Editor’s note: The “Draft class rank” for each player is their rank on our overall pro career list amongst players in their draft class (i.e., Marcus Camby is the 10th best NBA player drafted in 1996).

21) Mike Bibby, 1998 (#1 pick: Michael Olowokandi). Draft class rank: #6

Buoyed by his remarkable run to the 1997 NCAA Tournament title with Arizona, Bibby leaped in the draft rankings in 1998 amidst a talented but murky class. Front offices at the time were still catching up with the recent influx of prep, underclassmen, and international talent, which led to Dirk Nowitzki falling to the Mavericks at #9 and Rashard Lewis to the Sonics at #32. It also set the stage for the Clippers to make one of the most disastrous selections in NBA Draft history, using their top pick on Olowakandi, who wound up an all-time flop. Bibby went second to the Grizzlies and though he didn’t have quite the output of Nowitzki or #10 pick Paul Pierce, he had a solid 14-year career and was arguably the best draft selection the Grizzlies made during their Vancouver era.

20) Rik Smits, 1988 (#1 pick: Danny Manning). Draft class rank: #4

Manning was a sure thing at the top for the Clippers in 1988 but the Pacers had no obvious option at #2. They held the pick due to a lucky lottery draw and surprised many by using it on Smits, a 7’4″ Dutchman who had played college ball at tiny Marist College. There was certainly some logic to the pick positionally, as the Pacers were looking to replace oft-injured big man Steve Stipanovich at center, but also concerns that another giant stiff wasn’t the answer. Smits did struggle to adapt early in his career but eventually rounded into a franchise legend over 12 seasons. Though there were a few solid players taken right behind Smits, including Mitch Richmond at #5 and Hersey Hawkins at #6, it’s hard to imagine the Pacers regretted this one.

19) Otis Birdsong, 1977 (#1 pick: Kent Benson). Draft class rank: #7

In a rare shrewd move, the Kansas City Kings traded former scoring champion Tiny Archibald in 1976, selling high to the Nets for a first round pick right. While Archibald was never the same for the remainder of his career, that pick became #2 overall when the Nets struggled in ’76-’77 and the Kings used it on Birdsong, an All-American and prolific scorer at Houston. He was quickly a three-time All-Star and led the team to a surprise Conference Finals appearance in 1981. But then the Kings did their typical Kings thing, trading him for no good reason, coincidentally to the Nets. The top pick in this class, Benson, was a disappointment for the Bucks, but they were much more successful with their third overall pick (acquired via trade with the Braves), Marques Johnson.

18) Rudy Tomjanovich, 1970 (#1 pick: Bob Lanier). Draft class rank: #8

Tomjanovich had a solid NBA career, making five All-Star appearances, but if fans had their way, we would have seen Pete Maravich (#3 overall) or Dave Cowens (#4) in a Rockets uniform instead. This also looked even worse in retrospect, as future Hall of Fame inductee Tiny Archibald was drafted further in the first round, at #19. Of course, Tomjanovich won over the Rockets faithful anyway, ultimately becoming a franchise legend. And in fairness, his career output was largely marred by the skull fracture he suffered as a result of a Kermit Washington punch. Even if Rockets fans lament this pick due to Tomjanovich’s playing career, they can’t quibble with his importance to franchise history as their longtime head coach with a tenure that included two championships.

17) Maurice Stokes, 1955 (#1 pick: Dick Ricketts). Draft class rank: #2

There was no question about who was the most talented prospect in the 1955 NBA Draft. Stokes dominated at the NCAA level and possessed athletic skills that no concurrent NBA player could match. But this was 1955 America and the top pick belonged to a team from the especially racist city of St. Louis. Thus, the Hawks selected Dick Ricketts, who was subsequently traded during his rookie season to the Royals… to back up Stokes at center. Stokes was instantly one of the league’s best players but his career lasted only three seasons until a tragic on-court head injury left him paralyzed for the remainder of his life. Greatly affected by Stokes’ condition, Ricketts also retired after that ’57-’58 season to pursue a pro baseball career. The only player in his draft class who had a better career than Stokes was his teammate, best friend, and eventual caretaker Jack Twyman

