NBA Draft: Ranking every draft class from 1996-2020
By Corey Rausch
Ranking NBA Draft classes from 1995-2020: 15. 2004
Coming off of one of the best drafts in history (more on that later), 2004 was always going to be a letdown. There was a surefire number one overall pick and a college phenom ready to make an impact. One of those panned out as expected.
Dwight Howard is a certified Hall of Fame talent, an eight-time All-Star, eight-time All-NBA selection, three-time Defensive Player of the Year, two-time blocks leader and five-time rebound leader. He pushed the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals in 2009 and finally got a ring as a reserve for the Lakers a season ago.
Emeka Okafor, the original Charlotte Bobcat, never quite lived up to his Rookie of the Year award. He was derailed by injuries by the time he was 30 before making a short-lived comeback at the age of 35. Similarly, Shaun Livingston looked to be a future All-Star before a devastating knee injury that led to him playing 48 games from 2007 to 2010. He was able to reinvent himself into a role player on a dynasty but the miss on potential hurt.
Four more players (Devin Harris, Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala and Jameer Nelson) made All-Star appearances. Al Jefferson is the rare player to make an All-NBA team but never make an All-Star game. Josh Smith and JR Smith are two of the more talented players of their generation, albeit with a collection of issues. Tony Allen is one of the best defenders of the generation. This was an overall good class.