The 40th Anniversary of the 1984 NBA Draft

This month of June marked the 40th anniversary of the legendary 1984 NBA Draft that will be remembered for what could have been if Michael Jordan didn’t get passed for Sam Bowie and intriguing picks in this draft class to boot.

This 1984 NBA Draft took place back on June 19th 1984 and the coverage of the draft was on USA. This draft class may have been the best ever due to whomever was drafted that would end up having a Hall of Famer career. Also the criteria at the time to improve your team was to draft a big man in the middle because that was the narrative. The center position in the NBA at the time was highly valued not devalued. Hakeem Olajuwon was the 1st pick taken in the 1984 NBA Draft and rightfully so.

Olajuwon was drafted by the Houston Rockets as the number 1 overall pick. He would play alongside Ralph Sampson to form the Twin Towers and eventually it would pay dividends as the Houston Rockets 2 years later would play for the NBA championship against the Boston Celtics in 1986. The Boston Celtics would eventually win the championship. Olajuwon would have a Hall of Fame career winning 2 championships, 2 NBA Finals MVPs, one League MVP, the first non-American player to win league MVP and Defensive Player of The Year.

The next pick would be Sam Bowie another big man in the middle representing the criteria of the necessity of drafting a big man for the Portland Trail Blazers. Bowie was high touted coming out of Kentucky as an All-American basically being able to fill the center void after Bill Walton but unfortunately Bowie would end up as a bust from this draft from 1984 due to underperforming but obviously and unfortunately a bevy of injuries was truly detrimental to his career.

But the next pick that would be arguably the important draft pick that was the game changer was Michael Jordan with the 3rd overall pick for the Chicago Bulls moving forward the what ifs would come about why Jordan wasn’t drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers instead of drafting Sam Bowie. Jordan would have teamed up in the backcourt with Clyde Drexler. But overall Jordan going to the Bulls paid off to win 6 championships, 6 Finals MVPs, numerous of scoring titles,5 League MVPs and eventually be viewed as the greatest player ever in NBA history.

Other notable players that was drafted was Forward Charles Barkley who would go down as one of the greatest players ever was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 5th overall pick. Barkley would win league MVP in 1993 with the Phoenix Suns including a Finals appearance the same season he won MVP but lost in the Finals to the Chicago Bulls as they won their 3rd consecutive NBA championship despite the Phoenix Suns having the home court advantage and having the league’s best record at 62-20.

Point Guard John Stockton was drafted by the Utah Jazz with the 16th overall pick would form a great tandem and dynamic duo with Power Forward Karl Malone becoming one of the great point guards of his era being on the All NBA Team 11 times including being the all-time assists and steals leader once he retired.

Other notable players from the 1984 NBA Draft was Alvin Robertson, Kevin Willis, Otis Thorpe even the one and only Carl Lewis who obviously is known for his track and field prowess was drafted by the Chicago Bulls with the 208th pick in the 10th round. But Carl Lewis never played in the NBA.