1993 Draft Retrospective

[WigNosy]

Every year, when evaluating rookies, people say you won't be able to accurately rate them until their careers have taken shape. Well, we're now to the point where the careers of the 1993 draft class have taken shape. They're now on at least their third contract, and most are starting to decline out of their primes. Their impact on the league is now pretty clearly understood. Let's take a look back at the draft and see both how the teams that drafted them have fared and how the players themselves have fared.

#1 - Minnesota Timberwolves - Chris Webber
#2 - Dallas Mavericks - OPenny Hardaway
#3 - Miami Heat - Sam Cassell
#4 - Seattle Supersonics - Vin Baker
#5 - Portland Trailblazers - Shawn Bradley
#6 - Los Angeles Lakers - Bruce Bowen
#7 - Boston Celtics - Toni Kukoc
#8 - Dallas Mavericks - Bryon Russell
#9 - Portland Trailblazers - Jamal Mashburn
#10 - Denver Nuggets - Allan Houston
#11 - Los Angeles Clippers - Nick Van Exel
#12 - Minnesota Timberwolves - Ervin Johnson
#13 - New Jersey Nets - Isaiah Rider
#14 - Houston Rockets - Dino Radja
#15 - Utah Jazz - Rodney Rogers
#16 - Phoenix Suns - Lindsey Hunter
#17 - Charlotte Hornets - Gheorghe Muresan
#18 - San Antonio Spurs - Lucious Harris
#19 - Chicago Bulls - Calbert Cheaney
#20 - Philadelphia 76ers - Chris Mills
#21 - New York Knicks - Rex Walters
#22 - VanMemphis Grizzlies - Antonio Davis
#23 - Dallas Mavericks - Bo Outlaw
#24 - Philadelphia 76ers - Chris Whitney
#25 - Indiana Pacers - Harold Ellis
#26 - Charlotte Hornets - Scott Burrell
#27 - Detroit Pistons - Terry Dehere
#28 - Cleveland Cavaliers - Greg Graham
#29 - Atlanta Hawks - George Lynch

With that little reminder, let's now look at the top picks in the draft and what impact they had, as well as taking a little time to briefly look at a couple of other things that caught my eye when reviewing this group of players.

#1 Pick - Chris Webber, Wolves (traded to Rockets prior to 2002 season)

Webber did just about everything you could ask a #1 overall pick to do short of leading the Wolves to the title. He made 9 all-league appearances, 9 all-star appearances, and put up 24.7 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.0 spg, and 1.5 bpg for the Wolves, and missed just 17 games in those 9 years of service. When the trade to the Rockets was finally made, the Wolves got Tayshaun Prince, Jason Richardson, and the Rockets' 2004 pick in return (which looks like it will be a non-lotto selection)... a decent haul of young talent with which to rebuild. The Wolves definitely got a great return on their pick.

#2 Pick - OPenny Hardaway (traded to Hawks prior to 2000 season)

Penny has been terrorizing the league since he broke in and was drafted by Darth. He went for 22 ppg on 52% shooting as a rookie and didn't really slow down appreciably until this year. He finished his Mavericks career averaging 25.7 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 7.4 apg, and 1.9 spg on a ludicrous .537 shooting mark for a guard and led the Mavericks to a pair of championships, while picking up an MVP award himself. Penny was the face of the Mavericks, and a face that many teams had haunting their nightmares. When the Mavs finally let him go (note this was under a new owner), they got Andre Miller, Donyell Marshall, and what turned into a back-of-the-draft first round pick for him... and after flipping Marshall for Marcus Camby, wound up making another Finals run in 2001 (only to lose to OPenny's Hawks squad). Most would argue that in the rookie draft, this was probably the best pick ever (Shawn Kemp was a creation draft pick).

#3 Pick - Sam Cassell

Cassell was traded to the Warriors for Erick Murdock, Larry Nance, and a draft pick midway through his first season. He looked promising until a broken leg (suffered February 20, 1995 - a day that will live in infamy in Golden State) completely derailed his career. He was never the same player after that, but the Heat had dumped him by that point, so what did they care?

#4 Pick - Vin Baker, Sonics

Vin is a classic "decent starter but never a star" who plugged away for years in Seattle. He wasn't awful, but he was never really great, either.

#5 pick - Shawn Bradley, Blazers

His defense defined the Blazers for years. Too bad the team could never quite coalesce a good team around him.

#7 pick - Toni Kukoc, Celtics

This pick was actually the 76ers' pick, which was involved in a Celtics-76ers pick swap... the Celtics put top 2 protection on their pick and this meant their pick reverted to them so they got Zo... then they got this pick out of the 76ers as well, completing the coup-de-grace by adding insult to injury; the final result was the 76ers traded the #2 and #7 picks in consecutive drafts for the #24 pick (Chris Whitney). Kukoc's acquisition made the Celtics truly the beasts of the East for the next 5-6 years. More than any other incident, that may have loaded up owner sentiment against pick protection to the point where it was scrapped when voted on.

#9 pick - Jamal Mashburn, Blazers

Mashburn's skill has probably always been overshadowed by his contract - he's always had "starter-but-not-star" skills but a "star contract" - but he's been a solid performer his whole career despite bouncing around the league, having averaged less than double digit scoring only once (last year with Utah in just 25 mpg).

#10 pick - Allan Houston

This guy felt like he always teased teams with his potential, but never quite delivered. He started strong, then faded before having about three seasons as a true scoring threat (1998-2000) but never brought anything other than putting the ball through the rim to the table. He's a great #2 or #3, but too often I think teams tried to cast him as a #1.

#11 pick - Nick Van Exel

May go down as the 3rd-best player out of this draft class (behind the top-2 picks) as he is STILL killing the league with the Clippers after a brief fling in Seattle. I could be wrong, but I think he is second only to Gary Payton in career SLOE assists.

#13 pick - Isaiah Rider

Always a fantastic scorer, but probably saw his stock crash when he went from blue/blue to yellow/yellow in a single year of Training Camp. Before that, though, he was an absolute terror offensively, averaging over 20 ppg his first 9 seasons in the league and still scoring double-digits today.

BEST VALUE PICK: Bo Outlaw, Dallas Mavericks, #23 - had a rotten Training Camp this year, but has been a solid backup/spot starting big man most of his career.

BIGGEST BUST: Bryon Russell, #8 (also, Dallas Mavericks). Cassell might have had the most disapppointing career, but mostly that was due to that wicked broken leg. Russell may have single-handedly destroyed the Rockets for years by getting fat and happy and dive-bombing in training camp right after he was signed to a max deal... the Rockets panicked and gave away multiple firsts just to make his contract go away. When teams are giving away multiple firsts to get rid of you, you're in a special class of "bust," sorry. I can't even fault the Rockets - the signing looked great at the time it was made... but the Training Camp gods took away here.

POINT AT WHICH THE CLASS QUALITY FELL OFF A CLIFF: Between picks 23 and 24. There were some dogs taken in the late teens, but Antonio Davis and Bo Outlaw were serviceable big men for a long time. Guys picked after Bo... not so much.

[PaulyP]

Penny is the GOAT
This draft was really role player heavy as you pointed out, lot of guys who people thought would be great but ended up being just decent

[IamQuailman]

AWARDED 5 POINTS! THANKS! (for 03-04 Season media Total)