The Best NBA Draft Class of All Time: 1996 or 2003?

When buying basketball cards, most people search for the most valuable ones: the rookies. 

For example, if you buy a pack of cards, box of packs, or case of boxes from the year 1997-98, you tend to look for Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady, and Chauncey Billups cards, or from 1995-96, the Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnett ones.  

It is the 1996-97 and 2003-04 packs, boxes, and cases that seem impossible to purchase without spending a fortune because they are loaded with big name rookies. 

In 1996, most people did not think that Kobe Bryant would ever be all that he has become. 

Similarly, in 2003, a lot of people did not think LeBron James would ever reach the level he is at now. 

This is because when we look at an upcoming draft class, we see potential, and when we look back on rookie classes, we see accomplishment. 

It is very difficult to foresee who will become what down the road.  It would be easy if everyone amounted to his full potential.  If everyone amounted to his full potential, Michael Jordan would not have been drafted third overall. 

Some rookies are standouts from the get go and have an immediate impact, such as Rookie of the Year winners Allen Iverson and LeBron James.  For others, it does not work quite that way. 

Kobe Bryant spent one year as a novice before becoming a franchise player.  David West didn't become an All-Star caliber player until his fifth season. 

To make the best educated predictions of who will be what, we look mostly at previous performance, which usually provides pretty accurate results.  We also need to take into account that at the next level, things change.  It is similar for college scouting. 

There are some high school players that dominated for four years that never even start a game in college, as are there players who didn't even play on the team for four years in high school that become All-Americans in college.  This is what makes drafts and rookies so exciting.  You get to see who are the sleepers and who are the busts at the professional level.

The talent brought to the NBA by the 1996 and 2003 draft classes are both tremendous and compare quite closely.  Below is a comparison of the finest products produced from these two drafts and a conclusion explaining which one is the best draft class of all-time. 

It would not be fair to compare where the players are at today for both classes because most of the '96 class is well in their 30s and past their prime, so the '96 class is assessed based on the conclusion of the 2000-01 season, their fifth season, and the '03 class is assessed based on the completion of this past season (07-08), their fifth season.

96-1: KOBE BRYANT (Drafted 13th overall by Charlotte, traded to LA Lakers)- Very hardworking 6'7" shooting guard displayed excellent all-around game quickly rising to the NBA's elite.  Dropped a career high 28.5 points per game (Fourth in the NBA) in '00-'01, teaming up with Shaquille O'Neal to lead the Lakers to back to back NBA championships.

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