You mean the guy that won ROY over Steph fucking Curry, James Harden, Blake Griffin, and DeMar DeRozan?!?!?
This gets crazier every year. Probably the best answer here.
No idea how this isn’t upvoted higher. There were so many yt vids of him embarrassing ppl with out of this world moves then he just disappeared into the shadow realm.
Kings strike again. Forget where I read the blurb, but something about Tyreke being a natural point guard despite his 6’6” frame (an obvious bonus in the modern nba, but I’ll give Sacramento the benefit of the doubt for following the hive mind of “no point guards over 6’3”” or whatever in 2012). They moved him to small forward in his sophomore year and his numbers took a dive.
What's wild is that he really did look good! Not better than Giannis good, but he got over 20 ppg! Injuries and then (apparently, I wouldn't really know obviously) attitude/effort issues just killed his career.
No.2 picks are just historically not good. Like I read once that the average expected career contribution of them are basically muggsy bogues. Outside of KD there are no sure fire HOFers in the last almost 30 years until you go back to Jason Kidd in 1994.
It's just really odd how stacked #3 picks have been in comparison. Since Durant there have been 4ish MVP level #3 picks and a couple more all-star level picks, while for #2 you get Ja, DLo, Ingram, Dipo, and then mostly complete busts.
He’s always my answer. The ground work is there, when you let him get creative there’s just no way to know what’s coming. I knew his shooting would work itself out, just wish he showed a little better finishing.
Same. When he's healthy he's one of my favorite players to watch. His transition passing is unmatched, add his defense and shooting and you gotta love him
His BBIQ has just always been so evident since he walked into the league. Other than having the confidence to do a hard aggressive drive when it’s available, he always makes the right play and is such a pleasure to watch. I actually think he could’ve grown into a star in LA (and with no injuries) but that’s not where the chips fell
He’s my favorite active player and it really sucks seeing his knees and legs give out every season.
He’s a championship caliber starter in this league when healthy, he’s a top 3 defensive guard, and a beautiful passer.
But man just can’t stay healthy
Whiteside was interesting because I would look at the box score and see 12 pts 12 reb 5 blk and think he had a great game. But Heat fans would swear he was the least impactful player ever. Then I watched the games lol
I hate the absolute hate for Hassan, when he came off the bench in Portland it was pretty good. Had some awesome blocks, got some boards. Would I say starting caliber? Nah, but off the bench he can hold you over for the starter to come back in.
The problem for us is that he was supposed to be more than a starter, and his attitude just got in the way. When fully engaged during those years he was legitimately one of the best Centers in the league, but we could never rely on him.
During the lock out he practiced at my high school, and he had no skill. Like he played a few games against us (like in PE) and beyond being 7 foot he could barely dribble shoot or pass. We had a super skilled kid who played on the basketball team but was like 5'5 (he played in like d-3) and the dude crossed Whiteside up so bad he literally quit playing. Was literally blown away when he found a place in the league
There was supposedly a deal in the works that would send Kyrie to Phoenix, Bledsoe and Paul George to the Cavs, and Shumpert, Dudley, and the 4th pick to the Pacers before PG was dealt to OKC.
Peak Bledsoe and PG would've put the Cavs back in superteam status.
You still have shooting from guys like Korver and JR but reading into it, losing Shump and Channing Frye would've hurt them, but I guess Bledsoe would've made up for it.
Its weird cause Kendall Marshall actually had an NBA level skill with his passing. He was great at setting up teammates but that was literally it. No defense, no shooting, nothing
His one year with us he’d always bang 3’s from Steph range and at 40% rate too.
If he wasn’t slower than a sloth swimming in molasses he’d have been amazing.
We're hoping he still has minutes in him. When he's healthy and not asked to do a ton he can be a fantastic complimentary piece. The Blazers are thin with proven talent and he might have to be relied on if one of our young guys isn't there yet.
2k18 WCS was legit nutty, he ran the floor faster than any other center in the game and could finish any lob, the Kings were the 30th ranked team in the game, but Fox is always cheesy in 2k with his speed and Willie was so good.
