NBA Retrospective: 1985 NBA Draft

Maybe it's old age, but I have been more interested lately in revisiting the NBA during the time I first started following it than following the developments today.  My first NBA publication was Zander Hollander's Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball 1985 edition.  It featured Patrick Ewing on the cover as the incoming number 1 pick.  I was 12 years old then, and it's been 31 years since I started following the NBA.

At the time I started, information was not yet as readily available as it is now.  There was no internet yet covering the whole history of basketball including statistics and year by year information.  You had to find hard copies, and back issues of magazines if you wanted to read about previous years.  I remember then that the era of Bill Russell seemed to be so far in the past, being 20 years or so from the time I was in.  Looking back now, the 85 draft is 31 years in the past, so it probably seems as ancient to new NBA fans as the Russell era seemed to me.

I recently bought a book which revisited the 1998 NBA draft pick by pick and decided I was interested in seeing how the past drafts worked out as well.  And what better point in time to start with than my first NBA draft.  Hopefully I am able to maintain enough interest to do this for more than one draft. 

1985 Draft Overview
This was the first year that the NBA shifted to the draft lottery.  The top pick was previously determined via a coin toss between the worst teams in each conference.  The league wanted to eliminate non playoff teams deliberately tanking their games in order to qualify for the coin toss.  Under this version of the lottery, the seven non playoff teams all have equal chances of winning the first pick.   New York ended up with the first overall pick.

At this time, the NBA had 23 teams, but the first round of the 1985 draft featured 24 picks.  This was because of a supplemental pick given to the Cleveland Cavaliers who had traded their first rounders for a number of years to the Dallas Mavericks.  They were allowed to purchase an additional first round pick which would be one slot after where their original pick ended up at. 

Draft Summary
This was still during the NBA's big man era.  The top pick the past two years were Houston's twin towers (Ralph Sampson in 1983 and Hakeem, then Akeem, Olajuwon in 1984).  This year's top pick was Georgetown big man Patrick Ewing, and the next two years also featured centers (Brad Daugherty in 1986 and David Robinson in 1987).  It was believed that teams needed a dominant center in order to compete for the championship.

Given that line of thinking, four out of the top 6 picks were centers.  A total of 7 centers were taken in the first round, along with 7 power forwards, 6 small forwards (though Chris Mullin started out as a guard then moved to forward after a couple of seasons), and only 4 guards.

An additional 10 big men made the league in the second round (only those who played in the league were counted).  This draft also featured a number of low picks who went on to have long productive careers, including two very small guards who had noteworthy careers (5-10 Michael Adams picked 66th overall in the 3rd round and 5-7 Spud Webb taken 87th overall in the 4th round).

Best Players
Three members of the original Dream Team were taken in this draft: Ewing at #1, Chris Mullin drafted 7th, and Karl Malone stolen with the 13th pick. A fourth, Joe Dumars (18th pick) made it to  Dream Team 2.

Aside from the 4 players above, 6 more members of this draft class were selected to at least one All Star Team: Xavier McDaniel (4th), Detlef Schrempf (8th), Charles Oakley (9th), AC Green (23rd),  Terry Porter (24th), and small man Adams (66th).

Pick By Pick Review Part I:  Lottery
1-Patrick Ewing, New York
The Georgetown big man was the consensus top pick even before the lottery was held.  It was just a question of who would end up with the rights to draft him.  He started his career slowly, missing 32 and 19 games to injury in his first two seasons, and was deemed to be progressing slower than the previous year's big man top pick Olajuwon.  Ewing did make the All Star team as a rookie and averaged 20.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg, and 2.1 bpg but his team continued to miss the playoffs until his 3rd season in 1987-88.  He faced off against Olajuwon but lost in the 1994 NBA Finals.  The Knicks made another Finals appearance in 1999, but Ewing missed the series and playoffs with an injury.

Ewing played most of his 17 year career with the Knicks before being traded to Seattle in 2000-01 at the age of 38.  He moved to the Orlando Magic the following year before retiring. For his career, he averaged 21.0 ppg, 9.8 rpg, and 2.4 bpg.  He averaged at least 20 ppg in his first 13 seasons.

2-Wayman Tisdale, Indiana
The late Tisdale was the leading rebounder of the 1984 US Olympic Team featuring draft mates Ewing and Mullin, and 1984 draftee Michael Jordan.  He had a dominant college career which lead to his selection behind only Ewing.  As a pro, however, he was not even the second best at his position considering the careers of Malone and Oakley, while Green made more All Star teams than Tisdale (none).  Some would even say that second round pick John Hot Rod William was more valuable as a pro.

