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The 2011 NBA Draft has been a resounding success, vastly underrated draft
This NBA Draft gave the NBA several of its franchise level players, cornerstones, and/or superstars and even some fringe star players as well. Plenty of excellent role players too. This draft, by now, has changed the fortunes of several NBA teams. Aside from producing an NBA regular season MVP (yet), this draft has had success in every other manner.
Here are some of the bigger names from the 2011 NBA Draft:
01. Kyrie Irving
08. Brandon Knight
09. Kemba Walker
11. Klay Thompson
15. Kawhi Leonard
16. Nikola Vucevic
19. Tobias Harris
24. Reggie Jackson
30. Jimmy Butler
60. Isaiah Thomas
It's produced some excellent role players too; Enes Kanter, Tristan Thompson, Jonas Valunciunas, Bismack Biyombo, Markieff Morris, Marcus Morris, Iman Shumpert, Donatas Motiejunas, Kenneth Faried, Nikola Mirotic, Norris Cole, Cory Joseph, Shelvin Mack, Chandler Parsons, Davis Bertans, and several more.
This NBA draft already has an NBA Finals MVP (Kawhi Leonard, 2014), three NBA Champions (Kawhi, Klay, Kyrie), several All-Stars and All-NBA players, a Most Improved Player of the Year (Jimmy Butler, 2015), two regular season MVP candidates (Kawhi (2016 and 2017), Thomas (2017)), and several franchise cornerstones.
Although Brandon Knight, Tobias Harris, and Nikola Vucevic have all fallen off in production since their best year in the NBA (2014-2015), this draft has still contributed to some of the best players in both the NBA and on Earth. Kawhi Leonard is arguably the best two-way player in the NBA, Klay Thompson is arguably a top three all-time best shooter in the NBA, Kyrie Irving is one of the best clutch players in the NBA, and Isaiah Thomas defied all odds by becoming a Top 10 NBA player in the NBA today (especially given his small size).
What do you think? How does this draft compare to the best NBA drafts in history? Do you think the 2011 NBA Draft is heavily underrated for how valuable its proven to be in the current NBA?
For example, the 2008 class looked a lot better until Rose got hurt and never really recovered but it has Westbrook and Love in it. (I'd put 2008 behind 2011 by a good margin).
One reason 2011 is pretty good is that there was a lot of talent that was developed from deep down the list like Butler.
I'd say that 2011 is on pace to end up 3rd best since 1996.
The 2003 draft had Lebron, Wade, Melo, Bosh and more. (9 all-stars)
1996 was tough: Iverson, Nash, Kobe, Ray Allen....wow. (10 total all-stars from that draft)
Good thread; the 2012 Draft definitely got more hype, but other than AD, Lilliard, Drummond and Draymond Green, it's been disappointing. A lot of Warriors fans were pissed they took Harrison Barnes over Drummond...looks like they may have had a point.
The '11 Draft was one of the best in recent memory due to its depth.
The Strong Island Kid, Harris, has 'fallen off' such, he's averaging almost 17 a game and shooting 89 percent from the line! Them numbers from the stripe are much needed, in a hack-a-whoever league!
- Kawhi Leonard (2014 NBA Finals MVP, NBA Champion)
- Kyrie Irving (NBA Champion, clutch one-on-one player)
- Klay Thompson (Top 2 shooter of all time, NBA Champion)
- Kemba Walker (First time All-Star in 2016)
Isaiah Thomas and Jimmy Butler have been spectacular as well the last several seasons, unfortunately their first names doesn't start with a "K" LOL.
I would definitely take Kawhi Leonard #1. He's a beast, in my personal opinion a top 5 player in the NBA today, and he's so good at both ends of the court. He does a little bit of everything, he racks up steals, rebounds, assists, points, and blocks. He touches all 5 statistical facets of the game. He can play AND guard at least 4 out of the 5 positions in basketball and still find time to drop 25 on very efficient shooting. His character is very stable, you can build a franchise around him and he shows up to work and is a team player. Kawhi never tries to go for a "career night" even though he can go off for 50 any given night. He's not a stat stuffer whatsoever.
Kawhi isn't that far off from averaging 50/40/90 this season, meaning 50% from the field, 40% from three point range, and 90% from free throw range. To me, that is the single, absolute most elite statistic in the NBA. I would rather a guy on my team average 50/40/90 an entire season than win league MVP, because 50/40/90 is purely elite company. That's elite skill right there. You're an absolute marksmen with numbers like that. Currently, as of today, Kawhi is averaging 48.6% from the field, 40.4% from three point range, and 90.5% from free throw land. If he gets his field goal percentage up by another 1.4% (easy to do with 30 games left) he will be in the vaunted 50/40/90 Club, which is reserved only for rare offensively savvy and efficient players in NBA history.
