1985 NBA draft
1985 NBA Draft | |
---|---|
General information | |
Sport | Basketball |
Date(s) | June 18, 1985 |
Location | Felt Forum, New York City, New York |
Network(s) | TBS Superstation |
Overview | |
162 total selections in 7 rounds | |
League | NBA |
First selection | Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks |
The 1985 NBA Draft took place on June 18, 1985. It was also the first NBA draft of the "lottery" era. It was also around this time where the league decreased the amount of rounds the draft spent, with the previous few years lasting up to 10 rounds total. A total of 162 players were selected over seven rounds by the league's 23 teams.[1] The New York Knicks were awarded the first overall pick by winning the first-ever NBA draft lottery, which was held in May of that year. The Knicks used it on Georgetown's Patrick Ewing. In addition to Ewing, this draft also resulted in several Hall of Famers, including Karl Malone taken by the Utah Jazz at pick 13.
Draft selections[]
PG | Point guard | SG | Shooting guard | SF | Small forward | PF | Power forward | C | Center |
^ | Denotes player who has been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame |
* | Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game and All-NBA Team |
+ | Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game |
x | Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-NBA Team |
# | Denotes player who has never appeared in an NBA regular season or playoff game |
Round | Pick | Player | Pos. | Nationality[n 1] | Team | School/club team |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Patrick Ewing^ | C | United States[2] | New York Knicks | Georgetown (Sr.) |
1 | 2 | Wayman Tisdale | PF | United States | Indiana Pacers | Oklahoma (Jr.) |
1 | 3 | Benoit Benjamin | C | United States | Los Angeles Clippers | Creighton (Jr.) |
1 | 4 | Xavier McDaniel+ | PF | United States | Seattle SuperSonics | Wichita State (Sr.) |
1 | 5 | Jon Koncak | C | United States | Atlanta Hawks | SMU (Sr.) |
1 | 6 | Joe Kleine | C | United States | Sacramento Kings | Arkansas (Sr.) |
1 | 7 | Chris Mullin^ | SF | United States | Golden State Warriors | St. John's (Sr.) |
1 | 8 | Detlef Schrempf* | SF/PF | West Germany | Dallas Mavericks (from Cleveland) | Washington (Sr.) |
1 | 9 | Charles Oakley+ | PF | United States | Cleveland Cavaliers * | Virginia Union (Sr.) |
1 | 10 | Ed Pinckney | PF | United States | Phoenix Suns | Villanova (Sr.) |
1 | 11 | Keith Lee | C | United States | Chicago Bulls | Memphis State (Sr.) |
1 | 12 | Kenny Green | F | United States | Washington Bullets | Wake Forest (Jr.) |
1 | 13 | Karl Malone^ | PF | United States | Utah Jazz | Louisiana Tech (Jr.) |
1 | 14 | Alfredrick Hughes | SG | United States | San Antonio Spurs | Loyola (IL) (Sr.) |
1 | 15 | Blair Rasmussen | C | United States | Denver Nuggets (from Portland) | Oregon (Sr.) |
1 | 16 | Bill Wennington | C | Canada | Dallas Mavericks (from New Jersey) | St. John's (Sr.) |
1 | 17 | Uwe Blab | C | West Germany | Dallas Mavericks | Indiana (Sr.) |
1 | 18 | Joe Dumars^ | SG | United States | Detroit Pistons | McNeese State (Sr.) |
1 | 19 | Steve Harris | SG | United States | Houston Rockets | Tulsa (Sr.) |
1 | 20 | Sam Vincent | SG | United States | Boston Celtics (from Denver via Dallas) | Michigan State (Sr.) |
1 | 21 | Terry Catledge | PF | United States | Philadelphia 76ers | South Alabama (Sr.) |
1 | 22 | Jerry Reynolds | G/F | United States | Milwaukee Bucks | LSU (Jr.) |
1 | 23 | A. C. Green+ | SF/PF | United States | Los Angeles Lakers | Oregon State (Sr.) |
1 | 24 | Terry Porter+ | PG | United States | Portland Trail Blazers (from Boston via Dallas) | Wisconsin–Stevens Point (Sr.) |
2 | 25 | Mike Smrek | C | Canada | Portland Trail Blazers | Canisius (Sr.) |
2 | 26 | Bill Martin | F | United States | Indiana Pacers | Georgetown (Sr.) |
2 | 27 | Dwayne McClain | SG | United States | Indiana Pacers | Villanova (Sr.) |
