Post by nybombers3 on Mar 5, 2023 6:33:32 GMT -8
While we tend to judge drafts based on ratings and notes, it’s always interesting to look back and see how certain drafts stack up. When looking back on drafts, players that have made big impacts tend to stick out and you notice them right away. Some drafts have amazing depth. Some drafts are massively top heavy. Some drafts have that amazing player at the top and solid role guys under them. Then, there is one draft in particular. This draft started off well enough but quickly dies off and fails to recover. One may even call this, the draft of the Mel’s.
Mel Hutchins was a stud big who can give you a great double double with nice stocks. 24/10 in his rookie season? Hard to argue that those are stud numbers. While Mel never continued to develop his shot blocking like the other stud in this draft, he was always an amazing big that continued to play well until he retired.
That, is where this draft begins and really ends. Lew Hitch was a stocky wing who, let’s be honest, is mostly known as the dude who eventually resigned for dirt cheap while remaining a solid player. He never really developed his scoring in Indy and while he provided good rebounding and stocks, it’s hard to be happy with him as the 2nd guy. So, who is it?
Before we answer that, we should look at the rest of the lotto. The Pacers took back to back PG’s in Whitney Skoog and Alfred McGuire. Maybe one could’ve developed more on a different roster but to be fair, McGuire really found his spot as a scoring guard who can’t play PG.
Rounding out the top five is Mel Payton. This is where this draft really ends. Mel Payton and Mel Hutchins weren’t far off from each other but with one big difference. Mel Payton was a shot blocker. Big time. He won a few DPOY awards and helped many teams in his role. He can do it all and honestly, between him and Hutchins, the draft up top doesn’t look bad. Still, for as good as Mel Payton and Mel Hutchins are, they just don’t have that stud name factor. So who should’ve gone third? Fair warning, that name takes a while to get to.
Ernie Barrett was a solid player with ugly ratings. His career ended as soon as he took that max contract from Seattle though. It was hard to justify having him around yet hard to just play him as a tanking team. Rip Gish was the opposite. Stud ratings, subpar play. After Gish, the draft gets even worse. Jake Fendy had the designer ratings with the Kmart output. George Dempsey never developed. Same with Ed Smith. Bato Govedarica was a capable backup PG but even with that, rarely got that shot to shine. Don “anything but a” Savage was another great ratings but not great numbers player. His per36 were amazing though?
This is kind of the running theme for the rest of the draft. So, who would be going third? Drafted in the 2nd round by the Chicago Bulls, Dwight Swails. Gaining 40 potential after being traded from the Bulls, Swails developed into a solid scoring option who was able to give rebounds and even some stocks. His fall off did end up happening much earlier then expected but he was clearly a very solid player.
So, aside from the Mel’s and Swails, it’s hard to imagine who would be worthy of a lotto pick. Now obviously, it’s easy to say one draft and worst then all of them without any context of the others and while I have zero desire to go through all drafts in this one article, I don’t see how the 33 does not stand alone as the worst draft currently in BBS history. It’s biggest competition could be the 2001 draft. While the star power in that draft is lacking massively, the amount of good to great players is plentiful. The 33 draft can’t say that. The 32 draft starts off with a GOAT tier PG in Cousy and while Arizin and Sharman (some dumbass drafted Foust 3rd) had plenty of issues, the 32 draft had some solid rotational pieces around it. The 34 draft is saved mostly by it’s depth along with the birth of the nickname, Dick Throat Groat. The 30’s seemed like a bleak time to be drafting and I believe the 33 draft is the pinnacle of suck. The Throat Goat if you will.
Mel Hutchins was a stud big who can give you a great double double with nice stocks. 24/10 in his rookie season? Hard to argue that those are stud numbers. While Mel never continued to develop his shot blocking like the other stud in this draft, he was always an amazing big that continued to play well until he retired.
That, is where this draft begins and really ends. Lew Hitch was a stocky wing who, let’s be honest, is mostly known as the dude who eventually resigned for dirt cheap while remaining a solid player. He never really developed his scoring in Indy and while he provided good rebounding and stocks, it’s hard to be happy with him as the 2nd guy. So, who is it?
Before we answer that, we should look at the rest of the lotto. The Pacers took back to back PG’s in Whitney Skoog and Alfred McGuire. Maybe one could’ve developed more on a different roster but to be fair, McGuire really found his spot as a scoring guard who can’t play PG.
Rounding out the top five is Mel Payton. This is where this draft really ends. Mel Payton and Mel Hutchins weren’t far off from each other but with one big difference. Mel Payton was a shot blocker. Big time. He won a few DPOY awards and helped many teams in his role. He can do it all and honestly, between him and Hutchins, the draft up top doesn’t look bad. Still, for as good as Mel Payton and Mel Hutchins are, they just don’t have that stud name factor. So who should’ve gone third? Fair warning, that name takes a while to get to.
Ernie Barrett was a solid player with ugly ratings. His career ended as soon as he took that max contract from Seattle though. It was hard to justify having him around yet hard to just play him as a tanking team. Rip Gish was the opposite. Stud ratings, subpar play. After Gish, the draft gets even worse. Jake Fendy had the designer ratings with the Kmart output. George Dempsey never developed. Same with Ed Smith. Bato Govedarica was a capable backup PG but even with that, rarely got that shot to shine. Don “anything but a” Savage was another great ratings but not great numbers player. His per36 were amazing though?
This is kind of the running theme for the rest of the draft. So, who would be going third? Drafted in the 2nd round by the Chicago Bulls, Dwight Swails. Gaining 40 potential after being traded from the Bulls, Swails developed into a solid scoring option who was able to give rebounds and even some stocks. His fall off did end up happening much earlier then expected but he was clearly a very solid player.
So, aside from the Mel’s and Swails, it’s hard to imagine who would be worthy of a lotto pick. Now obviously, it’s easy to say one draft and worst then all of them without any context of the others and while I have zero desire to go through all drafts in this one article, I don’t see how the 33 does not stand alone as the worst draft currently in BBS history. It’s biggest competition could be the 2001 draft. While the star power in that draft is lacking massively, the amount of good to great players is plentiful. The 33 draft can’t say that. The 32 draft starts off with a GOAT tier PG in Cousy and while Arizin and Sharman (some dumbass drafted Foust 3rd) had plenty of issues, the 32 draft had some solid rotational pieces around it. The 34 draft is saved mostly by it’s depth along with the birth of the nickname, Dick Throat Groat. The 30’s seemed like a bleak time to be drafting and I believe the 33 draft is the pinnacle of suck. The Throat Goat if you will.
