The Decade's Biggest Underachievers by TrueHoops

Cyclical · Post #1 » by **Cyclical** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 11:56 pm

http://thepaintedarea.blogspot.com/2009/12/nba-all-decade-2000s-underachievers.html

Can't argue at all with the Sheed and Baron picks. I don't think Tim Thomas qualifies here; Lamar is very questionable - not underachieving IMO so much as not having the right personality for an aggressive game; and Marbs? Maybe. Regardless, what a waste. Overall not a bad read.

armageddon · Post #2 » by **armageddon** » Fri Jan 1, 2010 12:10 am

Pretty good and accurate article. Isiah for GM.

SonicYouth34 · Post #3 » by **SonicYouth34** » Fri Jan 1, 2010 12:10 am

I think the list is good.

Odom had superstar potential because of his height and skill set, its kinda the same with Tim Thomas. Everyone knows about Sheed. Steph...we know about him. B-Diddy was awesome in the playoffs against Dallas, but has stunk it up since being selected that high.

I love this quote:

The first topic that comes to mind when discussing Rasheed Wallace will always be technical fouls, of course. The 41 technicals in 2000-01 was one of the truly epic single-season performances of the decade.

captain green · Post #4 » by **captain green** » Fri Jan 1, 2010 12:52 am

actually I disagree the team would be only going back to 1999 not 95 and plus an under achiever is someone who has not been an all star or champion but drafted in the first round c: micheal olwakandi pf:kwami brown sf:Nickoloz Tskitishvili sg:luke jackson pg: steve francis(all though he was bad ass for like six strait years he fell off like nobody i've ever seen)
thats my take but i think steveie got an all star so i will say pg: dajuan wagner

vct33 · Post #5 » by **vct33** » Fri Jan 1, 2010 6:23 am

Sheed just fell in love with the outside shot too much. I really think he could have been the best low-post scorer of the decade. When he was with Portland, he showed so much potential as a post scorer that I thought he could be the next Kevin McHale.

Taget · Post #6 » by **Taget** » Fri Jan 1, 2010 5:33 pm

I'd disagree with Lamar Odom being on that list. Being Kobe's second fiddle isn't an easy task and he adjusted and performed pretty well under those circumstances.

s1ickd · Post #7 » by **s1ickd** » Sat Jan 2, 2010 10:07 pm

I actually disagree with this premise entirely. Part of the criteria for being a talented nba player, in my opinion, is the desire to win and be great. I don't know anyone that plays basketball, whether its professional or amature, that doesn't care how well they play when they're on the court.

For exampe... Larry Bird had the "I want to be great" statistic on lockdown. In fact, it made up for his lack of athleticism. If Larry Bird was as passive as Tim Thomas, he may have never made an all star team.

You can't look at someone's ability to run jump and shoot and therefore make a projection... and then be surprised or dissapointed when your projection is innacurate. John Stockton is one of the best point gaurds of all time (some say the best behind Magic). He has arguably one of the worst nba bodies of all time. Bob Cousy is also in this catagory. So is Charles Barkely.

chakdaddy · Post #8 » by **chakdaddy** » Sun Jan 3, 2010 10:02 pm

captain green wrote:actually I disagree the team would be only going back to 1999 not 95 and plus an under achiever is someone who has not been an all star or champion but drafted in the first round c: micheal olwakandi pf:kwami brown sf:Nickoloz Tskitishvili sg:luke jackson pg: steve francis(all though he was bad ass for like six strait years he fell off like nobody i've ever seen)
thats my take but i think steveie got an all star so i will say pg: dajuan wagner

Those guys are busts, not underacheivers. Not their fault teams were dumb enough to take them so high, and not their fault they didn't have that much talent.