The 2008 NBA Draft takes place in 15 days. Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose will be selected with the first two picks, and will almost certainly be future stars in the league. It’s always interesting to look back at a draft, several years later, to see which stars were overlooked and picked up as steals in the later selections. The NBA Lottery consists of the first 14 draft picks, by the 14 non-playoff teams.  Here are the best non-lottery picks of the 80s.

Point Guard: John Stockton
1984 NBA Draft: Round 1, Pick #16 [Utah Jazz]

• 10x NBA All-Star
• 2x All-NBA First-Team Selection
• #1 All-Time Career Steals
• #1 All-Time Career Assists

The Jazz finished the ‘83-’84 season 1st in the Midwest Division, 3rd in the Western Conference, AND they picked up Stockton in the following draft. Huge Steal. All of the lottery teams (the 10 non-playoff teams at the time) passed him up.

Other PG Steals:

• Tim Hardaway (Round 1 #19)
• Sleepy Floyd (Round 1 #13)
• Doc Rivers (Round 2 #31)

Shooting Guard: Joe Dumars
1985 NBA Draft: Round 1, Pick #18 [Detroit Pistons]

The Pistons made it into the 2nd round of the playoffs in 1985 and picked up Dumars in the following draft.  This is the player that Michael Jordan declared as the best defender he ever faced.   He was also a 6-time NBA All-Star, 2-time NBA Champion, NBA Finals MVP, and 4-time NBA All-Defensive First Team selection.

Other SG steals:

• Reggie Miller (Round 1 #11)
• Drazen Petrovic (Round 3 #60 Overall)
• Ricky Pierce (Round 1 #18)

Small Forward: Clyde Drexler
1983 NBA Draft: Round 1, Pick #14 [Portland Trailblazers]

Early in his career, Clyde “The Glide” Drexler was known primarily for his leaping and finishing ability, but not for his shooting.  He was definitely a speed and finesse player, who was versatile as well.  He was one of 3 players to amass 20,000 points, 6,000 rebounds, and 6,000 assists in his career (along with Oscar Robertson and John Havlicek).

• 10x NBA All-Star
• 1x All-NBA First Team
• 2x All-NBA Second Team
• 3x All-NBA Third Team

Other SG steals:

• Kiki Vandeweghe (Round 1, #11)
• Jeff Hornacek (Round 2, #46)

Power Forward: Karl Malone
1985 NBA Draft: Round 1, Pick #13 [Utah Jazz]

Arguably the greatest power forward of all-time, Karl Malone is also one of the best players to never win a championship.  He pretty much accomplished everything else in his career, winning 2 MVP awards, making the All-Star team 13 times, and the All-NBA First Team 11 times.

• 2x NBA All-Star MVP
• 2x All-NBA Second Team
• 1x All-NBA Third Team

Other PF steals:

• Dennis Rodman (Round 2 #27 overall)

Center: Vlade Divac
1989 NBA Draft: Round 1, Pick #26 [Los Angeles Lakers]

Vlade Divac earned a reputation a great passer and a great flopper in his NBA career.  During his 16 years in the league, he never won a championship, but helped revitalize the Sacramento Kings franchise around the year 2000.  Vlade is also in an elite group of players who  has 13,000 career points, 9,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists and 1,500 blocked shots (along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar & Hakeem Olajuwon).

Other Center steals:

• AC Green (Round 1 #23)

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