16) Earl Monroe, 1967 (#1 pick: Jimmy Walker). Draft class rank: #2

Holding two of the top four overall picks in this draft, the Pistons could have assembled the “Rolls Royce back court” in 1967. Instead, they selected Walker at #1 over Monroe and Sonny Dove at #4 over Walt Frazier. Ouch. Walker did have some solid seasons in Detroit, making two All-Star teams, but struggled to control his weight and never reached nearly full potential. Monroe was considered the riskier pick, with his flamboyant style and lack of polish coming out of Division II Winston-Salem State (not coincidentally, Frazier also got a short shrift by playing at Divison II Southern Illinois). He proved everyone wrong immediately, winning Rookie of the Year en route to a Hall of Fame career, that included the famed “Rolls Royce” team-up with Frazier on the Knicks’ 1973 title team.

15) Terry Cummings, 1982 (#1 pick: James Worthy). Draft class rank: #3

The Clippers reached a then new nadir in ’81-’82, winning just 17 games, only for the lowly Cavaliers to outdo them, finishing with a 15-67 record which should have earned them the #1 overall pick. But befitting the miserly Ted Stepien era of Cavs basketball, that pick had been foolishly traded two years prior to the Lakers. That’s how the defending NBA champions landed reigning NCAA Most Outstanding Player Worthy and Cummings wound up with the Clippers. Cummings started strong, winning Rookie of the Year and even gaining some MVP votes in his first year. He spent only two seasons with the Clippers but had an overall lengthy, impressive career, with over 19,000 career points and two All-Star appearances.

14) LaMarcus Aldridge, 2006 (#1 pick: Andrea Bargnani). Draft class rank: #2

The Trail Blazers were busy on draft day in 2006, making a series of trades that ended with them holding the #2 and #6 overall picks. In a lottery otherwise populated by busts, the Blazers landed the two biggest successes in Aldridge and Brandon Roy. While Roy was Rookie of the Year and an All-Star in his second season, Aldridge was the long term bet that paid off. In nine seasons with Portland, Aldridge made four All-Star rosters and was named All-NBA three times. He then signed as a free agent with the Spurs and remained effective into his mid 30s. Roy had an unfortunately short career due to knee issues that necessitated multiple surgeries. Top pick Bargnani was second in ROY voting and had some moments later in his career, but never lived up to expectations.

13) Bailey Howell, 1959 (#1 pick: Bob Boozer). Draft class rank: #2

If not for a temporary rule change in territorial draft pick conditions, the Cincinnati Royals would have landed Wilt Chamberlain in 1959. Though the territorial selection had thus far been based on a player’s college location, the NBA allowed the Philadelphia Warriors to use it on Chamberlain due to his high school career in the city. Another future Hall of Fame pick was on the board for the Royals in Howell but they opted instead for Kansas State’s Bob Boozer. Howell ended up with the Pistons and made an immediate impact, playing in four All-Star Games in his first five seasons. He was later traded to the Celtics and capped his career with two championships. Boozer disappointed Royals fans but later made an All-Star appearance with the Bulls and won a title with the Bucks.

12) Dave Bing, 1966 (#1 pick: Cazzie Russell). Draft class rank: #1

Midway through Bing’s rookie season, the Pistons traded away their biggest star Dave DeBusschere to the Knicks. Thanks to some other recent poor draft choices, this left Bing almost single-handedly carrying the franchise for the next few years, with poor results in the standings but impressive individual accolades. Bing was Rookie of the Year, 1st-Team All-NBA twice, and a seven-time All-Star. He’s the retrospective headliner of an overall weak draft class, an issue in the late ’60s and early ’70s that would haunt the NBA for years to come. Top pick Russell was coming off one of the greatest careers in NCAA basketball history for Michigan and had a decent NBA go of it, winning a title with the Knicks in 1970 and making an All-Star team in 1975.

11) Alonzo Mourning, 1992 (#1 pick: Shaquille O’Neal). Draft class rank: #2

The top three prospects in the 1992 NBA Draft all seemed like sure bets. But their ensuing careers couldn’t be more divergent. O’Neal took the league by storm immediately and eventually earned one league MVP, three Finals MVPs, and a place amongst the all-time legends of the sport. The third pick, Christian Laettner, was a solid role player but also a cautionary tale of the limits of NCAA success portending NBA stardom. Second overall pick Mourning was somewhere in between, a seven-time All-Star and two-time Defensive Player of the Year who only won a title later in his career as a role player. The Hornets didn’t keep him long or offer him much, but one could only imagine Mourning’s career if he had fallen to the lowly Timberwolves at pick #3.

