A look at five years' worth of first-round draft picks in the four major professional sports — football, basketball, baseball and hockey — showed that the NFL had the best record of identifying talent, followed by the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball. We looked at the years 2001-05, basing the results on the draft picks who are still on team rosters and who have made at least one All-Star team or Pro Bowl. The numbers: NFL — 84.3 percent of first-rounders still in league, 31.4 percent chosen for at least one Pro Bowl; NBA — 75 percent still in league, 9.7 percent All-Stars; NHL — 65.3 percent still in league, 8 percent All-Stars; MLB — 59.3 percent still on 40-man rosters, 4 percent All-Stars.
How would you interpret the data? What factors affected the numbers?