2 | 28 | Ken Johnson | F | United States | Chicago Bulls | Michigan State (Sr.) |
2 | 29 | Mike Brittain | C | United States | San Antonio Spurs | South Carolina (Sr.) |
2 | 30 | Calvin Duncan# | G | United States | Cleveland Cavaliers | VCU (Sr.) |
2 | 31 | Manute Bol | C | Sudan | Washington Bullets | Bridgeport (Fr.) |
2 | 32 | Nick Vanos | C | United States | Phoenix Suns | Santa Clara (Sr.) |
2 | 33 | Greg Stokes | F/C | United States | Philadelphia 76ers | Iowa (Sr.) |
2 | 34 | Aubrey Sherrod# | SG | United States | Chicago Bulls | Wichita State (Sr.) |
2 | 35 | Tyrone Corbin | SF/PF | United States | San Antonio Spurs | DePaul (Sr.) |
2 | 36 | Yvon Joseph | C | Haiti | New Jersey Nets | Georgia Tech (Sr.) |
2 | 37 | Carey Scurry | F | United States | Utah Jazz | LIU Brooklyn (Sr.) |
2 | 38 | Fernando Martín | PF | Spain | New Jersey Nets | Real Madrid (Spain) |
2 | 39 | George Montgomery# | F | United States | Portland Trail Blazers | Illinois (Sr.) |
2 | 40 | Mark Acres | F/C | United States | Dallas Mavericks | Oral Roberts (Sr.) |
2 | 41 | Lorenzo Charles | PF | United States | Atlanta Hawks | NC State (Sr.) |
2 | 42 | Bobby Lee Hurt# | C/F | United States | Golden State Warriors | Alabama (Sr.) |
2 | 43 | Barry Stevens | G/F | United States | Denver Nuggets | Iowa State (Sr.) |
2 | 44 | Voise Winters | SG | United States | Philadelphia 76ers | Bradley (Sr.) |
2 | 45 | John "Hot Rod" Williams | PF | United States | Cleveland Cavaliers | Tulane (Sr.) |
2 | 46 | Adrian Branch | SF | United States | Chicago Bulls (from L.A. Lakers) | Maryland (Sr.) |
2 | 47 | Gerald Wilkins | SG | United States | New York Knicks (from Boston) | Chattanooga (Sr.) |
*Further compensation for draft choices previously traded away by Ted Stepien.
Notable post-second round picks[]
This list includes only players who appeared in at least one NBA game but were not selected in the first or second rounds of the 1985 NBA draft.[3][4]
Round | Pick | Player | Pos. | Nationality | Team | School/club team |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3 | 49 | Brad Wright | PF | United States | Golden State Warriors | UCLA (Sr.) |
3 | 54 | Sam Mitchell | SF/PF | United States | Houston Rockets (from San Antonio via Atlanta)*** | Mercer (Sr.) |
3 | 59 | Sedric Toney | PG | United States | Atlanta Hawks* | Dayton (Sr.) |
3 | 61 | Perry Young | SG | United States | Portland Trail Blazers | Virginia Tech (Sr.) |
3 | 63 | Harold Keeling | SG | United States | Dallas Mavericks | Santa Clara (Sr.) |
3 | 66 | Michael Adams+ | PG | United States | Kansas City Kings (from Denver) | Boston College (Sr.) |
3 | 69 | Mike Brown | C | United States | Chicago Bulls** | George Washington (Sr.) |
4 | 73 | Fred Cofield | PG | United States | New York Knicks | Eastern Michigan (Sr.) |
4 | 75 | Alex Stivrins | F | United States | Seattle SuperSonics | Colorado (Sr.) |
4 | 77 | Arvydas Sabonis^ | C | Soviet Union ( Lithuania) |
Atlanta Hawks (pick voided because Sabonis was not yet 21 at the time of the draft)[5] | Žalgiris Kaunas (Soviet Union) |
4 | 79 | Mark Davis | SF | United States | Cleveland Cavaliers | Old Dominion (Sr.) |
4 | 82 | Scott Roth | SF | United States | San Antonio Spurs | Wisconsin (Sr.) |
4 | 83 | Delaney Rudd | G | United States | Utah Jazz | Wake Forest (Sr.) |
4 | 84 | John Battle | SG | United States | Atlanta Hawks (from New Jersey) | Rutgers (Sr.) |
4 | 87 | Spud Webb | PG | United States | Detroit Pistons | NC State (Sr.) |
4 | 89 | Pete Williams | PF | United States | Denver Nuggets | Arizona (Sr.) |
4 | 90 | Derrick Gervin | PF | United States | Philadelphia 76ers | UTSA (Jr.) |
4 | 91 | Cozell McQueen | PF | United States | Milwaukee Bucks | NC State (Sr.) |
4 | 92 | Dexter Shouse | PG | United States | Los Angeles Lakers | South Alabama (Sr.) |
6 | 139 | Ralph Lewis | SG | United States | Boston Celtics | La Salle (Sr.) |