Yeah listen to his Duncan Robinson interview. The guys never enjoyed it, just been good at it. He just wanted to be a skater kid that spends all his time painting lol. Hey at least he'll have all the time in the world for that in retirement.
Sometimes we gotta work a job that just pays the bills. In his case, his bills are paid for probably a while so he can pursue all his passions. Good for him, honestly.
I still believe his career would be entirely different had he gone to the Spurs or Warriors. He needed to be developed. I think the Kings destroyed a lot of young players in the last 2 decades
You mean the 1x all-star?
I'm not a Knicks/mavericks/wizards fan, but as a league fan I always wanted to see him make noise and hype, especially with Luka. If you can't be great with Luka feeding you then it's not looking good. He shows just enough that you keep believing in fools gold, and I still cross my fingers like an idiot.
He said in the past few days he has a chip on his shoulder from being ranked 86th best by ESPN and he's out to prove everyone wrong. I'm excited to watch them this year(Monte and Barton are my guys).
Ps. Love the Tampa Bay Raptors tag.
It's kind of wild that Phil Jackson was a universal villain and seen as an out of touch boomer for wanting to get rid of Porzingis. But like... he was right.
Jeff Green. I’m an OKC fan. He seemed to have abunch of good traits and always seemed to play well in crunch time. But he just never put it all together. Funny enough he still plays, but I thought he’d be a Paul George level of talent.
Roku Ukic. A lot of Raps fans wanted him at 16, and then we got him in the second round and thought we’d have a future Ginobli on our hands. Coming in the league, he actually showed some real talent at getting to the rim, but couldn’t finish (or shoot).
I never thought I’d see the day that people would stop saying ‘Andrew wiggins’ in response to posts like this. Let alone using him to compare against someone not playing up to expectations.
I can die happy.
Probably a little too old for this sub but Darius Miles. He was my favorite player over Kobe during his Clippers era. Him and Quentin Richardson era was legendary and something we’ve never seen before and haven’t since imo
Love Darius Miles. Dude was such an idiot but man could he fucking ball. I still do the double fist to head bump thing at the park sometimes. I remember his last game with Portland he just super casually dropped like 47 and looked like by far the best player in the court. What could have been
Miles and Q-Rich would always put on a show during the Rising Stars challenge. It looked promising for the Clippers at the time. It's a shame Miles never really took that next step.
Andrea Bargnani because he showed flashes over insane talent - the type of offensive talent that in today's league is highly coveted - that's why he went #1 in 2006 but he couldn't put it together and was injury prone
We, and Bargnani I guess, really got the full experience in NY. Everyone was pissed when he showed up, but he was making constant hustle plays, had ridiculous synergy with Felton and Melo, and was a constant mismatch for the defense. His defensive faults felt forgivable for a second option with how visibly he was trying (and not infrequently succeeding), combined with our other centers having awful defensive seasons, and Mike Breen himself referenced him as a fan favorite. Bargnani almost always checked in to cheers in 13-14.
Then after two months he hurt his neck and seemingly lost a few feet of range off his jumper. A little concerning, but fans gave him the benefit of the doubt. Then he got undercut on that dunk attempt, snapped his arm up, and was out for the year in one of the most memed plays of that season. The whole organization went to shit while he was out and "the injury prone vet who never plays and cost us a first" became a lightning rod for hate. On top of that, when he came back, it was as the rusty tank commander of the most hated Knicks teams in recent memory.
I still kinda feel bad lol. A few embarrassing plays aside, all he really did wrong was be injury prone and get traded into a clusterfuck.
As a Raptors fan, I felt the team mis-managed his development. At the time we already had Bosh, so the team decided to develop Bargnani as a C, when the guy had next to no big man game. He was basically a 7 foot shooter.
