Every year there always seems to be at least one guy in the draft who either had a great collegiate career or astronomical potential but for some reason never lives up to the hype and ability. Who are some of the more notable ones that you can remember? Here are mine: Derrick Coleman - Should be the greatest PF of all time. If he has anything remotely resembling a work ethic we'd be talking about him the way we do Karl Malone. Christian Laettner - I don't know what happened. Maybe he was a product of a good system and nothing else. Maybe Grant Hill made him look good. Maybe he was just an arrogant ass who didn't work hard enough on his game. Mystery. Kenny Anderson - Probably the best ballhandler I've ever seen. He had a few nice years, but really should have dominated the position. Still a NY playground legend, but he had so much talent. Glenn Robinson - This is a tough one; Big Dog's had a decent career. But couldn't he have been so much better? I think he should've averaged 25-30ppg a few seasons. None of these players turned out that bad, and all of them had some nice years. I think all of them but Laettner were all-stars at one time. But they really should have been great, hall-of-fame caliber players. Those types of players, guys with enough talent to be great but who lack the brains or the heart, are the most disappointing in my opinion.
Doesn't he mean players who had the talent to be one of the best? It's not like not like anyone expected Mooch to be awesome, he just didn't have the credentials. Sure, he was extremely overpaid, but management offered him that bloated contract (which he hardly deserved) and he was smart to take it.
Chris Jackson/Mahmoud Abdul Rauf Still one of the most dominant scorers/shooters I ever witnessed in college.
Christian was an all-star with the Hawks. I think he's had a decent career despite the Bird-like expectations. If you re-did the 92 draft he'd still be in the top 10 1. Shaq (1) 2. Zo (2) 3. Horry (11) 4. Jim Jackson (4) 5. PJ Brown (29) 6. Gugliotta (8) 7. Laettner (3) 8. Wesley (undrafted) 9. Weatherspoon (9) 10. Popeye Jones (41)
For any reason? Others not mentioned ( no particular order, aside from maybe the 1st.) 1. Danny manning. Could have been one of the best ever. Doesn't blow out his knee, and he would have been. 2. Derrick McKey. 3. Billy Owens. 4. Ralph Sampson. 5. Len Bias. 6. Sam Bowie. 7. Ron Harper. 8. Joe Smith. 9. Grant Hill. 10. Roy Tarpley. 11. Shawn Kemp. 12. Stanley Roberts.
Penny Hardaway, sad to say, he used to be my favorite player, but injuries have plauged him throught out his years.
i thought jerry stackhouse was going to be very special. hes had some success stats wise, but hes never gone to the next level. i thought he had it.
Excellent thread!!! Micheal Ray Richardson (drugs ruined this awesome player) Darrell Griffith (great college player who was never able to adapt to the NBA) Pearl Washington (NY playground legend who never hit it big in NBA) John Lucas (drugs ruined his chances of being a hall of famer) Darryl Dawkins (had the potential, but had no clue) Eddie Griffin (waste of talent) Brad Dougherty (injuries ruined his career) Mel Turpin (Lots of Kentucky players had so so NBA careers Larry Johnson (Grand Ma-Ma) Marvin Webster (The Human Eraser) Bill Walton (still had a nice career, but could have been one of the best Centers to ever play)
It has to be Ralph Sampson. He has as much potential to revolutionize the game as anybody before, or since. Sampson was incredibly agile, could handle the ball, get out on the break, while being an interior presence with a nice post-up game. He could also grab rebounds and block shots. His knee injuries ruined what should have been a dominant career.
I'd have on my list: 1. Derrick Coleman- Could've been the greatest PF ever, instead, one of the worst examples of a pro athlete ever. Absolutely no work ethic whatsoever. 2. Shawn Kemp- Had a great early career, lockout hit and he ballooned to 300 pounds while his game went straight to hell. 3. Roy Tarpley- I hear he could have been a great center/PF, but drugs and various stupidities conspired to end his career before it even started. 4. Kenny Anderson- Mega-talent who had a decent career, but never became what he could have been. 5. Shawn Bradley- Guy could have been a 7-5 dominator at center. Instead, he's softer than cream cheese with zero heart. Absolutely one of the worst players ever to pick up a basketball or become a top draft pick. 6. Danny Ferry- Predicted to be the next Bird, turned out to be a humongous turd. Decent role player, but singlehandedly killed any chance of the Cavaliers becoming a team to equal the Bulls when they traded away Ron Harper at the height of his powers. 7. Penny Hardaway- Injuries have derailed his career. I remember when he was expected to fill MJ's shoes as the best player in the league and now he's a sixth man for the Knicks. Yeah.... 8. Jon Koncak- Singlehandedly responsible for the downfall of the Hawks franchise. Anybody would have been better. A colossally soft , plodding dud of a center. Why are so many of these folks with great talent who never pan out centers? 9. Michael Olowkandi- Just because he's big and has "upside" doesn't mean squat. He's the 21st century Benoit Benjamin. Just think who the Paperclips could have picked instead of him!
Easily Grant Hill. He was going into his prime and could of been the next Jordan. I still think he can come back and be pretty good.
