Today in NBA History: June 27

Welcome to 'Today in NBA History'; which will feature all and every highlight news that had happened on this same day in history. Birthdays, drafts, brawls, scandals, the Simpsons, trades, and any other happenings. 'Today in NBA History' will appear every single day from today save for weekends or lazy days unless history is too good to pass up for that day. Feel free to point out erroneous or additional information.

June 27 in NBA History:

1989: The usual 3-round NBA Draft was reduced to 2 rounds. There was one moment in the NBA when the players were so abundant and the draft reached up to 7 rounds that each draft pick became dispensable. Dispensable enough that a team actually decided to draft a woman into their team, Ann Meyers of the Indiana Pacers. Today, the NBA Draft has been reduced to 2 rounds, making sure that almost each and every player that enters the world's most popular league is top-notch world-class quality in skill, although world-class behavior has never really come into question just yet.

2001: The Michael Jordan led Washington Wizards selected Kwame Brown with the 1st overall pick. It seems that being arguable the best player to ever play the game doesn't necessarily mean decent managerial decisions. Michael Jordan orchestrated one of the worst 1st overall picks in NBA history by selecting a huge bust in Kwame Brown. Although somewhat decent, Kwame Brown never fulfilled expectations and found himself changing teams soon enough. If it was not for the shift of attention to Michael Jordan's comeback, Kwame Brown would have received the same, if not worse, treatment that Darko Milicic received from Detroit after not proving his worth as the 2nd overall pick.

2001: A very busy day for the Memphis/Vancouver Grizzlies, which in turn sparked the franchise's first playoff appearances after a few years, although never won a single game in all the playoff years. The Grizzlies traded Mike Bibby for Jason Williams; although Mike Bibby can be argued to be the ultimately better player, Williams fit in quite well with the Grizzlies. This was also the day when the Hawks, making another roster management boo-boo, traded their #3 pick (Pau Gasol) for Shareef Abdur-Raheem. Pau Gasol is now the face of the Grizzlies' franchise, and the leader of the World Champion Spain as well. Williams has been known to give former-Kings coach Rick Adelman heart-attacks with his cold-blooded dishes and shots, but mellowed down a bit with the Grizzlies. There was one time when he stood 30-feet from the basket waiting for the shot clock to expire, and shot the three-pointer from there anyway with the clock running down. He made it. Rick Adelman must have peed his pants. For everything he has done, the world appreciates Jason Williams.

2003: Minnesota Timberwolves acquire Sam Cassell from the Milwaukee Bucks. Everyone might know Cassell as one of the best point guards of his time, helping the Houston Rockets win the NBA Championship in '94 an '95, his rookie and sophomore years. In his stint with Kevin Garnett, he helped lead them to the Western Conference Finals before falling to the Lakers. He might be best known not only for possibly being the ugliest NBA player of all time but for using and abusing the pick and roll with Kevin Garnett, and he was lethal from the mid-range area, VERY lethal. He is now helping the young Clippers team with his experience as a veteran; such a waste of good talent.

Enjoy your piece of history.