Anybody reading Kelly's post, either for penance or tribute, should go back to Dwyer's story at Yahoo and click on it three to five times. I've clicked on his current "Ball Don't Lie" site seven times now. The multiples are needed to compensate for those who are too lazy. Hope this helps him. Kelly is great for the board.
Every big name bust carried with them sort of inane comparison that in hindsight looks insulting to the NBA player that they were compared to. I remember reading a scouting report that compared Eddie Griffin to Tim Duncan which is probably the biggest joke in the history of basketball. Dajuan Wagner is another player that carried ENORMOUS hype coming out of HS/college. Everything from the 100 pt game to averaging something like 45 PPG his senior year of HS to the constant Iverson comparisons. Wagner was supposed to an instant star. Jay Williams too. You had idiots like Dick Vitale telling us that a Steve Francis led Rockets team needed to draft Jay over Yao. Hasheem Thabeet being compared to Deke too.
Maybe he didn't want to include players bothered by injury. Jay Williams, Brewer, and Wagner have all been injured/sick and never really got a chance to show much beyond their rookie seasons. Griffin was a decent player when he wasn't doing something stupid off the court, and of course he died very young. Shelden Williams was just a horrible pick. I don't know anyone that expected much out of him.
I thought about that too but Adam Morrison is on the list, for example. Torn ACL, diabetes...he can't seem to catch a break. As for Shelden: this has been discussed many times. There were plenty that expected him to be a solid pro (myself included). The Hawks were idiotic for not only taking him that high but for also guaranteeing him that spot when nobody else was prepared to take him that high.
There's no way Darko is the biggest bust of the last decade. He may have been a reach at 2, but he's still a serviceable big man. Bust should be based on your contribution to the league, not who was drafted after you - it's stupid to call Darko the biggest bust just because Bosh/Wade/Melo went after him.
Are you kidding? That's half of the argument in discussions like this: who said team could have drafted instead of the player that they actually got. 5.5 PPG, 4.0 RPG is hardly serviceable. Joey Dorsey could put up those type of numbers and we didn't have to pass on a top three NBA player to obtain him.
I think you have to factor in who he was taken in front of, but I do agree he is servicable. Dujuan Wagner should be on that list. didn't know about his medical condition but that guy wasn't going to succeed in the NBA. he reminded me of a few texas guards playing under tom penders in the nineties. travis mays, terrance rencher, bj tyler, classic tweeners.
hey guys wut do ya think of shane battier? he wus a lotto pick ahead of guys like richard jefferson and eddie griffin and is a 10/5 playa. moray got him to win now and the team failed over and over again. wut a bust!!!!!!!
Battier obviously isn't a scorer or world beater but he's a very solid player in the league, think pretty much any team would want him on their team. Probably drafted a tad high but he had an excellent college career. Also, I doubt anyone would lay the rockets playoff failures at Bat's feet.
Hawks were very stupid. They could have traded down, and gotten their man + extra. (maybe another 2nd rounder or a prospect.)
Why do you factor them in? That's just silly. You should look at how good of an NBA player they are, not who was drafted after them - blame the GM who drafted them, not the player. Darko should be no where near the top of that list - as a previous poster mentioned, I'd say Dujuan Wagner should be top 3 and he's not even on the top 10.
I've got news for you: Sam Bowie, the universal biggest bust ever and a name that's synonymous with failure, was a better player than your boy Darko. In fact, much better. The only way your argument makes any sense is if you completely discount the notion that Bowie is the biggest bust ever which, well, is the overwhelming opinion for good reason. Am I supposed to believe Bowie wasn't a bust merely because Portland decided to take him? That it’s not HIS fault therefore he doesn’t deserve the scrutiny? This logic is wildly ridiculous. Again, what "contribution to the league" do you speak of in Darko's case? I still contend that Joey Dorsey could put up numbers similar to Darko's whopping career averages of 5.5 PPG and 4.1 RPG. I don't recall us passing on the 2nd or 3rd best player in the league to acquire him, though. The only thing silly about this conversation is the fact that you're dead serious right now.
For effect, I would have just made a list of everybody Michael Jordan ever helped draft. That list is pretty impressive all on its own: Kwame Brown 1st in 2001 Jared Jeffries 11th in 2002 Jarvis Hayes 10th in 2003 Adam Morrison 3rd in 2006 Brandan Wright (immediately traded for Jason Richardson) 8th in 2007 DJ Augustin (9) and Alexis Ajinca (20) in 2008 Gerald Henderson 12th in 2009 Besides Augustin, that's pretty sad.
He can't even take credit for Hayes (the most respected player of the lot, due to his veteran-ness), either. Jordan was let go before the 2003 draft.
It all depends on your definition of the word 'bust'. Do you define bust as a horrible player, or do you define bust as a guy that did not live up to expectations based on what he did in college or what the guys drafted behind him did. You can argue it both ways, just state your definition of bust first.
