1984, 1996 or 2003?
First let’s put together a fictional starting lineup from each draft:
1984
G – John Stockton
G – Michael Jordan
C – Hakeem Olajuwon
F – Charles Barkley
F – Kevin Willis
1996
G – Steve Nash
G – Allen Iverson
C – Ben Wallace
F – Kobe Bryant
F – Jermaine O’Neal
2003
G – Dwayne Wade
G – LeBron James
C – Chris Kaman
F – Carmelo Anthony
F – Chris Bosh
1996 was hard to pick a starting five, because it was very guard heavy, so I went with a three guard lineup, because you can’t leave one of those guys out. I think that if all the players were in their prime… 1984 would be tough to beat, but I don’t think the 2003 players are in their prime yet. Any lineup with Jordan, Barkley, Olajuwon is going to be untouchable and to have Stockton running the show and getting those guys the ball in the right place makes them the favorite in my book.
The 1996 draft has to be considered the deepest ever with: Allen Iverson (No. 1), Marcus Camby (No. 2), Shareef Abdur-Rahim (No. 3), Stephon Marbury (No. 4), Ray Allen (No. 5), Antoine Walker (No. 6), Kobe Bryant (No. 13), Peja Stojakovic (No. 14), Steve Nash (No. 15), Jermaine O’Neal (No. 17), Zydrunas Ilgauskas (No. 20) and Ben Wallace (undrafted).
The 2003 draft was also very deep: LeBron James (No. 1), Carmelo Anthony (No. 3), Chris Bosh (No. 4), Dwayne Wade (No. 5), Chris Kaman (No. 6), David West (No. 18), Josh Howard (No. 29) and Mo Williams (No. 47). James, Wade and Bosh are now teammates, which could make this draft go down as the most dominant as far as wins go if the Miami Heat trio can win the 10 or so titles they are hoping for. Wade already has one.
So I’m going to say that the deepest draft ever is 1996, the best ever is 1984 and potentially the bestest ever is 2003.