I think no matter where Jordan ends up, he still gonna win because of his killer instinct, and his character makes everyone around him better. Jordan's competitiveness is unmatched, just like Kobe. Watch the way they play and the intensity of their game.

As many people know, the Celtics drafted Bird when he was a junior and had to wait a year to sign him. He was selected under a now-defunct draft rule called the "junior eligible rule". Under this rule, any college player for whom four years had elapsed since his high school class had graduated was eligible to be drafted. This was true even if he still he had college eligibility remaining and had expressed no interest in turning pro at this point (the player was automatically eligible, whether he wanted to be or not). The way the rule worked in 1978, if the player returned to college, the team only had his draft rights until the following year's draft. If the player hadn't signed by then, he would go back into the draft pool and was eligible to be drafted again. Thus, when the Celtics drafted Bird, not only did they have to wait a year for him, they had no guarantee that they would actually get him the following year. If they hadn't been able to sign him before the day of the 1979 draft, they would have lost their rights to him, with absolutely nothing to show for that #6 pick. (An earlier version of the rule had voided the player's draft rights as soon as he returned to college, but by 1978 the rights lasted until the following year's draft).

Because of the risk involved in drafting a junior eligible, teams rarely used a high pick on one unless they were pretty sure the player was going to turn pro right away. Consequently, uncommitted junior eligibles were invariably selected at a lower draft position than they otherwise would have been (often much, much lower). From a talent standpoint, Bird was better than a #6 pick, and probably would have gone #1 or #2 overall had he re-entered the draft in 1979. The Celtics deserve credit for getting a player like Bird with a #6 pick, but the considerations that went into that selection (and to the five teams picking ahead of Boston deciding not to take Bird) were different from any other pick in this survey.

Yes to both questions.

In the playoff games he got into, Olajuwon was better than anyone else of his generation. He won titles with a lot less help than Jordan had in either the first or 2nd 3-peat. Not to say MJ was just lucky, but he had better luck than Hakeem had.

I accept Barkley was undersized, but extremely productive, I can't see what stopped him going before Perkins or Bowie ... oh wait, those teams needed a C, not the best players...

Actually part of the point in my last post was the fact that Jordan went 3rd and Barkley went 5th - so near the top of the draft, and personally I would've picked Hakeem over both of them every time - I just would be wrong.

Jordan was picked third due to the Blazers already having Clyde Drexler and being in need of a Centre and Barkley was under-sized for the PF position.

One might ask why Jordan and Barclay weren't picked higher in their own draft ... Stockton I understand he is a short PG, and historically they have always been picked later.

That Win Shares leaderboard should have a large disclaimer that it is only calculated since '73-'74.