7 | 144 | Mike Phelps | SG | United States | Seattle SuperSonics | Alcorn State (Sr.) |
7 | 148 | Georgi Glouchkov | PF | Bulgaria | Phoenix Suns | Akademik Varna (Bulgaria) |
7 | 160 | Mario Elie | SF/SG | United States | Milwaukee Bucks | American International (Sr.) |
- ^ Nationality indicates the player's national team or representative nationality. If a player has not competed at the international level, then the nationality indicates the national team which the player is eligible to represent according to FIBA rules.
* Compensation for the Utah Jazz signing Billy Paultz
** Compensation for the Los Angeles Lakers signing Larry Spriggs
*** Compensation for the Atlanta Hawks signing Billy Paultz
Controversy[]
Some have argued that NBA Commissioner David Stern fixed the first overall pick to help his hometown team, the struggling New York Knicks. The lottery system used in 1985 involved a random drawing of seven envelopes from a hopper, with each of the then-seven non-playoff teams having an equal chance of obtaining the first pick. Inside each of the envelopes was the logo of a non-playoff team. The team whose envelope was drawn first would get the first pick. The process was then repeated until the rest of the first seven lottery picks were determined. In the U.S., CBS had live coverage of Stern pulling the envelopes from the hopper (as opposed to NBA Draft lotteries today where the actual drawing is held behind closed doors before the results are revealed on TV).
There is speculation that the envelope containing the Knicks logo was beforehand, enabling David Stern to recognize and select it.[6][7][8]
According to another theory, some claim that when an accountant from Ernst & Whinney (the same firm used by Gulf + Western, then-owners of the Knicks[9]) inserted the seven envelopes into the glass drum, some have claimed that he banged the fourth one against the side of the drum to create a creased corner, thereby making it easier for Stern to determine which envelope to choose: the envelope containing the Knicks logo.[10] As the drum was being spun by NBA security director Jack Joyce, Stern was watching the envelopes closely. He then opened the drum, took a deep breath, reached in and selected the envelope with the bent corner and the Knicks logo.[11]
See also[]
- NBA draft conspiracy
- List of first overall NBA draft picks
References[]
- ^ "1985 NBA Draft". Basketball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 4 July 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
- ^ Ewing was born in Jamaica, but had become a naturalized United States citizen while at Georgetown, as evidenced by his selection to the USA team at the 1984 Olympics.
- ^ "1985 NBA Draft".
- ^ "NBA Past Drafts - RealGM".
- ^ McCallum, Jack (August 11, 2011). "Hoops giant Sabonis was a mystery man with indisputable talent". SI.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2014. Sabonis was subsequently selected in the first round (24th overall) of the 1986 NBA draft.
- ^ "Griffin the big gift at lottery's 25th anniversary". USA Today. May 18, 2009. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
- ^ McManis, Sam (May 14, 1985). "NBA's New Showtime: It's Called the Lottery". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
- ^ Rovell, Darren (May 16, 2002). "NBA out to prove conspiracy theorists wrong". ESPN. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
- ^ "The Ewing Conspiracy".
- ^ Rosenberg, Michael (29 October 2010). "Viewpoint: Sports conspiracy theories". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 18 February 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
- ^ Mike Korzemba (2 March 2016). "Did David Stern Fix The 1985 NBA Draft?". Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018 – via YouTube.
External links[]
- 1985–86 NBA season
- National Basketball Association draft
- National Basketball Association controversies
- National Basketball Association lists