While Tisdale may not have lived up to his draft status, he was a productive player over his 12 year career.  After starting slowly due to weight problems, he developed into a deadly low post scorer who averaged in double figures every year except for his last season.  He scored 15.3 ppg over his career shooting better than 50% from the field.  He had his best years after being traded to Sacramento for LaSalle Thompson and Randy Wittman during the 1988-89 season.  As the Kings' featured scorer, he averaged 22.3 ppg on .525 field goal shooting with 7.5 rpg in 1989-90.  The next year he had 20.0 ppg and 7.7 rpg.  He continued to score well with Sacramento averaging 16.6, 16.6, and 16.7 ppg the next 3 years before joining the Phoenix Suns in 1994 and winding up his career as the designated scorer off the bench. 

In hindsight, and with 20-20 clarity, the Pacers could have taken Karl Malone or even Charles Oakley for their power forward needs.  Given that they already had solid though unspectacular frontline at that time (Clark Kellogg and Herb Williams at forward and Steve Stipanovich at center), they could have taken Chris Mullin for their backcourt and to shore up their poor outside shooting.

3-Benoit Benjamin, LA Clippers
Another attempt to find a dominant big man.  There were no questions about his talent level even as high as the third selection, but the issues surrounding him were about attitude.  He had a 15 year career in which he showed glimpses of what he could do.  He had decent statistics which were probably more impressive than his actual play: 11.4 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.0 bpg including 16.4 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 2.8 bpg in his fourth season with the Clippers.  He played for 9 teams which was indicative of teams willing to gamble in their search for a big man, but also of teams giving up on him because he did not live up to expectations.

Despite the many centers taken, only Ewing was worthy of a lottery pick.  Hindsight picks here would mean going smaller.  Again Malone and Oakley among the big men, plus Mullin, Schrempf, McDaniel at the wing positions would have all been better choices.

4-Xavier McDaniel, Seattle
He started strong, even arguably being the best player from the draft in his first two years.  A strong rebounder at the small forward spot, he averaged 8.0 and 8.6 rpg his first two years.  His best year was his sophomore year, when he scored 23.0 ppg on .509 field goal shooting.  Ironically, when he was named an All Star in his third year, his statistics dipped slightly to 21.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg and .488 field goal percentage.  He played 6 years for Seattle with averages of 20.7 ppg, 7.0 rpg, and .494 field goal shooting.  He was traded to Phoenix (15.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg for half a season) and traded again to the Knicks (13.7 ppg, 5.6 rpg for 1 season) where his toughness fit in perfectly.  He moved to Boston as a free agent for two years, before ending his career as a bench player for parts of 2 seasons with the Nets.  He averaged 15.6 ppg for his career.

During his peak proved worthy of the 4th overall pick, though Chris Mullin could be considered a better choice specially considering the entire career. 

5-Jon Koncak, Atlanta
Not making race an issue here, but the first of five 7-foot white centers drafted in the first round.  While he had his moments, and had a long career as a defender, he never did anything to justify being drafted this high.  His best year was actually his rookie year, where he produced 8.3 ppg (career high) and 5.7 rpg.  He played his first 10 seasons with the Hawks with averages of 4.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg in 21 mpg as a part time starter.  Koncak moved to Orlando for a season before retiring.

Blair Rasmussen, drafted 15th and who became a teammate with the Hawks in 1991, might have been the best of the 35 feet of white centers but was not considered a lottery talent.  Power forwards Malone and Oakley, and wings McDaniel, Mullin, and Schrempf would all have been better picks here. 

6-Joe Kleine, Sacramento
Second of five.  Had an impressive college career holding his own against the big names like Olajuwon and Ewing.  Unfortunately was purely back-up material in the NBA.  Had his best year in 1987-88 where he started 60 of the 82 games and delivered 9.8 ppg and 7.1 rpg in 24 mpg, but he played that much only because the woeful Kings didn't have anyone better.  At his best value as a big body off the bench.  Was able to translate limited skills to a 15 year career mostly as a back up big man.

Same alternatives as Koncak, and was taken this high only because of the quest for a dominant center.

7-Chris Mullin, Golden State
One of five 1984 Olympic Team members (Ewing, Tisdale, Koncak, Kleine) and with Ewing and Malone, a member of the 1992 Dream Team.  Started his career as a shooting guard before moving to a point forward role in his third year.  That started a string of 6 seasons of at least 20.2 ppg, including five in a row averaging between 25.1 and 26.5 ppg.  Played his first 12 seasons with the Warriors before Larry Bird traded for him in Indiana to provide a veteran presence.  He returned to Golden State for his last year.

Mullin was the third best player in this draft, and during his peak, a case could be made that he was at par with Ewing and Malone in terms of value.