Biggest surprise bust ever?

[dmakk]

Jay Williams was the biggest for me. I remember wondering if the Rockets should have drafted him instead of Yao Ming. He was looking like a bust before the accident.

[HEAT33]

Lavar Ball

[jbk1234]

So I went back and looked to see if anyone really stood out, and man, the 2000s were unkind to the Toronto Raptors.

[Up-And-Coming]

Not trash players, but relative to hype and expectations: Wiggins and Jabari

[HEAT33]

Michael Beasley, was a beast in college, soon as he made the NBA he didn't care as he was an instant millionaire.
He had the tools to be a great player, maybe a top 10 player, but just nothing between the ears

[Saints14]

Hindsight is always 20/20, but Wiggins being terrible is pretty surprising. Folks were mixed on whether or not he was worth the hype, but I think most reasonable expectations pegged him as having at least a few all-star appearances.

I’ll throw out Jahlil Okafor too. I don’t think it’s too surprising that he wasn’t worth the #3 pick, but IIRC he was actually viewed as a high-floor prospect with some advanced post moves and skills that would keep him relevant. The degree to which he busted was surprising, although looking back he was drafted right as players of his archetype were being phased out.

[Froob]

Jayson Tatum

Being a smart ass if that wasn’t clear by the way lol.

[dc]

Ovinton J'Anthony Mayo

Good call and I agree, but in hindsight he was just overhyped. I think he was old for a freshman (20 years old?) in college. He was under 6'4" w/o shoes, so on the short side for an NBA SG and really wasn't all that athletic.

[Capn'O]

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.

[Bankai]

Lonzo

Im not surprised.

For me, OJ Mayo.

[Pop Daddy]

Anthony Bennett - I get he was a surprise No 1 pick , but I thought he was gonna be a big star, loved his game, and he sucked

[The_Hater]

Greg oden. Now I know I'm gonna get hit with "well he was injured", but still. Nonetheless he was projected to be Bill Russell, and instead was in the league for a cup of coffee.

I don’t like classifying the players who had major injuries as ‘busts’. You were likely right about his talent, I think Oden was a can’t miss prospect. He was extremely skilled and had a high bball IQ.

Jabari Parker and Evan Turner would be mine. I thought they were at minimum, further allstars. And I remember thinking that Sheldon Williams was the next Ben Wallace.

[HotelVitale]

obvious answer is Fultz

Yeah, Fultz was considered a relative sure thing. Perhaps not the super-high upside of other #1 overall picks but a higher floor then the other guys at the top of the draft.

That was shaky scouting, though, lots of us on the draft boards had a ton of questions about Fultz. Not the sort of ones where you're dwelling on weaknesses (e.g. Ben Simmons not trying hard on defense) but ones about how he was actually going to be a NBA player; he played sort of a slow-mo game and coasted a lot, and he relied way too much on fadeaways against smaller players. It was legitimately difficult for me to see how what he did at UW translated to the NBA, and people were weirdly quick to assume his 3pt% was real (while his FT% wasn't) and that he was going to be a monster in the pn'r. Both those things are insanely hard to be above average at in the NBA and Fultz definitely wasn't there in college.

To be clear, I basically liked him as a prospect and he was in my top 5, but he was like many other prospects who brought good packages but would've needed to develop well to become a good player (let alone great). Even if he didn't lose his shot completely he was more of a high upside prospect than a low floor one.

[Lalouie]

ed o'bannon

and not that he was a "bust" per se, but austin carr. the dude averaged 38ppg his last 2years at ND. he was 6'4" and a 50+% shooter

[Crives]

I remember when the suns got offered Kyrie for Josh Jackson

[kenwood3333]

Markelle Fultz

[Miltpalaciofanclub]

Clarence Weatherspoon

[niQ]

obvious answer is Fultz

Yeah, Fultz was considered a relative sure thing. Perhaps not the super-high upside of other #1 overall picks but a higher floor then the other guys at the top of the draft.

That was shaky scouting, though, lots of us on the draft boards had a ton of questions about Fultz. Not the sort of ones were you're dwelling on weaknesses (e.g. Ben Simmons not trying hard on defense) but ones about how he was actually going to be a NBA player; he played sort of a slow-mo game and coasted a lot, and he relied way too much on fadeaways against smaller players. It was legitimately difficult for me to see how we he did at UW translated to the NBA, and people were weirdly quick to assume his 3pt% was real (while his FT% wasn't) and that he was going to be a monster in the pn'r. Both those things are insanely hard to be above average at in the NBA and Fultz definitely wasn't there in college.

To be clear, I basically liked him as a prospect and he was in my top 5, but he was like many other prospects who brought good packages but would've needed to develop well to become a good player (let alone great). Even if he didn't lose his shot completely he was more of a high upside prospect than a low floor one.

I remember everyone was hyping that draft class so much. (The buzz was primarily surrounding Fultz, Ball, and Fox. You were essentially getting a star PG either way.) But I remember watching Fultz's highlights and not seeing what the hype was about. I was actually excited to find out whether he would be better in the NBA... but.. you all know the rest...

Btw, here's one of the videos that was circulating around that time.

Watch on YouTube

[Calvin Klein]

I remember when the suns got offered Kyrie for Josh Jackson

The chances of Kyrie resigning or even putting on a Suns uniform were never great though.

But yeah...JJ

[triple_threat]

Eddy curry def the biggest, but maybe not the most unlikely