Top 10 NBA Prospects Heading into the League since 2007

[mdonnelly1989]

If there was a draft with all the players since 2007. This means regardless of NEED, based on NBA prospect and hype alone. Heading into their perspective draft classes.


#1. Greg Oden
#2. Zion Williamson
#3. Anthony Davis
#4. Kevin Durant
#5. Blake Griffin*
#6. Andrew Wiggins
#7. Derrick Rose
#8. Jabari Parker
#9. John Wall
#10. Kyrie Irving

[DK-All Day]

Based on hype?

1. Oden
2. Durant
3. Davis
4. Zion
5. Rose
6. Wiggins
7. Kyrie
8. Ayton / Towns
9. Wall
10. Parker

[Michael Jordan]

Blake Griffin?

[Duke4life831]

It really depends. Are we talking about if the draft took place today? If so I don't think Oden would be in the discussion for top 3. We have to remember Oden was an elite prospect for a different time. 2007 was 2 years before Curry was even drafted and a good 6-7 years before the thought of such a 3pt heavy league was even being thought about. Im not saying he wouldn't be an elite prospect today, but a true low post big man wouldnt be as valued today as it was in 2007.

If it was being drafted today. I would probably go

#1 KD
#2 Zion
#3 AD

KD being a 6'10 forward that was hitting 40% from 3 on 6 attempts is just picture perfect for this new era.

[mdonnelly1989]

Blake Griffin?

Ah yeah, I looked right at him and forgot him, he'd be top 5, although it's close between him and Andrew Wiggins.

[mdonnelly1989]

It really depends. Are we talking about if the draft took place today? If so I don't think Oden would be in the discussion for top 3. We have to remember Oden was an elite prospect for a different time. 2007 was 2 years before Curry was even drafted and a good 6-7 years before the thought of such a 3pt heavy league was even being thought about. Im not saying he wouldn't be an elite prospect today, but a true low post big man wouldnt be as valued today as it was in 2007.

If it was being drafted today. I would probably go

#1 KD
#2 Zion
#3 AD

KD being a 6'10 forward that was hitting 40% from 3 on 6 attempts is just picture perfect for this new era.

This is true.

Let's say than 2007 prior to what we know now.

[Duke4life831]

It really depends. Are we talking about if the draft took place today? If so I don't think Oden would be in the discussion for top 3. We have to remember Oden was an elite prospect for a different time. 2007 was 2 years before Curry was even drafted and a good 6-7 years before the thought of such a 3pt heavy league was even being thought about. Im not saying he wouldn't be an elite prospect today, but a true low post big man wouldnt be as valued today as it was in 2007.

If it was being drafted today. I would probably go

#1 KD
#2 Zion
#3 AD

KD being a 6'10 forward that was hitting 40% from 3 on 6 attempts is just picture perfect for this new era.

This is true.

Let's say than 2007 prior to what we know now.

Okay so if we are talking heading into their perspective draft classes. I would then probably go

#1 Oden
#2 Zion
#3 KD
#4 AD

Then a sizable gap after those guys. To me, those 4 are in their own tier as the best prospects since LeBron. I think you can make a case for each one.

[CoinTossRoss31]

2007 was a bit before I started getting into the NBA. Didn't realize how much hype there was for Oden

[SlowPaced]

Oden would go #1.

There are very few prospects in the lottery era that would go #1 over Oden. I'd say only Hakeem, Ewing, Shaq, Duncan and LeBron.

[Duke4life831]

2007 was a bit before I started getting into the NBA. Didn't realize how much hype there was for Oden

Oden was a freak prospect. 2007 was a few years after Dwight got drafted and right when we started to see how dominant Dwight could be. Many felt like Oden was going to be Dwight but with a much more skilled offensive skill set.

[mdonnelly1989]

It really depends. Are we talking about if the draft took place today? If so I don't think Oden would be in the discussion for top 3. We have to remember Oden was an elite prospect for a different time. 2007 was 2 years before Curry was even drafted and a good 6-7 years before the thought of such a 3pt heavy league was even being thought about. Im not saying he wouldn't be an elite prospect today, but a true low post big man wouldnt be as valued today as it was in 2007.

If it was being drafted today. I would probably go

#1 KD
#2 Zion
#3 AD

KD being a 6'10 forward that was hitting 40% from 3 on 6 attempts is just picture perfect for this new era.