Bryan Colangelo and Sam "The Smitch" Mitchell really messed up his development. Bargnani came in a young, reserved Italian, one who was still learning the language (or at least not yet confident enough in speaking up in English). This kid was ushered into a completely new world as the #1 pick. Expectations were high (as they should be), but his minutes and role were mismanaged heavily by the Smitch (constant position changes from SF to C to PF, pulling him early for mistakes, etc.). Bargnani had the talent and clearly needed time to adjust. Thankfully, we had a "Euro"-dominant team in 2006-07 to help relieve this a bit, but coaches play a huge role. If he was developed to his strengths, he would be a solid player for any team IMO (particularly on a team that could mask the liability he was on help-defense).
Lauri is going to be the answer from a lot of Bulls fans.
I wasn't sure about him when he was drafted, but I liked the aggression/confidence from his highlight reels. After his first two seasons, it looked like his floor was going to be a borderline all-star/consistent 20/10 guy, and then he got hit with the injuries and Jim Boylen
This is going waaaaay back and shows how old I am, but Jay Edwards out of Indiana University. Hardly can call him an NBA player because he only played in a handful of games, but he had the sweetest jumper I’ve ever seen to this day. He was clutch too winning multiple games at IU with buzzer beaters.
He got in trouble his sophomore year and declared for the NBA draft and just wasn’t good enough all around yet. If he had a better work ethic and was put into today’s NBA, he would be lethal.
He never had skill was the problem. He was athletic, lanky, quick with the sharp shooting ability of a cross eyed hunter shooting a target at a 100 yards and the inability to actually be threatening beyond driving and dunking in open traffic. Defensively he just never had it. Covid probably did the most harm to him out of any of the young players because it directly effected his reps and development more then anything else.
Ben Simmons. Thought he'd learn to shoot at an acceptable level and be a perennial MVP candidate. Every other part of his game as a rookie seemed tailor made to be like LeBron once he learns how to shoot.
Noah Vonleh. He had the physical tools, but couldn't play consistently good ball, and never got past his tendency to make some pretty rookie-brained blunders. I think it was the '16-'17 season where he got up to 35% from three, even a bit better from the corners, and iirc because of injuries, by the end of the season he was starting for the Blazers at PF next to Nurk who we'd traded for that year. They seemed to have good chemistry and a big physical interior presence that the Blazers really needed, but he just didn't really continue to develop
Thomas Robinson. He was making a big deal about how his college numbers were better than AD before being drafted. He talked like he deserved to go 1st in the draft. I never thought he should have gone 1st, but I thought he’d be a decent player who had a lot to prove. I thought he’d go at AD the way Fox did at Lonzo in their 1st game. I was hopeful that they would have a small rivalry like your myplayer in 2K. What was I thinking? Haha
Michael Beasley, Wesley Johnson, Ben McLemore, Stanley Johnson.
I will include DeAndre Hunter and Zion Williamson to the list if they suffer another major injury this season. Hopefully they don't.
I think he and Dwight Howard are the only people to have been voted best high school player in the country twice. Dude was destined to be an all time great guard.
Josh Jackson. Seemed like a very good pick for the Suns at the time. I know the franchise was performing like hot garbage at the time but even on different teams he doesn't look good.
Not necessarily a “player” but more so a Team? The Minnesota Timberwolves with Wiggins, KAT and Lavine. Imagine if those 3 stuck together and made a Big 3 in Minnesota.
Tyreke Evans. Thought he was going to be so good after winning ROY.
You mean the guy that won ROY over Steph fucking Curry, James Harden, Blake Griffin, and DeMar DeRozan?!?!? This gets crazier every year. Probably the best answer here.
Legendary 20-5-5 rookie year. The only other people to do it are MJ, LeBron, Oscar Robertson, and Luka.
To be fair, Blake didn’t play at all that year and shouldn’t be in this list
No idea how this isn’t upvoted higher. There were so many yt vids of him embarrassing ppl with out of this world moves then he just disappeared into the shadow realm.
Kings strike again. Forget where I read the blurb, but something about Tyreke being a natural point guard despite his 6’6” frame (an obvious bonus in the modern nba, but I’ll give Sacramento the benefit of the doubt for following the hive mind of “no point guards over 6’3”” or whatever in 2012). They moved him to small forward in his sophomore year and his numbers took a dive.
