The 1984 NBA Draft saw the selection of four players who would be named among the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History at the league's 50th anniversary in 1996: Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and John Stockton. These four players accumulated seven MVP awards, 23 All-NBA First Team appearances, 45 NBA All-Star Game selections and were all inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Many other solid players were drafted in 1984, including Otis Thorpe, Kevin Willis, Michael Cage, Sam Perkins and Alvin Robertson. Also of note is the Chicago Bulls' selection of track and field star Carl Lewis with the 208th pick overall. Lewis would stay with track and never played basketball for the Bulls. The Portland Trail Blazers drafted Mike Whitmarsh, who starred for the University of San Diego in both basketball and volleyball, in the fifth round. Whitmarsh played professionally in Germany for three years, but never made the NBA, and went on to much greater success in beach volleyball.

Thorpe was the last remaining Kansas City Kings player on an NBA roster (2000-01 Charlotte Hornets) and Willis signed to the Dallas Mavericks for the 2006-2007 season.

This was also the final NBA Draft held before the birth of the NBA Draft Lottery in 1985.

Names in bold had been selected into All-NBA Team. Names with asterisk had been inducted into Hall of Fame.

[edit] Round one

Michael Jordan, the 3rd pick of the Chicago Bulls

Charles Barkley, the 5th pick of Philadelphia 76ers (from L.A. Clippers)

John Stockton, the 16th pick of the Utah Jazz

Pick	Player	Nationality	NBA Team	College/HS/Club Team
1	Hakeem Olajuwon (C)	United States	Houston Rockets	Houston-Jr.
2	Sam Bowie (C)	United States	Portland Trail Blazers (from Indiana)	Kentucky-Sr.
3	Michael Jordan* (SG)	United States	Chicago Bulls	North Carolina-Jr.
4	Sam Perkins (PF/C)	United States	Dallas Mavericks	North Carolina-Sr.
5	Charles Barkley* (PF)	United States	Philadelphia 76ers (from L.A. Clippers)	Auburn-Jr.
6	Melvin Turpin (C)	United States	Washington Bullets	Kentucky-Sr.
7	Alvin Robertson (SG)	United States	San Antonio Spurs	Arkansas-Sr.
8	Lancaster Gordon (SG)	United States	Los Angeles Clippers (from Golden State)	Louisville-Sr.
9	Otis Thorpe (PF)	United States	Kansas City Kings	Providence-Sr.
10	Leon Wood (SG)	United States	Philadelphia 76ers (from Denver)	Cal State Fullerton-Sr.
11	Kevin Willis (PF/C)	United States	Atlanta Hawks	Michigan State-Sr.
12	Tim McCormick	United States	Cleveland Cavaliers **	Michigan-Jr.
13	Jay Humphries	United States	Phoenix Suns	Colorado-Sr.
14	Michael Cage (PF)	United States	Los Angeles Clippers (from Seattle)	San Diego State-Sr.
15	Terence Stansbury (SG)	United States	Dallas Mavericks	Temple-Sr.
16	John Stockton* (PG)	United States	Utah Jazz	Gonzaga-Sr.
17	Jeff Turner (PF)	United States	New Jersey Nets	Vanderbilt-Sr.
18	Vern Fleming (SF/SG)	United States	Indiana Pacers (from New York)	Georgia-Sr.
19	Bernard Thompson	United States	Portland Trail Blazers	Fresno State-Sr.
20	Tony Campbell	United States	Detroit Pistons	Ohio State-Sr.
21	Kenny Fields	United States	Milwaukee Bucks	UCLA-Sr.
22	Tom Sewell	United States	Philadelphia 76ers	Lamar-Sr.
23	Earl Jones (C)	United States	Los Angeles Lakers	District of Columbia-Sr.
24	Michael Young (SG)	United States	Boston Celtics	Houston-Sr.

** compensation for draft choices traded away by Ted Stepien

It also became well known for the Portland Trail Blazers selection of Sam Bowie with the second pick. Having selected a shooting guard in Clyde "The Glide" Drexler the year before, Portland opted to pass on Michael Jordan, who would go on to be declared 'the greatest player in the history of basketball' by the NBA.^[1]

[edit] Round Two

[edit] Notable other picks

Pick	Player	Nationality	NBA Team	School/Club Team
68	Earl "Butch" Graves	United States	Cleveland Cavaliers	Yale
70	Rick Carlisle (PG)	United States	Boston Celtics	Virginia
111	Mike Whitmarsh (SF)	United States	Portland Trail Blazers	San Diego
131	Oscar Schmidt (SF/PF)	Brazil	New Jersey Nets	Caserta (Italy)
208	Carl Lewis	United States	Chicago Bulls	Houston

[edit] References