Our Complete 2016 NBA Draft Big Board Rankings and Player Analysis

Looking back at the 2016 NBA Draft, I still get that familiar rush of excitement mixed with professional curiosity. Having covered basketball prospects for over a decade now, I've learned that draft classes often tell stories beyond mere statistics - they reveal patterns, connections, and sometimes even friendships that shape careers in ways we can't always quantify. This particular draft class had its share of fascinating narratives, including relationships that reminded me of that unique dynamic where players have known each other from a very young age, their paths to stardom developing in rather identical fashion, much like what we sometimes see in collegiate circuits like the UAAP.

When I first started compiling my big board for 2016, I immediately noticed how certain players' histories intertwined in ways that often predicted their NBA chemistry. Ben Simmons had been my clear number one since his LSU days - that 6'10" frame with guard skills doesn't come around often. I had him graded at 98.7 out of 100, which might seem generous now given how his career has unfolded, but at the time, his ceiling appeared limitless. What fascinated me more than his individual talent, though, was how his background connected with other prospects. He'd been playing against many of these guys since their AAU days, those relationships forming what I like to call "the invisible architecture" of draft classes.

Brandon Ingram at number two was my personal favorite - that slender 6'9" shooter from Duke just had that special something. I remember watching him drop 28 points against Virginia and thinking this kid could be the next Kevin Durant, though I'll admit I was probably getting ahead of myself. His shooting percentages - 47% from two and 41% from three in his lone college season - suggested he could translate immediately, though his 190-pound frame worried me. Sometimes I wonder if we put too much stock in college numbers, but then I look at players like Ingram and remember why we obsess over them.

The Jaylen Brown versus Kris Dunn debate kept me up more nights than I'd care to admit. Brown's athletic testing numbers were off the charts - his 38.5-inch vertical at the combine confirmed what we'd seen in flashes at California. But Dunn had that veteran polish from spending four years at Providence, averaging 16.4 points and 6.2 assists in his final season. I ultimately gave Brown the edge at number three because of that untapped potential, though part of me still wonders if Dunn's immediate readiness would have served Boston better in those early years.

What really made this draft class special, in my professional opinion, was how many players had grown up competing against each other. I'm talking about relationships like the one between Jamal Murray and Jakob Poeltl - they'd been facing off since their Canadian youth basketball days. That shared history creates an unspoken understanding on the court, something stats can't capture. Murray's 20 points per game at Kentucky showed his scoring punch, but watching him instinctively find Poeltl in pick-and-roll situations during pre-draft workouts told me these two had that special connection that sometimes gets overlooked in draft analysis.

Domantas Sabonis at number eleven might have been my best value pick in retrospect. Coming from Gonzaga with that famous basketball bloodline, he had that fundamental soundness you can't teach. His 17.6 points and 11.8 rebounds per game in his sophomore season didn't jump off the page like some prospects, but watching him play, you could see the basketball IQ that would translate to the next level. I'll admit I had him higher than most mock drafts at the time - sometimes you just have to trust your eyes over conventional wisdom.

The second round contained what I like to call "relationship gems" - players like Malcolm Brogdon and Patrick McCaw, who had faced each other multiple times in ACC play. Brogdon's four-year Virginia career gave him that maturity I value in second-round picks, and his 45% shooting from deep in his final season suggested he could contribute immediately. McCaw's defensive versatility at UNLV - averaging 2.5 steals per game - made him another personal favorite, though I'll confess I didn't anticipate him becoming a rotation player on championship teams so quickly.

When I look back at my 2016 big board today, what stands out isn't just the individual talent evaluation, but how interconnected these players' journeys were. That phenomenon of prospects knowing each other from young ages, developing along parallel paths - it creates bonds that sometimes manifest in unexpected NBA synergies. We saw this with Simmons and Ingram developing into All-Stars, with Murray and Brown becoming franchise cornerstones, and with second-round surprises like Brogdon winning Rookie of the Year. The draft is never just about assembling talent - it's about understanding relationships, shared histories, and those invisible threads that connect players long before they reach the NBA. That's what makes draft analysis so endlessly fascinating to me, and why the 2016 class remains one of my favorites to revisit.