NBA lottery picks who turned out to be duds

[Lefty2one]

Big men are the biggest culprits be a mile. They're harder to project and quality big men are harder to find so teams are more willing to gamble on a mobile 7-footer than another 6'3 point guard. They're more prone to injuries and are a bigger question mark when it comes to facing NBA-caliber opponents of similar size/athleticism. There are a ton of bigs who never face someone their equal before entering the NBA; if they do it's few and far between. Most guards will play against other great guards prior to entering the draft.

Thomas Robinson jumped immediately to my mind. I thought he'd be great. Guys who are built like Karl Malone can dominate in college and won't have those physical advantages in the NBA and fail.

You could see him being a bust a mile away IMO. Every game Kansas had against a team with real size and athleticism, he couldn't finish inside and looked overmatched. After Kansas' opening round cupcake in the 2012 tournament, Robinson shot 36% from the floor for the rest of the tournament. He made his name in college by beating up physically inferior frontcourts and didn't have a whole lot of skill.

 

[Waquoit]

I’m still baffled that the clippers took kandi over Bibby and Pierce that year.
..

Pierce dropped to 10th. And the Celtics wanted Dirk, who went 9th.

 

[the Q]

Pierce dropped to 10th. And the Celtics wanted Dirk, who went 9th.

Pierce was mocked to go top 3 that year. That was one of the most surprising falls I can recall.

 

[superjohn]

There are no other answers besides Bennett and Thabeet for biggest busts. Sampson was rookie of the year, a 4 time all-star made an all NBA team, all star game MVP. Any of the other busts at least contributed and most broke down from injuries. Bennett and Thabeet were just horrible and didn't contribute at all. Hard to believe Hasheem was taken over Harden and Curry.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Pierce was mocked to go top 3 that year. That was one of the most surprising falls I can recall.

It's easy to see why. Not much of a leaper, mediocre athleticism and an unorthodox shot. But he was a player.

 

[Chin Diesel]

There was no lottery when Sampson came out, and although he broke down physically pretty quickly, and was never at the Kareem/Wilt level that many predicted, he was still, far from a bust. Oden wasn't a bust. his body fell apart, leaving him unable to play. Bennett, and Darko have to top this list.

I separate players who were busts due to medical from busts who were busts due to talent or work ethic (out of shape, drugs/alcohol, etc)

Ralph was on his way to a decent career. Only had three seasons where he played a full year. And we a 20 ppg and 10rpg

Ralph Sampson Stats | Basketball-Reference.com

 

[the Q]

There are no other answers besides Bennett and Thabeet for biggest busts. Sampson was rookie of the year, a 4 time all-star made an all NBA team, all star game MVP. Any of the other busts at least contributed and most broke down from injuries. Bennett and Thabeet were just horrible and didn't contribute at all. Hard to believe Hasheem was taken over Harden and Curry.

Side note on curry.

It’s incredible how you can look at the old scouting report, none of it is wrong per se, but it just didn’t matter.

 

[Lefty2one]

Re: the 1998 draft, don't forget that it was a different NBA then. You typically took the best big man available unless there was a real outlier or if it was a terrible class for bigs. There wasn't a guard taken first overall between Magic Johnson in '79 and AI in '96. From 1977 until Derrick Rose was drafted in 2008, the only three players taken first overall who were under 6'8" were AI, Larry Johnson, and Glenn Robinson. There's been four sub-6'8" guys taken first in the last nine drafts, for perspective.

Raef LaFrentz at #3 wasn't a great pick either but Olowakandi being a bust causes most people to forget about Raef. A lot of people questioned Pierce's athleticism.

 

[Excalibur]

Bryant big country reeves.

Lol.

Basically averaged 15 and 8 for four years, then got hurt. Not what you'd like to get from a #6 overall, but not total bust numbers, either.

 

[Travelman6]

Basically averaged 15 and 8 for four years, then got hurt. Not what you'd like to get from a #6 overall, but not total bust numbers, either.

Ya, his first 3 seasons were pretty good but he never recovered from knee injuries and other injuries he got by the 4th season. I guess kind of like Oden who was hampered by injuries, basically forever

Shawn Bradley was maybe a bigger bust, though a longer career. Adam Morrisson was for sure a bigger bust. Fredette too, awful first name to boot.

Finally, flynn from cuse, but is that really any shock, other than Anonthy most of them were not great in the nba, at least not that I recall in recent memory (well, coleman was good too).

 

[HuskyFich]

Darko Milicic and Anthony Bennett top the list for me.

Hasheem unfortunately makes this list as well...

 

[boog204]

Bennett and Hasheem are the ultimate busts that I can remember. #1 and #2 picks and out of the league in about four years.

Olowokandi sucked, but at least he put up some numbers and actually had some service time. Same with Darko. At least he was somewhat useful for a season or two. Busts, no doubt. But not to the level of Bennett or HT and at #1 and 2.

 

[Bonk]

jahlil okafor

 

[ucawn]

Markell Fultz is a pretty considerable bust considering they traded up for him

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I separate players who were busts due to medical from busts who were busts due to talent or work ethic (out of shape, drugs/alcohol, etc)

Ralph was on his way to a decent career. Only had three seasons where he played a full year. And we a 20 ppg and 10rpg

Ralph Sampson Stats | Basketball-Reference.com


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The MPG really stands out. If Sampson came along today, he would be capped at 30 MPG like a starting pitcher is capped at a pitch count. You just can't overplay a big like that and expect his body to hold up.

 

[Madmannsucks]

No lottery when Larue Martin was selected over I think Jim Chones and Bill Walton....played very little for a while.

 

[Madmannsucks]

No lottery when Larue Martin was selected over I think Jim Chones and Bill Walton....played very little for a while.

I looked it up. He was drafted #1 ahead of McAdoo, Westphal, Dr J,

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Adam Morrison. His game was never going to translate into the NBA.

Jonathan Bender was going to be the next Kevin Garnett, until he wasn't.

Robert Traylor was traded for Dirk Nowitski on draft day in one of the worst trades in professional sports history.

There are some bad guards, like Shawn Respert and Johnnie Flynn.

Haven't there been a few Europeans picked in the first round that never played in the NBA?

 

[Jaker]

Bobby Hurley, Jay Wil, Cherokee Parks-LOL, Five Head

 

[puppygenius]

I suspect like most guys who could be considered "busts", there's a really interesting backstory with Big Country. There was this really great documentary earlier this year about him called "Finding Big Country" - highly recommended.

His actual nickname was Big Country MF given to him by a teammate, I forgot which player but seems feasible enough.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Wild that it took so long for someone to mention Fultz

 

[Robertelamin]

Jan Vesely