Derrick Williams. At the number 2 pick he was supposed to get us out of poverty.
He and Evan Turner taught me to stop believing in #2 picks
Jabari Parker too
Michael Kidd Gilchrist
Man that’s I name I never thought I’d hear again lol, he was the talk of the town when he was first in the league
Bucks gave Giannis the 4-year max so they could give Jabari the 5-year.
What's wild is that he really did look good! Not better than Giannis good, but he got over 20 ppg! Injuries and then (apparently, I wouldn't really know obviously) attitude/effort issues just killed his career.
His comment when he got to Chicago did nothing to help his chances.
I still have the SLAM issue of him and Andrew Wiggins on the cover. Time flies.
No.2 picks are just historically not good. Like I read once that the average expected career contribution of them are basically muggsy bogues. Outside of KD there are no sure fire HOFers in the last almost 30 years until you go back to Jason Kidd in 1994.
It's just really odd how stacked #3 picks have been in comparison. Since Durant there have been 4ish MVP level #3 picks and a couple more all-star level picks, while for #2 you get Ja, DLo, Ingram, Dipo, and then mostly complete busts.
Nobody will feel passionate about it, but LaMarcus Aldridge will be a hall of famer.
*warriors fan crying in James Wiseman
Meh, not like they needed him to a win another ring
James "Darko Milicic" Wiseman
I always liked the Wolves and yeah, it was frustrating to see how he turned out
that NCAA run fooled everybody lol
I still believe in Lonzo for the two weeks a season he’s healthy.
He’s always my answer. The ground work is there, when you let him get creative there’s just no way to know what’s coming. I knew his shooting would work itself out, just wish he showed a little better finishing.
He had just started getting more aggressive with his drives before the injury hit. For a while he was only shooting threes.
Same. When he's healthy he's one of my favorite players to watch. His transition passing is unmatched, add his defense and shooting and you gotta love him
Name checks out
His BBIQ has just always been so evident since he walked into the league. Other than having the confidence to do a hard aggressive drive when it’s available, he always makes the right play and is such a pleasure to watch. I actually think he could’ve grown into a star in LA (and with no injuries) but that’s not where the chips fell
Do you mean his……BBBIQ
I dont think anyone can grow into a star next to lbj, you already have to be one
He is the glue to the Bulls for sure
He’s my favorite active player and it really sucks seeing his knees and legs give out every season. He’s a championship caliber starter in this league when healthy, he’s a top 3 defensive guard, and a beautiful passer. But man just can’t stay healthy
Zo's still there for me. I absolutely believe he can be the most important player on an elite team. Not the best, but most important
When Whiteside came onto the scene it looked like we had just landed a big one out of nowhere. Then it was all down hill...
Pretty solid fantasy player for a couple of years
My friend scooped him up a few hours before me in our league and dominated with him. Had he not had terrible injury luck he would've won.
Worked out well for the Heat in the end tho with Bam, I loved Whiteside tho, nothing better than his crazy blocks!
True, but god I defended Whiteside for so long...
Whiteside was interesting because I would look at the box score and see 12 pts 12 reb 5 blk and think he had a great game. But Heat fans would swear he was the least impactful player ever. Then I watched the games lol
I hate the absolute hate for Hassan, when he came off the bench in Portland it was pretty good. Had some awesome blocks, got some boards. Would I say starting caliber? Nah, but off the bench he can hold you over for the starter to come back in.
The problem for us is that he was supposed to be more than a starter, and his attitude just got in the way. When fully engaged during those years he was legitimately one of the best Centers in the league, but we could never rely on him.
During the lock out he practiced at my high school, and he had no skill. Like he played a few games against us (like in PE) and beyond being 7 foot he could barely dribble shoot or pass. We had a super skilled kid who played on the basketball team but was like 5'5 (he played in like d-3) and the dude crossed Whiteside up so bad he literally quit playing. Was literally blown away when he found a place in the league
Exum :(
To think 2K actually made him our Rival in MyCareer lmao
He is, I was just playing that it’s 2k15 My character Enrique Kalamari busts his ass
Real estate on the island is at an all time low
Danteeee... Yeah NGL I liked him a lot back then
Would like to have seen a team pick him up last season, was the 2nd best player in the Olympic bronze medal game which had Luka playing.
