How many years has the 1st pick, been the best pick?

[KyrieTheFuture]

Starting in 1985

85 - Malone was better
86 - Daugherty was the best despite a short career
87 - Robinson the best
88 - Mitch Richmond?
89 - Idk but it wasn't Pervis Ellison
90 - Gary Payton
91 - Probably Larry Johnson
92 - Shaq
93 - Webber
94 - Jason Kidd better
95 - KG
96 - Kobe
97 - Timmmmmmm
98 - Dirk
99 - I prefer Manu over Brand
00 - Redd made an All NBA team so he gets the nod
01 - Pau
02 - Yao still was the best
03 - LeBron
04 - Dwight
05 - CP3
06 - Aldridge
07 - Durant
08 - Westbrook
09 - Curry
10 - DMC
11 - Kyrie
12 - AD
13 - Dipo for now
14 - ???



First is best about half the time

[HurricaneKid]

Starting in 1985

85 - Malone was better
86 - Daugherty was the best despite a short career
87 - Robinson the best
88 - Mitch Richmond?
89 - Idk but it wasn't Pervis Ellison
90 - Gary Payton
91 - Probably Larry Johnson
92 - Shaq
93 - Webber
94 - Jason Kidd better
95 - KG
96 - Kobe
97 - Timmmmmmm
98 - Dirk
99 - I prefer Manu over Brand
00 - Redd made an All NBA team so he gets the nod
01 - Pau
02 - Yao still was the best
03 - LeBron
04 - Dwight
05 - CP3
06 - Aldridge
07 - Durant
08 - Westbrook
09 - Curry
10 - DMC
11 - Kyrie
12 - AD
13 - Dipo for now
14 - ???



First is best about half the time

So #1 vs ALL other picks is 50:50? Sounds like it is REALLY important.

[RRR3]

Blake and Wall were hardly bad number picks, though. Both great players. And yeah Malone had a better career than Ewing, but Ewing is ~top 30-40 all time. So it's not like the pick wasn't great. Also why'd you only go back to 85?

[ralph_i_el]

Starting in 1985

85 - Malone was better
86 - Daugherty was the best despite a short career
87 - Robinson the best
88 - Mitch Richmond?
89 - Idk but it wasn't Pervis Ellison
90 - Gary Payton
91 - Probably Larry Johnson
92 - Shaq
93 - Webber
94 - Jason Kidd better
95 - KG
96 - Kobe
97 - Timmmmmmm
98 - Dirk
99 - I prefer Manu over Brand
00 - Redd made an All NBA team so he gets the nod
01 - Pau
02 - Yao still was the best
03 - LeBron
04 - Dwight
05 - CP3
06 - Aldridge
07 - Durant
08 - Westbrook
09 - Curry
10 - DMC
11 - Kyrie
12 - AD
13 - Dipo for now
14 - ???



First is best about half the time

Wall>DMC

[RRR3]

I think I researched this and found that circa 65-70% of #1 picks make at least one all-star team. It's usually a guaranteed good player

[KyrieTheFuture]

Blake and Wall were hardly bad number picks, though. Both great players. And yeah Malone had a better career than Ewing, but Ewing is ~top 30-40 all time. So it's not like the pick wasn't great. Also why'd you only go back to 85?

Just cause of the lottery complaints that always come up, tanking and such. People are freaking about X team getting Y pick but ultimately it's not all about where you pick. Sometimes when there are more choices you make a worse decision

[RightTwoCensor]

I'd take Blake over Curry in terms of career as well as Paul George over Boogie.

Why are you basing the most recent drafts by this year's season?

[KyrieTheFuture]

I'd take Blake over Curry in terms of career as well as Paul George over Boogie.

Why are you basing the most recent drafts by this year's season?

I'm not, this isn't supposed to be objective it's my opinion. I think PG is trash so I won't agree there.

[imdaman99]

I think for the most part you will get an impactful player. Granted there have been huge busts as #1 pick. Olowokandi and Bennett come to mind, but I'd feel a lot safer having the #1 pick and the pressure of picking the right guy as opposed to hoping the #1 pick not panning out.

[DCL]

So #1 vs ALL other picks is 50:50? Sounds like it is REALLY important.

but then the 2nd pick, only 40% turn out great.

the 3rd pick... only about 35%

4th pick... maybe 30%

5th pick, lower chances

you get the idea...

but wait...

i'm only pulling these numbers out of my ass.

[SHAQisGOAT]

Best pick is sometimes relative because teams have different needs but, from 1960 til 2010, the years you could say the best/greater player was the 1st pick, imo were:

1960 - Big O (or West)
1961 - Bellamy
1968 - Hayes
1969 - Kareem
1973 - Doug Collins (you had McGinnis in the ABA though)
1974 - Walton
1975 - Skywalker
1979 - Magic
1986 - Daugherty (Bias died so we'll never know about that)
1987 - D-Rob
1991 - either LJ or Mutombo
1992 - Shaq
1993 - probably Webber yea (Penny also got injured)
1997 - Timmy
1999 (hard to pick here though)
2000 - you could probably say Kenyon yea
2002 - Ming (or Amare)
2003 - LeBron
2004 - Dwight
2010 (Wall or Cousins, PG too)

Guess you could probably say 1971 too but it's hard to pick. In 1982, Worthy probably had the most success but Nique was the better player. 2009 gimme Steph. 2008 is yet to be determined, let's say...

So around 20 years out of 50...

[kennethgriffin]

technically wade was the best pick in 2004 because he actually brought his team a championship


guys who ditch and ring chase shouldnt be considered the best pick for that specific team

[hawksdogsbraves]

Wade vs Dwight career-wise is an interesting topic, I'd personally go with Wade though. Three rings with one as FMVP is more important than Dwight's three DPOY's imo.

I think a good part of Dwight's success comes with the fact that the center position was incredibly weak during his prime.

[Dave3]

Wade vs Dwight career-wise is an interesting topic, I'd personally go with Wade though. Three rings with one as FMVP is more important than Dwight's three DPOY's imo.

I think a good part of Dwight's success comes with the fact that the center position was incredibly weak during his prime.

They weren't picked the same year. Wade was 2003 and Dwight was 2004. He was picked just before Okafor.

[RRR3]

Best pick is sometimes relative because teams have different needs but, from 1960 til 2010, the years you could say the best/greater player was the 1st pick, imo were:

1960 - Big O (or West)
1961 - Bellamy
1968 - Hayes
1969 - Kareem
1973 - Doug Collins (you had McGinnis in the ABA though)
1974 - Walton
1975 - Skywalker
1979 - Magic
1986 - Daugherty (Bias died so we'll never know about that)
1987 - D-Rob
1991 - either LJ or Mutombo
1992 - Shaq
1993 - probably Webber yea (Penny also got injured)
1997 - Timmy
1999 (hard to pick here though)
2000 - you could probably say Kenyon yea
2002 - Ming (or Amare)
2003 - LeBron
2004 - Dwight
2010 (Wall or Cousins, PG too)

Guess you could probably say 1971 too but it's hard to pick. In 1982, Worthy probably had the most success but Nique was the better player. 2009 gimme Steph. 2008 is yet to be determined, let's say...

So around 20 years out of 50...

1971? How? What case does Austin Carr have over Artis Gilmore or Spencer Haywood?