“There was also [Bill] Russell’s signing bonus demand of $25,000, a number he considered fair to pry him away from the highly interested Harlem Globetrotters, and that caused the Royals, who owned the top pick in 1956, to balk.”

10) Wes Unseld, 1968 (#1 pick: Elvin Hayes). Draft class rank: #2

A decade later they would be teammates winning a championship together but in 1968 Unseld and Hayes were rivals, inasmuch that they were both considered a possible top pick in the draft. The Rockets went with Hayes at #1, leaving Unseld for the Bullets with the second pick. Both pulled off a feat as a rookie that only Wilt Chamberlain can also claim. Hayes was the scoring champion, at 28.4 points per game, while Unseld was named both Rookie of the Year and league MVP. They were easily the best of an overall weak class, with only third pick Bob Kauffman also making an All-Star Game. Incidentally, Unseld was the fourth consecutive #2 overall pick to win ROY, following Rick Barry, Dave Bing, and Earl Monroe.

9) Bob McAdoo, 1972 (#1 pick: LaRue Martin). Draft class rank: #2

1972 was the first time that the NBA allowed college underclassmen into the Draft, under their newly instated hardship clause. Four non-seniors were selected, and three of them – UMass’ Julius Erving, Michigan State’s Ralph Simpson, and Princeton’s Brian Taylor – spurned the NBA for the ABA anyway. The other was McAdoo, an All-American under Dean Smith at North Carolina who was drafted by the struggling Buffalo Braves. He brought instant legitimacy to the young franchise, winning Rookie of the Year in ’72-’73, MVP in ’74-’75, and leading them to three consecutive playoff appearances. Martin, a senior center from Loyola, was picked ahead of McAdoo by the Blazers and lasted just four seasons in the NBA.

8) Isiah Thomas, 1981 (#1 pick: Mark Aguirre). Draft class rank: #1

In the first NBA Draft in which neither of the top two picks were college seniors, both of those selections happened to be childhood friends. Thomas and Aguirre grew up together in Chicago, played against each other in high school, and planned to team up together at DePaul University before Bob Knight swooped in and stole Thomas for Indiana. After leading the Hoosiers to the NCAA Tournament title as a sophomore, Thomas figured there was nothing left to prove at the collegiate level and declared early for the draft. Aguirre, who played through his junior year at DePaul, was seen as the safer choice and went first overall to the Mavericks. Thomas landed with the Pistons, beginning a fruitful relationship that would last 13 seasons and include two titles. Both of those championship runs included Aguirre, who was traded to the Pistons in 1989, reuniting with his old friend.

7) Gary Payton, 1990 (#1 pick: Derrick Coleman). Draft class rank: #1

Gary Payton or Chris Jackson? That was the choice facing the SuperSonics in the 1990 NBA Draft after the team leaped from the #10 spot to second overall in the lottery. Point guard was easily their biggest need that offseason, and the senior Payton and sophomore Jackson (who now goes by Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf) were the top two prospects at the position. In a rare draft decision where the more conservative choice worked out, the Sonics went with the perceived safer bet in Payton. Easily the greatest player in pre-Thunder Sonics history, Payton led the team for 12-and-a-half seasons, highlighted by an NBA Finals appearance in 1996. Both Abdul-Rauf and top pick Coleman had pretty solid careers but nowhere near Payton’s level.

6) Jason Kidd, 1994 (#1 pick: Glenn Robinson). Draft class rank: #1

He was a point guard who was considered a step slow, couldn’t run a half court offense and, worst of all, couldn’t hit water from a boat with his jumper. How did Kidd go second overall to the Mavericks? Because even in his college days at Cal he was displaying a court sense and passing ability unseen since the heyday of Magic Johnson. Robinson was an easy top pick for the Bucks in 1994 and though Dallas may have considered Grant Hill a better prospect than Kidd, they already had an established small forward of the future in Jamal Mashburn. While Kidd obviously went on to have a Hall of Fame career, most of it came outside of Dallas, as was traded to the Suns after just two seasons. He did later return to the Mavericks, helping them win a championship in 2011.

