Flashback Friday: The 1990 NBA Draft

I remember back in the day when stupid kids brought up on Ahmad Rashad's "Inside Stuff" used to tell me that Kenny Anderson and Derrick Coleman were going to be better than John Stockton and Karl Malone. (most likely the same kids who'd tell me that Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp were going to be better than Stockton and Malone a few seasons later...) I still laugh at these types of suggestions. They are entirely preposterous. Anyway, I loath Derrick Coleman so much that I rank him as one of the worse 1st Pick of the Draft's ever. (Not as bad as Kwame Brown, but no where near as good as other 1st round picks) This lead me to looking at the 1990 NBA Draft. There *HAD* to be someone better than Coleman in his very own draft class . . . right? I think that looking at the actual draft class pretty much proves my null hypothesis incorrect . . . this draft was crap in so many ways -- almost a re-do of the Len Bias draft of 1986. Aside from Coleman being picked 1st, what other notable names were there?

• Chris Jackson Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was picked in the lotto and battles Tourette syndrome and his short shooting guard status to make a few key buckets for the Nuggets
• Dennis Scott was 2 seasons away from being the kick out man from Shaq triple teams in Orlando
• Kendall Gill was drafted 5th, and had a pretty good career
• Felton Spencer was drafted 6th by the T-Wolves (crazy...)
• The L train (Lionel Simmons) went to the Kings, but he wasn't an All-Star like Coleman was
• Tyrone Hill was an All-Star one season, but he was just too ugly to ever be better than another player
• Loy Vaught was drafted in this 1st round as well, but did not really come around till a few seasons later, and did not last as long in the league
• Dee Brown (the dunker) was in this draft, but how was he not Nate Robinson before Nate Robinson?
• The end of the first round brought us this trio of bigmen: Dwayne Schintzius, Alaa Abdelnaby and Elden Campbell -- truly a fine way to end the round
• The 2nd round was very hit or miss, giving players like Toni Kukoc, Carl Herrera, Greg Foster, Bimbo Coles, Antonio Davis, Cedric Ceballos and Sean Higgins (probably best known for fighting with players when he became an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors)

Oh yeah, I forgot this guy . . . the guy drafted right after Coleman . . . a guy they called The Glove! Coleman wasn't even the best player in his draft, and guys like Kukoc, or Ceballos did just as much as he did (if not more -- Ceballos did play in the finals). Payton was a multiple All-Star, played in the NBA finals, won a Gold Medal in the Olympics, and picked up a ring in Miami. He's going to the Hall of Fame, and was a better player and had a better career. Coleman shouldn't have been picked 1st, or heck, maybe 3rd at best. So, in closing . . . Coleman sucks.