Greatest One-Hit Wonder of a Season?

[strokerace]

Great thread. I love being schooled by some of the older fans here.

[Rainwater]

mcgrady 02-03, every other year he shot poorly and put up average numbers for an allstar.

I question if you know what a one hit wonder is lol, this is a terrible take, lol. T-Mac avg’d nearly over 26 in his prime over the course of 7 season. His shooting avgs were no different from his peers at the time, look at AI, Gilbert, or even Kobe for god sakes. 7 time all star who had career cut short by injuries. How is that comparable to a guy like Mike James only had one good season?

[Special_Puppy]

Victor Oladipo's 2018 season

[bledredwine]

Every decent guard who gets traded to the Chicago Bulls looks like a genius for a year or two and then leaves. It’s really annoying, actually. Please, let Giddy not be one of these DJ Augustin/Nate Robinsons.

[AdamSSSlither]

MCW'S R.O.Y SEASON

[tamaraw08]

Tyreke Evans' rookie season. Dude was one of the best looking rooks we've had in a while, but fell off year by year. It's rare we see a rookie peak that high.

It's interesting to note too that he averaged 19/5/5 at age 28 with Memphis, also ave 16.6/5/6 at age 25.

[tamaraw08]

A lot of great picks here. But and this is questionable one, but 1999 Darrell Armstrong.

13th in WS, 13th in PER, and 8th in VORP.

The counter of course is he was pretty darn good in 2000, outside the top 20 in the first two but still a solid 15th in VORP. But man did he come out of nowhere for that year and he never really kept it up.

77 Walton is one I'd like to use, I know he won MVP in 78 but he also only played 2 playoff games and under 60 games that year.

In both cases not true "one hit".

The last guy I think is much more the case. Larry Hughes.

Now he was a good 18 a game guy in 2004 but BPM had him at 0.9. Suddenly in 2005 he leads the league in steals, ups his offense, and turns out a 21.6 PER, .157 WS/48 and a 4.3 BPM. Then falls off a cliff with Lebron in Cleveland the next year.

Talk about going down the rabbit hole.
did you just remember these advanced stats or did some research?

[dhsilv2]

A lot of great picks here. But and this is questionable one, but 1999 Darrell Armstrong.

13th in WS, 13th in PER, and 8th in VORP.

The counter of course is he was pretty darn good in 2000, outside the top 20 in the first two but still a solid 15th in VORP. But man did he come out of nowhere for that year and he never really kept it up.

77 Walton is one I'd like to use, I know he won MVP in 78 but he also only played 2 playoff games and under 60 games that year.

In both cases not true "one hit".

The last guy I think is much more the case. Larry Hughes.

Now he was a good 18 a game guy in 2004 but BPM had him at 0.9. Suddenly in 2005 he leads the league in steals, ups his offense, and turns out a 21.6 PER, .157 WS/48 and a 4.3 BPM. Then falls off a cliff with Lebron in Cleveland the next year.

Talk about going down the rabbit hole.
did you just remember these advanced stats or did some research?

Knew the players and the seasons. Pulled the stats to provide context and you know...make sure I wasn't remembering BS cause...sometimes our memories suck.

[tamaraw08]

Richard Dumas - 92-93 Phoenix Suns

Dumas was suspended for what would have actually been his rookie season (91-92) for substance issues which followed him from his time at OK State.

After getting himself right, he then stormed into the NBA as a second year rookie and solidified himself as a key contributor on a team that fell just short of winning the NBA title. Dumas was elected to the All Rookie 2nd team that season, having averaged 15.8 PPG.

Unfortunately, he couldn't shake his substance issues and found himself suspended for the 93-94 season. While he returned for the 94-95 season, he wasn't the same player from that Finals team and found himself on the outs, being waved after 15 games. He wasn't picked up for the remainder of the season but signed as a free agent with PHI for the 95-96 season. His problems with substances continued as did his subpar play, which led to him being cut for a final time after 39 games. He didn't play in the NBA again.

While it might not be seen as the "greatest" in the eyes of many, it certainly was a one hit wonder season for us Suns fans. It also became a cautionary tale of how easily and quickly a promising career can be derailed by drugs and demons that can't be shaken.

OMG, how could we forget about Richard Dumas,
the 23 year old was so good, his coach played him next to superstars like Barkley, Majerle, Kevin Johnson and even played more minutes than Chambers Ainge and Ceballos.

[tamaraw08]

A lot of great picks here. But and this is questionable one, but 1999 Darrell Armstrong.

