Which teams have drafted best over the past 20 years? And which are the worst draft-day franchises? To figure that out, you can't just compile a list of names. Even the Warriors can trot out some gems, which is what happens when you end up in the lottery almost every season. But just because they've nabbed Antawn Jamison, Chris Webber, Jason Richardson and Andris Biedrins, it doesn't mean they're excellent at evaluating talent.
Instead, to measure a team's success in the draft, you have to rate its picks against the expected value of a given slot. For instance, Andrew Bogut is a fine player with a career EWA of 5.4. That's a lottery-worthy number. But it's not good enough to be worthy of the No. 1 pick (expected EWA of 7.8), which means the Bucks cost themselves some wins.
With that in mind, we studied every pick over the past 20 years for each franchise and came up with a total number of wins above or below expectations. We've also presented that information on a per-pick basis, since the Clippers obviously have had more opportunities to draft than the Bobcats.
How does that relate to the ultimate letter grades? On average, teams actually draft exceptionally close to expected levels. The average team over the past 20 years has picked a player with an EWA that is just 0.1 below the expected rating at a given spot. The average grade, then, becomes a "C" which is where the Rockets landed in the chart. Every tenth of a point (plus or minus) away from 0.1 resulted in a grade change (from C to C+, B+ to A-, C- to D+, etc.). The Spurs, whose rating is off the charts, get their A+ with a special gold star. And the Clippers? Even a perfect draft this year wouldn't give them a passing grade.
For each team's detailed draft history, just click on the linked name.
[NOTE: For a draft-day swap (such as Dirk Nowitzki for Robert Traylor), the team ending up with the player is credited with the selection. So, in that case, Dallas gets Nowitzki and Milwaukee gets Traylor.]