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The 2003 NBA draft is regarded as one of the deepest, best draft classes of all time alongside the 1984 class and the 1996 class. It consists of four first-ballot Hall of Famers, nine players who made it to at least one All-Star team.
Among our honourable mentions here are the likes of Leandro Barbosa, a Brazilian guard who was crucial to Golden State's championship run in 2015 and their 73-9 record for the 2015-16 regular season. Jason Kapono won back-to-back three-point shootout challenges in 2007 and 2008.
Several of these players went on to become long-term role players for their franchises - Nick Collison spent his entire career with the Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder and was readily available whenever required.
Without further ado, let's get into out redraft of the top 10 picks in the draft.
#10 With the 10th pick in the draft, the Washington Wizards select Boris Diaw
Boris Diaw began his professional career with French ball club Pau-Orthez. After playing two years with them, Diaw declared for the NBA draft and was selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the 21st pick at the age of 21.
He languished on the bench for a couple of seasons, before getting traded to the Phoenix Suns in 2005. He broke out in his third season with averages of 13.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists, and was awarded the Most Improved Player award for the 2005-06 season.
Diaw's role was reduced the following season with the return of Stoudemire, and he got traded to the Bobcats in the 2008-09 season.
His time at Charlotte was uneventful, but he got a new lease of life after signing with the Spurs as a free agent late in the 2011-12 season.
Diaw's best campaigns were as a Spurs player, as he made it to two straight NBA Finals as a playmaking big who could guard LeBron James in the post with his size.
Diaw played a crucial role in the Spurs' record Finals victory in 2014 and remained with the Spurs for two more seasons before getting traded to the Utah Jazz in 2016. He left the league in 2017 to play for the Levallois Metropolitans this year.
#9 With the 9th pick in the draft, the New York Knicks select Josh Howard
Josh Howard was a draft steal for the majority of his career, as he got selected by the Dallas Mavericks with the 29th pick of the 2003 NBA draft.
He broke through in his second season as a starter for the franchise and steadily improved as a player till the point when he made his only All-Star team in the 2007-08 season.
He finished that particular season with averages of 20 points, 7 rebounds and 2.2 assists, and was looked on as one of the best forwards in the league.
He was traded at the 2010 trade deadline to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Caron Butler, and he went down with a torn ACL within a month with his second franchise.
He never came back to his best form, and a second ACL injury in December 2012 meant that his career was cut short for good.
He attempted a comeback with the Spurs' D-League affiliate Austin Toros in 2013 but retired after the end of that season following another freak injury.
#8 With the 8th pick in the draft, the Milwaukee Bucks select Chris Kaman
Chris Kaman was a pretty good center who had the misfortune of playing for some really bad rosters during his best years.
The 7-foot German was a traditional center who made his lunch money by jockeying hard for rebounding position and scoring in the low post and through cuts inside the paint. Kaman made one All-Star team in 2010 when he averaged 18.5 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.
The center played 13 seasons in the NBA. Drafted by the Clippers with the sixth overall pick in 2003, he played with the franchise for eight straight seasons before going to the Hornets in the trade that netted them, Chris Paul.
He then signed with the Dallas Mavericks as a free agent next season, before being traded to the Lakers for their 2013-14 season.
His final two seasons were spent with the Portland Trail Blazers before he announced his retirement in 2016.
#7 With the 7th pick in the draft, the Chicago Bulls select Kyle Korver
Kyle Korver is one of the greatest three-point shooters to ever play the game. Through 15 seasons, Korver has led the league in three-point percentage four times.
He also holds the record for highest single-season three-point percentage, converting 53.7% of his three-point attempts in the 2009-10 season despite being beset by wrist injuries through the season.
He also held the record for most consecutive games with a made three-pointer at 127 - a record that has since been eclipsed by Stephen Curry.
Korver received the only All-Star game selection of his career in 2015 with the Hawks when he averaged a whopping 49.2% on his three-point attempts.
At the age of 37, Korver is still a capable role player capable of knocking down clutch shots, as he demonstrated during the Cavaliers' Eastern Conference playoff run this year.
#6 With the 6th pick in the draft, the Los Angeles Clippers select Mo Williams
Mo Williams is one of the much-maligned James teammates who later on won a championship with him. But viewing him through that lens is to put yourself too much in a bias, for Williams was more than capable of creating his own shot while assisting his teammates.
His best statistical season came for the Milwaukee Bucks in 2006-07 before he joined the Cavaliers, averaging 17.3 points, 6.1 assists and 4.8 rebounds to go with 1.3 steals per game.
Even his numbers from his penultimate professional season are quite impressive, as he averaged 17.2 points, 6.0 assists and 2.8 rebounds for the thoroughly undermanned Charlotte Hornets after the All-Star break.
Williams was an above-average starting caliber point guard for the middle portion of his career, and his last professional season culminated with championship success for the Cavaliers. Williams was selected for the All-Star game in 2009.
#5 With the 5th pick in the draft, the Miami Heat select David West
David West is a true, old-fashioned banger who's made a career out of tough-nosed defense and making plays from the low-post. He started out as a bench player but started getting more playing time in his third season, benefiting immensely from Chris Paul's transcendent court vision.
He made it to two All-Star teams 2008 and 2009 in the tougher Western Conference and was a crucial member of the team Hornets team that bagged the #2 seed in the 2007-08 season.