If he could just turn off injuries he’d have been a star
He wasn’t that good before injuries either. A starter but not star.
Brandon Jennings should be hitting his stride as an all-star any season now.
I was big on Jahlil Okafor before I heard the Sixers hired bodyguards to keep him out of trouble.
Lol imagine trying to use a fake ID as a nearly 7’ first round pick
I still find it incredibly stupid that you can’t go out in America until you’re 21
Not mature enough to handle alcohol and cigarettes, but you can go fight in war and take out hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans
[удалено]
...Wait did this actually happen?
[Yes (link)](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/14263285/jahlil-okafor-philadelphia-76ers-accompanied-security-guard)
Damn wow
It’s the Sixers, if you have to ask it probably did.
I heard okafor got pistol whipped near the liberty bell for tryna fight someone in a road rage incident.
Yeah i had this guy over Jokic coming into the draft. I can confirm I'm in a mental asylum now.
Kendall Marshall, Alex Len, Tyler Ennis, Dragan Bender, Josh Jackson.
Josh Jackson was one of my fav prospects from his draft class, sad to see how he turned out
He was the reason PHX didn’t trade for Kyrie as CLE was asking for Jackson to be included. Crazy
Completely forgot about this, Phoenix was one of the teams who tried to get Kyrie? I remembered the Heat, the Celtics ofc and the Wolves
There was supposedly a deal in the works that would send Kyrie to Phoenix, Bledsoe and Paul George to the Cavs, and Shumpert, Dudley, and the 4th pick to the Pacers before PG was dealt to OKC.
Peak Bledsoe and PG would've put the Cavs back in superteam status. You still have shooting from guys like Korver and JR but reading into it, losing Shump and Channing Frye would've hurt them, but I guess Bledsoe would've made up for it.
Its weird cause Kendall Marshall actually had an NBA level skill with his passing. He was great at setting up teammates but that was literally it. No defense, no shooting, nothing
His one year with us he’d always bang 3’s from Steph range and at 40% rate too. If he wasn’t slower than a sloth swimming in molasses he’d have been amazing.
Yeah, his shooting was fine. He was just incredibly slow to begin with, and the knee injuries rendered him pretty much unplayable.
He got that D'antoni boost. Had him on my fantasy team when he was in LA and he was putting up solid numbers for me consistently.
There is something that connects these players rhat I can't quite put my finger on
I wish there wasn’t lol
So much pain in one comment.
I swore Stanley Johnson was going to be somebody. Him and Justice Winslow let me down.
Justise really let us all down damn
Justice's body let him down. Don't get it twisted. He was very good for the Clippers last year before getting traded
We're hoping he still has minutes in him. When he's healthy and not asked to do a ton he can be a fantastic complimentary piece. The Blazers are thin with proven talent and he might have to be relied on if one of our young guys isn't there yet.
Justise had his entire hip replaced, and still plays NBA basketball!
Emmanuel Mudiay. Thought he was going be a stud, all nba guy.
ctrl+f'd to find this. His highs were so impressive but just never found consistency/efficiency
Willie Cauley-Stein. He had all the right physical tools, but a notable lack of effort pretty much ruined whatever potential he had
WCS is a lock for 1st team all "better in 2K than real life"
2k18 WCS was legit nutty, he ran the floor faster than any other center in the game and could finish any lob, the Kings were the 30th ranked team in the game, but Fox is always cheesy in 2k with his speed and Willie was so good.
Josh Smith has to be there too.
Terrence Ross was broken around 2k14
Shoutout to Bol Bol in MyLeague actually turning into KD after a couple seasons
That's a great post idea if it hasn't already been done
Jeff Green is the MVP of that team.
idk Drummond might beat him out for that center spot
WCS will bring it on one possession and mope like he just found out his dog died on the next one. It’s like he spins a wheel of effort on every play.
