Biggest surprise bust ever?

[adubmac]

Two players that I haven't seen mentioned that I had high hopes for were Stromile Swift and Tyrus Thomas.

They could both make the spectacular play look easy but failed to make their freakish athleticism translate into 48 minutes of production.

[Ckay]

Ben McLemore

[ReaLiez]

Shabazz Muhammad

[HMFFL]

Jonathan Bender comes to mind. The Indiana Pacers gave up a great deal for him to only become a flop. He fell victim to not being focused and dedicated enough to his craft.

I never thought Darko would be a superstar. I was surprised Detroit didn't draft Melo.

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[Clyde Frazier]

Bruno Caboclo

He's still 2 years away from being 2 years away from being 2 years away. Only time will tell...

[Clyde Frazier]

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.

...he literally only played his rookie year. Stop.

[Pinkyring]

A lot of these guys aren't full blown busts, but players I was really high on and thought would be a lot better than what we really got.

Andrew Bogut - Thought he could've been the next Tim Duncan
Jeff Green - Saw him as a Lamar Odom clone, but better scoring and brain
Acie Law - Chauncey Billups potential
Jerryd Bayless - Something like what we got from young Derrick Rose
Jason Thompson - Rasheed Wallace
Earl Clark - Another guy similar to Odom
Evan Turner - Something like young Grant Hill
Greg Monroe - Chris Webber
Brandon Knight - Better version of Jason Terry
Chris Singleton - Prime Gerald Wallace
Nolan Smith - Another Chauncey Billups type
Kenneth Faried - He's kind of similar to how I expected, but thought he would've turned into a good defensive player
Trey Burke - Next Chris Paul
Elfrid Payton - Thought he would've been Rajon Rondo with better scoring potential
Jahlil Okafor - Similar to DeMarcus Cousins
Stanley Johnson - Ron Artest
Cameron Payne - Thought he had the potential to be the best point guard in that draft
Kris Dunn - Saw him as a surefire superstar, a Derrick Rose/Chris Paul hybrid. Really wanted the Kings to move up to pick him once he slipped a bit

Dude where'd u get these awful comps from burke was nothing like paul okfor nothing like cousins and the monroe webber comp is absurd as is the Thompson sheed

[Clyde Frazier]

DeShawn Stevenson?

https://www.nbadraft.net/players/deshawn-stevenson?source=post_page---------------------------

He was picked 23rd overall, played 13 seasons, started 543 games out of 824, and was a rotation player on a championship team. Michael Redd is probably the only player drafted after him who was better.

That's not only not a bust, but arguably not even disappointing for his draft position.

The joke is his draft comparison in the screenshot...

[HotelVitale]

Do you think his talent just wasn't at an NBA level or that his failures could've been due to location? He was drafted to the Clippers at a terrible time in their history. He also played with the Knicks but I don't really recall him playing much there.

He was a great shooter in college. He was money from everywhere. He was lights out from three, a great foul shooter, good from midrange, had a really good post game for a guard, and was excellent in transition. He was open as soon as he got off the bus. In the NBA he couldn't hit the ocean from a boat. He missed open jumpers, layups, foul shots, everything. It wasn't like he struggled against NBA defenders -- he looked like he wouldn't do much better in an empty gym by himself. He just couldn't shoot. I was excited when the Knicks got him as part of a trade, thinking maybe a change of scenery would make a difference, but he was so bad they released him after 9 games and he never played in the NBA again.

Sounds like it was all mental. It may have been related to the Hank Gathers situation.

Slow down, in college he played in a small conference in a system that was absurdly fast paced--his college team averaged 123 ppg and played at by far the fastest pace in NCAA history, and they also got to beat up on teams like Portland and Pepperdine who couldn't keep up with them. A lot of those 33ppg were 100% a result of that and the opportunities LMU's chaos system created, and what he was doing just wasn't going to translate to the NBA game.

He was also a killer athlete in the NCAA but just a good one (with below average size) in the NBA, and he was also 25 by the end of his rookie year. I don't remember him as a shooter, just remember that running-and-gunning stuff and him flying around college defenders. Not saying you're wrong but my main narrative of him was a really fun college player who couldn't duplicate what he did in college.

[balrog27]

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

Oden was born with one leg shorter than the other. He was never going to last in the NBA. Weird how Portland's medical staff didn't catch that.

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lol wut? you know almost everyone is born with one leg longer than the other right? Why was his projection as once in a generation talent if anyone even thought this to be an issue at draft? Any team with the 1st pick that year would of chosen Oden not just the Blazers. Oh and btw, the same draft had another once in a generation talent in Durant he was unanimous college player of the year as a freshmen.

