Best UConn player to never make the NBA | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Best UConn player to never make the NBA

Old school said:
Tony hanson
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To me, it was Hanson hands down. In his day there were several 6’4-6’5” small forwards in the NBA. He could shoot with range, had a great first step to get to the hoop and could jump out of the building. Some NBA team missed the boat with him.

Henefeld I’m not sure wanted to. Sheffer is a mystery to me on why he never got to play. He had some sort of deal I think with the Clippers that gave them rights. KEA also is a mystery. Yes he was short and a little chubby, but he knew how to use his body, was a decent shooter, very good ball handler and was a winner. I think he was the one guy who should have gone pro a year earlier when he was a hot commodity. Imagine a guy like Tate George was a first rounder based on one great shot and steady with the ball. But he is 6’6.
 
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cohenzone said:
Henefeld I’m not sure wanted to.
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Nadav definitely wanted to - he'd go to preseason camp every year trying to make one team or another (I vividly remember when he was with the Celtics, which was '94). He was just too slow.

Sheffer is a mystery to me on why he never got to play.
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He got a HUGE money offer from Israel, which beat the non-guaranteed deal he was offered from the Clips. And then as he aged and got more spiritual, he never got the itch to come back and take a real shot at it.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
Doron Scheffer is the best UConn player to never make the NBA. Nadav is #2. The rest of them aren't that close.
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Doron played with a future Hall of Famer, but they had a tremendous run, and by the time they got to 1995-1996, the talent had mostly cleared out. King was muscle and a good leaper, and Knight was a finesse center. Rudy Johnson was the 5th starter on that team, and his knees were held together with scotch tape. The rest of the team was Eric Hayward and freshman. Doron and Ray went 32-3 against a tough schedule, and most of the wins weren't close. I thought Doron was going to have a solid NBA career.
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Doron. Excellent shooter, smart, and a great passer. He could have been a solid guard and could have had a decent career if he chose to follow up with the NBA after he was drafted.
 
Sheffer, Tony H tied for the top spot.

KFree was just too small to have a shot but what an impact on our 1st national championship he was! Jerome had a nice cup of coffee didn't he? Ricky couldn't shoot it consistently enough otherwise he would have also, but just like K-Free so instrumental in the 1st one.
 
Very hard to answer, which makes it a great question. But the definitive answer is:

Honorable Mention: I think there are three players who aren't the answer that you can make a case for. Chronologically, the first is Henefield. The guy was pure magic, and was the spark that pushed what Calhoun was doing forward. But against him is that he only played one year. The second is Ricky Moore. Simply the most dominant perimeter defensive player I've ever seen. For those of you who remember how Boat played in the NCAA's for 6 games -- imagine someone playing with that level of intensity, and switching off between guarding a 1 or a 2 depending on who was the bigger threat -- every day for 2 seasons. But the downside is he was merely an adequate offensive player. And the third is Daniels. I still do not understand how someone with his size and skills, playing the way he played his last year here, hasn't gotten onto a NBA roster for a test. Plus, he won us a ring, and as great as 'Bazz was, we didn't sniff the Sweet 16 that year without Dre. Downside is he was only great for a year and a half.

The winner is Doron. The guys was an All-League, honorable mention AA player for three years. I never saw him as a good NBA player because of the lack of lateral quickness, but I always assumed he'd sit on benches for 5 to 8 years collecting paychecks.
 
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DeAndre Daniels.
Stanley Robinson.
Tony Robertson.

I thought Ricky Moore might have had a shot (long shot) because of his defense.
 
MervthePurvis said:
Freeman could have played the same game Corliss Williamson did. So there is one. Another who is forgotten but I see a lot of similar type players in the league is Tony Robertson. Shad for sure. Doron was actually drafted but went back to Israel.

*i thought oriakhi (phx?)and Ater majok(LAL?)both got signed. Did they ever get minutes?
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Corliss Williams was way more offensively skilled than Freeman. Freeman's only chance would have been as a junkyard dog type like Jerome Williams but in the end Freeman was just too small and too much of a tweener to make it. Didn't really have any of the necessary skills to make it in the NBA other than toughness and motor.

Robertson just wasn't good enough.
 
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Not counting the two wonders from Isreal, I go with D Brown and Tony Hanson
 
cohenzone said:
KEA also is a mystery. Yes he was short and a little chubby, but he knew how to use his body, was a decent shooter, very good ball handler and was a winner. I think he was the one guy who should have gone pro a year earlier when he was a hot commodity.
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Whether he could have actually stuck remains to be seen, but he suffered from the same thing Boat suffers from: they are considered too small, so GMs don't really give them legitimate shots.
 
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Marcus Williams had a sic crossover dribble. If he wasn't do lazy, he could have played for 10 years in the NBA, even as a sub. Too bad.
 
B1GEast said:
Marcus Williams had a sic crossover dribble. If he wasn't do lazy, he could have played for 10 years in the NBA, even as a sub. Too bad.
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Surprised that's teh first mention of him (that I saw).

Best pure passer in UCONN history, underrated shooter, good handle. Wasn't in great shape and didn't have the best foot speed, but there was a place for him in the pros.
 
I'm assuming we are leaving out the 70's.

While I agree Doron is the correct answer, a name I have not seen is Mike McKay. He definitely should be high on the list. He's #14 on our all time scoring list. Was a dynamic and very athletic player.

Another name I haven't seen is A.J. Price. Barring his injury situation, when he was healthy, he was a hell of a player.
 
intlzncster said:
Surprised that's teh first mention of him (that I saw).

Best pure passer in UCONN history, underrated shooter, good handle. Wasn't in great shape and didn't have the best foot speed, but there was a place for him in the pros.
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Pretty sure he was a first round draft pick.
 
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HuskyHawk said:
I'm assuming we are leaving out the 70's.

While I agree Doron is the correct answer, a name I have not seen is Mike McKay. He definitely should be high on the list. He's #14 on our all time scoring list. Was a dynamic and very athletic player.

Another name I haven't seen is A.J. Price. Barring his injury situation, when he was healthy, he was a hell of a player.
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AJ played for 6 years in the NBA - that's why.
 
tcf15 said:
Looking at a list of UConn players who have played in the NBA (post-merger), here's what you've got (listed by decade in which they made their NBA debut):

1980s​
Chuck Aleksinas, Corny Thompson, Bruce Kuczenski, Clifford Robinson​
​
1990s​
Tate George, Chris Smith, Scott Burrell, Donyell Marshall, Donny Marshall, Kevin Ollie, Ray Allen, Travis Knight, Richard Hamilton​
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2000s​
Jake Voskuhl, Khalid El-Amin, Caron Butler, Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Rudy Gay, Hilton Armstrong, Marcus Williams, Josh Boone, Hasheem Thabeet, A.J. Price, Jeff Adrien​
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2010s​
Kemba Walker, Jerome Dyson, Andre Drummond, Jeremy Lamb, Shabazz Napier, Daniel Hamilton, Rodney Purvis​

That list above reads like a who's who of UConn basketball, but there have been some other guys with great UConn careers that never played a single minute in the NBA.

So, in your opinion, who's the best UConn player that never played in the NBA?
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Earl Kelly
 
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