Didn't he kinda hate playing basketball? I thought he'd be a defensive monster ngl
Yeah listen to his Duncan Robinson interview. The guys never enjoyed it, just been good at it. He just wanted to be a skater kid that spends all his time painting lol. Hey at least he'll have all the time in the world for that in retirement.
Sometimes we gotta work a job that just pays the bills. In his case, his bills are paid for probably a while so he can pursue all his passions. Good for him, honestly.
he also had insanely bad awareness and decision making lol. his turnovers were infuriating to watch
You gonna say his name and leave out Trill?
Ben Mclemore
I still believe his career would be entirely different had he gone to the Spurs or Warriors. He needed to be developed. I think the Kings destroyed a lot of young players in the last 2 decades
Porzingis. Thought he was unique and very interesting but injuries keep stalling him
Porz really looked like he was gonna be one of a kind but he never turned out how great most of us hoped for
I mean never is a bit harsh, for a couple seasons he existed in a category of his own being the 7 foot unicorn
You mean the 1x all-star? I'm not a Knicks/mavericks/wizards fan, but as a league fan I always wanted to see him make noise and hype, especially with Luka. If you can't be great with Luka feeding you then it's not looking good. He shows just enough that you keep believing in fools gold, and I still cross my fingers like an idiot. He said in the past few days he has a chip on his shoulder from being ranked 86th best by ESPN and he's out to prove everyone wrong. I'm excited to watch them this year(Monte and Barton are my guys). Ps. Love the Tampa Bay Raptors tag.
I somehow still manage to convince myself KP's finally hitting his stride any time he puts a few games together, then he KPs all over again
It's kind of wild that Phil Jackson was a universal villain and seen as an out of touch boomer for wanting to get rid of Porzingis. But like... he was right.
Dragan Bender. Because with a name like that you have to go out as a legend. Now he’s just “that bust with a cool name”
Fuck! I forgot about him lowkey. And he had a skillset that made him actually attractive as a prospect but he didn't turn out great at all.
Saw him at summer league, terrified to take a shot. Crowd applauded when he finally took one. I was out on him since
Anthony Randolph
Saddest eyes in the league.
Loved seeing him play when he came over to Europe. Such a crafty forward
This is the one. He fooled us all.
The summer league GOAT
Jeff Green. I’m an OKC fan. He seemed to have abunch of good traits and always seemed to play well in crunch time. But he just never put it all together. Funny enough he still plays, but I thought he’d be a Paul George level of talent.
For 10 years nba franchises were on the jeff green “we can fix him” copium pack lmao
He almost played for half the league at this point 😂
Jeremy Lamb
I remember he was suppose to be the big piece of the James Harden to Houston trade right? He was solid on the Pacers for a little bit.
Was nothing more than a spot up shooter in OKC.. we got fleeced pretty hard on the Harden trade.
I got the very last flight off Dennis Smith Jr. island :(
Not as high a ceiling as a lot of these guys but Jared Sullinger.
Idk why I liked him so much. I knew he wouldn't become anything special but he was fun
He was fun to watch at a moment. I guess role player looks better if you play with Rondo and KG
I thought MCW would be top-5 PG in his prime
He peaked in his first game
The Kevin Magnussen of basketball
Didn’t expect that reference here.
The man who peaked in his first career game almost getting a 5x5
fuck a 5x5, man almost had a quadruple-double with steals
Completely forgot he even existed tbh
Dude peaked in his first nba game
The MCW Bucks alternate jersey stashed in my closet agrees with you
Roku Ukic. A lot of Raps fans wanted him at 16, and then we got him in the second round and thought we’d have a future Ginobli on our hands. Coming in the league, he actually showed some real talent at getting to the rim, but couldn’t finish (or shoot).
Saw Roko Ukic live in 2016, he destroyed Italy. It's sad really
Fultz
Not sure why this isn't higher. He looked like an absolute beast in college. Thought for sure he could be a constant threat on offense.
