NBA Draft: Re-drafting the 2008 NBA Draft’s first round

The 2008 NBA Draft brought two MVPs, seven All-Stars, and a lot of good, yet short careers. This re-draft shows how the first round should have played out.

As we get closer to the time of year where 60 college athletes receive the honor of walking across the stage and receiving a hat which signifies their new NBA home, I thought it would be a good chance to go back and look at a draft in the past.

By now, the athletes chosen in the 2008 draft have reached their 30s and have played out a long portion of their career. Many have played out their whole career.

This draft brought the NBA seven All-Stars and two MVPs. 51 of the 60 total picks actually played in the NBA. Another unique aspect to this draft, yet one that shouldn’t necessarily be celebrated, is the number of players who had their career derailed due to injury.

Due to the aspect that a lot of good players received shortened careers, it made the re-draft a little more difficult. I didn’t want to punish athletes for getting hurt, but at the same time, it wasn’t fair to the players who remained durable and are still playing today to reward short, yet strong careers.

The criteria which I concluded with was to take shortened careers into account as a negative quality. I didn’t draft due to team need at the time but drafted based on the player’s career. One reason I did this is that I am a strong believer that the best pick is the best fit.

Too many teams try to be cute and pick a player who fills a position of need. When a lot of the times, the best player available would have impacted their team better. The only time choosing fit over talent is smart is when you reach the mid to late second round, and a lot of the players are similar in the skill department.