[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

I know all of us are anxious for the draft early entry deadline so that we can know who is in this years draft for certain. Well, in my boredom, wanted to do something I thought would be kind of interesting. Basketball-reference.com has a list of all of the birth years of players grouped together. Those of us who follow the draft and high school hoops know that many generations tend to be different. Some have a lot of depth, some have little depth and a lot of star power, some years have just been almost anomalies.

A high school class can sometimes include as many as three different birth years. For instance, the 2012 HS class has players born in 1992, 1993 and 1994. So, I thought I would make a top 10 list of NBA players ranked based on the year they were born. Seeing that the 1989 born players still have yet to come with a full representation, I will start with 1988 born players and work my way down to 1972, the last year with active NBA players (Grant Hill and Kurt Thomas).

This will be based on NBA career achievement (my opinion of such, I suppose), not on where they were ranked in HS or college. Also, I will list the number of players born in that year to have played in the NBA next to the year. It tends to be mid 50’s to mid 70’s, with the numbers increasing over time. I guess for the fun of it, people could list which years they felt produced the best prospects. My list will not be based on teams or positions, just who I feel were the best players born in said year. Remember, this is based on career thus far. I will post the link beneath if you would like to make your own, maybe even predict how they turn out.

1988 (60 players who have played in the NBA)

1. Kevin Durant

2. Derrick Rose

3. Russell Westbrook

4. Kevin Love

5. Eric Gordon

6. Stephen Curry

7. Danilo Gallinari

8. Brook Lopez

9. Thaddeus Young

10. Nicolas Batum

 

1987 (51 players)

1. Andrew Bynum

2. Ty Lawson

3. Wilson Chandler

4. OJ Mayo

5. Mike Conley

6. Darren Collison

7. Marcus Thornton

8. Ersan Ilyasova

9. DJ Augustin

10. CJ Miles

 

1986 (75 players)

1. Rajon Rondo

2. Rudy Gay

3. Al Horford

4. Kyle Lowry

5. Roy Hibbert

6. Lou Williams

7. Rodney Stuckey

8. Wesley Matthews

9. Marvin Williams

10. Jeff Green (would have been higher had he played this season)

 

1985 (73 players)

1. Dwight Howard

2. Chris Paul

3. LaMarcus Aldridge

4. Luol Deng

5. Marc Gasol

6. Josh Smith

7. Al Jefferson

8. Monta Ellis

9. Andrea Bargnani

10. Paul Millsap

 

1984 (73 players)

1. LeBron James

2. Carmelo Anthony

3. Deron Williams

4. Chris Bosh

5. Andre Iguodala

6. Andrew Bogut

7. Brandon Roy (Will probably slip as time goes on, unfortunately)

8. Raymond Felton

9. Kendrick Perkins

10. Charlie Villanueva

 

1983 (65 players)

1. Danny Granger

2. Ben Gordon

3. Kevin Martin

4. David Lee

5. Devin Harris

6. Carl Landry

7. Delonte West

8. Jarrett Jack

9. TJ Ford (Another who will likely slip)

10. Randy Foye

 

1982 (64 players)

1. Dwyane Wade

2. Tony Parker

3. Amare Stoudemire

4. Gilbert Arenas

5. Tyson Chandler

6. Gerald Wallace

7. Mo Williams

8. Nene

9. Emeka Okafor

10. Chris Kaman

 

1981 (58 Players)

1. Joe Johnson

2. Zach Randolph (Coin flip for top spot in my eyes, Johnson played more games)

3. Carlos Boozer

4. Andrei Kirilenko

5. Jason Richardson

6. Kirk Hinrich

7. Drew Gooden

8. Kyle Korver

9. Jose Calderon

10. Samuel Dalembert

 

1980 (73 players)

1. Pau Gasol

2. Yao Ming (Could slip, might not though)

3. David West

4. Caron Butler

5. Tayshaun Prince

6. Josh Howard

7. Luis Scola

8. Jamal Crawford

9. Al Harrington

10. Mike Miller

 

1979 (59 players)

1. Tracy McGrady

2. Lamar Odom (Will take the rings, even minus the ASG appearances)

3. Elton Brand

4. Baron Davis

5. Metta World Peace

6. Rashard Lewis

7. Hedo Turkoglu

8. Mehmet Okur

9. Corey Maggette

10. John Salmons

 

1978 (51 players)

1. Kobe Bryant

2. Dirk Nowitzki

3. Shawn Marion

4. Rip Hamilton

5. Jermaine O’Neal

6. Stephen Jackson

7. Mike Bibby

8. Shane Battier

9. Eddie House

10. Jamaal Magloire

 

1977 (51 players)

