Biggest surprise bust ever?

[Uncle Mxy]

Jonathan Bender.

When the Pacers traded Antonio Davis for the rights to Bender in the 1999 draft I thought he was going to follow in the the line of great picks out of high school (KG, Kobe, and Mac).

Instead he was completely underwhelming. He was long and athletic but his BBIQ was sorely lacking. A case in point was the 2003-04 playoff series between the Pacers and the Pistons. It looked like every time he got the ball he wasn't sure what to do with it and just jacked up shots which mostly clanged off the rim.

Shortly afterwards he had injury issues and retired.

Bender had injury issues well before the 2004 playoffs. All those Pacers teams seemed hobbled by the time they hit the playoffs. I remember being surprised he'd be able to play at all. Oh, for a Pacers fan citing great picks out of HS, I'd start with Jermaine O'Neal.

[The Rebel]

The only answer to this is Darko. Many teams had him rated above Lebron, he was supposed to be an athletic Jokic. He could have been, so there was even hype his 1st couple of seasons, then he ended up a borderline starter his whole caeer.

[giberish]

Thomas Robinson for me. I figured even if he isn't a 20+10 guy, at least he'll be a double digit rebounder for a decade in the league. He seemed like he'd have a pretty high floor from watching him at Kansas.

yeah, Robinson wasn't a high upside guy at all, but he seemed pretty certain to be a long-term starting PF. For him to just drop out of the league was shocking.

Though part of that is that his position essentially disappeared.

[Jakay]

Hasheem Thabeet.

NO ONE saw him not panning out.

*on the Grizzlies scouting crew

[Antinomy]

Every time this question pops up, I think of Ben McLemore.

[ZemGOAT]

Knew Bennett wouldn't live up to the 1st pick but did not expect him to not live up to being a 1st round pick

[SpeedyG]

He wasn't a high pick so I'm not sure most considered him a lock, but I thought Marcus Williams (Uconn) was at least rookie Damon Stoudamire caliber as a floor.

Beasley was such a hype though. You're talking about a gifted scorer who broke Durant's record shortly after he set them. He was supposed to be the next of the 6'10 forwards to change the game like Durant did.

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[mplsfonz23]

The only answer to this is Darko. Many teams had him rated above Lebron, he was supposed to be an athletic Jokic. He could have been, so there was even hype his 1st couple of seasons, then he ended up a borderline starter his whole caeer.

IDK about that. I would like to see ANY mock draft that had LBJ going second. Darko shocked a lot of people considering Melo was a shoe in. But Detroit had just won, and didn't see a need for him.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Glenn Robinson was a surprise bust/disappointment. I know it's strange to say that of a 2 time all-star, but consider that he was basically the consensus #1 overall pick in a draft with Kidd and Grant Hill taken after him. He had some good years with the Bucks, but he ended up being a journeyman by the time he hit his late 20s. That's a big disappointment considering his draft hype what people expected of him.

This is a good one. I thought he was a Tim Duncan/Shaq level prospect after he just annihilated everyone in college. Different in that he would have been more scoring and less defense but he just looked on another level. Even his rookie year was dominant for a two year college player. IIRC, he was one of those guys that got paid early and didn't really improve after.

Yeah, the thing I remember about Big Dog Robinson was that the teams picking behind the Bucks (Mavs and Pistons) who ended up drafting Kidd/Hill were actually trying to trade UP to the #1 spot to grab him, but the Bucks said no. Think about that for a second. Everyone was convinced the guy was can't miss and it was a consensus that he should be taken over guys like Kidd/Hill.

And he did have an excellent rookie year along with a couple all-star years, but even those years he was never close to Kidd/Hill.

He ended up turning out to be one dimensional. Just a pure mid-range scorer who wasn't much of a defender or playmaker and didn't make his teammates better. He didn't improve on his game.

I would think of him as a Carmelo type guy who flamed out way sooner. Carmelo started heading down hill in his early 30s. Big Dog started taking a dive in his mid 20s.

And you're right about the guy getting paid early and probably getting complacent. 1994 was the year before rookie scale contracts started. Back then, the top drafts prospects negotiated huge contracts from the get go. They definitely got paid early.

The rookie scale actually arrived because of Robinson's contract

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[The Rebel]

The only answer to this is Darko. Many teams had him rated above Lebron, he was supposed to be an athletic Jokic. He could have been, so there was even hype his 1st couple of seasons, then he ended up a borderline starter his whole caeer.

IDK about that. I would like to see ANY mock draft that had LBJ going second. Darko shocked a lot of people considering Melo was a shoe in. But Detroit had just won, and didn't see a need for him.

YOu can not know about it, but those of us who followed the NBA at the time know full well what was going on, and no mock draft was going to put Cleveland taking anybody but Lebron once they got the 1st overall pick. That would have been franchise suicide at the time considering how bad Cleveland was and how bad they drew fans.

As for the Pistons, they had no just won that was a year later, they choose Darko early in the process and never brought Melo in for a workout or interview despite Melo openly campaigning to go there.

[GANGSTERDOG]

Either Beasley, Tatum or Rose for me.

[PKABOOICU]

Yi Jianlian.
He had all the physical gifts to be a great player.

[treachery]

He wasn't a high pick so I'm not sure most considered him a lock, but I thought Marcus Williams (Uconn) was at least rookie Damon Stoudamire caliber as a floor.

Beasley was such a hype though. You're talking about a gifted scorer who broke Durant's record shortly after he set them. He was supposed to be the next of the 6'10 forwards to change the game like Durant did.

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Marcus Williams was sick.

As a Knicks fan, I was so jealous when the Nets got him. Can't understand how he didn't make it in the league. He put this two piece on Marbury at the Garden.

I just made a gif of it- very slick dribble moves:

Watch on YouTube

[kuclas]

Tough call. Depends how one defines surprise “bust” relative to draft position.

For me. I think it’s Marvin Williams. He was freshman on Star studded unc title team. U had 4 unc guys drafted in the first 15 slots? And Williams was suppose to be the best of the best. Muti positions player.

It seemed like he peaked his 3rd season and has been consistently average player his entire career. And he keeps getting pretty highly paid. I have no clue why he keeps getting highly paid to be an average nba player. It’s not like he’s ever been a min salary player.

But to last in the league 15 years playing average basketball and drafted 2 overall. I thought he would be a bigger star.