NBA's 5 Best 1st Round Picks

[Pimpin]

If there is a thread already up about this then I apologize ahead of time.

Is it me or does a lot of first round picks in the NBA turns out to either be busts or irrelevant in a couple of years after they get drafted. Sure there are some of themthat become successful & break out into superstar type players, but mainly most of them either don't get a chance to start, aren't really deserving of getting picked in the first round or the team that drafted them finally had enough sense to say that they made a mistake by drafting that guy & cut his ass.

Well in this thread i'm gonna list in my opinion the 5 greatest NBA Draft Picks based on who I watched the most(note that none of these picks are in order).

Michael Jordan: Chicago Bulls & Washington Wizards.

Michael Jordan is without a doubt the greatest basketball player to ever grace the NBA. He was the ultimate clutch player as he always delivered when it mattered the most as his & the Bulls 6 rings clearly shows that. Whatever aspect of his game that he lacked, he always worked hard to get better. He can dunk, defend, hell to sum it all up he can do everything. He's won so many awards that it's difficult for me to name them all. He's that damn good & I can say that I am honored to not only have seen his games on tv, but also seen him play up close & personal.

Dirk Nowitzki: Dallas Mavericks

Dirk was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 9th overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft & the Bucks traded his draft rights to the Mavericks for the draft rights of Robert Traylor & Pat Garrity. Dirk's tenure in Dallas has been remarkable as he has made the NBA All Star team 8 straight times, NBA All First team(2005-2007), NBA ALL Second Team(2002-2003,2008), & of course more importantly the 2007 NBA MVP. Drik is truly phenominal & of course he plays for my favorite team & has definitely lived up to the comparisions of Larry Bird.

Hakeem Olajuwon: Houston Rockets & Toronto Raptors

I ain't a Rockets fan by any means, but I will give credit to where credit is due. Olajuwon is one of the greatest centers in the history of the league as he learned from Moses Malone & it showed dividens as the Rockets won 2 NBA Championships with Olajuwon & Olajuwon also made other people scared to guard him as he was difficult to defend, he made it difficult for everybody to put up a shot against him. Olajuwon was without a doubt a great player & I think his play clearly showed that.

Patrick Ewing: New York Knicks, Seattle Supersonics & Orlando Magic

Ewing was no doubt one of the toughest players in league history. Ewing was an 11 time all star, 1990 All NBA 1st Team Selection, & was selected to the NBA's All Defensive Second Team 6 times. He was a great post player as he was a great scorer, a great rebounder & could no doubt block shots with the best of them then & no doubt could do it against some of today's great players. Currently today he is an assistant coach with the Orlando Magic where he has passed on his skills to current Magic center Dwight Howard.

Larry Bird: Boston Celtics

During the 80's it was very rare that a power forward shot jump shots, but that was what Larry Bird did for the Boston Celtics. He along with Magic Johnson helped rejuvinate the NBA & helped it stay after the low attendance & minimal tv interest. He became one of the greatest clutch performers in league history as he always hit a game winning shot or game tying shot when it mattered the most. He won many games due to those tactics & he was an efficient free throw shooter as well. Bird retired in 1992 & by 1997 he became the coach of the Indiana Pacers & coached them to an NBA Finals appearance in 1999. Today Bird is the Pacers President Of Basketball Operations(you can also call him the GM of the Pacers).

 

[Khalifa]

Big Pimpin I love your work but you honestly think Dirk is really that good. Yeah he can shoot the ball from any where but thats all. He cant rebound,block,pass and he is no 48 minute player. Anyways for mine. I am not going to list 5. I am going to list 2 and then continue when I have thought of some more.

Scottie Pippen: He was drafted By Seattle and then traded to Chicago during the night of the draft. He may not have been the best player in the NBA, he probably wasn't even top 15 but he was just one of those people you have to have in your starting line up. He was just so good. He was 6'8 and he was dribbling the ball up court for Chicago. Now if that isn't impressive he was also the leading player for the Bulls in Jordans era for steals and assists during 94-98. He was still averaging 18+ points a night along with 7 rebounds with Jordan. He was defently one of the most valuable players during the 91-98 seasons for the NBA.