1. Paul Pierce

2. Manu Ginobili

3. Vince Carter

4. Jason Terry

5. Peja Stojakovic

6. Stephon Marbury

7. Steve Francis

8. Kenyon Martin

9. James Posey

10. Tim Thomas

 

1976 (64 Players)

1. Tim Duncan

2. Kevin Garnett

3. Chauncey Billups

4. Andre Miller

5. Antawn Jamison

6. Antoine Walker

7. Shareef Abdur-Rahim

8. Brad Miller

9. Raja Bell

10. Matt Harpring

 

1975 (78 players)

1. Allen Iverson

2. Ray Allen

3. Zydrunas Ilgauskas

4. Joe Smith

5. Jason Williams (White Chocolate aka Whit Eboy)

6. Keith Van Horn

7. Cuttino Mobley

8. Erick Dampier

9. Antonio Daniels

10. Anthony Parker

 

1974 (52 players)

1. Steve Nash

2. Rasheed Wallace

3. Ben Wallace

4. Jerry Stackhouse

5. Antonio McDyess

6. Derek Fisher (Nice situation, but contributor on 5 champs, more games than anyone else in age group)

7. Marcus Camby

8. Malik Rose

9. Derek Anderson

10. Chucky Atkins

 

1973 (69 players)

1. Jason Kidd

2. Chris Webber

3. Juwan Howard

4. Michael Finley

5. Glenn Robinson

6. Jalen Rose

7. Damon Stoudamire

8. Donyell Marshall

9. Corliss Williamson

10. Theo Ratliff

 

1972 (55 players)

1. Shaquille O’Neal

2. Grant Hill

3. Jamal Mashburn

4. Brian Grant

5. Kurt Thomas

6. Aaron McKie

7. Shawn Bradley

8. Howard Eisley

9. Eric Williams

10. Travis Best

 

Pretty interesting when you look at it this way. Definitely up for discussion on rankings, though most #1’s are pretty clear cut. The later generations will definitely change, I know I left some names out that I feel might surpass some people on the list. Just wanted to piece this list together and see what people thought. Which year was the best, which year was the worst and are you surprised to see a few of these names amongst the best in whatever birth year they were in? I know I was definitely surprised, to answer the last question. Will comment more when I have time.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/birthyears.cgi?year=1972      

[HaleParticipant]

That must have taken a very long time to complete. At first glance I have no arguments with the way you ranked the players.

[tjmartin23Participant]

 You know 1985 is deep when Milsap is ranked 10. I think I would have switched him and Bargnani though. All these lists look good though!

[JoeWolf1]

 Wow, great list, you spent a lot of time on that. 

In my opinion Theo Ratliff should be higher.  He lead the league in blocks twice, made 2 All-Defensive teams and made an All-Star team.  He’s also 13th All-Time in blocked shots per game with 2.4 on his career.

I think he should be over Corliss Williamson, Donyell Marshall and Damon Stoudamire.  They were never All-Stars, never lead the league in anything and aside from rookie teams, never made any All-NBA teams.  Damon Stoudamire came on the scene with a bang, but faded into a very average point guard once he left the newly expanded Raptors.

Dwayne Wade is #1 from my birth year.  That’s a pretty good class all in all, Amare and Tony Parker too.

 

[orangeshadow83Participant]

This is a really interesting and informative list. I like it because you usually see players grouped by which draft class they were in and not the year they were born. This obviously took a lot of time to complete and is very well thought out.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

I think Damon Stoudamire more than likely should have been an All-Star and was a major player on teams more often than Theo. Unfortunately, he was part of the Blazers slower teams that used to be marked as "where fantasy players go to die", which make his stats less glamorous than they might have been otherwise. Damon averaged 18.9 ppg and 8.7 apg as a Raptor, his only accolade being Rookie of the Year (over Arvydas Sabonis, Kevin Garnett, Joe Smith, Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess, list goes on).

He was given the not so easy task of being an expansion teams best player as a 7th pick in the draft and did so very admirably. He did not block shots like Theo, but he played more games, more play-off games and had a longer lasting impact. I am sure in a majority of seasons if you were to ask who was the better player, people would go with Damon. It may be the early years of watching him in Toronto (saw him put up a triple double against a prime Gary Payton as a rookie, plus win the game), but I would probably not budge on where I put him. Think you may have an admiration for Theo’s defense, which I understand, but I am still putting him 8 at best.

My other guys were also better scorers (in the case of Donyell Marshall, also a better rebounder) and both played more games than Theo. Donyell was a decent role guy on those late Cleveland games and while he never really lived up to his draft billing, was a decent rotation scoring forward. "Big Nasty" kind of has a spot in my heart from his Arkansas days, when I first started following basketball as a kid. He never really killed it in the NBA, but was 6th man of the year and played a solid bench role for the 2004 Detroit championship teams.

