NBA first overall draft pick

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The National Basketball Association's first overall pick is the player who is selected first amongst all eligible draftees by a team during the annual player draft. The first pick is awarded to the team that wins the NBA Draft Lottery, often the direct result of having losing season record. The team that is awarded the first pick attracts plenty of media attention to their organization, whilst the player who is selected first overall is often thrust into the spotlight, attracting the attention of both players and fans from around the world.

A total of nine first picks have gone on to win the NBA Most Valuable Player Award, these are: Oscar Robertson (1960), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (record 6 time winner) (1969), Bill Walton (1974), Magic Johnson (3 time winner) (1979), Hakeem Olajuwon (1984), David Robinson (1987), Shaquille O'Neal (1992), Allen Iverson (1996) and Tim Duncan (2 time winner) (1997).

China's Yao Ming (2002) and Italy's Andrea Bargnani (2006) are the only two players without competitive experience in the United States to be drafted first overall. Four other non-Americans, all with U.S. college experience, have been drafted first overall—Mychal Thompson (Bahamas) in 1978, Hakeem Olajuwon (Nigeria) in 1984, Michael Olowokandi (Nigeria) in 1998, and Andrew Bogut (Australia) in 2005. Duncan is American by birth, but is considered an "international" player by the NBA because he is originally from the U.S. Virgin Islands.

