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Jun
18
Among NBA historians, the 1985 NBA Draft is known for the New York Knicks landing Patrick Ewing (not without controversy however).
But did you know that the 1985 NBA Draft also has its place in the history books for being the draft in which the number of rounds were cut down from 10 to 7?
Holy mackerel!
There used to be 10 rounds in the NBA Draft.
Talk about a sympathy lay.
Or a Mr. Irrelevant.
With the 228th selection of the 1984 NBA Draft, the Boston Celtics select…gasp…cough…sigh…uh…Dan Trant of Clark University.
Is this thing on?
Mr. Trant, will you please come to the podium?
You have been selected in the 1984 NBA Draft.
The previous five selections, Mike Henderson of Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus; Randy Dunn of George Fox University; Dan Pelekoudas of the University of Michigan; Mike “It’s Not A” Toomer of Florida A &M; and Martin Clark of Boston College would like to laugh at your irrelevancy.
Just joking to all of you 1984 NBA Draftees.
From Hakeem Olajuwon, Sam Bowie, Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins and Charles Barkley to Henderson, Dunn, Pelekoudas, Toomer, Clark and even you Mr. Trant, you all were drafted in the NBA, something that this jerk writer will never get to say his grandchildren.
Looking back at the draft from 1980-1984, exactly 8 players drafted in the extinct 8th through 10th rounds ended up playing in the NBA.
Here they are:
- 1984: Brian Martin of Kansas University (Round 9, Pick 185 by the Indiana Pacers — played in 8 games in his career);
- 1982: Ed Nealy of Kansas State University (Round 8, Pick 166 by the Kansas City Kings — played in 540 career games) and Dale Wilkinson of Idaho State University (Round 10, 221 by Phoenix Suns — played in 12 career games);
- 1981: Bobby Cattage of Auburn University (Round 8, Pick 165 by the Utah Jazz — played in 78 career games) and Derrick Rowland of the State University of New York at Potsdam (Round 10, Pick 211 by the Denver Nuggets — played in 2 career games); and
- 1980: John “don’t call me Stroger” Stroeder of the University of Montana (Round 8, Pick 168 of the Portland Trail Blazers — played in 46 career games), Clarence Kea of Lamar University (Round 8, Pick 169 of the Dallas Mavericks — played in 51 career games), and Billy Reid of the University of San Francisco (Round 9, Pick 182 of the Golden State Warriors — played in 59 career games).
And the Iron Man Award for the 8th-10th round draft pick of the 1980s goes to Nealy, he of the 1993 champion Chicago Bulls.
In all seriousness, there was one player drafted late in the condensed 1985 NBA Draft who had himself a hell of a career, considering how long it took to get started.
That would be Mario Elie, who was selected with the third to last pick of the 1985 NBA Draft.
Chosen out of American International College by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 160th pick in the seventh round of the 1985 NBA Draft, Elie would persevere and go on to play in 732 games in his 11-year career.
Amazingly, he wouldn’t break into the league until the 1990-1991 season, when he played with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Warriors.
On an interesting side note, two first round selections in the 1985 NBA Draft would not even play in 100 games in their career (Wake Forest’s Kenny Green, who played in just 60 career games after being the 12th overall pick of the Washington Bullets, and Loyola of Chicago’s finest Alfredick Hughes, who played in just 68 career games after being selected two spots later with the 14th overall pick of the San Antonio Spurs).
Now back to Elie.
He would end up playing on and contributing to three championship teams, the 1994 and 1995 Houston Rockets and the 1999 Spurs, for which he started.
Here’s the individual highlight of Elie’s career, a game-winning three in Game 7 of the 1995 Western Conference Semifinals.
So with all the kidding aside, I guess there’s always a diamond in the rough.
Sure, Elie wasn’t a superstar but he certainly became a very good role player for a journeyman who never gave up on making the NBA.
In fact, you still can’t Elie to leave the league — he’s now an Assistant Coach for the Dallas Mavericks.
And now back to the kidding and irrelevancy.
Also picked in the seventh round of the 1985 NBA Draft was some guy named Michael Phelps of Alcorn State (pick 144 of the Seattle Super Sonics).
No relation to the talented but tiresome swimmer I’m assuming, Phelps would play in a respectable 144 games in his career.
And there you have it.
Good night.
Related Posts
- 5-12-1985: Knicks Win Ewing Draft Lottery
- 5-26-1995: Pacers Get Revenge on Knicks
- Examining the Sam Bowie Selection in the 1984 Draft
- ILLINOIS BIG MAN SHAUN PRUITT RETURNING TO SCHOOL!
- Michael Jordan’s Long, Strange Trip to Bulls
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