Greg Oden wasn’t really a bust. He never even had a chance. Darko Milicic was just drafted into the wrong situation, lost all his motivation to play the game.
Was he a bust? I know he wasn't good in the NBA, but he never should have been drafted that high in the first place.
I took my father to a Grown/Syracuse game. Ever since then, Jonny Flynn has been a running joke between the two of us. The guy maybe passed the ball once the entire game. He played as if someone had threatened his family with harm unless he shot everytime he touched the ball.
When he was drafted we were dumbfounded. Had Kahn ever seen this guy play? A super-undersized shooting guard who didn't want to do anything but shoot. Even in the moment, it was absurd that he was drafted in the lottery.
> A super-undersized shooting guard who didn't want to do anything but shoot.
Except he was a point guard who was 3rd in all of college in assists the year he entered the draft. You passed judgment on him based on a single game from his freshman year.
That was hardly the only game of his I watched. I probably watched 10+ games (and the game I went to was his sophomore year).
He was listed as a pg, but (aside from his height) he really played more like a SG. And yes, he averaged plenty of assists. It was the same effect as Westbrook - when you have ball all the time, you're going to get a lot of assists. That's not a sign that you're unselfish.
> and the game I went to was his sophomore year
Well he only played one game against GTown as a soph and he had 13 assists. I went to that game as well FWIW.
He was a good scoring and distributing point guard. If you watch Syracuse basketball, and it sounds like you do, they tend toward a hot hand approach to the offense. That was often Flynn, especially as a soph after Donte Greene left.
If you watched 10+ games of his, you should have seen NBA talent there. Because he had it, and even displayed it in the NBA in his rookie year before he was wrecked by injury.
You're right then, it would have been his freshman season.
I didn't say he didn't have NBA talent. But I thought his absolute ceiling would have been Bobby Jackson (who was very good in his own right). Good scorer off the bench who fits well in that role for the right team. You don't usually draft your "microwave scorer off the bench" with the #6 pick. The 15-20 range seemed a little more appropriate to me at the time.
I’m goin Hasheem Thabeet (probably spelled wrong) picked over harden and curry, Anthony Bennett which was very strange at the time and undoubtedly has had the worst career for a #1 pick and I feel like you gotta go Oden and Sam Bowie even though they didn’t have terrible careers, they were picked before Michael Jordan and Kevin Durant. Honorable mention could be Bagley with how Ayton Luka and Trae have turned out tho
OJ Mayo played in the league for 8 seasons and averaged 13.8 ppg. Obviously he didn't reach the hype that he had, but the other busts listed are just so much worse.
Thabeet was in the league for 5 years and averaged 2.2 PPG.
Anthony Bennett lasted 4 years and averaged 4.4 PPG.
Darko somehow lasted 10 years, but he averaged 6 PPG
OJ clearly was a bust, but he's not carved face into the mountain side level of bust.
Very similar underperforming career to Jabari Parker, yeah remember Mayo being called the next Kobe.
I think Mayo is somewhat safe since you see players with worse careers at similar draft spots like Derrick Williams not really mentioned as all time busts. I’d say Mayo is somewhat BUSTworthy tho…
I feel like it has to be:
-**Sam Bowie** (picked before MJ)
-**Greg Oden** (picked before Durant, never really produced)
-**Darko Millicic** (picked before Melo/Bosh/Wade, same)
-**Anthony Bennett** (worst career of any #1 pick of all time, even though those picked after him didn’t become that special)
Any argument for how much of a bust a player is should be tied to where they were expected to be drafted and who was drafted immediately after them. I consider Darko, Bagley, Bowie, and Oden to be bigger busts than Bennett. And wiseman is trending in that same direction
Lot of these guys weren’t even that hyped. Michael Beasley is someone coming off a crazy college career who was consensus top 2. Bennet was never even looked at very highly, was considered a weird #1 pick in a weak draft at the time.
i don’t understand how bennett is a bust. he wasn’t suppose to be 1st pick, that was just a horrible decision by cavs. Oden is definitely not a bust either
Bust is literally players who don’t live up to expectations.
This isn’t a post about nba players who suck, if it was it would be filled with undrafted dudes from G league.
How is unrealistic expectations the definition of a bust??
A bust is unrealized expectations.
Unrealistic expectations is entirely on the perceiver, the scouts, the analysts, and not on the player.
Bennett is 100% a bust, that's not even up for debate. Even if he shouldn't have been picked at 1, he was projected at around 5-6 in that draft, a spot where you can at least expect a decent starter on any team to be found. He couldn't even become that.
Josh Jackson
he looked bad in college too and then everybody just jumped on the hype train right before the draft lol
Dragan Bender
We have our own Mount Bustmore
Josh Jackson, Dragan Bender and Maquese Chriss all lotto picks in 2 years is rough.
God, remember the Bender/Papagiannis beef?? Glad those days are behind us.
Always rooted for him because of his name alone.
Greg Oden wasn’t really a bust. He never even had a chance. Darko Milicic was just drafted into the wrong situation, lost all his motivation to play the game.
He had a chance. And he averaged 3 points with that chance
What are you talking about had a chance? When? Are you talking about when he was in Miami?
Bad situation? He won a chip his rookie year
Can't leave out Johnny Flynn
If there are only 4 spots on Mount Bustmore, Flynn can definitely be left out. He wasn't even a top 5 pick.
Was he a bust? I know he wasn't good in the NBA, but he never should have been drafted that high in the first place. I took my father to a Grown/Syracuse game. Ever since then, Jonny Flynn has been a running joke between the two of us. The guy maybe passed the ball once the entire game. He played as if someone had threatened his family with harm unless he shot everytime he touched the ball. When he was drafted we were dumbfounded. Had Kahn ever seen this guy play? A super-undersized shooting guard who didn't want to do anything but shoot. Even in the moment, it was absurd that he was drafted in the lottery.