[edit] List of first overall picks

Draft NBA Team Player Nationality College/High school/Former club PPG (rookie season) RPG (rookie season) APG (rookie season)
1947 Pittsburgh Ironmen Clifton McNeeley[1] Flag of the United States United States Texas Western
1948 Providence Steamrollers Andy Tonkovich Flag of the United States United States Marshall 2.6 0.6
1949 Providence Steamrollers Howie Shannon[2] Flag of the United States United States Kansas State 8.8 2.6
1950 Boston Celtics Charlie Share[3] Flag of the United States United States Bowling Green 3.9 5.3 1.0
1951 Baltimore Bullets Gene Melchiorre[1] Flag of the United States United States Bradley
1952 Milwaukee Hawks Mark Workman Flag of the United States United States West Virginia 5.1 3.0 0.6
1953 Philadelphia Warriors Ernie Beck Flag of the United States United States Penn 7.5 3.3 2.3
1954 Baltimore Bullets Frank Selvy Flag of the United States United States Furman 19.0 5.5 3.5
1955 Milwaukee Hawks Dick Ricketts Flag of the United States United States Duquesne 8.4 6.8 2.8
1956 Rochester Royals Sihugo Green Flag of the United States United States Duquesne 11.5 5.2 3.6
1957 Cincinnati Royals Rod Hundley Flag of the United States United States West Virginia 7.0 2.9 1.9
1958 Minneapolis Lakers Elgin Baylor Flag of the United States United States Seattle 24.9 15.0 4.1
1959 Cincinnati Royals Bob Boozer Flag of the United States United States Kansas State 8.4 6.2 1.4
1960 Cincinnati Royals Oscar Robertson Flag of the United States United States Cincinnati 30.5 10.1 9.7
1961 Chicago Packers Walt Bellamy Flag of the United States United States Indiana 31.6 19.0 2.7
1962 Chicago Zephyrs Bill McGill Flag of the United States United States Utah 7.4 2.7 0.6
1963 New York Knicks Art Heyman Flag of the United States United States Duke 15.4 4.0 3.4
1964 New York Knicks Jim Barnes Flag of the United States United States Texas Western 15.5 9.7 1.2
1965 San Francisco Warriors Fred Hetzel Flag of the United States United States Davidson 6.8 5.2 0.5
1966 New York Knicks Cazzie Russell Flag of the United States United States Michigan 11.3 3.3 2.4
1967 Detroit Pistons Jimmy Walker Flag of the United States United States Providence 8.8 1.7 2.8
1968 San Diego Rockets Elvin Hayes Flag of the United States United States Houston 28.4 17.1 1.4
1969 Milwaukee Bucks Lew Alcindor Flag of the United States United States UCLA 28.8 14.5 4.1
1970 Detroit Pistons Bob Lanier Flag of the United States United States St. Bonaventure 15.6 8.1 1.8
1971 Cleveland Cavaliers Austin Carr Flag of the United States United States Notre Dame 21.2 3.5 3.4
1972 Portland Trail Blazers LaRue Martin Flag of the United States United States Loyola (Chicago) 4.4 4.6 0.5
1973 Philadelphia 76ers Doug Collins Flag of the United States United States Illinois State 8.0 1.8 1.6
1974 Portland Trail Blazers Bill Walton Flag of the United States United States UCLA 12.8 12.6 4.8
1975 Atlanta Hawks David Thompson Flag of the United States United States NC State 26.0 6.3 3.7
1976 Houston Rockets John Lucas Flag of the United States United States Maryland 11.1 2.7 5.6
1977 Milwaukee Bucks Kent Benson Flag of the United States United States Indiana 7.7 4.3 1.4
1978 Portland Trail Blazers Mychal Thompson Flag of the Bahamas Bahamas Minnesota 14.7 8.3 2.4
1979 Los Angeles Lakers Earvin Johnson Flag of the United States United States Michigan State 18.0 7.7 7.3
1980 Golden State Warriors Joe Barry Carroll Flag of the United States United States Purdue 18.9 9.3 1.4
1981 Dallas Mavericks Mark Aguirre Flag of the United States United States DePaul 18.7 4.9 3.2
1982 Los Angeles Lakers James Worthy Flag of the United States United States North Carolina 13.4 5.2 1.7
1983 Houston Rockets Ralph Sampson Flag of the United States United States Virginia 21.0 11.1 2.0
1984 Houston Rockets Akeem Olajuwon Flag of Nigeria Nigeria[4] Houston 20.6 11.9 1.4
1985 New York Knicks Patrick Ewing Flag of the United States United States[5] Georgetown 20.0 9.0 2.0
1986 Cleveland Cavaliers Brad Daugherty Flag of the United States United States North Carolina 15.7 8.1 3.8
1987 San Antonio Spurs David Robinson[6] Flag of the United States United States Navy 24.3 12.0 2.0
1988 Los Angeles Clippers Danny Manning Flag of the United States United States Kansas 16.7 6.6 3.1
1989 Sacramento Kings Pervis Ellison Flag of the United States United States Louisville 8.0 5.8 1.9
1990 New Jersey Nets Derrick Coleman Flag of the United States United States Syracuse 18.4 10.3 2.2
1991 Charlotte Hornets Larry Johnson Flag of the United States United States UNLV 19.2 11.0 3.6
1992 Orlando Magic Shaquille O'Neal Flag of the United States United States LSU 23.4 13.9 1.9
1993 Orlando Magic Chris Webber Flag of the United States United States Michigan 17.5 9.1 3.6
1994 Milwaukee Bucks Glenn Robinson Flag of the United States United States Purdue 21.9 6.4 2.5
1995 Golden State Warriors Joe Smith Flag of the United States United States Maryland 15.3 8.7 1.0
1996 Philadelphia 76ers Allen Iverson Flag of the United States United States Georgetown 23.5 4.1 7.5
1997 San Antonio Spurs Tim Duncan Flag of the United States Virgin Islands United States Virgin Islands[7] Wake Forest 21.1 11.9 2.7
1998 Los Angeles Clippers Michael Olowokandi Flag of Nigeria Nigeria Pacific 8.9 7.9 0.6
1999 Chicago Bulls Elton Brand Flag of the United States United States Duke 20.1 10.0 1.9
2000 New Jersey Nets Kenyon Martin Flag of the United States United States Cincinnati 12.0 7.4 1.9
2001 Washington Wizards Kwame Brown Flag of the United States United States Glynn Academy HS (Brunswick, GA) 7.7 5.7 1.1
2002 Houston Rockets Yao Ming Flag of the People's Republic of China China Shanghai Sharks (China) 13.5 8.2 1.7
2003 Cleveland Cavaliers LeBron James Flag of the United States United States St. Vincent-St. Mary HS (Akron, OH) 20.9 5.5 5.9
2004 Orlando Magic Dwight Howard Flag of the United States United States SACA (Atlanta, GA) 12.0 10.0 0.9
2005 Milwaukee Bucks Andrew Bogut Flag of Australia Australia Utah 12.7 8.0 2.6
2006 Toronto Raptors Andrea Bargnani Flag of Italy Italy Benetton Treviso (Italy) 11.6 3.9 0.8
2007 Portland Trail Blazers Greg Oden[8] Flag of the United States United States Ohio State n/a n/a n/a
2008 Chicago Bulls

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b McNeeley and Melchiorre never played in the NBA.
  2. ^ Shannon played the previous season for the BAA, the predecessor of the NBA.
  3. ^ Share did not play in the 1950-51 season. His rookie stats are from the 1951-52 season.
  4. ^ Olajuwon became a naturalized United States citizen in 1993.
  5. ^ Ewing was born in Jamaica, but had become a naturalized U.S. citizen while at Georgetown, as evidenced by his selection to the USA team for the 1984 Summer Olympics.
  6. ^ Robinson did not play in the NBA until 1989 due to commitments to the United States Navy.
  7. ^ Duncan is a United States citizen by birth, as are all natives of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Because of this citizenship arrangement, Duncan has played for the U.S. internationally.
  8. ^ Oden underwent microfracture surgery on his right knee before the 2007-08 season, and missed the entire season