Former MVP Kevin Durant will become a free agent after the 2016 season, but unless he’s planning to pull a LeBron James and team up with two of his superstar friends somewhere—at a discounted salary nonetheless—NBA teams should plan on building their franchises the old-fashioned way—through the draft.
It’s still the best way to build a team. Just look at the Knicks.
In 2010, New York signed Amar'e Stoudemire to a five-year, $100 million deal. Six months later, they traded away a number of homegrown players (Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, and Wilson Chandler among them) for Carmelo Anthony. But the two stars never meshed, and now five years later they’re back in the lottery and all they have to show for it is one playoff series win.
The best teams are usually the ones who’ve drafted well year after year. Here are the best four in the league right now.
4. Boston Celtics
Danny Ainge was hired as Celtics GM in 2003 when all they really had for talent was All-Star Paul Pierce. Ainge slowly began stockpiling assets through the draft, though, like Tony Allen (25th overall in 2004), Delonte West (24th in 2004), Al Jefferson (15th in 2004), Ryan Gomes (50th overall in 2005), and Gerald Green (18th in 2005).
Finally in June of 2007, he went all in, trading his only top-five pick ever along with West, Wally Szczerbiak, and a future second-round pick for All-Star Ray Allen.
A month later he parlayed Jefferson, Gomes, Green, and a pair of first-rounders for All-Star Kevin Garnett and suddenly a contender was born. The Celtics with the Big Three of Pierce-Garnett-Allen and rising point guard Rajon Rondo (21st in 2006) won the title the following summer and nearly won again in 2010 before an injury to Kendrick Perkins (27th in 2003) in Game 6 of the NBA Finals derailed their hopes.
After trading away Pierce, Garnett, and Rondo in recent years, Ainge and the Celtics are armed with a number of picks to rebuild with.
