Monday, January 9, 2012

How many number one overall draft picks are NBA Champions?



The other day I saw a post somewhere that was showing how many of the first overall picks in NFL history had won a SuperBowl but I couldn't find the same kind of comparison for the NBA. So for my first sports related post, that's what I'll do.

Before I start, I want to say the players had to be drafted in the NBA so the BAA or the NBL or the ABA do not count.

The list of number 1 overall draft picks that have won NBA Championships are:

Player Name (Year Drafted/First Championship)

Charlie Share (1950/1958)
Bob Boozer (1959/1971)
Oscar Robertson (1960/1971)
Jim Barnes (1964/1969)
Cazzie Russell (1966/1970)
Elvin Hayes (1968/1978)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1969/1971)
Bill Walton (1974/1977)
Mychal Thompson (1978/1987)
Magic Johnson (1979/1980)
Mark Aguirre (1981/1989)
James Worthy (1982/1985)
Hakeem Olajuwon (1984/1994)
David Robinson (1987/1999)
Shaquille O'Neal (1992/2000)
Glenn Robinson (1994/2005)
Tim Duncan (1997/1999)

Final Number: 17
Total Number of First Overall Draft Picks: 62

Now if we don't count those that have been drafted in the last 5 years then there's only 57. So final percentage of Number One Overall Draft Picks who have won a Championship is 29.82%.

Now of those, not all of them had a very real impact on their championship team. So to figure out how many actually had an effect on their team, we will look at how many of them were in the top five on their team in minutes played.

Player Name (Highest Minutes Ranking in a Championship/Year) Bold indicates top five.

Charlie Share (6/1958)
Bob Boozer (6/1971)
Oscar Robertson (2/1971)
Jim Barnes (9/1969)
Cazzie Russell (6/1970)
Elvin Hayes (1/1978)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1/1971)
Bill Walton (2/1977)
Mychal Thompson (6/1988)
Magic Johnson (1/1985)
Mark Aguirre (6/1990)
James Worthy (2/1985)
Hakeem Olajuwon (1/1994)
David Robinson (2/1999)
Shaquille O'Neal (1/2000)
Glenn Robinson (15/2005)
Tim Duncan (1/1999)

Final number of First Overall Draft Picks who were top five in minutes on a Championship Team: 9

So, of the 57 first overall draft picks (which excludes the most recent five), the final percentage of top five minute contributors is: 9/57= 15.79%

Is the Number 1 Overall Pick really that important in the step towards an NBA Championship? Only 15% of first overall draft picks are major contributors to a championship team. This means 85% of number one overall draft picks are majorly insignificant. 

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