I'd say Emanuel is more so than Tony since at least Tony was a first rounder. Ginobili was extremely lucky he was selected so late on the right team that could use him in a proper manner. Any other team would have likely seen him as a throw away player back in the day.
Jaden Xiao Primarily international talent. Which is why when San Antonio brings out Livio Jean-Charles to their team, I wouldn't be surprised to see him hold the same type of success that Kawhi Leonard has. Also, thanks for drafting Goran Dragic for the Suns! ;)
Manu Giniobli a pick in the high 50s. Tony parker almost fell to the 2nd round!!! San Antonio had the best backcourt in the NBA for almost 10 years with these two guys and no one expected them to go anywhere. That's crazy
That's a strong indicator that the organization knows how to pick them and train them to their full potential. Unbelievable amount of wisdom and foresight. One of the reasons why SA is such a special team.
darius jones Well to be fair, it was the late 1990's. At that time, throughout this point, you'd likely have just rather giving a foreign player that was an unknown at the time just the mention and that's it; there likely wasn't any proper highlights for him with the technology shown at the time. Not having a picture would likely be in the same explanation at the time as well.
Tim Duncan was a number one pick and so was David Robninson and it could be said all these players woudn't be shyt if it wasn't for the Franchise centers at number one
Augustus Sypher wrong. Manu and Parker became future HOF'ers because of coach Pop. Pop made them both amazing players. Tim Duncan was inspiration that added to the mix.
Kerolos Adly me too. Rip Sonics Fan. But its allways fun to watch when some high or 2nd round picks become a superstar later :D And everyone like "Fuck, where did he come from" "for what we have our scouts" :D
+Nikhil Mangtani At the time Manu was a superstar in euroleague and still hasn't reached his prime and he went at 57. Today in 2015 if a guy shows just some potential like Mario Hezonja,he's already going top 5 even though he really honestly didn't prove much yet.
@@nethw7740 He still will play today because he has 3pt range. Alot of teams out there dont need a Steph or Dame. Look at Detroit with blake and drummond they definitely need him.
@@nethw7740 I doubt it. He will literally kill the league today with every team now scoring over 100 PPG. He will literally get twice as more assists per game as he did in Utah. He also had the 3pt range in his days.
XxMeansxPause x That's a game, imagine the doubt going 60th and pushing through it to become a great player for many teams. That's more than flicking some sticks, smh.
***** no. he didnt. if you actually watch spurs regularly, you'll know the more minutes Manu play, the worse the team plays. (actually, the same goes to TD and TP too...)
Michael Dearman But Kobe was drafted 13th, Kobe might have been top 3 at least, if not first. Now Manu got drafted 57th and he should've been drafted at least top 10 in the draft. Even if Kobe is legendary, Manu is a great player with great IQ and is severely underrated. That's why he's the bigger steal, not by skill, but for the difference in where he should've been drafted, to where he was drafted
Mike Hamilton Manu will be in the Basketball HOF, and it is borderline ignorant to not think so at this point. You just hating. Jordan and Kobe revere this man in basketball right up there just below them. Google that shit.
SA really changed the NBA's focus on foreigh born players. Their scouting department may have been the best ever. Living in Atlanta, I remember the Hawks drafting a few foreign players in the last 80s and early 90s (Alexander Volkov is the one I remember most). None of them made a significnt contribution to the league. Don Nelson, of the Warriors at the time, also was very instrumental in making the NBA truly international.
I really doubt that will happen, Hardaway is much better offensively than Shumpert was rookie year. The problem is his defense, its terrible, he cant guard anyone. Basically Shump and Hardaway are kinda opposites and they are strong where the other is weak.
NYC Baller Hopefully all the little talent that there is in ny like Carmelo and hardaway will leave to an organization that actually knows what their doing
He surprised everybody. He was a small white point guard from a small school in the Pacific Northwest. Nobody could've predicted that his talents would've translated to the NBA so smoothly.
Mike Wood That doesn't mean he wasn't a steal. His behavior off the court didn't undermine his skill and talent on it as much as you made it out to be.
tony parker is the lowest drafted NBA Finals MVP in history, Manu Ginobili is the only player ever to be drafted this low and won 3 championships, 6th man of the year and an olympic gold medal. Hell Ginobili is the only player ever to be drafted this low and still got to the all star team two times, those are the two biggest steals ever because everybody else got drafted much higher or accomplished much less than these two.
