Has the NBA ever seen players who came into the league viewed and performed for the first 3-4 years as mediocre talents, but went through a mid-career transformation to become stars? The only player I can think of is Jermaine O'Neal who was buried in Portland, even though he was still seen as a promising talent in those years.
If you mean superstars, Steve Nash comes to mind. Even John Stockton didn't get much that much burn his first 3 years in the league. Connection? Perhaps they didn't "look" the part. As for less-than-superstars, there are many who didn't do much for several years but eventually made the all-star team later in their careers (though never became stars). Examples that I personally watched included Chris Gatling and Tyrone Hill.
Chauncey Billups, though selected 3rd, was viewed as pretty mediocre and played for 4 different teams his first 5 years!
Billups and Nash for sure. Gerald Wallace as well. Someone posted LMA, I don't think LarMarcus was ever a bad player. Maybe Birdman.
Sandy Koufax!! My bad, wrong sport. Perhaps McGrady. Partly due to youth and his cousin taking most of the shots. He exploded year 4th season (1st year Orlando).
Im not sure about mid career but JJ redick comes to mind right away. He had expectations and then wasn't performing! But kept working.
Curt Schilling. That arrogant ****** got cut from the Astros as a middle reliever, and out of nowhere he starts putting together Cy Young seasons in the heart of the steroids era. I'm not sayin I'm just sayin. Now he's bankrupt after hood winking all those suckers who invested in his Ponzi MMORPG scheme. I hope the state of Rhode Island wins their suit against him and his partners. Otherwise it might well just wash away into the Atlantic Ocean.
Nash was like the opposite of the recent star team-ups (until he went back to it with the Lakers). He started out with a star already in Nowitzki (and Finley?), so his numbers were down. Then he left and became the super Nash on his own.
Dennis Rodman Averaged 8.9 reb over his first 5 seasons. Exploded to 18.7 reb in his 6th season with Detroit (1991-92). Went on to AVERAGE 16.7 REB over the next 7 seasons -- winning 4 rebounding titles to go along with 10 straight All Defensive Team honors, 2 All NBA Team honors, 2 Defensive Player of the Year awards, 5 NBA championship rings, and induction into the Hall of Fame. At 6'7" and 220 lbs, Rodman was an inch shorter and 5 pounds lighter than T-Mac. [source: http://stats.nba.com/playerProfile.html?PlayerID=23]
I think michael redd was behind allen the first 2 or 3 years in the league. That was before the injuries take the best of him, but he was a great shooter. Another one was petrovic, he didnt got enough playing time on portland, but once he was on nj, he exploded, and he was a superstar.
This is where stats are seriously overstated and misused, he was already a duel DPOY winner before focusing on rebounds, there was a vast change in his game.
For some reason Peja comes to mind. His first two years he averaged 8pts, and 12 pts, respectively. 3rd year went on to avg. 20 pts. I guess that's not exactly what you were looking for but he went on to avg 24, shoot 48% fg and 43% from the three in what was probably his best year. I always wonder if players really are "better" in most cases, or how much is based on opportunity, time, and how big of a green light they have.