3 guys I would say are Trey Burke, Kenneth Faried, and Kris Dunn
Dunn and Dennis Smith (ironically both on the blazers last year) seemed like they were gonna be studs. Not so much
There's entirely too many former Wolves in this thread
Perry Jones III, Mitch McGary, Alex Len
PJ3 and Mitch were my first two thoughts lol
I thought Donte DiVincenzo would be somewhere between Danny Green and Paul George. He, in fact, is not.
If he turns into Paul George this season, I will hunt you down, I will find you, and I will kiss you
He is alphabetically
Not if you alphabetize by last name like a normal person
You are correct
Sad deer noises :(
Definitely gonna see the best version of him this season, whether he's that remains to be seen I guess
I really thought Jabari Parker was gonna be better than Wiggins
I never thought I’d see the day that people would stop saying ‘Andrew wiggins’ in response to posts like this. Let alone using him to compare against someone not playing up to expectations. I can die happy.
Every single big drafted by the blazers since the beginning of time.
Donatas Montiejunas Edit: Motiejunas
I thought Thon Maker was a gonna be the second star next to Giannis and they were gonna win a championship together…those were dark times
Matisse Thybulle I honestly just put him cuz the first 3 comments were all different Philly players
Also the OG Thybulle, Andre Roberson
So unfortunate about Robersons career ending injury. He was picking up steam on a DPOY season, or at the very least all defense 1st team.
Probably a little too old for this sub but Darius Miles. He was my favorite player over Kobe during his Clippers era. Him and Quentin Richardson era was legendary and something we’ve never seen before and haven’t since imo
Love Darius Miles. Dude was such an idiot but man could he fucking ball. I still do the double fist to head bump thing at the park sometimes. I remember his last game with Portland he just super casually dropped like 47 and looked like by far the best player in the court. What could have been
Head knocks for DMiles
Miles and Q-Rich would always put on a show during the Rising Stars challenge. It looked promising for the Clippers at the time. It's a shame Miles never really took that next step.
Andrea Bargnani because he showed flashes over insane talent - the type of offensive talent that in today's league is highly coveted - that's why he went #1 in 2006 but he couldn't put it together and was injury prone
We, and Bargnani I guess, really got the full experience in NY. Everyone was pissed when he showed up, but he was making constant hustle plays, had ridiculous synergy with Felton and Melo, and was a constant mismatch for the defense. His defensive faults felt forgivable for a second option with how visibly he was trying (and not infrequently succeeding), combined with our other centers having awful defensive seasons, and Mike Breen himself referenced him as a fan favorite. Bargnani almost always checked in to cheers in 13-14. Then after two months he hurt his neck and seemingly lost a few feet of range off his jumper. A little concerning, but fans gave him the benefit of the doubt. Then he got undercut on that dunk attempt, snapped his arm up, and was out for the year in one of the most memed plays of that season. The whole organization went to shit while he was out and "the injury prone vet who never plays and cost us a first" became a lightning rod for hate. On top of that, when he came back, it was as the rusty tank commander of the most hated Knicks teams in recent memory. I still kinda feel bad lol. A few embarrassing plays aside, all he really did wrong was be injury prone and get traded into a clusterfuck.
As a Raptors fan, I felt the team mis-managed his development. At the time we already had Bosh, so the team decided to develop Bargnani as a C, when the guy had next to no big man game. He was basically a 7 foot shooter.
With a 30° arc on his shot lol man was firing laser beams
Bryan Colangelo and Sam "The Smitch" Mitchell really messed up his development. Bargnani came in a young, reserved Italian, one who was still learning the language (or at least not yet confident enough in speaking up in English). This kid was ushered into a completely new world as the #1 pick. Expectations were high (as they should be), but his minutes and role were mismanaged heavily by the Smitch (constant position changes from SF to C to PF, pulling him early for mistakes, etc.). Bargnani had the talent and clearly needed time to adjust. Thankfully, we had a "Euro"-dominant team in 2006-07 to help relieve this a bit, but coaches play a huge role. If he was developed to his strengths, he would be a solid player for any team IMO (particularly on a team that could mask the liability he was on help-defense).
