The Best Player from the Past 10 NBA Draft Classes
Main metric I’m referring to here is VORP.
2012: Damian Lillard or Anthony Davis: Two-man race here- Lillard actually higher in VORP over his career because AD never plays. I’ll take Lillard with his longevity and clutch shooting.
2013: Giannis Antetokounmpo and it’s not even close- this draft is atrocious in terms of talent- next best player is Rudy Gobert, then C.J. Mccollum and then… Otto Porter Jr. 2013 is a fucking shit year- sorry Anthony Bennett.
2014- Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid- the two leaders in the current MVP race. The nod goes to Jokic here because he already has an MVP under his belt and actually has a dramatically higher VORP than Embiid. Jokic is sitting at 43 VORP in his career, while Embiid; the next closest, is at 20. Embiid didn’t play for like 3 seasons remember. The fat kid from Seriba with the dub.
2015: This is three drafts in a row now with very poor talent. VORP loves KAT here with a value of 28, the next closest is Montrezl Harell at 12. The third place award in VORP goes to Book with 10, a third as much as KAT. If you were to ask NBA GM’s who’d they rather have for the next 5 years- I bet the consensus lands on Devin Booker; a bucket-getter who spent most of his career playing for atrocious teams in Phoenix before Mr. Paul came to town.
2016: Now, we get into guys who are fairly recent entries into NBA lore from a birds eye view. Leading in VORP is the guy from Australia who can’t shoot threes. Pretty good talent all the way around here. Lagging behind here in VORP at a surprising value of 6 each is Jaylen Brown and Jamal Murray. I’m gonna go with Jaylen Brown here with his contribution to winning play, two-way chops and haircut that used to make him look like Khalid.
2017: This draft feels like last year, but also like a decade ago. Jesus. Three guys stand out from the rest: Jayson Tatum, Mitchell and Bam. Tatum is the obvious choice here- I’d say the odds are better than not that he takes home an MVP at some point in his career. Rewind to 2017–18 and I remember laughing at how absolutely terrible Tatum was. In isolation he was like the worst volume shooter in the league. Watching him made me happy as a Bucks fan because he really wasn’t that good. Yeah he dunked on Lebron, but it wasn’t like he helped his team in any way.Another great two-way player, elite shooter and Kobe-wannabe. Congrats Danny Ainge; on back to back excellent drafts.
2018: Looking down this list, there’s actually a lot of good talent on this list. First place isn’t particularly close. Luka Doncic currently has a VORP of 19. Next closest is the guy, he was traded for on draft day: Trae Young. Doncic is the better player and a surefire hall of famer. He’s probably number one on the list of guys GM’s want for the next decade. If he gets an all-pro next to him and Mark Cuban surrounds him with length and defensive intensity, Doncic will win a Title.
2019: I personally really like this draft class. Was a lot of fun and was I think the first draft I really tuned in to. Ja Morant the obvious choice here with a VORP of 6. Zion is next closest at 5. If they both stay healthy for the next decade, I take Zion. That being said, Zion will probably miss 1500 games over the next decade, so Morant takes the prize here. Side note: My boy Brandon Clarke comes in third with the same VORP as Zion!! I’m the proud owner of multiple Brandon Clarke rookie cards. Underrated as hell.
2020: Getting very recent here. Lamelo Ball leads with a Vorp of 5. Haliburton is second, and another underrated player who plays in the Birthplace of Rock n’ Roll: Desmond Bane. Analytics don’t love Anthony Edwards here, but he’s my pick. Yes, I really don’t like Lamelo Ball. He’s fun to watch of course, but I don’t know. Something about his demeanor and the way he acts during interviews just makes me not want to like him. Edwards, a blosoming star in the Twin Cities takes the crown.
2021: Last, but not least… The leaders in VORP from this season are Scottie Barnes and Evan Mobley.
I think this will go down as a historically good draft class. Cunningham is a future all-star. Same can be said for Barnes and Mobley. Josh Giddey, Ayo Dosunmo, Alperen Sengun are all going to be playing still in ten years, and they also may make an all-star team or two. The winner here is Evan Mobley- the best defensive rookie… ever? Maybe?
Extra:
2022: This draft class looks pretty good. I would say that four of these guys probably would’ve went ahead of Anthony Edwards in 2020. That being said, those four are most likely to finish their careers as a hall-of-famer. Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith Jr., Paolo Banchero and Jaden Ivey. My pick from these four is Jabari Smith Jr. I really like Chet, but I think the noise on his posture and stance and his injury concerns are very real. If he’s healthy for a decade, he’s my pick from this draft class. Banchero is overrated. He seems like a stiff to me, honestly. The size is great, nice playmaking, good finisher, decent shooter. I don’t know. I don’t like the way his hips move. Feels like a guy who will get burned on defense over and over again. Ivey could very well be the best player. To me he projects as a Zach Lavine/ Donovan Mitchell hybrid prototype. If he’s an average or better three-point-shooter, I think he’s a 8 time all-star. Lastly: Jabari Smith Jr. I reeeeeaaaaalllly hope he ends up in a good situation. If he lands in Sacramento or Houston, I think his career is relatively unmemorable. If he lands in Detroit or Orlando however, I think things end dramatically different. Jumper is fucking nut-worthy. He’s not Kevin Durant, stop making that comparison. But he could be tall Ray Allen. I think if Smith pans, he’s a top 100 all-time guy. Body is so fluid, has the size and agility to guard 3–5 fairly easily. If he develops as a rim protector and can switch onto quick guards, he will be pretty fucking close to a generational talent.
