I have been cursed by a witch to repeatedly travel back through time to relive every NBA draft. Fortunately, her spell sends me directly to the Utah Jazz war room on draft night and all the executives magically know I’m from the future and will do whatever I say. Unfortunately, the curse prevents me from seeing how my advice altered the future, as I am sent back to the previous year as soon as draft night ends.
June 19, 1984 – Madison Square Garden, New York City
Previous season:
The 1983-84 season was a very exciting time for the Utah Jazz. All-Star Adrian Dantley led the league in scoring and was named to the All-NBA Second Team. Rickey Green was also named an All-Star while leading the league in steals. Darrell Griffith not only made more 3-pointers than anyone else this season, but he also shot the highest percentage from beyond the arc. Mark Eaton led the NBA in blocks and was second behind Sidney Moncrief in voting for Defensive Player of the Year. And John Drew finished second to Kevin McHale for Sixth Man of the Year. (This was sadly Drew's last good season in the NBA before being waived by the Jazz and subsequently banned from the league for cocaine addiction.)
Frank Layden was named Coach of the Year as he guided the Jazz to a 45-37 record and their first playoff appearance in franchise history. After sneaking past Denver in a memorable five-game series, Utah fell to Phoenix in six games in the second round. So spirits were certainly high entering the 1984 draft.
The draft:
With the 16th pick, Utah selected a little-known point guard from Gonzaga named John Stockton.
The Jazz didn't have a second-round pick, since they traded it away to Dallas in 1980 for Billy McKinney.
The remaining eight(!) rounds were rather inconsequential. So I'll just run through them in a bullet list:
62. David Pope, Norfolk State
86. Jim Rowinski, Purdue
108. Marcus Gaither, Fairleigh Dickinson University
132. Chris Harrison, West Virginia Wesleyan College
154. Bob Evans, Southern Utah University
178. Eric Booker, UNLV
199. Kelly Knight, Kansas
222. Mike Curran, Niagara University
Analysis:
Karl Malone may have been Utah's greatest draft pick, but John Stockton was the team's savviest. Frank Layden knew right away he had found a diamond in the rough. In interviews with local media heading up to the draft, Layden provided a list of 13 players on Utah's radar. Stockton's name was not on that list, and Layden coyly hinted that there might be a surprise on draft night. Well, there was. And the fans booed the pick. Like my dad always likes to tell me, people had to look up Gonzaga in an encyclopedia to see where it was.
I don't need to list off Stockton accomplishments here. He provided Utah with 19 years of no-nonsense excellence, rarely missing a game, winning more often than losing and quietly setting a good example for the children of Utah. Yeah, I did lose a lot of respect for him when he became a vocal anti-vaxxer in his retirement. But that doesn't diminish the impact he had during his playing career. And I would be a fool to tell the Jazz to draft anyone else.
None of the eight other draftees ever played for the Jazz. And only two of them, Pope and Rowinski, even saw action on an NBA court. This is normally where I provide replacements for each pick, but there's really no point for this draft. There are only two players in the later rounds that I'm remotely interested in. The first is Jerome Kersey, who had a 17-year career, shining brightest for the Portland Trail Blazers. But he went in the second round, and it would have been impossible for Utah to draft him. The second is Oscar Schmidt, who was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame because of his accomplishments in Brazil and Italy. He was drafted by New Jersey in the sixth round, but they offered him a smaller contract than his Italian team, so he never came to the NBA. I guess I could advise to take a chance on Schmidt — even if it means overpaying him upfront.
But other than that, I have nothing to contribute to the Utah Jazz front office this year. So I'll just let the witch's curse do its thing and take me back to 1983!
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