The year was 1984.  The Portland Trail Blazers owned the second pick of the NBA draft and were in dire need of a center.  

 With University of Houston star Akeem Olajuwon already off the board, Portland decided to take 7-1 Kentucky All-American center Sam Bowie with the second pick.  

 Bowie, though he fit a team need at the time, would go on to have a relatively long but mostly uninspired and injury-plagued career, averaging no more than 10.9 points and 7.5 rebounds in only 511 games played during his 10 NBA seasons.

 Selected immediately after Bowie, at No.3 by the Chicago Bulls, was none other than, yes, Michael Jeffrey Jordan, a 6-6 shooting guard from the University of North Carolina, considered by many as the most talented player in that year?s draft.

 Jordan, of course, evolved into arguably the greatest player of all-time and would lead the Bulls to six NBA Championships -  not bad, when you consider Chicago had won a grand total of 22 playoff games prior to MJ?s Windy City arrival.    

 Oh, the hits and misses of the draft.  You just got to love revisionist history, don't you?  

 While Portland?s selection of Bowie over Jordan will go down as the greatest gaffe in NBA draft history, it is also the most glaring example of the dilemma facing all NBA general managers this time of year: whether to draft a prospect based solely on positional need, or because he is the best talent available.  

 Portland already had Clyde Drexler entrenched as the franchise?s shooting guard in 1984, so the thought of drafting Jordan seemed redundant.  

 However, as we?ve come to find out over the years, players of Jordan?s stature simply don?t grow on trees.  Looking back, I?m sure the Blazers, if they could turn back the hands of time (Again, that whole revisionist history thing), would jump all over the prospect of a Drexler-Jordan backcourt (Portland fans would surely take it and not have to think back to the ?92 Finals, Game 1 in particular, when Jordan torched the Blazers ? and Drexler, who was guarding him - for a playoff-record 35 first-half points, including six 3-pointers).  

 While the draft is regarded as the foundation for building a solid organization, often times teams miss out on selecting difference-makers, or even players that can be worthwhile contributors, because they simply panic by reaching for someone who fits a specific need.  Instead of perhaps using the free-agent or trade route ? which are often more viable alternatives ? teams will reach for a player in the draft if they have to in order to fill their positional needs.

 In last year?s draft, the Toronto Raptors, who owned the No. 8 pick overall, made a bona fide reach in selecting Brigham Young center Rafael Araujo, an NCAA tournament darling in 2004.  

 You would be hard pressed to find many general managers who were enthralled with the 6-11 prospect, yet Raptors GM Rob Babcock, who needed a big body in the worst way to compliment emerging superstar power forward Chris Bosh ? who was asked to play center in his rookie season - on the defensive boards, wasted a top-10 pick on a player who could have easily been had at least ten spots lower in the draft.  

 ?Rafael has the type of basketball character we want to establish here,? said Babcock after selecting the Brazilian big man.  ?He is fundamentally sound, tough and a hard worker.  He?s a very good shooter and uses his body well.  He?s a strong rebounder who will do the dirty work.?

 Sounds like the perfect prospect.  Except Araujo struggled mightily in his rookie season, averaging a mere 3.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.  Araujo barely could stay in games due to foul trouble because he was often caught out of position defensively.

 A year later, the Raptors are still in dire need of a big man to compliment Bosh, and Babcock remains open to the possibility of drafting a center yet again with one of his two first-round picks (7th and 16th picks overall) in Tuesday?s draft.

 ?I would not be against taking a center or point guard at all (Babcock?s major free-agent acquisition a year ago was point guard Rafer Alston - a failed experiment to say the least).  I don?t think it makes a statement that Rafael or Rafer are failures.  We will take the best players we can.  If they beat out our returning players, so be it.?

 I?ve got news for you, Mr. Babcock.  If you opt to take a center in the top ten once again Tuesday night, then yes, you basically are admitting you made a mistake a year ago.  

 Adding insult to injury, Toronto?s Atlantic Division rivals, the Philadelphia 76ers, were able to nab Arizona's Andre Iguodala at No.9.  While Araujo warmed the bench, Iguodala was arguably one of the more versatile rookies of last year?s draft, combining great athleticism with stellar defense.  

 With the draft being the crapshoot that it is there are never any guarantees regardless of which school of thought teams abide by.  But what drafting for the best talent available allows is for teams to work from a position of strength.

 Not only do you, from an organizational standpoint, receive quite possibly a difference-maker when you opt for talent over need, but by drafting the proverbial ?best player available,? teams are able to stockpile on talent and use players as chips in potential trades down the road in order to address other areas of need.

 On draft night two years ago, Bulls general manager John Paxson, in his first significant move as the team?s new GM, shocked many when he selected Kansas point guard Kirk Hinrich seventh overall.  The move was shocking not because of Hinrich?s resume ? he was an All-American guard who led the Jayhawks to the Final Four in 2002 and the NCAA Championship Game in 2003 ? but because the Bulls were seemingly set at the point guard position with incumbent Jamal Crawford.  

 Hinrich would form a tandem with Crawford in the Bulls? backcourt and emerge into the team?s heart and soul during his rookie season.  Chicago thus appeared to have its backcourt set for many years to come.

 Except Paxson shocked many once again in last year?s draft by choosing yet another point guard, Connecticut standout Ben Gordon third overall.   With such a crowded backcourt, it seemed inevitable that Paxson would orchestrate a deal with all of the talented pieces he had accumulated.  

 And indeed he did, as the Bulls would later that summer ship the restricted free agent Crawford, along with Jerome Williams, in a sign-and-trade deal to the New York Knicks in exchange for Othella Harrington, Frank Williams, Dikembe Mutombo and Cezary Trybanski.  

 Now, on paper, that deal doesn?t look so attractive.  But remember that Paxson would ultimately ship Mutombo off to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Eric Piatkowski and Adrian Griffin, who along with Harrington would form a very solid bench for the Bulls a season ago, arguably the best bench in the entire league.  

 Let?s also not forget that the player who essentially took Crawford?s place on the roster, Gordon, won Sixth Man of the Year honors this past season and became one of the league?s biggest clutch players in just his rookie campaign, leading the Bulls to many wins with his heroic fourth-quarter performances.  

 Paxson?s draft maneuvering over the last two years is but one example of how teams can build competitive rosters by selecting the so-called ?best player available? instead of drafting based on need.

 Which leads us to Tuesday?s draft and the Milwaukee Bucks, who own the first pick overall.  What will they do?  Which way will they go?

 Does Milwaukee go with the so-called consensus top pick, Utah center Andrew Bogut, arguably one of the best center prospects to come out in the last several years, or with the player widely considered to be the most talented and with the biggest upside, UNC freshman forward Marvin Williams?  

 Bogut would clearly fit a need for the Bucks, who are without an impact center on the roster.  He could also step in right away and contribute for a team who was in the post-season just two seasons ago.  Williams, meanwhile, is more of a long-term project, but a player who possesses all the skills and athleticism in the world, and a talent that may just be too good to pass up.

 ?If it?s Andrew Bogut, he?s probably going to start,? Bucks general manager Larry Harris said. ?If it?s Marvin Williams, it?s a situation where we have Desmond (Mason) and Joe (Smith) at those positions right now.  But one of those two will have an impact.?

 Indeed they will, because Harris could very well be looking for employment elsewhere down the line if he takes the next Sam Bowie and the next MJ (Well, okay, there will only be one MJ) winds up in Atlanta.  

 Stay tuned.

 Kostas.Bolos@realgm.com