ESPN.com has, once again, peered into my black and withered soul and delivered unto us a question found compelling only by the twisted few: which schools produce the best NBA-draft talent in the modern draft era?
The rules set here by Eammon Brennan are simple: since the advent of the 2-round NBA draft (1989-present), which schools have seen the best players get drafted? Featuring one school each day leading up to the NBA draft, they’ve started with #20, our old friends, the Syracuse Orange.
Of course, I immediately wondered where our UConn Huskies would fit. The rules would really seem to favor the Huskies; by starting at 1989, ESPN has chosen end points that include every notable Calhoun-era player, starting with Cliff Robinson. As you are no doubt aware, UConn has seen a tremendous amount of NBA talent drafted in the last 24 drafts. The schools are measured both in quantity (number of players drafted) and quality (how well those players performed in the Association).
In UConn’s case, there are 24 eligible players: Robinson (1989), Tate George (90), Chris Smith (92), Scott Burrell (93), Donyell Marshall (94), Donny Marshall (95), Ray Allen and Travis Knight (96), Richard Hamilton (99), Khalid El-Amin and Jake Voskuhl (2000), Caron Butler (02), Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon (04), Charlie Villanueva (05), Rudy Gay, Hilton Armstrong, Josh Boone, and Marcus Williams (06), Hasheem Thabeet and A.J. Price (09), Kemba Walker (11), and Jeremy Lamb and Andre Drummond (12).
Notable UConn alum left off of this list include Toby Kimball (drafted in 1965), Doron Sheffer (drafted in 1996, but chose to play in Israel instead), and Kevin Ollie (undrafted in 1995, but played 13 seasons in the NBA).
The format of each team’s outline includes a top-5 players, as well as a sixth man, making it a de facto top 6. Personally, my top six would be (in order):
1) Ray Allen
2) Richard Hamilton
3) Clifford Robinson
4) Emeka Okafor
5) Caron Butler
6) Donyell Marshall
I suspect that Rudy Gay’s gaudy point totals and highlight-reel dunks will push him onto the list, likely displacing Butler or Marshall. As I look at other schools, the 24 draftees is a solid but unspectacular number (other top schools, like UNC and Duke, have close to 30 such players). The quality of UConn’s draftees is outstanding, however, with one no-doubt Hall of Famer in Allen, three other all-stars in Robinson, Hamilton, and Butler, a former Rookie of the Year in Okafor, and two former Sixth Men of the Year in Robinson and Ben Gordon. That doesn’t include Gay, who has averaged over 18ppg each of his last six seasons. In terms of top player success, UConn will be one of elites.
If I had to be completely honest, I’ll be very surprised if UConn doesn’t make the top 5, and my guess is that they’re likely a top 3 team. They wouldn’t be my pick for #1, but I also wouldn’t be shocked if they did take the top spot. From where I stand right now, I think UNC (featuring Vince Carter, Rasheed Wallace, Antawn Jamison, Jerry Stackhouse, Ty Lawson, Ray Felton, and Rick Fox) will be tough to beat.
Questions? Comments? Insults? Please use the space provided below, and I’ll be refreshing the page twice a minute until my Internet crashes. Cheers!
Languishing on an awful team and providing only a 2 year sample to this point will keep him down, but in 5 years, (assuming he gets on a better team when he becomes a free agent) Kemba will be top 5.He needs to be on a playoff team, a) to get the recognition, and b) because Kemba is a different player when post season time comes around.
I don’t disagree with any of this. I suspect that Kemba and Drummond could both end up near the top of the list in a few years. I also wish that UConn players would stop getting drafted by awful organizations that can’t develop talent. I’ll always wonder if Okafor would have been an All-Star if he hadn’t gotten stuck on Michael Jordan’s hobby team.
Kemba, Gordon and possibly Villanueva are all better than a lot of these high-end schools’ 5th best draftee.
I count 11 quality UConn players since the ’89 draft, between Ray, Rip, Cliff, ‘Mek, Caron, Donyell, Rudy, Ben, Kemba, Drummond, and Villanueva. Ten of those guys have averaged double figures for their careers, with the 11th (Drummond) likely to do that as soon as the Pistons figure out how to have him share the floor with Monroe.
UCLA is my pick for the top spot. Westbrook, Love, Baron Davis… We’ll see where UConn ends up. Probably behind UCLA, UNC, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas. Top-5 for UConn would be sweet.
I’ll be astounded if Kansas or Kentucky is ahead of UConn. Kansas is pretty light after Pierce, with only three other guys who’ve averaged double figures (none of whom ever made an All-Star team), and with Kentucky, Walker, Rondo, and Mashburn are the only guys who were successful for more than a couple of seasons. Most of their guys are all too young. I think teams that have produced guys with lengthy careers are going to be above teams like UCLA and Kentucky whose strength is primarily in guys that have only been around for a few seasons.
I certainly hope you’re right. Thinking about it some more, Arizona and Georgetown will be right up there as well.
Iverson and…Hibbert?
I figured Mourning and Mutumbo had to be before the limit. Still though, very light in the back court.
For Georgetown, I’m thinking Iverson, Hibbert, Greg Monroe, Jeff Green – You’re right, I was thinking of Mourning, but he may be too old. Not top-5, but top 10.
Arizona has Richard Jefferson, Mike Bibby, Gilbert Arenas, Andre Igoudala, Jason Terry, Damon Stoudamire, Sean Elliot, Derrick Williams… some good names. They might make the top-5.
Also, don’t sleep on Florida: Noah, Horford, David Lee, Mike Miller, Chandler Parsons…