they just don't make 'em like they used to

mike kahn of foxsports.com is tired of all the NBA draft hype. and hey, who isn't? i'm not disagreeing with the concept of his article. of course the NBA draft is overhyped. so is practically every-fucking-thing in the world of sports today; we're living in a golden age of hype. but i digress. the problem here is, rather than address the potential shortcomings of guys in the class, or point out notable busts from recent drafts (insert darko joke here!), kahn would rather just wax nostalgic about some of his personal favorite draft classes and express sincere doubt that this year's guys will live up to their standards because... because those old guys were really good! my point is- if you're going to complain about an event being overhyped, this is the exact opposite of how you should go about doing so.

After 11 years, we can conclude the 1996 draft class has certainly made the most noise from top to bottom. So I'm sticking with them for the time being as the best overall class in history.

Led by Iverson, Bryant, Nash, Ray Allen, Peja Stojakovic and Jermaine O'Neal, the class has dominated this era with style points, pure shooting and six different players with 11 championship rings for bragging rights. And that's not to mention outstanding players such as Marcus Camby, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Stephon Marbury and solid starting centers from the past two NBA Finals — Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Erick Dampier.

Indeed, the class of 2007 has a long way to go to top that. Heck, so do the guys from 2003, which is why I'm not ready to jump on their bandwagon just yet.

After all, who can possibly say they will do more in the NBA than the 1984 crew of Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and John Stockton? That's eight championships out of the first two players, along with the most unique player of our time in Barkley, and Stockton is the all-time leader in assists and steals.

Heck, the 1974 draftees paced by Bill Walton, Bobby Jones, Maurice Lucas and Jamaal Wilkes, and the 1970 group of Bob Lanier, Rudy Tomjanovich, Pete Maravich, Dave Cowens and Geoff Petrie will be tough to top.

to sum up kahn's points- i'm tired of hearing about the 2007 draft class, because there have already been some really great drafts in the league's history. what?

As always, these guys haven't proven they can take their game to the next level...

and how would they go about doing so?

Of course, Durant is a special offensive player — the first freshman ever to be the NCAA player of the year — and Oden leading Ohio State to the championship game was no fluke because of his extraordinary defensive presence.

But they have yet to prove it against the best players in the world, and even if they do, it will require more than skill.

booooooooooooooooooooo.

The draft is always exciting and unpredictable, and it's crucial for the NBA to retain that mystique heading into the fall. But you never know when the next "draft superstar" will land with the thud of a 3-pointer hurled by the illustrious Antoine Walker, class of '96.


that's the last sentence in the article. are you kidding me? you go 1,000ish words trying to point out that you're sick of the hype surrounding this year's draft class without bringing up a single overhyped player who "busted" from a past draft... and when you finally try to go in that direction... you choose ANTOINE WALKER? dude. you're killing me.