Gary Payton: Now alot of people may disagree with me but seriously I loved this dude. He wasn't your usual point guard. He was the one you had to have on your team just to make your team look intimidating. He was one of those people that you just loved to hate. He would trash talk you all night and then he would do twice as good as you on both ends of the floor. In 1996 he got defensive player of the year, the only guard to do so. He also carried the sonics along with Shawn Kemp during the 90's. He lead the team in assists,steals and forced turnovers . Once the ball was in his hand on a fast break you just knew a lob to Shawn Kemp was coming and all you could do was jump to your feet in laughter. While he may have taken some questionable shots during his career, he defently was one of the top point guards basketball has ever seen.

 

[Pimpin]

Big Pimpin I love your work but you honestly think Dirk is really that good. Yeah he can shoot the ball from any where but thats all. He cant rebound,block,pass and he is no 48 minute player. Anyways for mine. I am not going to list 5. I am going to list 2 and then continue when I have thought of some more.

Scottie Pippen: He was drafted By Seattle and then traded to Chicago during the night of the draft. He may not have been the best player in the NBA, he probably wasn't even top 15 but he was just one of those people you have to have in your starting line up. He was just so good. He was 6'8 and he was dribbling the ball up court for Chicago. Now if that isn't impressive he was also the leading player for the Bulls in Jordans era for steals and assists during 94-98. He was still averaging 18+ points a night along with 7 rebounds with Jordan. He was defently one of the most valuable players during the 91-98 seasons for the NBA.

Gary Payton: Now alot of people may disagree with me but seriously I loved this dude. He wasn't your usual point guard. He was the one you had to have on your team just to make your team look intimidating. He was one of those people that you just loved to hate. He would trash talk you all night and then he would do twice as good as you on both ends of the floor. In 1996 he got defensive player of the year, the only guard to do so. He also carried the sonics along with Shawn Kemp during the 90's. He lead the team in assists,steals and forced turnovers . Once the ball was in his hand on a fast break you just knew a lob to Shawn Kemp was coming and all you could do was jump to your feet in laughter. While he may have taken some questionable shots during his career, he defently was one of the top point guards basketball has ever seen.

At the time I was creating this thread, my brain froze as I couldn't think of any other Power Forward other than Dirk. He's a very vital part of that team as my Mavs would be screwed without him. Yes he can shoot the ball from anywhere which that makes him a unique type of player cause you don't see many big men ever do that(aside of Gasol, Ilgauskas, Jamison & Garnett). Plus he can pass the ball a bit, but then again what big man can.

I loved Scottie Pippen when he was with the Bulls as I thought those were definitely his best years, but most people would label him as just Jordan's sidekick despite being a great player in his own right. I do agree with you listing Pippen on this list.

Payton was a bad ass point guard when he was playing for the Sonics. He was one of those rare breeds of Point Guards that was great at defense(at the time he was the first guard in 8 years to have won the award). I thought that with Shawn Kemp & Gary Payton carrying the Sonics that they were a dominant force(they only lost the NBA title in 6 Games to the Bulls). He could talk a bunch of shit to you & back it up all at once as he was truly a phenominal player.

 

[bshort31092]

I'm not going to include Lebron because he's still young, but you left out:

Kobe Bryant - MVP, 3-Time NBA Champ, need I say more.

Michael Jordan - MVP, 6-Time NBA Champ, once again need I say more.

Shaq - 4-Time NBA Champ, arguably the most dominating player ever

Dominique Wilkins - I'm a Hawk's fan.

Julius Erving - Dr. J, Slam Dunk Champ, I'm not sure if he was drafted since he came from the ABA but some guys got drafted into both so i don't know.