Dime is the premier basketball magazine, covering the NBA, NCAA, High School, Playground and International basketball - as well as sneakers, fashion and music.
Issue link: http://dimemagazine.epubxp.com/i/73806
THIS IS THE BEST DRAFT SINCE…2003 The best draft since 2003 has arrived and is sitting on our doorstep, ready to open like the package you've been tracking all week. We've been observ- ing this class for a while, but not want- ing to get far ahead by peeking at the present too early. You know it's there and what's in it. But what will it be like in real life? We think we know and we think it's big. We even derided the 2011 class for not being 2012. Yeah, but wait 'till 2012. We want to believe the stars we've seen from a distance — Perry Jones, Austin Rivers, Andre Drummond, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Harrison Barnes — will add to surprises like Thomas Robinson, Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard to become a constellation. It's been nine years since LeBron James, Darko Milicic, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade went in the top five of the 2003 NBA Draft. Darko was really the only miss until the No. 9 pick that year (Mike Sweetney). We almost wavered and said this year was the best since 2005, which wasn't a bad vintage either, with Andrew Bynum, Deron Williams and Chris Paul. But 36 WORDS. ANDREW GREIF PHOTO. RED BOX PICTURES like those NBA commercials we can't turn away from, we're thinking BIG. What makes this group even more in- triguing now that they've all played at least a year of college ball is that they mesh so well. The Kentucky starting five could very well go in the top 20 picks, but they also won a title together. That roster was high- lighted by Davis and Kidd-Gilchrist, but don't forget about shape-shifter Terrence Jones, who can go from a two to a four like he's switching on cruise control. Dion Waiters worked through a tough freshman year to become a force on a great Syracuse team that was one suspension of Fab Melo (an impressive reclamation project himself) away from making an even deeper NCAA Tournament run. Kendall Marshall will be a pure point like T.J. Ford but without the injuries. LeBron is a tough act to follow in one generation, let alone nine years, but Davis has freaky skills on defense and the ceiling of a plane hangar on offense. Many top picks have been characterized that way, in those skin-deep terms of reach, vertical and height. The measurables. But this class, from a pure physical standpoint to the way they ball, shows us depth. And you thought 2012 was all about the Mayans.