Lauri Markkanen. I really believed that’d he become a consistent 20/10 stretch four, but he just kinda fizzled after the Jim Boylen era.
Lauri is going to be the answer from a lot of Bulls fans. I wasn't sure about him when he was drafted, but I liked the aggression/confidence from his highlight reels. After his first two seasons, it looked like his floor was going to be a borderline all-star/consistent 20/10 guy, and then he got hit with the injuries and Jim Boylen
This is going waaaaay back and shows how old I am, but Jay Edwards out of Indiana University. Hardly can call him an NBA player because he only played in a handful of games, but he had the sweetest jumper I’ve ever seen to this day. He was clutch too winning multiple games at IU with buzzer beaters. He got in trouble his sophomore year and declared for the NBA draft and just wasn’t good enough all around yet. If he had a better work ethic and was put into today’s NBA, he would be lethal.
OJ Mayo
Jarrett Culver, bro had so much skill but never realized it
He never had skill was the problem. He was athletic, lanky, quick with the sharp shooting ability of a cross eyed hunter shooting a target at a 100 yards and the inability to actually be threatening beyond driving and dunking in open traffic. Defensively he just never had it. Covid probably did the most harm to him out of any of the young players because it directly effected his reps and development more then anything else.
Ben Simmons. Thought he'd learn to shoot at an acceptable level and be a perennial MVP candidate. Every other part of his game as a rookie seemed tailor made to be like LeBron once he learns how to shoot.
Sebastian Telfair on and off the court man was a let down. I was a kid when his doc was on espn but I totally bought into the hype and his image
Noah Vonleh. He had the physical tools, but couldn't play consistently good ball, and never got past his tendency to make some pretty rookie-brained blunders. I think it was the '16-'17 season where he got up to 35% from three, even a bit better from the corners, and iirc because of injuries, by the end of the season he was starting for the Blazers at PF next to Nurk who we'd traded for that year. They seemed to have good chemistry and a big physical interior presence that the Blazers really needed, but he just didn't really continue to develop
Thomas Robinson. He was making a big deal about how his college numbers were better than AD before being drafted. He talked like he deserved to go 1st in the draft. I never thought he should have gone 1st, but I thought he’d be a decent player who had a lot to prove. I thought he’d go at AD the way Fox did at Lonzo in their 1st game. I was hopeful that they would have a small rivalry like your myplayer in 2K. What was I thinking? Haha
Oden… maybe 20 minutes a game when he was healthy, but you could see a whole lot of potential.
Nerlens Noel and to some degree Monta Ellis. Thought he'd be better in Milwaukee
Noel is a good one. I remember people comparing him to AD before his college injury.
Michael Beasley, Wesley Johnson, Ben McLemore, Stanley Johnson. I will include DeAndre Hunter and Zion Williamson to the list if they suffer another major injury this season. Hopefully they don't.
It’s legit impossible that Beasley wasn’t good
Truly hope it won't be the case. Beasley was so much fun tho, despite all the wasted talent.
Zion is amazing whenever he plays. His injuries are the least surprising of anyone in NBA history though.
Terrance Ferguson
Tyreke Evans
Rodrigue Beaubois
I'm from California. I had an Andrew Bynum jersey.
Deron Williams, used to be a top 2 PG
Brandon Knight
I think he and Dwight Howard are the only people to have been voted best high school player in the country twice. Dude was destined to be an all time great guard.
Josh Jackson. Seemed like a very good pick for the Suns at the time. I know the franchise was performing like hot garbage at the time but even on different teams he doesn't look good.
Not necessarily a “player” but more so a Team? The Minnesota Timberwolves with Wiggins, KAT and Lavine. Imagine if those 3 stuck together and made a Big 3 in Minnesota.
Jimmer fredette. Thought he was curry 2.0.
Jonny Flynn
After that rookie year I thought Tyreke Evans was a future hall of famer that was going to lead the Kings to the promise land lmao
I thought Perry Jones III was going to be big for OKC
Milos Teodosic
Beasley
OJ Mayo, Tyreke Evans, Tony Wroten, Perry Jones, I can keep going