interesting list.

[Donoghus]

Also shocked to see Jay Williams so high. Was he destined to be a top 3 PG?

He was pretty darn nasty in college.  Had plenty of hype from the ESPN machine too but he could clearly ball.  I remember seeing that '01 Duke team in person and he was the best player out there.   

His rookie year ended up being so-so and then he had the motorcycle accident.  I'm not sure he would've reached Chris Paul heights or anything but heading into that 2002 draft, he was getting a lot of hype.  Before the lottery, there was definitely talk about Williams v. Yao but, from what I recall, it subsided once Houston got the #1 pick since they had Stevie Franchise in place.

[Future Celtics Owner]

Greg Oden was such a great college center. Even if you look at his nba career stats they are really good. Its sad what happened and what could have been.

[bdm860]

Also shocked to see Jay Williams so high. Was he destined to be a top 3 PG?

I'm not.  I know I was one of the guys who thought he'd be awesome.  Basically like Deron Williams in his prime, but with a clean cut Grant Hill like charisma.

I think Dajuan Wagner and Sebastian Telfair are missing from that list.  The main reason why people weren't salivating over them for the #1 pick was because they weren't tall.  Before this recent influx of guards (Rose, Irving, Wall), Allen Iverson was the only #1 pick under 6'7" and the only the 2nd guard (Magic being the other) in like a 30 year span.  You didn't draft guards under 6'7" #1, but people thought of them as the next Iverson and Isiah.

Also thought Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler were more hyped than Kwame Brown ever was.  I felt like Kwame Brown kind of came out of nowhere and had none of the hype the other 2 had.  While Curry and Chandler were rumored to be #1 picks well before their Senior years of high school.

[fairweatherfan]

Ha...it's a bit ironic.

Darko probably wouldn't crack the top 20 if it wasn't for Chad Ford, himself.

Eh, I read an oral history retrospective on the 2003 draft last year and lots of sources around the different teams were talking about how everyone was gushing over Darko and how great he could be.  Hindsight's 20-20 so it's easy to disregard how widely hyped he was.