5) Rick Barry, 1965 (#1 pick: Fred Hetzel). Draft class rank: #1

For convoluted procedural reasons, the Warriors wound up with the top two picks of the 1965 NBA Draft. After three territorial picks came off the board (Gail Goodrich, Bill Bradley, and Bill Buntin), they selected Hetzel and Barry in succession. An All-American at Davidson College, Hetzel was the safer choice, a steady scorer and rebounder at both forward positions. Barry was considered high-risk, high-reward, which did prove true in unexpected ways. In his first two seasons, Barry was Rookie of the Year, 1st-Team All-NBA twice, and led San Francisco to a surprise NBA Finals appearance. He then absconded for the ABA, leaving Hetzel to shift to starting small forward to replace him, semi-successfully. By the time Barry resumed his Hall of Fame career in the NBA in 1972, Hetzel was already out of the league.

4) Kevin Durant, 2007 (#1 pick: Greg Oden). Draft class rank: #1

In 1984, the Trail Blazers drafted Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan, the pre-eminent example of the fallacy of valuing size over potential. Over two decades later, Portland became probably the last franchise ever to make that mistake when they selected Oden over Durant. Though Oden was clearly more talented than Bowie coming out of college, he was also far more injury prone, which ultimately made this pick even more damaging. While Oden played just 105 games in his NBA career, spread across three uneventful seasons, Durant quickly developed into one of the deadliest scorers in league history. Unfortunately, Sonics fans had only limited time to celebrate their draft luck, as the team relocated to Oklahoma City just one year into Durant’s career.

3) Bob Pettit, 1954 (#1 pick: Frank Selvy). Draft class rank: #1

Like a miniature, archetypal Wilt Chamberlain, the 6’3″ Selvy scored 100 points in a game for Furman University and broke several additional NCAA scoring records during his career. He had the misfortune of being the consensus top prospect in an NBA Draft where the dysfunctional Baltimore Bullets were picking #1. Just 11 games into Selvy’s career, the Bullets vanished into thin air, folding due to severe mismanagement. Selected by the Hawks in the ensuing dispersal draft, Selvy teamed up with Pettit, the player drafted right behind him. Selvy left a year later for a tour of duty with the U.S. Army, just as Pettit was developing into the league’s best player. While Selvy returned and had a decent career, making two All-Star teams and playing in two NBA Finals with the Lakers, Pettit was a two-time MVP, a league champion in 1958, and the first legendary point guard in NBA history.

2) Jerry West, 1960 (#1 pick: Oscar Robertson). Draft class rank: #1

Before they were draft class mates and NBA rivals, West and Robertson were teammates on the 1960 U.S. Olympic team. That legendary roster also included this class’ #3 overall pick (Darrall Imhoff), two other #1 overall picks (Walt Bellamy and Bob Boozer), a future territorial pick (Jerry Lucas), and a future Rookie of the Year (Terry Dischinger). But West and Robertson were the unquestionable stars and remained that way throughout their respective Hall of Fame NBA careers. It’s difficult to quantify which player had the better overall career, but West does notably come in just ahead of Robertson on our 500 Greatest Players list, where they’re appropriately ranked side-by-side.

1) Bill Russell, 1956 (#1 pick: Si Green). Draft class rank: #1

Red Auerbach gets a lot of credit for recognizing the potential in Russell that others overlooked, but there were several aspects to him falling into Boston’s hands. There was the concurrent stigma in the NBA that no center could dominate the way a ball-handling guard could. There was Russell’s $25,000 signing bonus demand and threat of signing with the Harlem Globetrotters. There was also Russell’s insistence on playing for the U.S. national team in the 1956 Olympics, which would delay his rookie debut. Due to these circumstances, the Royals passed on Russell with the first pick and the Hawks traded their #2 overall pick to the Celtics. To add to this coup, Auerbach also acquired two other bedrock pieces of the impending Celtics dynasty in this draft, Tom Heinsohn and K.C. Jones. As for the Royals’ #1 pick Green, he had nine decent seasons in the NBA but his ceiling was capped by injuries and leaves of absence for military service. Green wound up on the losing end of two Celtics NBA Finals wins, with the Hawks in 1960 and 1961, then ended his career as a footnote in Russell’s dynasty, earning a ring with the ’65-’66 Celtics but not appearing in that postseason.