After Kawhi, it is Klay Thompson closely behind Kawhi. Klay is a very underrated player in the NBA, similar to Kawhi, he just never seems to get his proper due as one of the most elite two way players in the NBA today. I would say both are top two as two way players in the NBA (with Jimmy Butler also somewhere in the top 5 as well). Klay is also one of the top two or three shooters in NBA history. The nights he gets it going, he's unstoppable. His production on nights like those are unparalleled. Klay's only limitations are in his inability to set up his teammates to score and/or his court vision. Klay is also an ironman, he rarely, if ever (once in a blue moon) misses a game. He's also a great competitor with a drive to be the best and he plays like it.
After those two, I'm not sure. I think I would go with Jimmy Butler over Isaiah Thomas and Kyrie Irving. He's bigger, more versatile, and can play both ends of the court, which gives him more immediate value to any contending team. You can also build a franchise around him and he's able to both guard and play positions 1-4 on the court.
Then a tie between Kyrie and Isaiah after that. Really though, after Kawhi and Klay, for me personally, there's a big drop off to the next guy, Butler/Irving/Thomas, then another drop off to Kemba Walker and the like.
If Larry Bird, who drafted both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George for the Indiana Pacers, had the opportunity to pick one of either George or Leonard today, he would probably go with Leonard, no doubt about it. Leonard developed rapidly and he's still only like 25 or something, so he hasn't even reached his most formidable years yet. That's the scary part in it all.
Last edited by Trafalgar Law; 02-03-2017 at 01:41 PM..
I would definitely take Kawhi Leonard #1. He's a beast, in my personal opinion a top 5 player in the NBA today, and he's so good at both ends of the court. He does a little bit of everything, he racks up steals, rebounds, assists, points, and blocks. He touches all 5 statistical facets of the game. He can play AND guard at least 4 out of the 5 positions in basketball and still find time to drop 25 on very efficient shooting. His character is very stable, you can build a franchise around him and he shows up to work and is a team player. Kawhi never tries to go for a "career night" even though he can go off for 50 any given night. He's not a stat stuffer whatsoever.
Kawhi isn't that far off from averaging 50/40/90 this season, meaning 50% from the field, 40% from three point range, and 90% from free throw range. To me, that is the single, absolute most elite statistic in the NBA. I would rather a guy on my team average 50/40/90 an entire season than win league MVP, because 50/40/90 is purely elite company. That's elite skill right there. You're an absolute marksmen with numbers like that. Currently, as of today, Kawhi is averaging 48.6% from the field, 40.4% from three point range, and 90.5% from free throw land. If he gets his field goal percentage up by another 1.4% (easy to do with 30 games left) he will be in the vaunted 50/40/90 Club, which is reserved only for rare offensively savvy and efficient players in NBA history.
After Kawhi, it is Klay Thompson closely behind Kawhi. Klay is a very underrated player in the NBA, similar to Kawhi, he just never seems to get his proper due as one of the most elite two way players in the NBA today. I would say both are top two as two way players in the NBA (with Jimmy Butler also somewhere in the top 5 as well). Klay is also one of the top two or three shooters in NBA history. The nights he gets it going, he's unstoppable. His production on nights like those are unparalleled. Klay's only limitations are in his inability to set up his teammates to score and/or his court vision. Klay is also an ironman, he rarely, if ever (once in a blue moon) misses a game. He's also a great competitor with a drive to be the best and he plays like it.
After those two, I'm not sure. I think I would go with Jimmy Butler over Isaiah Thomas and Kyrie Irving. He's bigger, more versatile, and can play both ends of the court, which gives him more immediate value to any contending team. You can also build a franchise around him and he's able to both guard and play positions 1-4 on the court.
Then a tie between Kyrie and Isaiah after that. Really though, after Kawhi and Klay, for me personally, there's a big drop off to the next guy, Butler/Irving/Thomas, then another drop off to Kemba Walker and the like.
If Larry Bird, who drafted both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George for the Indiana Pacers, had the opportunity to pick one of either George or Leonard today, he would probably go with Leonard, no doubt about it. Leonard developed rapidly and he's still only like 25 or something, so he hasn't even reached his most formidable years yet. That's the scary part in it all.
Again, great thread.
I guess we'll have to see who continues to develop and whom can sustain the level of excellence.
My personal opinion is similar to yours, to be truly elite you have to dominate BOTH ends of the court.
I'll be honest, I think Klay is at least on-par with Curry, if not better.
Hard to draw lines between KL, KT, JB and KI at this point. All are playing great, we'll have to see how they continue.
Have to mention that many of those guys play around a lot of talent and get open looks or less guarding as a result. Let's call this the post-Orlando Shaq effect. Anyone not familiar with this, go look at orlando players after they no longer played with Shaq.
I remember telling this forum that when Chicago drafted Butler, they got the steal of the draft.
He pretty much single-handedly destroyed Syracuse twice the prior season.
Great post.
Butler if anyone knows his backstory, is one of my favorite players in the league.
He came up the HARD way, no silver spoon scholarship to play 1-2 years at a bigtime school before turning pro.
Man was essentially homeless at times during his youth.
He's probably in my top 10-20 all-time inspirational guys in the NBA and that goes back decades.
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