Sam Bowie should be in the tragedy section. He broke his leg. Twice. He was never the same and it ruined his career. Ralph was not a bust. Look at his numbers prior to blowing out his knee. I would add John Lucas to the tragedy.
I would consider Jerry Stack a decent size bust. Once again he fell victim to the North Carolina Syndrome of being compared to MJ23, which only sets you up for failure. He has had a decent career, but decent doesn't cut it when you have that much expectation. Additions to the list would be: 1: Bryant Reeves (Busted a backboard and then just busted) 2: Tom Gugliotta (Gugs never recovered from injuries) 3: Christian Laettnar (Another Duke bust) 4: Derrick Coleman? (Drafted #1 out of the my school the 'Cuse) 5: Antonio McDyess (Still not half of what he use to be) A Controversial one: Magic Johnson (HIV Infection)- Yes Magic was past his prime, but he still had plenty of years left in him. This of course was self imposed because of his lifestyle, but would you consider this a tragedy?
i guess it was 3/4 years ago after he had gotten outta rehab i saw him playing pickup games at my highschool. It was sad watching Moses Malone outplay him. Lottery Busts - Michael Olowokandi comes to mind. A 7 foot center drafted #1 who has amounted to nothing.
I didn't even think about Reggie. If the Goat had stayed clean, I think everyone would have been calling Jordan and all the others, the next Goat. Wasn't Pistol Pete's career a lot shorter than it should have been. From the talent he had in college, he should have had a better pro career. Ditto for Chris Jackson (aka Mahmoud A'bdul Raouf, I'll be suprised if I came anywhere close to spelling that right).
My top choices: Tragedies unrelated to basketball: Petrovic, Hurley, and Jay Williams. Basketball related injuries: Ralph Sampson and Grant Hill. Self-inflicted tragedies: Lucas, Tarpley, Kemp, Mad Max, Eddie Griffin. You can see I'm Rockets biased.
Man...did we all forget about Bernard King? If he never went through so many injuries in his career, he certainly would have been one of the greatest. His 2 or so seasons of great basketball was something.
What about Livingston . . . .. I want to say out of LSU he was with the Rockets for a while USe to be lightening quick but after busting up his knee a few times. . he was basically done Rocket River
Maybe Never Nervous should be renamed Never Mentioned. Talk about your lottery busts. Greatest career cut short to injury ( non-fatal): Danny Manning. Seriously, could have been one of the best all around players. Ever. Others: Hill, Hardaway, Bowie, Ron Harper, Ralph Sampson ( had sort of leveled off, but still coulda/shoulda been better), etc. All the tragedies have been mentioned. Too many lottery busts/self-infilcted to talk about, but Derrick Coleman and Roy Tarpley deserve mentioning again. COleman, like Manning, could have been among the best ever, and unlike Manning, got in his own way. Tarpley was a monster; for those who never saw him, he was a legit 7 footer, with an inside mentality and exceptional all around athleticism.
Roy Tarpley used to give Olajuwon fits. Probably the best opponent on a consistent basis Hakeem ever faced. Plus, that Dallas team was a damn fine team with Tarpley, Harper, Blackmon, and Aguire. I still remember the game in the playoffs when Olajuwon and Sleepy both scored forty and they still lost to the Mavs.
You mean Randy Livingston? I remember there were a lot of people talking about his potential, but he never recovered from those injuries.
Connie Hawkins He still made the NBA and eventually the HOF, but if not for the scandals that kept him out of the league for so long, who knows how great he could have been. People who saw him play put him up there with Dr. J, Jordan, etc. http://www.nba.com/history/players/hawkins_bio.html
I see a couple of people saying Eddie Griffin but I noticed nobody put Kwame Brown. He was a REAL bust!
What about Walt Williams and even Jimmy Jackson? These guys coming out of college were supposed to be crazy talents. They have both had decent careers but more or less have fallen in obscurity. Lets not forget Joe Smith!
Bobby Phills Death I know he didn't become great but was a bad ass at LSU and made shaq look second best at the time. Stanley Roberts drug problems.
need to mention David Thompson. He was a 6'4" Jordan before there was a Jordan, and he is a Hall-of-Famer, but drugs cut his career drastically.
My short list of tragities: 1. Reggie Lewis 2. Petro 3. Maurice Stokes 4. Bobby P. 5. Malik S. I would include Bias, but he never did play, so I'm leaving him off.