After the end of his second pro contract, he signed with the Indiana Pacers, powering them to two consecutive Conference Finals and played in several classic games against the Big 3 Miami Heat.
Having reached an age of 35, he opted out of the final year of his three-year, $36.6 million contract with the Pacers to join the San Antonio Spurs.
The following season, he signed for the veteran's minimum with the Golden State Warriors, and has been a crucial role player for them in their title runs for the past two seasons.
He still has a place in the league with his automatic mid-range jumper, defensive awareness and passing out of the post even at the age of 38.
#4 With the 4th pick in the draft, the Toronto Raptors select Chris Bosh
Chris Bosh was one of the most dominant players in the league during his initial years with the Raptors. He made it to 11 straight All-Star teams from 2006 till 2016, after which health issues have made it impossible to play pro ball.
Bosh was one of the best two-way frontcourt players in his prime but was limited by the strength of his roster during his years with the Raptors - inefficient Andrea Bargnani was the best-supporting player he had back then.
The 6'10" forward-center was the god of midrange jump shots, adapting his game to that elite level due to the clogged up lanes he encountered alongside James and Wade.
He is one of the least egoistic superstars of all time - it takes guts to take on a reduced role to win championships alongside two of the most impactful players of all time, doing all the dirty work and doing it to perfection.
He is a two-time champion, and his lasting legacy in the game will be that of a winner.
#3 With the 3rd pick in the draft, the Denver Nuggets select Carmelo Anthony
Also read: 5 Trade packages for Carmelo Anthony
New fans of the game have joined on the Melo-roasting social media bandwagon today, but we have to retain some respect for his achievements with eminently mediocre rosters through the length of his career.
As a pure scorer, Hoodie Melo ranks right there among the greatest ever in the game - he is the only player to ever post a 50+ points total in a game without obtaining a single one of them from inside the paint.
Anthony has career averages of 24.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game.
He's made 10 All-Star teams, six All-NBA teams and has a scoring title for the 2012-13 regular season. He is one of the few players in the game who was elite from all 3 ranges, at literally any position on the half-court set.
Unfortunately, he played in the Western Conference during the time of the dominance of Kobe, Duncan and Steve Nash, which means he went past the first round just once back then.
He then moved to the New York Knicks at the trade deadline in 2011 and was a part of several terrible Knicks teams which failed to make the playoffs for his last four seasons there largely due to front office blunders.
He is now an inefficient chucker who couldn't fit well into the Oklahoma City Thunder, but he could do much better in a better setting and a coach willing to run some plays for him. I will personally remember him for having the wettest jumper in the league during his heyday.
#2 With the 2nd pick in the draft, the Detroit Pistons select Dwyane Wade
At his athletic prime, Dwyane Wade was one of the three or four best players in the league alongside Kobe, LeBron and Chris Paul.
His athletic ability, mid-range game and playmaking vision set him aside as one of the greatest guards to ever set foot on the hardwood. In my personal opinion, he is better than every guard other than MJ, Kobe, and Magic, but that's a topic for another day.
Through 15 seasons in the league, Wade has racked up 12 All-Star game selections, 8 All-NBA selections, three All-Defensive Team selections and won the All-Star Game MVP for the 2010 festivities.
As a rookie, he led the Heat past the Hornets in the first round of the playoffs. Teaming up with Shaquille O'Neal, he took them a step further to the Conference Finals in 2005 when he broke out as a league-wide sensation.
His biggest career achievement would undoubtedly be winning the Finals MVP trophy for the 2006 NBA Finals against the Mavericks, in what we ranked as one of the greatest Finals MVP performances ever.
Injuries, the decline of several role players due to age and sheer bad luck prevented Dwyane Wade from making it back to that stage until 2011, when the Big Three comprising of him, LeBron and Bosh made it to the Finals every season till 2014.
Wade is now past his prime, but he can still turn the clock back when his team needs it, as we saw in Game two of the first round of playoffs this year.
#1 With the 1st pick in the draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers select LeBron James
Also read: 5 Achievements LeBron James was the youngest to reach
LeBron James is well on his way to cementing a place on basketball's Mount Rushmore. Thus far, he has averaged over 20 points, five rebounds and five assists in each of his 15 seasons in the league, making the playoffs 13 times out of those 15 chances.
He became an All-Star in his second season, as well as an All-NBA selection. He earned his first First-Team All-NBA selection in 2006-07 and has featured on that team every single season ever since.
By now, he's already had the career of the greatest small forward ever, and his third championship victory over the Golden State Warriors came in the face of incredible odds.
James at his prime was one of the greatest two-way players. But with age catching up to him, he is now concentrating on developing what is probably the most unstoppable offensive repertoire in the history of the game.
No player has ever had to shoulder the scoring, playmaking and rebounding load of a team that he did in this past postseason, as the Cavaliers made it through three rounds of the Eastern Conference playoffs riding his coattails.
At the age of 33, Deus Ex Machina from Akron Ohio is still easily the best player in the world. We are privileged to see a player in his 15th season dominate the league as he currently is, and as basketball fans, we should just enjoy his peak while it lasts.
Comparisons to Michael Jordan are all well and good, but they should not get in the way of watching greatness.
What do you think about this list? Sound off your opinion in the comments section below!