Pretty much every rookie ever drafted ever should say the same thing Reggie Miller said. To paraphrase: "I want to contribute to the team, but I will do whatever the coaches want me to do in order to contribute, and if that includes sitting out in order to learn the game in the NBA, that's fine." Instead of "I'm da best basketball player evah and I ain't gonna play fo no team that want me to sit, fuk dat bullshit" which we see too often in the game today.
But sometimes it's actually better to have a rookie get consistent playing time so that they can learn from mistakes and build there own rhythm. That's exactly why Byron Scott benching Russell was a bad idea to me. Besides, it's not like the Lakers are going to be good whether he starts or not, so let him play
Find me one rookie who said he was the best and the team showed do what he wants instead of him doing what the team wants.. Have a good week-end searching.
Carlos Boozer, Mo Williams, David Lee, Paul Millsap, Goran Dragic, Jeremy Lin (undrafted), Chandler Parsons, Isaiah Thomas (Kings) are others worth mentioning
The only two worth mentioning is Dragic and Milsap and maybe Parsons. Mo is a scrub and so is Lin lol and boozer is a overrated overpaid player that shouldn't even be mentioned in anything besides overpaid players. Gabriel. No. Those are just role players not steals. That's just good drafting not steals so to speak since you can't have anyone of those guys as a leader or even a starter if it weren't for the spurs and PoP.
Henry Hill All the ones, I listed- look at their career numbers. Williams might be over the hill now, but at one point he was good for the Jazz and Kings. Boozer has always been solid and healthy. Might be overpaid, but good career numbers. Finally, you must have forgot about Linsanity. Then the Rockets gave him a nice contract to be their starting point guard and you think he's a scrub? He's a pretty decent PG considering he was undrafted. Bottom line- Think you need to take another look at all these guys' stats... I did my research.
Arguably any of these players in the video were higher than they actually got picked. That's why it's called a "steal". Arenas and Redd in the second round? Tony Parker 28th? Ginobili 57th? Those are also great steals so calm down
Mike Hawk Arenas, Redd, Parker & Ginobili can't be compared to Kobe.. They're great.. but Kobe is in the top 3 greatest of all time.. (I'm not a Kobe fan, I took this conclusion after watching dozens of interviews about him)
Some of these guys slipping makes sense looking back, e.g. small school, mediocre comp, unproven out of high school, unknown out of Europe... but how do guys like Drexler and Pierce drop? They kicked ass at every single level and still get doubted? Shit's crazy.
Stockton going 16th is insane. Imagine if they only knew they were getting the all time assists and steals leader and a perennial All NBAer for two decades. Somehow he is still underrated. Must be the shorts.
Man, Some of these guys are totally over-rated. I wouldn't classify Jermaine O'Neal as a steal. _______________________________________ Due to some of the comments, I'm adding this: Where is Carlos Boozer (35th, '02)? Rajon Rondo (21st, '06)? Marc Gasol (48th, '07)? Nick Van Exel (37th, '93)? Sam Cassel (24th, '93)? Latrell Sprewell (24th, '92)? Shawn Kemp (17th, '89)? Cliff Robinson (36th, '89)? Tim Hardaway (14th, '89)? Mark Price (25th, '86)? Alex English (23rd, '76)? ... And, one of my favorites, George Gervin (40th, '74). Where are these guys on this list? Better Steal: Kemp or O'Neal? Gervin (40th pick!) or O'Neal? You have All-time greats on this list, like Malone, Stockton, Kobe, Nash, etc... MVPs, Automatic Hall of Famers, Top 10 in ALL-TIME NBA scoring, Top 10 in ALL-TIME NBA assists, etc. These guys are TRULY among the greatest players EVER to play the game and were completely dominant in their careers. No one would DARE question their credentials. Then you have Jermaine O'Neal mentioned in the same context...
