In sports there’s a natural fascination with any player that gets drafted first overall. It’s an honour and a title only one athlete per year in any given sport can claim. First overall.
When a player attains this coveted honor, expectations are high. They’re supposed to be a perennial all-star, the face of the franchise, a hall of famer, and the guy who brings the championship to his adoptive city. With all of these great expectations there’s a fascination with any player who may have this potential and sometimes perhaps even more of a fascination for any player that may fall wildly short.
Everyone is familiar on an individual level with the greats and the busts. What I want to know is, in my lifetime what has been the greatest year ever for 1st overall picks across sports and what has been the worst? Let’s look at how I’m going to break this down.
I’ve decided to look at the NHL, NBA, and NFL. I will exclude the MLB from this exercise because the draft is far, far more unpredictable than the other three sports and the same intrigue and expectations of top prospects does not exist.
So, with that being said I took a look at every year from 1992 to 2014 and compiled a list of the first overall pick in each of those leagues. Weighting each sport equally I have aimed to determine which was the best year ever and which was the worst. At the end of this article you can take a look at the players drafted each year.
Without further adieu let’s start with the best.
1997: Hall-of-Fame Across the Board
NHL: Joe Thornton
NBA: Tim Duncan
NFL: Orlando Pace
I have to say, writing this was a lot of fun. I started in 1992 and worked my way up and as soon as I saw this year I found it hard to believe anything would beat it. I think I was correct in that assumption. What a year to say the least.
Orland Pace is in the hall-of-fame already and Tim Duncan and Joe Thornton will no doubt be first ballot hall-of-famers in their respective sports when they are eligible. This was the only year all three first overall picks were hall-of-famers. They were more than that though. Orlando Pace pancaked his way to one hell of a career, allowing the greatest show on turf to be the greatest. He’s the one that gave them the time and space to put up such staggering numbers. Pace is without a doubt one of the greatest offensive lineman ever to play. He blocked for 3 straight MVPS, won a Super Bowl, and is a member of the 2000s all decade team.
Then there’s Joe Thornton. Jumbo Joe has done everything but win a ring. He is the premier playmaker of his era. At 36 years old, last season he still finished 4th in league scoring. He’s been an MVP, won an Olympic gold medal and won a scoring title, putting up the most points in a season anyone has reached since 1998. His 125 points is almost unprecedented in the era he achieved this feat.
Last, but certainly not least is Tim Duncan. Duncan’s career literally defined success. To list all his accomplishments would take too long, so let’s look at the highlights. Arguably one of the top 5 players of all time, 5 rings, 2 MVPs, 3 finals MVPs and the list goes on. He’s called the big fundamental for a reason, he can do it all and do it all at the highest level. Duncan was the star of and cornerstone of a Spurs team that will go down as one of the greatest teams in the history of sports.
1997 is the best year in my lifetime for first overall picks. Three first ballot hall of famers, three players who dominated their position and sport, and three players who without a doubt made the stars around them better.
1999: Two Epic Busts Plus Elton Brand
NHL: Patrik Stefan
NBA: Elton Brand
NFL: Tim Couch
Picking the worst year was actually pretty tough. Years like 1995 and 2000 were definitely awful, but ultimately I’ll give the dishonour to 99.
Let’s start with Patrik Stefan. The conversation around busts doesn’t take place when it comes to the NHL without mentioning this name. He was the first draft pick of the expansion Atlanta Thrashers and was supposed to be their young star. After a dismal rookie season he never really improved. He stuck in the NHL for 7 seasons because of the potential that we were all waiting to see, rather than being a true difference maker. Not only is he one of the biggest busts ever, but he is also best remembered for the most embarrassing moment in NHL history.
Next up is Tim Couch. He was taken first overall by the Browns so I guess maybe we should have seen this one coming. Sorry Browns fans. Couch set school and NCAA records as the leader of a high powered offense in college before being selected by the Cleveland. College success did not translate to the big leagues. Couch lasted just 5 injury plagued seasons, compiling a 22-37 record, throwing more interceptions than touchdowns and throwing for a sub 60 completion percentage. Couch is just part of a long line of Browns first round quarterback busts.
Elton Brand is the one player from 99 that wasn’t a bust. Far from it. Brand had a long and successful career and while he gives some redemption to this year, he is also far from a slam-dunk at number one overall. I’m not trying to knock Brand because he was a very excellent player, better than a lot of the number 1 overall players from this time span. However, he did not live up the lofty expectations of the pick. Aside from one great season in which he made 2nd team all NBA he was only an all-star twice and never reached high individual or team success. He helped his team to the post season just 5 times and never made it past the second round. Elton Brand was a very good player, but not a great player and not enough to save 99 from getting the distinction of worst year for first overall picks.
The Picks:
1992:
NHL: Roman Hamrlik
NBA: Shaquille O’Neal
NFL: Steve Emtman
1993:
NHL: Alexandre Daigle
NBA: Chris Weber
NFL: Drew Bledsoe
1994:
NHL: Ed Jovanovski
NBA: Glenn Robinson
NFL: Dan Wilkinson
1995:
NHL: Bryan Berard
NBA: Joe Smith
NFL: Ki-Jana Carter
1996:
NHL: Chris Phillips
NBA: Allen Iverson
NFL: Keyshawn Johnson
1997: Best Year
NHL: Joe Thornton
NBA: Tim Duncan
NFL: Orlando Pace
1998:
NHL: Vincent Lecavlier
NBA: Michael Olokandi
NFL: Peyton Manning
1999: Worst Year
NHL: Patrik Stefan
NBA: Elton Brand
NFL: Tim Couch
2000:
NHL: Rick Dipietro
NBA: Kenyon Martin
NFL: Courtney Brown
2001:
NHL: Ilya Kovalchuk
NBA: Kwame Brown
NFL: Michael Vick
2002:
NHL: Rick Nash
NBA: Yao Ming
NFL: David Carr
2003:
NHL: Marc-Andre Fleury
NBA: Lebron James
NFL: Carson Palmer
2004:
NHL: Alex Ovechkin
NBA: Dwight Howard
NFL: Eli Manning
2005:
NHL: Sidney Crosby
NBA: Anrew Bogut
NFL: Alex Smith
2006:
NHL: Erik Johnson
NBA: Andrea Bargnani
NFL: Mario Williams
2007:
NHL: Patrick Kane
NBA: Greg Oden
NFL: Jamarcus Russell
2008:
NHL: Steven Stamkos
NBA: Derrek Rose
NFL: Jake Long
2009:
NHL: John Tavares
NBA: Blake Griffin
NFL: Mathew Stafford
2010:
NHL: Taylor Hall
NBA: John Wall
NFL: Sam Bradford
2011:
NHL: Ryan Nugent Hopkins
NBA: Kyrie Irving
NFL: Cam Newton
2012:
NHL: Nail Yakupov
NBA: Anthony Davis
NFL: Andrew Luck
2013:
NHL: Nathan Mackinnon
NBA: Anthony Bennett
NFL: Eric Fisher
2014:
NHL: Aaron Ekblad
NBA: Andrew Wiggins
NFL: Jadeveon Clowney
2015:
NHL: Connor McDavid
NBA: Karl-Anthony Towns
NFL: Jameis Winston
2016:
NHL: Auston Matthews
NBA: Ben Simmons
NFL: Jared Goff