13th in WS, 13th in PER, and 8th in VORP.

The counter of course is he was pretty darn good in 2000, outside the top 20 in the first two but still a solid 15th in VORP. But man did he come out of nowhere for that year and he never really kept it up.

77 Walton is one I'd like to use, I know he won MVP in 78 but he also only played 2 playoff games and under 60 games that year.

In both cases not true "one hit".

The last guy I think is much more the case. Larry Hughes.

Now he was a good 18 a game guy in 2004 but BPM had him at 0.9. Suddenly in 2005 he leads the league in steals, ups his offense, and turns out a 21.6 PER, .157 WS/48 and a 4.3 BPM. Then falls off a cliff with Lebron in Cleveland the next year.

Talk about going down the rabbit hole.
did you just remember these advanced stats or did some research?

Knew the players and the seasons. Pulled the stats to provide context and you know...make sure I wasn't remembering BS cause...sometimes our memories suck.

I remember Armstrong playing good enough defense though and that '99 Orlando team might be Doc Rivers' greatest coaching job guiding a bunch of role players to a pretty good 41 wins.
Some decent players like Wahad, Mercer, Gatling, didn't play many games either, it was freaking Bo Outlaw with no offense, John Amaeche, Monty Williams, Atkins
and both Wallace and Maggette weren't good yet.

[-MK-]

Victor Oladipo, he had one season (17-18) with huge outlier stats compared to any other season.

Spoiler:

Victor Oladipo, he had one season (17-18) with huge outlier stats compared to any other season.

That’s what I was going to say. A lot of people might think that season was just about opportunity but it was a lot weirder than that—Oladipo had already been a starter playing big minutes for 5 seasons and was basically the same solid but unspectacular player for at least 3 of those years before his breakout. It’s very strange for someone to make a huge leap in one season in a 5th season as a starter (and with no minutes increase), and his leap was major on both ends.

In the breakout year, he increased his scoring per minute by about 50% (17 to 25 pts per 36), which put him among the superstars in scoring. He greatly increased his efficiency despite upping his volume a ton too—career highs in fg%, 3pt%, and huge increase in FT volume, all of which stayed career highs for rest of his time.

He also legit doubled his steals per minute and led the league in steals per game, and was all defensive 1st team. He never made any all defense team before or after that year.

So he went from meh starter to MVP candidate for one season and one season only, and then went back down right away. Very strange outlier.

Victor Oladipo, he had one season (17-18) with huge outlier stats compared to any other season.

This is it for me, dude had one good season and Magic fans made it seem like they traded away a star, lol.

Victor Oladipo's 2018 season

The main reason for drop-off after that season was quad tear in early 2019 + botched surgery:
https://fadeawayworld.net/nba-media/victor-oladipo-botched-surgery-surgery-90-year-old-woman

I don't see any reason he wouldn't have had a few similar seasons after that, had he not suffered that injury.

[Clay Davis]

What are some of the greatest one-hit wonder seasons?

The one that stands out to me is:

Mike James on the Raptors in 2005-2006:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jamesmi01.html

Going on his 6th team in 5 years, MJ was in his age 30 season having never averaged more than 12 ppg and only starting in 73 games.

As a journeyman on an arse Raptors team little was expected of him, but MJ would harness that dog in him and go on to average 20.3 PPG on .469 from the field and .442 from there (4.8 attempts per game) with a respectable 5.8 APG vs. 2.6 turnovers a night. After this season he had 1 more double digit season at 10.1 PPG but his efficiency cratered going form .422 FG% in his lone Timberwolves season to sub .400 for the rest of his career.

He also gave one of the greatest interviews ever:

Watch on YouTube

They say you miss 100% of the shots you take.

A great rizz individual.

[XTC]

1) Damon Jones 04/05
Damon Jones was a guy who played for 8 different teams in 5 seasons before joining Miami. He was the career definition of a journeyman, but he exploded in 04/05 playing next to Wade. 11/3/4 might not seem too impressive, but he shot 43% from three, had a TS of 62.5%, a BPM of 3.0, and a VORP of 3.2... He was considered the best spot up shooter in the NBA, and Cleveland threw their MLE at Damon Jones to play alongside LeBron, but he never reach his level in 04/05 ever again

2) Larry Hughes 04/05
Hughes averaged 22/6/5/3, with a 21.6 PER, 4.3 BPM, and a 3.7 VORP... He always had talent, and it looked like the 26 year old finally put everything together. Cleveland signed him a monster contract of 5 years $70 million (a 2025 equivalent would be 5 years $190 million) to be Lebron's sidekick, only to average 14/4/3 over his career with Cleveland.