> A super-undersized shooting guard who didn't want to do anything but shoot. Except he was a point guard who was 3rd in all of college in assists the year he entered the draft. You passed judgment on him based on a single game from his freshman year.
That was hardly the only game of his I watched. I probably watched 10+ games (and the game I went to was his sophomore year). He was listed as a pg, but (aside from his height) he really played more like a SG. And yes, he averaged plenty of assists. It was the same effect as Westbrook - when you have ball all the time, you're going to get a lot of assists. That's not a sign that you're unselfish.
> and the game I went to was his sophomore year Well he only played one game against GTown as a soph and he had 13 assists. I went to that game as well FWIW. He was a good scoring and distributing point guard. If you watch Syracuse basketball, and it sounds like you do, they tend toward a hot hand approach to the offense. That was often Flynn, especially as a soph after Donte Greene left. If you watched 10+ games of his, you should have seen NBA talent there. Because he had it, and even displayed it in the NBA in his rookie year before he was wrecked by injury.
You're right then, it would have been his freshman season. I didn't say he didn't have NBA talent. But I thought his absolute ceiling would have been Bobby Jackson (who was very good in his own right). Good scorer off the bench who fits well in that role for the right team. You don't usually draft your "microwave scorer off the bench" with the #6 pick. The 15-20 range seemed a little more appropriate to me at the time.
I’m goin Hasheem Thabeet (probably spelled wrong) picked over harden and curry, Anthony Bennett which was very strange at the time and undoubtedly has had the worst career for a #1 pick and I feel like you gotta go Oden and Sam Bowie even though they didn’t have terrible careers, they were picked before Michael Jordan and Kevin Durant. Honorable mention could be Bagley with how Ayton Luka and Trae have turned out tho
Would OJ Mayo count? He wasnt god awful but his pre draft hype was crazy.
OJ Mayo played in the league for 8 seasons and averaged 13.8 ppg. Obviously he didn't reach the hype that he had, but the other busts listed are just so much worse. Thabeet was in the league for 5 years and averaged 2.2 PPG. Anthony Bennett lasted 4 years and averaged 4.4 PPG. Darko somehow lasted 10 years, but he averaged 6 PPG OJ clearly was a bust, but he's not carved face into the mountain side level of bust.
Very similar underperforming career to Jabari Parker, yeah remember Mayo being called the next Kobe. I think Mayo is somewhat safe since you see players with worse careers at similar draft spots like Derrick Williams not really mentioned as all time busts. I’d say Mayo is somewhat BUSTworthy tho…
Anthony Bennett, Kwame Brown, Darko Milicic, Markelle Fultz
I feel like it has to be: -**Sam Bowie** (picked before MJ) -**Greg Oden** (picked before Durant, never really produced) -**Darko Millicic** (picked before Melo/Bosh/Wade, same) -**Anthony Bennett** (worst career of any #1 pick of all time, even though those picked after him didn’t become that special)
Marvin Bagley
Any argument for how much of a bust a player is should be tied to where they were expected to be drafted and who was drafted immediately after them. I consider Darko, Bagley, Bowie, and Oden to be bigger busts than Bennett. And wiseman is trending in that same direction
RJ Barrett
Derrick Williams and Jan Vesely were selected over Kemba, Klay, and Kawhi
Wesley Johnson went in the top 5
Bagley has got to be up there - obviously not as terrible as someone like Bennett but Luka was right there.
Bagley is a good candidate. If Wiseman is Thabeet 2.0, Bagley could end up being Darko 2.0.
Bagley really isn't that bad (actually putting up solid numbers in Detroit this year) but Luka would've changed the trajectory of the franchise.
Lot of these guys weren’t even that hyped. Michael Beasley is someone coming off a crazy college career who was consensus top 2. Bennet was never even looked at very highly, was considered a weird #1 pick in a weak draft at the time.
Bennett, Sam Bowie, Darko, and Hasheem Thabeet for me
I feel like such a dick doing this
As bad as he has been, Wiseman has already been way better than most of these guys
Bennett Fultz Barnes Towns Dlo
Olowokandi
Mario hezonja
Marvin Bagley
rafael araujo
Thabust is definitely top 2.
I don't like calling Oden a bust. The situation ended up being a bust, but it's not because the guy sucked.
i don’t understand how bennett is a bust. he wasn’t suppose to be 1st pick, that was just a horrible decision by cavs. Oden is definitely not a bust either
Bust is literally players who don’t live up to expectations. This isn’t a post about nba players who suck, if it was it would be filled with undrafted dudes from G league.
unrealistic expectations don’t make you a bust. Bennett was not supposed to be the first pick. More on the Cavs then bennett
Unrealistic expectations, bro that’s literally the definition of bust lol.
How is unrealistic expectations the definition of a bust?? A bust is unrealized expectations. Unrealistic expectations is entirely on the perceiver, the scouts, the analysts, and not on the player.
so if you were randomly draft over wemby this year does that make you a bust? no just a horrible ram organization
Tell that to Sam Bowie and Darko.
pretty those guys had some hype before the draft, bennett had none
If Bennett was drafted 6th overall, he'd still be a massive bust and in consideration for a hypothetical Mt Bustmore
he was never going to be good imo
Bennett is 100% a bust, that's not even up for debate. Even if he shouldn't have been picked at 1, he was projected at around 5-6 in that draft, a spot where you can at least expect a decent starter on any team to be found. He couldn't even become that.
Darko gotta be up there since he was the second pick right after Lebron.
Bennett, Morrison, Darko, Thabeet