RealGM

We spend most of our time discussing prospects because in most years our puppies should be put down.

That being said, who are some prospects that you liked that busted, while others that you liked and they did great?


I will start.

Roy Hibbert. I was crazy wanting Roy hibbert and got a ton of crap for it on a regular basis. Yet now he is a stud.

Beasley. I thought he would only be special if he could be a 3 and not a 4 and I worried about the maturity.

Corey Brewer. He finally broke out a little, but I was really high for him also, I still think he can improve a ton. Long term I would love him as our Michael Cooper.

I am trying to think of busts, I guess my selective memory does not remember.

Brandon Jennings - I didn't think he'd be more then a backup. Skinny, no shot, couldn't get playing time in Europe, bad attitude...the guy had a whole list of red flags I thought would keep him down.

Marcus Thornton - Thought he was a 1st round talent and had him actually going to New Orleans at 23. I think they were really lucky he fell but I'm surprised nobody picked him before they got to him. He's a little undersized but he had a well rounded offensive skill set.

Joe Alexander - I actually thought he'd be good. He was undersized but he seemed like a stretch 4 with the athleticism to overcome some of his problems.

Robert Vaden - I don't know why but I remember thinking he'd be a steal from late in the 2nd. Was a decent scorer in college and a hell of a shooter but I think I overlooked his efficiency.

Gary Forbes - Thought he'd be a spark plug off the bench but never put in the effort defensively.

Tyrus Thomas - I thought he'd finally put it together when Rose got their and the year after he started strong which made me think maybe the lights were on upstairs.

There's more but I think this is enough.

I wanted to do everything in our power to get Tyreke Evans last year. I have a soft spot for Calapari coached guys, but I felt that Evans was really special.

I had a hunch Paul Millsap would be good, but I never imagined he'd be as good as he is now.


Busts - Marcus Williams. Motto of that story: Never believe in a fat PG.

Julian Wright - I thought the extra year of college was really going to help him out. He still hasn't been able to earn any minutes.

I thought Eric Gordon would bust hard, but he's quite the player.

Breakdown777 wrote:Busts - Marcus Williams. Motto of that story: Never believe in a fat PG.

.

didn't he have a bit of a comeback in Memphis?

the guy I was expecting to be a little more useful than he is now is Sean May, he destroyed the NCAA because he was bigger and stronger than everyone. He is still bigger and stronger than a good chunk of the NBA, but he's not even good at taking up space.

I liked Jennings and thought it was crazy that the Knicks and others passed on him.

I wanted no part of Thabeet, knew he would bust for sure.

umm, I liked Eric Gordon a lot.

Also, really liked Brewer for some reason. Just had a feeling.

I haven't been following the draft too in depth until last year.

Brook Lopez had bust written all over him in the eyes of many. A lot of Wolves fans were contemplating assassinating McHale if he took him, as seemed probable for a while. Look at him now. Would we rather have Lopez or Love?

I wanted Gerald Green and Danny Granger over McCants - hit on one, completely busted on the other but I was right on McCants.

I liked Paul Milsap more than Craig Smith.

I was a proponent of the Marbury for Allen deal. Well maybe proponent is too strong. I liked it at the time.

I thought Brewer was more than just an energy guy. Looks like he is developing a bit more ability to finish but I had higher expectations for him.

I liked:
Granger instead of McCants
Gay instead of Foye/Roy
Noah instead of Brewer
Brook Lopez instead of Mayo/Love
Derozan instead of Flynn
Johnson instead of Cousins

At least that was the name I was hoping was called when the Wolves were on the Clock.

The first three are solid the next three are still TBD
At this point I'm hoping Love, Flynn & Johnson blossom

2005-Hated CP3, Granger was my guy. (wow Martell was 6th pick overall?!)
2006-Rudy Gay...terrible year
2007...Noah, Thornton,
2008-Joe Alexander, Jerryd Bayless, Ibaka, JR Giddens, DeAndre Jordan.
2009-Huuge Blake Griffin fan, DeRozan, Jennings, Jeff Teague, Jemaine Taylor (my less crazy version of McCants)

You will notice I like athletes.

revprodeji wrote:Roy Hibbert. I was crazy wanting Roy hibbert and got a ton of crap for it on a regular basis. Yet now he is a stud.

This is a very, very liberal use of the word stud.

2009- First one here to advocate using our own lottery pick on Stephen Curry, liked Brandon Jennings more than most, thought Tyreke would be a borderline All-Star, had no inkling it would happen his rookie year. Threw out Taj Gibson and Jonas Jerebko as names I liked later in the draft. Didn't like Ellington at all, was with dunk in liking Jermaine Taylor. Didn't see Collison as anything more than a decent backup PG who could run an offense and knock down open shots.


2008- Bought into Beasley. Thought his inside-outside scoring arsenal and nose for the ball would trump the character red flags. Really liked Brook Lopez, didn't think Mayo would end up the clear cut 3rd best player in the draft. Thought Russell Westbrook was a major reach, was one of the first to bring up Anthony Randolph's name around here, liked Eric Gordon, and was wowed by grainy youtube footage of Serge Ibaka. Liked Kyle Weaver as a late round guy.

2007- Liked Brewer, Spencer Hawes and Noah for our pick. Also liked Conley, but not as the 4th best player in the draft. Liked Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, Kyrylo Fesenko and Gabe Pruitt as names to go after late in the draft.

2006- Thought Roy was the best player in the draft. Remember arguing with people about Roy v. Carney. Either DX or .net had Hassell as a comparison for Roy and T-Mac as a comparison for Carney, and people kept on bringing the "Would you rather have someone that played like Hassell or someone that played like T-Mac" bit into play. Didn't like Foye at all until he put on the Wolves cap, spent the next couple years (as well as the week before the draft when it looked like he was McHale's guy) into him.

