Is it just me, or are most KU NBA players busts? or do not live up to the hype. Only exception to this is Paul Pierce, but that was 10+ years ago.
Well hopefully NBA GM's agree with you Vega and McLemore falls to the Rockets at 34. I'd take that "bust" any day. -Even though everyone here thinks Marcus Morris is a bust, look up his production last year. Some of the most productive lineups the Rockets had last season was with Marcus Morris at the PF spot as a starter on a playoff worthy team. With the Suns, even as a bad team, both Marcus and Markieff were starters on an NBA team. Im not sure how its possible to be a starter and still be labeled a "bust." Confusing.... That is far from a bust folks despite the fact that he wasn't "Carmelo with defense"(which basically would be an offensive gifted Lebron James). Marcus & Markieff are going to have long NBA careers even if they are just soley viewed as specialists. They are proven NBA players on the right team in the right role. Not busts. -Tyshawn Taylor looked really good on a veteran team in the minutes he played last year. The Nets are very high on him, and he looks like he's going to have a solid NBA career. -Nick Collison- Go ask the Thunder how much of a "bust" he has been for them. -Mario Chalmers- Who is the starting PG for the team that just won an NBA title????? -Paul Pierce- .... do we even need to go there? -Danny Manning- .... go look him up newbs -Greg Ostertag- Long NBA career and starting center on many Utah playoff contending teams. -Darrell Arthur- -Drew Gooden- -Kirk Hinrich ....... yeah that's bust city right there.
Cole Aldrich Sherron Collins J.R. Giddens Xavier Henry Darnell Jackson Keith Langford Aaron Miles Thomas Robinson Brandon Rush Josh Selby Wayne Simien Julian Wright Yup, I'd stay away.
Maybe not busts...but outside of Pierce, we have a bunch of role players on our hands. For always being one of the best teams in the country, they definitely underwhelm when it comes to the NBA.
Pierce, Hinrich, and Collison are all part of the Roy Williams regime. Let's say that you isolate it to the Bill Self era. This would be all the veterans from their championship run onwards. Chalmers, Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur. All five star recruits coming out of high school, but in the draft they weren't actually that highly rated. Rush went 13, Arthur you all know when we picked him, and Chalmers went 34. Rush and Chalmers were juniors, Arthur was a sophomore. The year before Julian Wright got picked as a sophomore 13th. A couple years later Aldrich would get taken in the late lotto, and then you have the Morris twins and Thomas Robinson who we all know about. Relative to their draft positioning, you could call Wright, Rush, Aldrich, and (way too early to say imo) Robinson busts. But, you have to realize that in the draft, once you get outside the top ten it truly is a crapshoot. Each of these players had limitations which were evident even in college, and whatever their #1 best asset was it wasn't enough to get them to thrive in the sense of becoming an all-star candidate in the NBA. In most cases (Wright, Rush, Arthur, Robinson) the player's level of athleticism in college is so much greater than that of the competition that they don't really have to showcase any skills to dominate. And then in some cases where the athleticism is lacking (Aldrich, Withey) it's PAINFULLY apparent that these guys won't do well in the NBA, yet they are still picked high. Why? LOL media hype I guess. I don't think any of these guys can rightfully be called busts. A bust is a guy who dominates in college, is a consensus top player in the draft, and simply does not live up to his potential. We're all familiar with Hasheem Thabeet for example. Let me put it this way. With the numbers crunch inherent in the transition from college to the NBA--everyone in the NBA, even role players, were dominant in college--it's not an indictment at all if a coach gets a reputation for "coaching up" his players to the point that they don't do as well as they're projected to in the NBA. Bill Self is probably a decent coach. Does he choke in high pressure situations like last year's Michigan game? ...Maybe. But it's not like he's Rick Barnes or something. See what I did there? I showed you what the true indictment of a college coach is. When your talent in college goes on to surprise and do BETTER than in the NBA than they did in college, THAT'S when you know you need a better coach. See Rajon Rondo at Kentucky under Gillespie, or Harrison Barnes at UNC under Roy Williams. Or ALL THE AMAZING TALENT RICK BARNES HAS EVER HELD BACK AT UT. This is what was starting to happen at UCLA, and they did a good job over there of removing Howland before it got too severe. I would go nuts if we could get Shabazz, for example. And I have no doubt that Kansas' recent string of poor NBA showings from its players is gonna impact were Ben McLemore or Andrew Wiggins get picked.
I actually thought Wayne Simien could be a good player in the NBA. Not a star, but I thought he could rebound and be a decent scorer, maybe average 14 and 8 at the apex of his career. But at least he won an NBA title.