[Joshyjess]

Sullinger - the guy literally ate himself out of the NBA.

[Soulyss]

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.

This. I really looked forward to 10+ years of Oden vs. Durant. Had he stayed healthy I think he would have been scary good.

[TheRealKaboom]

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.

This. I really looked forward to 10+ years of Oden vs. Durant. Had he stayed healthy I think he would have been scary good.

Oden was always going to be "injured", because he was born injured.

Too lazy to summarize https://www.nbadraft.net/forum/possible-cause-greg-odens-injuries, but:

"Let’s look at why we get injured (especially non-impact injuries). Injuries are not accidents. We think of accidents as unavoidable or unpredictable. But injuries can be predicted and avoided. Let’s look at how this works.

First let’s talk about how the human body is designed. Humans are bi-peds – which means we walk on two feet. In order to do that we have to be balanced – meaning symmetrical left to right. In addition to that we have eight major load bearing joints (ankles, knees, hips, shoulders) that are designed to be vertically stacked one on top of the other. This allows us to absorb shock. When you look at this design you see 90-degree angles at all the load joints. When these 90-degree angles are violated the structural integrity of the body is compromised leading to pain and/or injury.

Let’s look at the knees. The knees are designed to point straight ahead in-line with your hips and ankles and vertically aligned one-on-top-of-the-other. If your right foot turns out and your right knee turns in and your left side lines up the way it’s designed to, which knee do you think you are going to injure? Yes, the right knee. It’s just basic physics – all about forces, action-reaction, friction, and stress. If joints line up correctly you easily distribute forces through the structures the way they are designed, the proper action-reaction in the bones and muscles occurs, and friction and stress on the body are minimal. Joints don’t line up? Hello friction, stress, pain and injury. Misaligned joints are injuries waiting to happen.

What’s cool is it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see postural imbalances. When we look at Greg Oden and his history, things become very clear: he’s been told his right leg is longer than the left (if I was able to look at him, we’d probably see that it’s actually a hip disparity (hip elevation/tilt imbalance) that is causing the leg to appear longer when it’s really not), his feet turn out (evert), his right shoulder is lower than his left, and his knees do not line up with his ankles and hips.

All of these postural imbalances are setting his body up for pain and injury – which is exactly what he’s had. Look at the list:

bulging disc in back
right wrist
right ankle
right foot
right hand
right knee
left knee
So why are almost all the injuries to his right side?

It starts with how his body is out of alignment. His right hip is higher which throws his body off balance causing his upper body to compensate. We see that in his right shoulder rotating forward and down. His lower body is also affected which we see in his feet turning out and no longer lining up with his knees (they should point straight ahead in-line with each other).

The disc injury was from the uneven pressure on his vertebrae and discs caused by the misaligned hips.

The wrist and hand injuries were exacerbated by the right shoulder being forward and down – meaning the shoulder could not help the elbow, wrist and hand properly.

The right knee has not had help from his right hip for a long time and his feet turn out enough to compromise their function."

Portland's medical staff messed up. He was never going to be healthy. He was, unfortunately, "born injured".

[reload141]

Jayson Tatum

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

He's still only 15 years old. Give him a chance.

[DrWood]

Len Bias.
I win.

[DrWood]

Kwame Brown, Eddy Curry, Jay Williams, Andrea Barnagni, Greg Oden, Yi Jianlian, Joe Alexander, Hasheem Thabeet, Anthony Bennett, Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker.

[dorkestra]

Darko surprised me too.

[tsirigoj]

To me? Juwan Howard. He received A TON of hype when he entered the league (y'all remember?)

Not really. He was overshadowed at Michigan by Webber. He was the #5 pick in the draft, which is about where he should’ve gone in that draft. At his peak, he was a 19/8/3 guy for several years with the Wiz.

He became an albatross when the Heat singed him to that infamous contract that the league determined to be violating the salary cap and voided. He ended up re-signing with the Wiz for a similar contract and that’s when it went downhill for Howard as far as being a positive asset.

After that contact expired, he became a Kevin Willis type journeyman and guy who was basically signed to be a “locker room presence” and barely played.

I read a quote back in the day that people thought his ceiling was best player in the league and, possibly, one of the best ever.

C-Webb never had a 'one of the GOATs' ceiling.

[matt6715]

I thought Yi Jianlian was gonna be a beast when I saw him putting moves on that chair before the draft

[rzzzzz]

runner up: Darryl Dawkins (Wilt said he should be ashamed about how he wasted his talent.)

winner: Lenny Bias