This is true.

Let's say than 2007 prior to what we know now.

Okay so if we are talking heading into their perspective draft classes. I would then probably go

#1 Oden
#2 Zion
#3 KD
#4 AD

Then a sizable gap after those guys. To me, those 4 are in their own tier as the best prospects since LeBron. I think you can make a case for each one.

I'm very close to your thoughts, although I think Oden and Zion are in the first tier and then KD and AD are in the 2nd tier and then a sizeable gap. Primarily because I think that KD and AD are VERY Close almost 3A 3B, and well because KD went #2 by default he's lower. If I rated Lebron as the greatest prospect since 2000 a 100/100 as a benchmark.

Lebron 100/100. The way he had been hyped up since High school was absolutely insane.

#1. Oden 98/100
#2. Zion 98/100

#3. AD 97/100
#4. KD 97/100

[clyde21]

Oden would go #1.

There are very few prospects in the lottery era that would go #1 over Oden. I'd say only Hakeem, Ewing, Shaq, Duncan and LeBron.

maybe 20 years ago but there's no way Oden is going over a wing (Zion/Durant) today

[Duke4life831]

This is true.

Let's say than 2007 prior to what we know now.

Okay so if we are talking heading into their perspective draft classes. I would then probably go

#1 Oden
#2 Zion
#3 KD
#4 AD

Then a sizable gap after those guys. To me, those 4 are in their own tier as the best prospects since LeBron. I think you can make a case for each one.

I'm very close to your thoughts, although I think Oden and Zion are in the first tier and then KD and AD are in the 2nd tier and then a sizeable gap. Primarily because I think that KD and AD are VERY Close almost 3A 3B, and well because KD went #2 by default he's lower. If I rated Lebron as the greatest prospect since 2000 a 100/100 as a benchmark.

Lebron 100/100. The way he had been hyped up since High school was absolutely insane.

#1. Oden 98/100
#2. Zion 98/100

#3. AD 97/100
#4. KD 97/100

Hard for me to argue with that. But again I would get someones argument for KD being #1 and Zion being #4, or basically shuffle it in any order and I think you could make a legit argument for it. Again if we are talking about going into their drafts and not today's draft, I think Oden has the easiest case for #1. He was almost the perfect prospect.

Oden: perfect big prospect for his time
AD: freakish length and freakish defender with obvious raw offensive skill set
KD: Really an unseen combination of size/length/perimeter skill set
Zion: Once in a lifetime combination of athleticism/size, plus one of the most dominant college seasons in the modern era.

Id get the argument for all 4.

[mdonnelly1989]

Okay so if we are talking heading into their perspective draft classes. I would then probably go

#1 Oden
#2 Zion
#3 KD
#4 AD

Then a sizable gap after those guys. To me, those 4 are in their own tier as the best prospects since LeBron. I think you can make a case for each one.

I'm very close to your thoughts, although I think Oden and Zion are in the first tier and then KD and AD are in the 2nd tier and then a sizeable gap. Primarily because I think that KD and AD are VERY Close almost 3A 3B, and well because KD went #2 by default he's lower. If I rated Lebron as the greatest prospect since 2000 a 100/100 as a benchmark.

Lebron 100/100. The way he had been hyped up since High school was absolutely insane.

#1. Oden 98/100
#2. Zion 98/100

#3. AD 97/100
#4. KD 97/100

Hard for me to argue with that. But again I would get someones argument for KD being #1 and Zion being #4, or basically shuffle it in any order and I think you could make a legit argument for it. Again if we are talking about going into their drafts and not today's draft, I think Oden has the easiest case for #1. He was almost the perfect prospect.

Oden: perfect big prospect for his time
AD: freakish length and freakish defender with obvious raw offensive skill set
KD: Really an unseen combination of size/length/perimeter skill set
Zion: Once in a lifetime combination of athleticism/size, plus one of the most dominant college seasons in the modern era.

Id get the argument for all 4.

So you think it's possible for someone to argue for KD legitimately knowing he went #2 to Oden in his draft? And yeah, I mean we are talking respective to drafts of course. I suppose what I mean is, I even have KD as a top 4 prospect of the past 12 seasons, and I don't recall a single person who thought he would go ahead of Oden.

