NBA stars who surpassed expectations (based on CBB career) | Page 2 | The Boneyard

NBA stars who surpassed expectations (based on CBB career)

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easily mitchell! he was good @ louisville, don’t think anyone expected him to be that dominant & running a team that quick.

if there was a 2017 re-draft, he’d be arguably the #1 pick
 
Isaiah Thomas. last pick of the draft iirc. Averaged like 28ppg one season.
Tony Parker. 4 time nba champion and finals MVP late 2nd rounder.
Those are two guys that come to mind immediately.
 
Jokic for the max please
 
TK had a decent nba career
not even being a starter until his senior year.
 
TheChamps990411 said:
Isaiah Thomas. last pick of the draft iirc. Averaged like 28ppg one season.
Tony Parker. 4 time nba champion and finals MVP late 2nd rounder.
Those are two guys that come to mind immediately.
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If we're changing this from guys who played in college to guys who were drafted way too low for how good they turned out to be in the NBA the list will largely be dominated by foreign players. Jokic, Ginobili, Tony Parker, Giannis, Marc Gasol, Gobert, Dirk, Drazen.
 
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Jaydumo20 said:
Watching Playoffs last night I found myself contemplating Jimmy Butler. He's one of the biggest NBA stars of this century but based on his time at Marquette I wouldn't have predicted this level of greatness. Once homeless, ignored by D1 schools, not higher than a 2 star recruit. He had some big shots against us, avgd low-mid teens ppg as an upper classman and was 2nd or 3rd team big east but it never seemed as if he reached a level of dominance (over 4 years ) that would've led to this.
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Wow...Had to look into that and...
His father abandoned the family when Butler was an infant. By the time he was 13 years old and living in the Houston suburb of Tomball, his mother kicked him out of the house.
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...Dang...But...
Butler maintains a close relationship with his parents
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If he weren't earning millions would he still be so close?
 
Rodman is a pretty ridiculous story. He was a 25 year old rookie from a school nobody had ever heard of (SE OK St. --> Incidentally, I'm getting a 2nd Masters from them right now. Go Savage Storm!) and ended up being a HOF and is a legendary player, basketball wise and everything else.

In 2023, I doubt he's a guy who even gets a look given his age and skillset.
 
TheChamps990411 said:
Isaiah Thomas. last pick of the draft iirc. Averaged like 28ppg one season.
Tony Parker. 4 time nba champion and finals MVP late 2nd rounder.
Those are two guys that come to mind immediately.
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I'm pretty confident that Tony Parker did not have a CBB career.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Draymond Green, even if I can't stand him. Second round pick.

Kawhi Leonard went 15th, and I think he exceeded expectations.
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Dray and Kawhi are great answers who fit in the rare-these-days category of "great college career, but not expected to amount to much in the NBA, but became stars."

There are a ton of guys whose NBA careers outshone their college careers, but where this was largely expected (e.g. Drummond). This is a twist on that theme.
 
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Tenspro2002 said:
Dray and Kawhi are great answers who fit in the rare-these-days category of "great college career, but not expected to amount to much in the NBA, but became stars."

There are a ton of guys whose NBA careers outshone their college careers, but where this was largely expected (e.g. Drummond). This is a twist on that theme.
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In that case, I honestly never thought Trae Young was gonna translate his college stardom to pro level success and neither did anybody else it seems because he is still considered overrated. It looked as though he was able to have his way in college but predicted that he would only be a quality starter at best in the NBA. He has avgd 26ppg 9 assists and 3.7 rebounds in his 5 seasons. Granted his D isn't the best but those numbers are hard to argue. And the second you second guess him he'll torch you for 40
 
Jaydumo20 said:
Watching Playoffs last night I found myself contemplating Jimmy Butler. He's one of the biggest NBA stars of this century but based on his time at Marquette I wouldn't have predicted this level of greatness. Once homeless, ignored by D1 schools, not higher than a 2 star recruit. He had some big shots against us, avgd low-mid teens ppg as an upper classman and was 2nd or 3rd team big east but it never seemed as if he reached a level of dominance (over 4 years ) that would've led to this.

