Top NBA draft steals

[Stone Cold is Bout It, Bout It]

In the NBA, one player can turn a franchise around, much quicker than a first-year baseball or football player. Teams that draft one of the top five or six players in the first round have an excellent chance of showing immediate improvement.

The other general managers still have a chance to draft an impact player, even an All-Star. And with that in mind, here are some of the best steals in NBA draft history.

1. 2002 draft, 9th overall: Amare Stoudemire
The Phoenix Suns drafted ninth in 2002. They nabbed Stoudemire, who averaged 26 points per game last season, and 30 in the playoffs, and he doesn't turn 23 years old until mid-November. The four players picked directly in front of Stoudemire were Nikoloz Tskitishvili , Dajuan Wagner, Nene, and Chris Wilcox. Sometimes, you have to be a little lucky, especially if you're going to take a chance on a high school kid like Stoudemire.

Also in this category (high risk, high reward with youth):
Shawn Kemp, Tracy McGrady.


2. 1998 draft, 32nd overall: Rashard Lewis
Like Stoudemire, Lewis was drafted right out of high school. And anyone who watched the draft in 1998 remembers Lewis being brought to tears in front of a national TV audience after the first round came and went and he still hadn't been picked. But he has made teams pay for passing him over. Lewis started for the Sonics as a teenager, and has now finished his seventh season with the team, and his first as an All-Star, and he improved his scoring each of his first five seasons. The players picked in the 1998 second round included some serviceable NBA players (Shammond Williams, Jerome James, Jahidi White) but the Sonics found the real diamond in the second-round rough.


3. 1996 draft, 15th overall: Steve Nash
 


Almost every MVP entered the NBA as one of the top picks in the draft. The closest "steal" to 2005 MVP Nash was the MVP winner in 1997 and 1999, Karl Malone. The Mailman was selected 13th in 1985, a steal if ever there were one. And Nash was a real steal for the Suns. Why was he such a surprise? He played his college ball at the University of Santa Clara. He grew up in Victoria, British Columbia; where he discovered basketball in the eighth grade and told his mom, Jean, that he was going to play in the NBA someday.


4. 1986 draft, 27th overall: Dennis Rodman
The 1986 NBA draft class is littered with disappointments and tragedy, especially at the top of the draft. Despite the landmines, the Detroit Pistons were able to pick two players that helped them win two NBA championships, and reached the Eastern Conference finals five years in a row. John Salley was picked 11th out of Georgia Tech — ahead of the college player of the year (St. John's product Walter Berry). The Pistons followed that up in the second round with a skinny forward from SE Oklahoma State. Dennis Rodman and Long Tall Salley were key ingredients to the Pistons' success. Rodman was a rebounding monster in Detroit, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year there, and even led the league in field-goal percentage in 1989. Given his later headaches and headlines, people forget about how good a player Rodman was in his first years in Detroit.

Of course, Rodman wouldn't have been the steal of the 1986 draft if Portland had been able to sway Arvydas Sabonis (25th overall) to the States. Many people consider Sabonis in his prime to be one of the best big men ever to play the game, but he didn't join Portland until 1996. He gave the Blazers seven seasons — his seven worst seasons — but could have been one of the greatest NBA centers of all time.

Also in this category (two good draft picks in the same year):
The 1978 Blazers did fine with Mychal Thompson and Ron Brewer. The 1993 Detroit Pistons picked Lindsey Hunter 10th overall, and Allan Houston 11th.


5. 1962 draft, 9th overall: John Havlicek
He was a steal by the Celtics, who got 16 years of service out of Hondo. He was the leading scorer on four different NBA title teams. The opinion here: Havlicek was a bigger steal than the Celtics' drafting of Sam Jones (8th overall in 1957).

Also in this category (a perfect fit):
Willis Reed, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Wes Unseld, Billy Cunningham.


6. 1978 draft, 36th overall: Maurice Cheeks
There were a ton of point guards that were drafted ahead of Cheeks. Phil Ford went to the Kings, second overall. Michael Ray Richardson went to the Knicks, fourth overall. Butch Lee was taken 11th. But the best point guard to come out of the 1978 draft — one of the best ever — was Cheeks. He was a Sixers starter for a decade, and led them to the 1983 championship.

Also in this category (why pay retail?):
Andrei Kirilenko, who was drafted 24th overall by the Jazz in 1999. He matches up quite nicely with the player drafted first that same year (Elton Brand).


7. 2001 draft, 28th overall: Tony Parker
The San Antonio Spurs needed to find a point guard to replace the aging Avery Johnson. The Utah Jazz needed one to replace the aging John Stockton. The Jazz had the 24th pick in the draft and selected a player from Spain named Raul Lopez. The Spurs took a teenager from France named Tony Parker. Lopez went on to suffer a torn ACL in his right knee, and that and other injuries to the knee have left him far inferior to Parker.

Also in this category (the European invasion):
Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoc, Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol.


8. 2001 draft, 31st overall: Gilbert Arenas
Selected after his sophomore season at Arizona, Arenas worked hard in the gym and outworked just about everyone. He became the first member of the draft class of 2001 to make the All Star team. The Wizards use him as a point guard and shooting guard; and he's nearly impossible to defend because he can shoot the 3-pointer, hit the mid-range jumper, and slash to the hoop.

Also in this category (late bloomers):
John Starks, Anthony Mason (53rd player in the 1988 draft), and Steve Kerr (50th overall in 1988).


9. 1971 draft, 11th overall: Curtis Rowe
The lesson here is not to be afraid of drafting the second- or third-best players from a top college team. Sidney Wicks was the star of UCLA's NCAA title team. He was picked second, and was an NBA disappointment. Rowe was selected the same year by Detroit and became a solid player and an All-Star in his fifth season. Wicks' numbers went down each year from his rookie season.

Also in this category (second bananas in college often do well in pros):
Jamaal Wilkes, Ben Gordon.


10. 1984 draft, 3rd overall: Michael Jordan
In some cases, the best steals aren't the late bloomers (Arenas), the high school risks (Stoudemire), the Europeans (Parker), or the players from small colleges (Rodman). In certain cases, a player is a steal at any draft position. Despite an abundance of talented players in the 1984 draft — Hakeem Olajuwon was drafted ahead of Michael Jordan; Charles Barkley and Stockton behind him — the Bulls had a steal with Jordan. Dean Smith could hold Michael under 20 points per game, but no one in the NBA ever could.

Also in this category (a steal at any price):
Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Kevin Garnett.


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