I also liked Kyle Lowry and was pissed when we kept Craig Smith and traded Bobby Jones (along with most of the forum). Thought Guillermo Diaz and Hassan Adams were worth gambles late due to their athleticism.

2009 - Had Thabeet penciled in as a bust, cooled off on Harden as the draft approached, warmed up on Curry as the draft approached. Was on the Jennings = Telfair 2.0 bandwagon. Tyreke and Holiday were the apples of my eye when I thought Rubio was a pipe dream. Flynn wasnt even on my radar. Had an odd crush on Henderson. Liked Daye, Maynor and Summers later

2008 - Mayo was my guy all the way. Hated Lopez at first but liked the idea of taking him if there was a trade down situation. Wasn't big on Love at all. Didn't think much of Gordon for that matter. Thought Westbrook would be decent but thought it was a reach as well. Liked Rush, loved Hibbert. Wanted Ryan Anderson in a Gomes like role here. Had a list of about 5 guys that fell to the 2nd that we didnt take including Jordan, CDR, Bill Walker, DeVon Hardin and was upset like everyone else that we dealt the Chalmers pick.

2007 - Thought Oden was the wrong pick. Loved Durant, prayed Horford would fall to us. Really warmed up to Noah as the draft approached, thought Wright was the BPA when we picked and was furious when we passed on him. Liked Jeff Green and Java Critt. Thought VERY highly of Marc Gasol in the 2nd and went on a profanity laced rant on this board when we passed on him and Reyshawn Terry for Chris Richard.

I liked Lopez at 3 over Mayo and Love and didn't think much of Beasley due to his tweener-ness and lack of defense. I liked Noah and Eric Gordon a lot. I hated Thabeet. I liked Holiday and Casspi a lot last year. I really wanted Deandre Jordan in the 2nd round. I hated Bayless and Alexander in the lottery.


But I wiffed on Westbrook; I didn't think he'd be more than a decent combo guard. I also underestimated Tyreke a lot, I thought his shooting would limit him quite a bit. I didn't think much of Jennings.

I did not like Love at all, Mayo made way more sense.

I didn't think Curry would be more than a sharpshooter of the bench.

I was high on Budinger as a late round pick up.

So this thread shows that the hoi polloi hits on the draft as often as experts.

2009 - Hated Tyreke Evans, so I was dead wrong on that. I was really luke-warm on Flynn and wanted Curry or DeRozan over Flynn. Loved Rubio, still do, we'll see. I was shocked to see Sam Young fall as far as he did. I really liked him. I wasn't too sold on Wayne Ellington.

2008 - I had my eyes set on Mayo and only OJ Mayo. I was really nervous that we would end up with Lopez (I did not like him). I was heart broken that we got Love and I did not think much of him. Obviously I was pissed that we dealt Chalmers.

2007 - I liked Oden over Durant (ouch). I hated Joakim Noah more than anybody and thought he would be a HUGE bust. I liked Conley but thought he went a little too high. I though Jeff Green was overrated and went way too high. I believe I wanted Brewer or Wright with our pick, just prayed that we wouldn't take Noah. Words couldn't express my exasperation with the Chris Richard pick over Derrick Byars.

2006 - REALLY wanted Rudy Gay. I was very let down that we drafted Roy and then traded down for someone other than Rudy Gay. Of course I laughed at the Hawks for drafting Shelden Williams, but who didn't? At the time Craig Smith was a mind blowing error to me.

2005 - I was really high on all 4 guys going right after McCants and really low on McCants: Antoine Wright, Joey Graham, Danny Granger, Gerald Green. I was pissed that we didn't take Ryan Gomes over Bracey Wright in the 2nd.

I guess my picks probably would have been:
2009: Ricky Rubio, DeMar DeRozan, Ty Lawson, Sam Young, Danny Green, Jack McClinton
2008: OJ Mayo, Nikola Pekovic, Mario Chalmers
2007: Brandan Wright, Derrick Byars
2006: Rudy Gay, Guillermo Diaz, Daniel Gibson, Damir Markota
2005: Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes

So under my drafting our roster would look like this:

Rubio/Lawson/Chalmers
Mayo/DeRozan
Gay/Young/Gomes
Jefferson/Wright
Pekovic

We would be the Memphis Grizzlies if I ran the team since 2005. I would have picked some busts, but really, not bad.

compared to:
2009: Ricky Rubio, Jonny Flynn, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Nick Calathes, Henk Norel
2008: Kevin Love (essentially), Nikola Pekovic, Calathes and Norel (players we got for Chalmers)
2007: Corey Brewer, Chris Richard
2006: Randy Foye (essentially), Craig Smith, Bobby Jones, Loukas Mavrokefalidis
2005: Rashad McCants, Bracey Wright

I said Bill Walker if he could stay healthy would be a better Pro than Beasely (I still believe this).

I also thought that Blake Griffin would not be a very good pro, this remains to be seen.

My most accurate prediction I have ever made is that Blake Griffin would get injured and miss his entire rookie season.

I've been a fan on John Salmons since his sixers days, I always thought he was really versatile. Loved the way he seemed to score buckets the second he got on the court.

Thought Tyreke would be good (was expecting us to pick him) but after watching him in college didn't think he'd be nearly as good as he became. The "mini Lebron" comparisons went right over my head.

I was a big fan of Eddie Griffen back in the day (may he rest in peace).

big3_8_19_21 wrote:My most accurate prediction I have ever made is that Blake Griffin would get injured and miss his entire rookie season.

Heh, you too? I remember telling Super Record Exec citizen bob that Blake Griffin was going to miss his rookie season with a knee injury. I feel like we had a bit of a layup on that one though, since it's the clippers.