NBA Draft: 30 greatest draft picks in league history
29. . Center. Navy Midshipmen, 1987 (No. 1). David Robinson. 6. player
Greatest NBA Draft picks in league history: David Robinson, San Antonio Spurs
Few players have as circuitous a route to the NBA as David Robinson, and fewer still have as great an impact once they arrive.
Although Robinson loved sports, he did not play organized basketball until his senior year of high school, when a growth spurt caught the eye of his high school coach. Robinson would then go on to attend the Unites States Naval Academy, where basketball was just a side pursuit.
It quickly became something more, as Robinson spurted to 7-feet tall and put together the greatest basketball career in Naval Academy history. In his final two seasons at Navy, he was a consensus All-American and Player of the Year, and led the team to an unprecedented berth in the Elite Eight.
The San Antonio Spurs took Robinson with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1987 NBA Draft, but had to wait for two years while Robinson fulfilled his active-duty requirements with the Navy. Upon reaching the NBA, he gave the Spurs 14 years of elite play, including two titles later in his career.
The winner of the 1995 NBA MVP award, Robinson was a 10-time NBA All-Star and 10-time All-NBA selection, along with eight All-Defensive nods.
He was named NBA Rookie of the Year in 1990, NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 1992 and led the league at different times in rebounding (1991), blocks (1992) and scoring (1994). Robinson was a man of faith and principles, the foundation upon which the famed San Antonio culture was built.
“The Admiral” was unable to break through until 1999 when he teamed up with Tim Duncan and the two brought home a title in 1999 and again in 2003. From Robinson’s debut in 1990 until the present, the only year the Spurs missed the postseason was in 1997, when Robinson went down with an injury six games into the season. The legacy he started in San Antonio is still going on.