Sixty picks. By the end of June 26, there will be 60 new members of NBA rosters (contracts and draft-and-stash candidates pending), ranging from Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker to whoever follows in Janis Timma's footsteps as this year's Mr. Irrelevant.
There will be plenty of drama throughout the night's festivities in the Barclays Center, which will see the first round presided over by someone other than David Stern for the first time in a long while. Will the boo-birds be out in full force for Adam Silver, or will his post-Donald Sterling popularity save him until he announces the inevitably unpopular pick?
You've read the mock drafts. You've watched the highlights. But now, the hypotheticals become realities, and it's a process sure to abound with surprises. Did anyone expect Anthony Bennett to go at No. 1 last year? Did anyone know how to pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo at the time?
Here come the steals. Here come the reaches. Above all else, here come the grades. We'll be updating you with live marks throughout the proceedings, so stay tuned and keep refreshing the page to see how your team stacks up. GRANT HILL
Grant Hill and his “overachieving” Duke Blue Devils had lost a close game to the “40 Minutes of Hell” Arkansas Razorbacks—led by coach Nolan Richardson and Corliss Williamson—in the ‘94 NCAA championship game. These days, after such a loss, he’d have almost immediately jumped into training for the draft. Not 20 years ago, though.
HILL: Preparations are a lot more sophisticated now. But back then, in North Carolina, all the Duke and UNC guys and the guys at Wake Forest and N.C. State, if your eligibility was up, you would go out and barnstorm throughout the state. So me, Brian Reese, Eric Montross and a bunch of guys would go and play these game—you know, N.C. is basketball country—in these smaller towns like Asheville, Rocky Mount and whatnot, where they didn’t always get to see college stars play. And we got a little cash for it. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do with the risk of getting hurt.
Nowadays guys aren’t declaring for the draft and playing pickup ball. They’re going straight to specialists and trainers to get them ready for the draft.
But for me, honestly, my time between season’s end and the draft was not much different from when I was a student. I stayed down in N.C., and it was pretty much hanging out and playing ball every day.
There was some business he took care of, though. He chose Lon Babby, his lawyer at the time, to be his agent [Hill was Babby’s first major client as a sports agent], and scored a sneaker deal with FILA (a coup for the shoe company at the time, as Nike and Reebok were the kicks kings).Most players didn’t get shoe deals before they were drafted back then. But Hill was a star, with a polished charm and pedigree that made him destined to be a pitchman. On the court he was a super-versatile wing who drew apt comparisons to Scottie Pippen.
Along with Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson and Jason Kidd, he was a consensus top-three pick. He worked out for only two teams, however—Milwaukee and Detroit. The Bucks had the top pick, the Pistons the third. He chose not to work out for Dallas, which had the second pick.
I had my heart set on Detroit.Let’s face it. Glenn had just had a sensational season [Big Dog averaged 30 points and 10 rebounds on his way to a Big Ten championship and Wooden Award]. We knew he was basically a lock at No. 1. I even think that Milwaukee held up a jersey with his name on it when they won the lottery.
So, I didn’t want to work out for Milwaukee, really, but my agent said that I had to make the visit to the team with the first pick almost as a courtesy.
So, it was really between J-Kidd and I for the next two picks, and I felt I had a really good visit with Detroit. I felt like it was the best fit for me. They had just drafted Lindsey [Hunter] and Allan [Houston], the year before, so they had the 1 and 2 positions set. That meant I could come in and play 3. And you still had the veteran, Joe Dumars, there to mentor. It just felt right.
Dallas already had Jimmy Jackson and Jamal Mashburn at the wing positions. So Jason was the natural fit there. Little did I know how much point and point forward I’d end up playing in my career.
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