Its no wonder Lebron left the first time around

[HotelVitale]

Victor Oladipo, he had one season (17-18) with huge outlier stats compared to any other season.

Spoiler:

Victor Oladipo, he had one season (17-18) with huge outlier stats compared to any other season.

That’s what I was going to say. A lot of people might think that season was just about opportunity but it was a lot weirder than that—Oladipo had already been a starter playing big minutes for 5 seasons and was basically the same solid but unspectacular player for at least 3 of those years before his breakout. It’s very strange for someone to make a huge leap in one season in a 5th season as a starter (and with no minutes increase), and his leap was major on both ends.

In the breakout year, he increased his scoring per minute by about 50% (17 to 25 pts per 36), which put him among the superstars in scoring. He greatly increased his efficiency despite upping his volume a ton too—career highs in fg%, 3pt%, and huge increase in FT volume, all of which stayed career highs for rest of his time.

He also legit doubled his steals per minute and led the league in steals per game, and was all defensive 1st team. He never made any all defense team before or after that year.

So he went from meh starter to MVP candidate for one season and one season only, and then went back down right away. Very strange outlier.

Victor Oladipo, he had one season (17-18) with huge outlier stats compared to any other season.

This is it for me, dude had one good season and Magic fans made it seem like they traded away a star, lol.

Victor Oladipo's 2018 season

The main reason for drop-off after that season was quad tear in early 2019 + botched surgery:
https://fadeawayworld.net/nba-media/victor-oladipo-botched-surgery-surgery-90-year-old-woman

I don't see any reason he wouldn't have had a few similar seasons after that, had he not suffered that injury.

Sure, the injury's part of the story. But it's still both extremely unusual for a starter to spend 4 years as decent and then become a star, and for one injury to mean that player never comes remotely close to being that level of guy again afterwards. His leap on both ends at that time in his career, and the severity of the drop-off after it, are what's worth noting here.

Also the 'botched surgery' part is a kind of a podcast legend. Oladipo just brought it up in the past year or two, and the story he told is that one doctor once told him that it looked like a surgery he had three years earlier wasn't the right type of surgery. That's the extent of the medical opinions here. Not saying he's wrong but also not about to etch this into the history books as the story of Victor Oladipo.

[DavidSterned]

Matt Harpring randomly looked like a near all star for 1 season in 02-03, before coming back down to earth pretty quickly.

[Knightro]

Aaron Brooks in 2009-2010.

Played and started all 82 games, playing 35.6 MPG. He averaged 19.6 PPG, 5.3 APG and won MIP.

He never played more than 25 MPG in any other season. Never averaged more than 11.6 PPG in any other season.

[SkyBill40]

Richard Dumas - 92-93 Phoenix Suns

Dumas was suspended for what would have actually been his rookie season (91-92) for substance issues which followed him from his time at OK State.

After getting himself right, he then stormed into the NBA as a second year rookie and solidified himself as a key contributor on a team that fell just short of winning the NBA title. Dumas was elected to the All Rookie 2nd team that season, having averaged 15.8 PPG.

Unfortunately, he couldn't shake his substance issues and found himself suspended for the 93-94 season. While he returned for the 94-95 season, he wasn't the same player from that Finals team and found himself on the outs, being waved after 15 games. He wasn't picked up for the remainder of the season but signed as a free agent with PHI for the 95-96 season. His problems with substances continued as did his subpar play, which led to him being cut for a final time after 39 games. He didn't play in the NBA again.

While it might not be seen as the "greatest" in the eyes of many, it certainly was a one hit wonder season for us Suns fans. It also became a cautionary tale of how easily and quickly a promising career can be derailed by drugs and demons that can't be shaken.

OMG, how could we forget about Richard Dumas,
the 23 year old was so good, his coach played him next to superstars like Barkley, Majerle, Kevin Johnson and even played more minutes than Chambers Ainge and Ceballos.

[Lalouie]

i think tyreke disappeared faster than any player i can recall

on aside... larue Martin was drafted #1 based on a single game he had against walton

[flintsky21]

Not the greatest but Bobby Simmons comes to mind.

[DoItALL9]

Flip Murray's stats might not say 1 hit wonder guy exactly, but there was definitely one season that he seemed to be on Sportscenter every night/morning. He came out of nowhere and despite staying in the league quite awhile afterwards he wasn't heard from much anymore nationally.