[Duke4life831]

I'm very close to your thoughts, although I think Oden and Zion are in the first tier and then KD and AD are in the 2nd tier and then a sizeable gap. Primarily because I think that KD and AD are VERY Close almost 3A 3B, and well because KD went #2 by default he's lower. If I rated Lebron as the greatest prospect since 2000 a 100/100 as a benchmark.

Lebron 100/100. The way he had been hyped up since High school was absolutely insane.

#1. Oden 98/100
#2. Zion 98/100

#3. AD 97/100
#4. KD 97/100

Hard for me to argue with that. But again I would get someones argument for KD being #1 and Zion being #4, or basically shuffle it in any order and I think you could make a legit argument for it. Again if we are talking about going into their drafts and not today's draft, I think Oden has the easiest case for #1. He was almost the perfect prospect.

Oden: perfect big prospect for his time
AD: freakish length and freakish defender with obvious raw offensive skill set
KD: Really an unseen combination of size/length/perimeter skill set
Zion: Once in a lifetime combination of athleticism/size, plus one of the most dominant college seasons in the modern era.

Id get the argument for all 4.

So you think it's possible for someone to argue for KD legitimately knowing he went #2 to Oden in his draft? And yeah, I mean we are talking respective to drafts of course. I suppose what I mean is, I even have KD as a top 4 prospect of the past 12 seasons, and I don't recall a single person who thought he would go ahead of Oden.

Don't get me wrong, no doubt Oden was the clear cut #1 guy. But I definitely see an argument for KD. 6'10 with a 7'4 wingspan, consensus NPOY, 26/11/1 with 2 steals and 2 blocks on 47/40/81 shooting (6 3s a game). I wasn't on here back then, but I remember having this debate with my friend in high school, I thought Oden and he thought KD. I thought it was a reasonable debate back then, and even without considering their NBA careers, I think you can make a good case for KD.

[mdonnelly1989]

Hard for me to argue with that. But again I would get someones argument for KD being #1 and Zion being #4, or basically shuffle it in any order and I think you could make a legit argument for it. Again if we are talking about going into their drafts and not today's draft, I think Oden has the easiest case for #1. He was almost the perfect prospect.

Oden: perfect big prospect for his time
AD: freakish length and freakish defender with obvious raw offensive skill set
KD: Really an unseen combination of size/length/perimeter skill set
Zion: Once in a lifetime combination of athleticism/size, plus one of the most dominant college seasons in the modern era.

Id get the argument for all 4.

So you think it's possible for someone to argue for KD legitimately knowing he went #2 to Oden in his draft? And yeah, I mean we are talking respective to drafts of course. I suppose what I mean is, I even have KD as a top 4 prospect of the past 12 seasons, and I don't recall a single person who thought he would go ahead of Oden.

Don't get me wrong, no doubt Oden was the clear cut #1 guy. But I definitely see an argument for KD. 6'10 with a 7'4 wingspan, consensus NPOY, 26/11/1 with 2 steals and 2 blocks on 47/40/81 shooting (6 3s a game). I wasn't on here back then, but I remember having this debate with my friend in high school, I thought Oden and he thought KD. I thought it was a reasonable debate back then, and even without considering their NBA careers, I think you can make a good case for KD.

Ahh I see. Fair enough, for what its worth, I don't think people would have been absolutely astonished if KD did end up going #1. Like there would have been a LOT of surprise, but I think even Portland would have been Ok with that, without knowing what would have happened.

[KF10]

I remember Oden and Durant debates in 2007. Durant was a stud but people were simply salivating the fact that Oden dominated his year with one hand.

[Genjuro]

and I don't recall a single person who thought he would go ahead of Oden.

Perhaps not, but there were many people who thought he should go ahead of Oden.

[Sofia]

and I don't recall a single person who thought he would go ahead of Oden.

Perhaps not, but there were many people who thought he should go ahead of Oden.

I seem to remember those people making that known around 2012

[Domejandro]

I'm too lazy to retype the argument, but I honestly cannot overemphasize how magical Greg Oden was as a prospect.

1: Greg Oden
2a: Kevin Durant
2b: Zion Williamson
3: Anthony Davis

Based on pre-draft hype, not looking at what has happened in the NBA. I could see a team going either way with Durant or Zion.