Most talent for least performance

[Fadeaway_J]

Not to say that he didn’t have a very respectable career as it was but I have read on numerous occasions that Rasheed Wallace was tremendously talented but never gave the effort to elevate his career to the next level.

I always felt that way, although I believe it was less about effort and more about lacking the desire to be a clear-cut star rather than just "one of the guys". He had a very wide variety of skills but seemed content to only use a handful of them with any consistency. Granted, he was so talented and so smart that he could still be a hugely valuable player, and he'd be even more valuable in today's game for a variety of reasons.

[JordansBulls]

Big Z, JR Rider, Rashard Lewis.

[Narigo]

Andrew Wiggins
Eddy Curry

[penbeast0]

Big Z, JR Rider, Rashard Lewis.

I thought both Ilgauskas and Rashard Lewis got about as much out of their talent as could be expected. Z was limited by injuries and he was a bit of a big awkward gawk, Rashard by being a stretch 4 before the era where that was accepted so he either had to guard 3's where he wasn't as quick or guard the big post PFs of his era where he could be overpowered. Didn't see either as disappointments though.

[KGtabake]

Big Sofo by a mile. Not even close.

[pancakes3]

TMac and Vince both could have been better than Kobe.

[goober]

After watching Jeff Green before he was cut, he is a good choice for this topic. Dude is crazy athletic and has so much talent. He just doesn’t care all that much and his personal motor is very questionable.

[K_chile22]

I think most super undersized guys should go in this category. Chris Clemons, as a random example, is far more talented then like, your lower end wing starter in the NBA, if he wasn't he wouldn't have made it this far, but because of his size a lot of that talent can't be utilized and he's probably not even an NBA player. Know that's not what this thread is looking for, but something I think about a lot, small guys have it rough and a lot of their talent doesn't result in as much performance as one would expect

[RCM88x]

I'm sure there a ton of uber talented guys who are short and unathletic that should be at the top of these lists.

Have a hard time putting big men or even guys like Jeff Green on here because if they were only average height and average athleticism then no one would even think of including them.

[SactoKingsFan]

I'm sure there a ton of uber talented guys who are short and unathletic that should be at the top of these lists.

Have a hard time putting big men or even guys like Jeff Green on here because if they were only average height and average athleticism then no one would even think of including them.

Height and athleticism are part of how talented a player is.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[RCM88x]

I'm sure there a ton of uber talented guys who are short and unathletic that should be at the top of these lists.

Have a hard time putting big men or even guys like Jeff Green on here because if they were only average height and average athleticism then no one would even think of including them.

Height and athleticism are part of how talented a player is.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Haha what? No they're not.

[SactoKingsFan]

I'm sure there a ton of uber talented guys who are short and unathletic that should be at the top of these lists.

Have a hard time putting big men or even guys like Jeff Green on here because if they were only average height and average athleticism then no one would even think of including them.

Height and athleticism are part of how talented a player is.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Haha what? No they're not.

They definitely are. You're talking more about skill.

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[pancakes3]

talent by definition is innate.

[Clyde Frazier]

Are we excluding players with injuries (oden) and drug issues (tarpley)?

[penbeast0]

I don't think we should include injuries (not in player's control) but drug issues should probably be at play but let's take them out anyway. I really wanted to get at people where their lack of greatness was a source of puzzlement to everyone. If drug use is a factor, everyone has a pretty reasonable idea what the problem was.

[Sark]

This is the Derrick Coleman award.

[SHAQ32]

Ron Mercer, Kendall Gill, JR Rider

[Goudelock]

Michael Beasley. A lot of guys mentioned in this thread were at least all stars or solid starters.

Meanwhile, Beasley was barely starting games by his fourth year and had already begun his career as a journeyman. And I'd say Beasley probably had the talent to win scoring titles if he'd wanted to, which is more than a lot of players can say.

[penbeast0]

Not as bad as Beasley's career but coming out of college, I thought Waymon Tisdale would have Charles Barkley's career and Barkley would have Tisdale's.

[Drygon]

TMac and Vince both could have been better than Kobe.

Outside 00-01 season, Vince was never on same level as Prime Kobe Bryant at any point of his career.

T-Mac was among NBA's best offensive players, but injuries derailed his career.