The 1984 NBA Draft: The Man Drafted Before Michael Jordan

mr j 858

mr j 858

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Just watched this documentary:





Sad story.


But even after watching this it still really amazes me how the Blazers still drafted him before Jordan.

I mean yeah I see the points brought up during that time how they already had Clyde Drexler and back then drafting a big man was the right move to make.

But man you know this guy was injured heavily in college and sat out 1 or 2 years and you still drafted him.

Well the rest is history.
 
I'm at the point in life where I literally never want to hear anything about the 1984 draft ever again. It's been beaten to death for 30 damn years. It happened. Move the eff on.
 
I never got why people harp on this so much. Yeah it was a bad pick, but there have been tons of others. Plus dude had a couple freak injuries and still managed to have a decent career.
 
Craziest thing about this draft, Portland was gonna trade the pick to Houston for Moses Malone (they needed a big man so they took Sam Bowie). Rockets could have had Hakeem and Jordan
 
I don't think it was a bad pick. The guy had legit skills. Offensively and defensively. They took a risk and were hopefull he remained healthy. And had he did, he would've put up 20-10 for a decade. Drexler WAS the goods though.

It's kind of like, if Bernard King would have never got injured, would he and Patrick Ewing be good. Or, Imagine Len Bias playing against Jordan in the Eastern Conference.

Now, had Sam Bowie been injury free after having been drafted and put up awful numbers and stunk up the place, arguement would be valid. Three severe leg injuries but still was resilient and still played a few years? That is commendable.
 
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IMO It's easy to blast the decision (and we have for 3 decades) because we know now that it's MICHAEL JORDAN.

But at that time no one looked at MJ and said "there is the future GOAT of all time." He was a great prospect that had his numbers held down at UNC and I think most evaluators who ranked him high still would have laughed if you told them Mike in his first year in the league would average 28 PPG and be 2nd team All NBA, followed by greatest of all time career.

The league at that time was all about big men first, guards second. Take the fact Portland already had Drexler too and while I can laugh about it now (and it is a mistake that will live on until the end of time) I also know this has taken on a myth of its own and it's not as big a sports blunder as it's been made out to be.
 
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What about when they drafted Oden over Durant??

I KNEW Durant would have the better career. I was hoping it wouldn't be a Sam Bowie part II for them but it happened....again
 
it wasnt portlands fault. jalen rose was not an expert analyst yet and couldn't have told them to take MJ over bowie

not srs
 
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