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I'm talking about guys like Aaron Gordon, Andrew Wiggins, or even Marvin Williams: top 5 picks who looked very disappointing initially but eventually found a high level role for them that they excelled at, even if not in their initial draft spot.

What about Randle (7), Markkenen (7) and Dipo (2)?

Chauncey Billups gotta be the most successful one

I guess one of those Top 15 Picks who looked awful first couple of years, but eventually turned it around.

Jermaine O'Neal is the only one I can think of, but he was drafted as the 17th pick. He played four seasons where his numbers just got worse, playing about 10 to 12 minutes per game.

Wiggins had the potential to be great, but he never lived up to it. Fans think a player sucks if they put up solid numbers on bad teams, but they will turn around as soon as the player ends up on a good team.

Zach Randolph is the best example of this, where he was a joke among fans until he joined Memphis, and suddenly he was an excellent player and everybody had actually been saying he was good the whole time.

Victor Oladipo, Chauncey Billups, Jermaine O’Neal.

Oladipo

I didn’t know he had that Pacers tenure in him, he was great on BOTH ends

so sad how that was short lived

dirkdiggler4177 wrote:Jermaine O'Neal is the only one I can think of, but he was drafted as the 17th pick. He played four seasons where his numbers just got worse, playing about 10 to 12 minutes per game.

Jermaine was a teenager sitting behind Rasheed and Brian Grant and the Blazers were a contending team. He obviously wasn't going to play much. Even though he barely played, everyone knew he had ability, which is why the Blazers gave him something like a 3 year, $21M extension or something like that. Some people thought that was ridiculous money for a guy who mostly sat but the Blazers knew they had a valuable piece they wanted to keep.

Marvin Williams never redeemed anything. I remember having an argument once where I said if Marvin can have a career like Jamal Mashburn he did well, well Marv never made or was even in the running to make a single all-star team. Horrendous #2 pick.

Dominator83 wrote:Chauncey Billups gotta be the most successful one

Yep, he was on his way out of the league a couple years after being the third overall pick, bounced around until Minnesota gave him a shot, redeemed himself, moved on to Detroit and became a Hall of Famer.

Looked up his stats to confirm this, and completely forgot he actually played for Denver twice in his career.

Chuck Everett wrote:Marvin Williams never redeemed anything. I remember having an argument once where I said if Marvin can have a career like Jamal Mashburn he did well, well Marv never made or was even in the running to make a single all-star team. Horrendous #2 pick.

Yeah, I'm not sure why he was included. He topped out statistically his third year, and just regressed from there. Just because he played a long time didn't make him any good.

You kept waiting for him to break out, but it just never happened. Taken over Deron Williams and Chris Paul. Ouch.

Chauncey went from bust to hall of fame. End of thread.

I was gonna say Dunleavy Jr but he didn't actually peak that high on raw stats it looks like.

That was the one thing I hated Dubs fans for, we were just brutal to dude. And now he's back to take revenge on us as GM by never acquiring any big men and dooming us to be a team of 6-6 midgets

Patrick Williams in a few years from now.

Donnyell Marshal for me

Chauncey by far. Went from a guy who looked like he was going to be a back up journeyman, to a HoF player and finals MVP.

Wiggins was a big contributor to the warriors championship but he never came remotely close to expectations.

Tyson Chandler had a bust label after his first couple years in chicago. Then they just started letting Ty be Ty and he blew up into a defensive monster.

Billups and Chandler are good calls.

Nowitzki comes to mind as well. Dirk went from not making the all-rookie team, to making all-NBA by his 3rd season.

Payton, I don't think was considered a bust, but his rookie campaign was quite underwhelming given that he was a #2 pick and considering the career he'd eventually have. He barely made the all-rookie team, 9th in votes behind guys like Willie Burton and Travis Mays (who and who?)

I guess the 15th pick is too low to qualify here, but Nash, Kawhi, Giannis were all drafted 15th had slow starts and eventually became superstars.

Not a bust but Jeff Green's career arc has been an interesting one where he never quite reached the heights that many hoped and then has had a remarkably long and effective back half of his career. Early on he was something of a disappointment even though he had decent numbers. He may have been ahead of his time as a rangey 4 in the late era of plodders.

Nowhere near my #1 for this topic (Billups) but an interesting honorable mention.

BigGargamel wrote:

Chuck Everett wrote:Marvin Williams never redeemed anything. I remember having an argument once where I said if Marvin can have a career like Jamal Mashburn he did well, well Marv never made or was even in the running to make a single all-star team. Horrendous #2 pick.

Yeah, I'm not sure why he was included. He topped out statistically his third year, and just regressed from there. Just because he played a long time didn't make him any good.

You kept waiting for him to break out, but it just never happened. Taken over Deron Williams and Chris Paul. Ouch.

I've heard he still has superstar potential.

Mr Puddles wrote:Billups and Chandler are good calls.

Nowitzki comes to mind as well. Dirk went from not making the all-rookie team, to making all-NBA by his 3rd season.

Payton, I don't think was considered a bust, but his rookie campaign was quite underwhelming given that he was a #2 pick and considering the career he'd eventually have. He barely made the all-rookie team, 9th in votes behind guys like Willie Burton and Travis Mays (who and who?)

I guess the 15th pick is too low to qualify here, but Nash, Kawhi, Giannis were all drafted 15th had slow starts and eventually became superstars.

Nowitzki went from playing in the 2nd German division to the NBA in a lockout season where they didn´t even have a real training camp. He was drafted in a draft that is considered to be one of the best of all time and was viewed as a late top 10 pick at best. Sports Illustrated didn´t even have him in the first round. Everybody expected that he´ll need some time to adjust and he averaged 17.5 points in his 2nd seasons.

So if that´s your standard for draft bust, I guess Giannis was one to.

Payton actually is a better example in the sense that he was pretty underwhelming in his first 2 seasons after 4 great college years and being viewed as the best current college player in his last season.

Some other examples would be Steve Nash (if 15th pick isn´t too low already), Devin Harris, JJ Redick, CJ McCollum, Jamal Crawford, Terrell Brandon & Detlef Schrempf.