In honor of Tim Duncan: the All-Graduation Team 1991-2021
So few stay in school
Yesterday, in honor of new Hall of Fame inductees Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant, I wrote about the high school draft era of the NBA.
The third great NBA player of the 2020 Hall of Fame class (inducted today, a year late, because of Covid-19) is Tim Duncan, who took perhaps an even more unconventional route: he stayed in college for four years before entering the NBA draft.
For great players of recent decades, that's a rarity. Before then, it was commonplace to stay in college for four years, I was even mandatory until 1971; the NBA required that players be four years removed from their high school graduating class before entering the draft. But the Supreme Court's Haywood vs. the National Basketball Association overturned the policy on antitrust grounds. Over the next two decades, some great players such as Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan left college early. Others such as Patrick Ewing, continued in college for four years, perhaps believing (or being duped by their college coaches into believing) that they needed that time to develop physically and hone their skills.
By the 1990s, however, leaving early was becoming increasingly normal. Three of Michigan's "Fab Five" left after two or three seasons. Many other marquee players such as Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway also left school before their senior year.
Duncan, then, became an exception. Even more so as the number of foreign-born players, who never went to American universities, has greatly increased. But I wondered how rare the 4-year college starter has become.
I went back 30 years to find four-year college players who went on to become very good or great NBA players. I did this by going through lists of all-NBA teams and all-star appearances.
I'll compile the ten best four-year college players since 1991 in the form of an all-star team. Beside each name is his main position, the year of his graduating class, draft position, college, and NBA accomplishments.
First Team
Alonzo Mourning, Center, 1991, 2nd overall, Georgetown. Like Ewing, he played four years at Georgetown for coach John Thompson. The oldest player on the list. 2x Defensive Player of the Year, 7x All-Star, 2x All-NBA
Tim Duncan, Power Forward, 1997, 1st overall, Wake Forest. 2x MVP, 14-time All NBA, 5x NBA champion as a starter, numerous other honors.
Grant Hill, Small Forward, 1994, 3rd overall, Duke. 5x All-NBA, 7x All-Star
Jimmy Butler, Shooting Guard, 2001, 30th Overall, Tyler Junior College (1 year), Marquette (3 years) 4x All-Defensive, 5x All-Star, 3x All-NBA
Steve Nash, Point Guard, 1996, 15th overall, Santa Clara. 2x MVP, 8x All-Star, 7x All-NBA
2nd Team
Ben Wallace, Center, 1996, undrafted free agent, Cuyahoga Community College (2 years), Virginia Union (2 years). 4x Defensive Player of the Year (and several all-Defensive teams), 4x All-Star, 5x All-NBA.
Draymond Green, Forward, 2012, 35th overall (2nd Round), Michigan State. Defensive Player of the Year, 5x All-Defensive, 3x All-Star, 2x All-NBA, 3x champion as starter.
David Lee, 2005, Forward, 30th overall, Florida. 2x All-Star, 1 All-NBA.
Brandon Roy, 2006, Guard, 6th overall, Washington. 3x All-Star, 2x All-NBA. Retired after 5 seasons due to knee degeneration.
Damian Lillard, 2012, Guard, 6th overall, Weber State. 6x All-Star, 5x All-NBA.
This roster has five players in the Hall of Fame: Mourning, Duncan, Hill, Nash, and (newly elected for the class of 2021), Ben Wallace. Lillard seems destined to join them; Butler and Green each have a good chance.
But if Lee and Roy have to be included on the list, the pickings are slim. If I had gone back 25 years instead of 30, Hill and Mourning wouldn't be on the roster. I don't know who could replace them.
Very few players are like Jimmy Butler, who went from unrecruited out of high school, to lightly recruited out of junior college, to improving over three years at Marquette just to become a low draft pick in the NBA, to taking three years in the NBA before entering the starting lineup, to becoming a star a couple of years after that.
There aren't many "late bloomers" in sports, particularly in basketball. That's why most NBA players leave school after one, two or three years. They're ready, they know they're ready, and they don't see a reason to play basketball for nothing when they could get paid.
That said, I hope no 4-year college basketball player regrets the time spent, and perhaps they've become better prepared for what comes after the playing career ends.
James Leroy Wilson writes from Nebraska. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter. If you find value in his articles, your support through Paypal helps keep him going. Permission to reprint is granted with attribution. You may contact him for your writing, editing, and research needs: jamesleroywilson-at-gmail.com.