***** No, I'm saying Jermaine O'Neal, who averaged CAREER HIGHS of only 4.5 ppg and 3.4 RB per game in his first 4 years, after which Portland let him go, is not worth a 1st round pick in the year he was drafted. It's not worth spending a 1st round pick on a guy that isn't ready to play for 5-6 years and he's certainly not a steal. After Portland paid him to ride the pine 4 years, when he was old enough to finish college anyway, he was a find by the Pacers, where he resurrected his career. Not to mention, he couldn't stay healthy in Indiana. He missed a lot of games. In what was arguably his best season by per-game averages, he played only 44 out of a possible 82 games. Saying he was a draft day steal is a complete revision of history.
+Swagscaper these guys have been up there for 17 years now, and that for a reason. If they Win another title it's by far the longest dynasty ever in the NBA
Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker were the true steals... When you look at what they've done, and what they are still doing, it's amazing. If only the Gm knew how wrong they were :O
...they DO know how wrong they were...we are in the future, they are aware, i know this might freak you out but the GMs didnt all fall into coma's after taking part in the NBA draft...
+The1theycall Foo You probably meant last pick of the first round. There is no 31st pick in the first round since there are only 30 teams now, and less when MJ was drafted.
+Robert Tang It can be a "steal", depending on how you look at it, especially, if you end up being an absolutely dominant player and get picked after the 10th pick (like Kobe was, for example).
+Robert Tang It can be a "steal", depending on how you look at it, especially, if you end up being an absolutely dominant player and get picked after the 10th pick (like Kobe was, for example).
After reading these comments, nobody watched the end of the video. MANU GINOBILI picked at the 57th spot.... a future hall of famer, with 4 titles and a 5th one coming next year for the back to back. Kobe wasn't a steal he was picked at 13 nor was Jordan at 3. And Parker at the 28th spot. Spurs are the all time draft steals team. DUNCAN IS BACK, GET READY FOR A BACK TO BACK!!!! Spurs 2015 NBA Champs!!!!!!!!
Frank McFaden I don't agree with that based on what I've seen. I'd say majority 1st round picks get a 2nd contract at the least. Top 10 picks easily good picks even in the last few drafts. 2nd rounders are the ones that have a hard time sticking in the NBA.
This video is actually inspiring. A lot of us have had people pass on our talent in one way or another (school, job, promotion, etc.) but we can still be great.
The point is they should have been way higher for what they've done in their career. You ask most knowledgable people about the top 5-10 greatest and Kobe is in there, yet he was picked 13th. Is that high yes but obviously a steal.
The bucks could have had Dirk Nowitski, Ray Allen, and Michael Redd on the same roster but decided to trade Dirk and Ray Allen. That is just pure "genius"!
they're steals because most of them are hall of famers or have at least around 5 all star selections. every single one of these guys could've been the 1st overall pick in their draft year. that's how good all of these guys are
Michael Jordan wasn't a steal at #3. Everyone expected greatness from him. Hakeem Olajuwon has a top 15 GOAT resume and won two championships on a far less superior team. Sam Bowie had his career ruined by injuries AND the Blazers had two shooting guards already. Neither were GOAT but if you're a top 3 pick, you're not a steal.
IMHO, Reggie Lewis should get some love on lists like this. 22nd pick in the 1st round in 1987 ... made an absurd percentage of 15-20 foot jump shots that were essentially unblock-able. All star in 1992 and blocked 4 Jordan shots in one game in April 1991. Tragically died in July 1993 from a heart abnormality.
in fairness Hakeem Olajuwon was picked first, he's one of the great ones. I don't know what the hell Portland were doing or who they picked second but they were wrong !
tossePharmD he's not really a steal honestly. Hakeem worked out PERFECTLY for houston, he's in my opinion the best center of all time and he won them back to back championships also portland already had clyde drexler, dude is a HOF even member of the dream team in 1992 olympics, they didn't need two star shooting guards
What is forgotten in the Nowitski for Traylor trade was that the Bucks threw in a # 16 first rounder which the Mavs traded to Phoenix for - get this- Steve Nash. So the Mav's in essence got both Nash and Nowitski for Tractor Traylor. Probably and even worse trade than than when the Warriors traded Robert Parish and their # 3 pick who turned out to be Kevin McHale for the Celtics #1 who turned out to be Joe Barry Carrol.