All players had stronger play-off roles than Theo really ever had. Remember, the 76ers traded Theo for Mutombo, which is what got them to the Finals in 2002. Also remember that at age 30, Theo played a minor role to a Blazer team with Damon Stoudamire as one of its leading catalysts. Theo was a block machine, but also a foul machine and he was really not a great rebounder. He is memorable for the block numbers and that is a definite skill, but it is hard for me to have that much will in changing his spot. Think 8-10 are up for debate, but Damon stays in my opinion. Jamaal Magloire was an All-Star also, had little problem putting him behind Mike Bibby, Shane Battier and even Eddie House. Just wanted to give you some reasoning behind my selection. Theo was a good player, but I think people tend to put him slightly higher than he may have deserved to be due to his shot blocking numbers, which did not necessarily produce contending teams behind them.

[JoeWolf1]

 I can buy that explaination, I just think making 2 All-Defensive teams and leading the league in something twice is something to hang your hat on.  Yet, so is scoring 10,000 points something Theo didnt’ do and Marshall and Stoudamire did.  Big Nasty won an NCAA and NBA Championship which is impressive too.

To me it was Ratliff being voted a top 10 league defender twice, including one year when he was with Damon in Portland.

Ratliff was elite in a couple aspects of his game and the other guys were certainly more well rounded players. 

Difference in opinion, but I can by where you’re coming from. I understand your sentiment for Big Nasty because I’ve always been a Ratliff fan, when I first started playing organized basketball I was an undersized post and crazy shot blocker with not a lot else, haha.

 

[invalidParticipant]

 nice list, id put camby over fisher. jermaine over rip. jamal crawford over josh howard and scola. calderon over korver. david lee over ben gordon. josh smith over marc gasol and deng. im confident that brandon roy wouldnt slip down. and id put rose over durant as for now, he got 1mvp already hee. maybe next year is a different case tho

[jmarg25Participant]

Sorry to be picky but I think Mike Conley should be higher, maybe #3.

 

[jalendean2]

I feel like Joe Dumars is going to earn his stripes over the next couple of years.  He has 2 great pieces in Knight and Monroe to build around and I think he can get a 3rd in the draft.  I would target Jared Sullinger of Ohio State.  He has become the most underrated player in the draft due to his size.  Hes great on the block and is developing an outside shot.  I also think that he compliments Monroe well.  Monroe is more of a high post, free throw line offense runner like Timmy Duncan.  Sullinger is a low block to corner 20 footer scorer and offensive rebounder like Zach Randolph.  Brandon Knight has a nice shot and can also create off the dribble.  They would just need to shore up the wings and let the team grow.  I think they would be a lottery team again next year and that they could target a wing like Michael Snaer of Florida State.  They will also have the expiring contracts of Ben Gordon, Chuck Villanueva and Rodney Stuckey to trade away next offseason.  All 3 could be good additions to the bench of a contendor. 

[dede21]

 Jamal Magloire was a fucking all start and you rank Eddie House over him unreal

[dede21]

 Steph Curry is way too high probably not even top ten he is definitely 10th of those guys don’t know who is omitted

[dede21]

 Well I guess it is a little too early for 1988 kind of Chandler Parsons is just a rookie obviously he is much better than Curry but has not played many games so kind of hard to compare, then you got Greg Oden who when he played much btter than Curry maybe he can come back eventually. Deandre Jordan and Lin and a few others should be better but I guess have not achieved it yet.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

I realize you are pretty much a troll, but what is your beef with Stephen Curry? He was hurt for a majority of the year, but I am a big fan of his game. I mean, he shot 49% from the field and 45.5% from 3 this season. If you look at his production from this season as compared to Chandler Parsons, you take Curry all day.

Granted, Chandler had a solid season for a second rounder, but for the amount of minutes he played I am not exactly blown away by his production. Landry Fields was much of the same last season and has kind of proven to be a guy who you maybe would like to give fewer minutes to in an optimal situation. I am the biggest Greg Oden fan you will find, but he did not play better than Stephen Curry.

Jamaal Magloire was an All-Star, but Eddie House has a championship ring. I guess the ultimate theme is, if I had to choose between a single All-Star game and a ring, when both were for the most part role players, I take the ring. Jamaal’s All-Star appearance was more for having a lack of quality centers than anything.

To me, it was kind of an inconsequential decision, I took both into account and went with the player whose career I would have rather had. If you ask me who was better, I would probably say Jamaal, but Eddie had a NBA ring, which I take over Jamaal’s college title. I did forget that Jamaal played pretty well in that All-Star game, but ultimately he was on a Hornet’s team that went 41-41. If you ask me the better player, I would say Jamaal, but for career, I take the time Eddie House played on the 2008 Celtics. Not to mention he did a little more for Miami last season than Jamaal could muster.

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