With the draft coming up, what players, over history, exceeded your expectations as a pro compared to their college careers?
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I agree that I didn’t think that he d be this good -but he was a beast on Marquette- especially when they played UConn. I remember him going off a few times (I think)
 
Jaydumo20 said:
In that case, I honestly never thought Trae Young was gonna translate his college stardom to pro level success and neither did anybody else it seems because he is still considered overrated. It looked as though he was able to have his way in college but predicted that he would only be a quality starter at best in the NBA. He has avgd 26ppg 9 assists and 3.7 rebounds in his 5 seasons. Granted his D isn't the best but those numbers are hard to argue. And the second you second guess him he'll torch you for 40
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Agree that consensus was & still is Trae = overrated: led NCAA in scoring & assists as frosh but considered too selfish. This is still being debated: Is he a winning player? I went to Hawks opener this year and the fans delighted much more in Trey going one-on-one and taking deep 3's vs ambivalence when he was making the right basketball play.
Minor quibble with the 'never thought Trae was gonna translate... to pro level success and neither did anybody else"? Trae was picked 5th and the Hawks traded Luka to get Trae - so at least a few others were actually too high on him.

I second Jay-Bone's nomination of Devin Booker as another exceed expectation for me after middling college performance averaging 10ppg at Kentucky. He was 'only' picked 13th but to me seemed like a guy picked too high that could have used another year in college. Dead wrong, increased his scoring yr 1 in NBA and has averaged 20PPG+ every year since. Inarguably one of the top-13 guys in the league now.
 
JB75 said:
I agree that I didn’t think that he d be this good -but he was a beast on Marquette- especially when they played UConn. I remember him going off a few times (I think)
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I think the point is, though, that nobody expected beastliness upon entering Marq and especially after his first year. He was a very good college player. But HOF-caliber pro? Never would have even considered that.
 
Tenspro2002 said:
I'm pretty confident that Tony Parker did not have a CBB career.
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I know. Was just thinking of two guys that i remembered getting drafted and turned out to be pretty good and those two came to mind.
 
I think this is a fun conversation if you make the subtle distinction between the OP's question and just "who succeeded their draft status."

Jimmy Butler seems to be the leader as far as pretty ordinary player in college to star in the NBA. There's not many similar cases. It's not a highly touted guy who had an average season and dropped, or international or anything classic, it's just a wild situation.

If Austin Reaves puts up 10 straight seasons like his last few games, he might be in the convo.
 
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Mr. French said:
I think this is a fun conversation if you make the subtle distinction between the OP's question and just "who succeeded their draft status."

Jimmy Butler seems to be the leader as far as pretty ordinary player in college to star in the NBA. There's not many similar cases. It's not a highly touted guy who had an average season and dropped, or international or anything classic, it's just a wild situation.

If Austin Reaves puts up 10 straight seasons like his last few games, he might be in the convo.
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100% and good call on Austin Reaves. If he pans out that's one of the best examples ever.
 
Miami is full of undrafted players who are huge contributors
very underrated front office and HC
this from a huge Celtics fan
 
Gilbert Arenas might be a good answer here too. He was a starter but nothing special at Arizona, 2nd rounder. Became one of the best scoring guards in the league a few years.

Not many guys play 3-4 years of solid ball then become stars in the league. It’s crazy what Butler has done. He’s a beast.
 
444JR said:
Giannis Antetokounmpo
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He lasted until 15 in the worst draft in modern NBA history. The only reason he was picked at all was because that draft was such a dumpster fire.
 
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I don't know if Devin Booker counts here because he was a lottery pick, was on a loaded Kentucky team, and we knew how good he was..but a bench player in college with a career high of 19 points being one of the best scorers in the NBA is kind of crazy to see
 
nelsonmuntz said:
Khris Middleton averaged 13.2 ppg for a bad Texas A&M team his last season of college. His pro career was a surprise.
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This is a great answer in the true spirit of the question. I honestly barely heard of him when he started with the Bucks.
 
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