1988 NBA draft

Draft

right|thumb|150px|[[Craig Neal]], the 71st pick

Notable undrafted players

This section is for players who were eligible for the 1988 NBA draft, did not get selected, but still later appeared in at least one NBA regular season or postseason game.

Notes

• On June 23, 1988, the Heat received the 1988 NBA Draft first-round draft pick from the Dallas Mavericks for not picking centers Bill Wennington and Uwe Blab or guard Steve Alford in the 1988 NBA expansion draft.

• On June 23, 1988, the Heat received the 1988 NBA Draft second-round draft pick from the Seattle SuperSonics for not selecting guard Danny Young in the 1988 NBA Expansion Draft.

Early entrants

College underclassmen

For the sixth year in a row and the tenth time in eleven years, no college underclassman would withdraw their entry into the NBA draft. Not only that, for the third time in a row, there would be at least one player that qualified for the status of "college underclassman" while playing professional basketball overseas. In this case, three players ended up qualifying for this case with Lloyd Daniels leaving Mt. San Antonio College to play for the Waitemata Dolphins in New Zealand, the Argentinian born Hernán Montenegro leaving Louisiana State University to play for Olimpo de Bahía Blanca in his home land of Argentina, and Eddie Pope leaving the University of Southern Mississippi to play for Saint-Étienne Basket in France. If you include those three players, the number of college underclassmen increases from nine to twelve total players for this year. Regardless, the following college basketball players successfully applied for early draft entrance.

• USA Marvin Alexander – F, Memphis (junior)
• USA Rex Chapman – G, Kentucky (sophomore)
• USA Sylvester Gray – F, Memphis (sophomore)
• DOM Tito Horford – C, Miami (Florida) (sophomore)
• USA Mike Jones – F, Auburn (junior)
• USA Jerome Lane – F, Pittsburgh (junior)
• USA Dwayne Lewis – G, Marshall (junior)
• USA Charles Shackleford – F/C, NC State (junior)
• USA Rod Strickland – G, DePaul (junior)

Other eligible players

This would be the third year in a row with at least one player that previously played in college entering the NBA draft as an underclassman. However, it would be the second year in a row where multiple players would qualify for such a feat and the first where none of the underclassmen players would play in Italy after the previous two drafts had a player go to Italy first before being drafted. It was also the second year where a foreign-born player would qualify as an underclassman while also playing for an international team and the first time it happened while said player was playing for what would be considered his home nation.

Invited attendees

The 1988 NBA draft is considered to be the eleventh NBA draft to have utilized what's properly considered the "green room" experience for NBA prospects. The NBA's green room is a staging area where anticipated draftees often sit with their families and representatives, waiting for their names to be called on draft night. Often being positioned either in front of or to the side of the podium (in this case, being positioned in the Madison Square Garden's Felt Forum for the seventh year in a row), once a player heard his name, he would walk to the podium to shake hands and take promotional photos with the NBA commissioner. From there, the players often conducted interviews with various media outlets while backstage. From there, the players often conducted interviews with various media outlets while backstage. However, once the NBA draft started to air nationally on TV starting with the 1980 NBA draft, the green room evolved from players waiting to hear their name called and then shaking hands with these select players who were often called to the hotel to take promotional pictures with the NBA commissioner a day or two after the draft concluded to having players in real-time waiting to hear their names called up and then shaking hands with David Stern, the NBA's newest commissioner at the time. The NBA compiled its list of green room invites through collective voting by the NBA's team presidents and general managers alike, which in this year's case belonged to only what they believed were the top 17 prospects at the time. Despite the large amount of invites, two notable absences from this group include Dan Majerle from Central Michigan University and Anthony Mason from Tennessee State University, with Shelton Jones waiting into the second round himself. Even so, the following players were invited to attend this year's draft festivities live and in person.

• USA Mark Bryant – PF, Seton Hall
• USA Rex Chapman – SG, Kentucky
• USA Harvey Grant – SF, Oklahoma
• USA Gary Grant – PG, Michigan
• USA Jeff Grayer – SG/SF, Iowa State
• USA Hersey Hawkins – SG, Bradley
• USA Shelton Jones – SF, St. John's
• USA Danny Manning – PF, Kansas
• USA Chris Morris – SF, Auburn
• USA Will Perdue – C, Vanderbilt
• USA Tim Perry – PF/C, Temple
• USA Mitch Richmond – SG, Kansas State
• USA David Rivers – PG, Notre Dame
• LBN/USA Rony Seikaly – C, Syracuse
• USA Charles Smith – PF, Pittsburgh
• NED Rik Smits – C, Marist
• USA Rod Strickland – PG, DePaul

References

References

1. Bradley, Robert D.. (2013). "The Basketball Draft Fact Book: A History of Professional Basketball's College Drafts". Scarecrow Press.
2. "1988 NBA draft".
3. "NBA Past Drafts - RealGM".
4. "HEAT: Key Dates and Transactions: 1988". NBA.com.
5. (August 4, 2007). "1988 Underclassmen".
6. (January 28, 2015). "Rebounding: Gaters' Star On His Way Back".
7. (January 26, 2008). "Hernan Montenegro - the Draft Review".
8. (March 28, 2016). "Eddie Pope 1988 Underclassmen".
9. "1988 Green Room Invites - the Draft Review".
10. Maurer, Matthew. (2024-02-18). "Draft Broadcasts - The Draft Review".
11. "Green Room - The Draft Review".