NBA stars who surpassed expectations (based on CBB career)

[bendm]

among current players: nic claxton, joel embiid, james harden, pascal siakham, fred vanvleet, khris middleton, dejounte murray, shai gilgeous alexander, jalen williams, devin booker, draymond green, steph curry, klay thompson, kawhi leonard, paul george, austin reeves, ja morant, desmond bane,

and almost every one on miami: jimmy butler, kyle lowry, duncan robinson, max strus, gabe vincent,

 

[HuskyHawk]

Draymond Green, even if I can't stand him. Second round pick.

Kawhi Leonard went 15th, and I think he exceeded expectations.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Devin Booker, Kyle Lowry, Donovan Mitchell.

 

[superjohn]

Donovan Mitchell is a fun one. He went to HS in my home town (Greenwich) but he wasn't much of a talking point locally. He made a big leap sophomore year at Louisville and probably would've been a star if he stayed 3 years but nothing can account for the immediate leap he made in the NBA. That style game was and still is made for his talents. I can't remember anyone making that big of an immediate jump

He went to Greenwich Country Day from 3rd grade on but his freshman and sophomore years of high school were at Canterbury in New Milford, CT where he thought he would grow into a MLB player. He broke his wrist playing baseball at Canterbury and then dropped baseball and put all his focus into basketball. He blew up there and then blew up further when he transferred to Brewster for his junior and senior year.

He gave $12 million to Greenwich Country Day.

 

[Jaydumo20]

He went to Greenwich Country Day from 3rd grade on but his freshman and sophomore years of high school were at Canterbury in New Milford, CT where he thought he would grow into a MLB player. He broke his wrist playing baseball at Canterbury and then dropped baseball and put all his focus into basketball. He blew up there and then blew up further when he transferred to Brewster for his junior and senior year.

He gave $12 million to Greenwich Country Day.

Holy crap. That's a grand gesture. What a good dude. I've always rooted for him because of his affiliation but now even more.

 

[Ratso]

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

 

[TheChamps990411]

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.

 

[McLovin]

LeBron James didn’t score a single point in college and is now the NBA all-time scoring leader.

 

[willie99]

Jokic for the max please

 

[Kolumbo]

TK had a decent nba career
not even being a starter until his senior year.

 

[superjohn]

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.

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.

 

[Travelman6]

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.

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.

...Dang...But...

Butler maintains a close relationship with his parents

If he weren't earning millions would he still be so close?

 

[444JR]

Giannis Antetokounmpo

 

[boog204]

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.

 

[boog204]

Jokic for the max please

I'm too lazy to look it up, but I can't imagine there have been many (if any) other 2nd rd picks become a MVP and in Jokic's case, multiple time MVPs.

 

[Tenspro2002]

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.

I'm pretty confident that Tony Parker did not have a CBB career.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Draymond Green, even if I can't stand him. Second round pick.

Kawhi Leonard went 15th, and I think he exceeded expectations.

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.

 

[Jaydumo20]

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.

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

 

[JB75]

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?

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)

 

[Dogdeacon]

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

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.

 

[boog204]

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)

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.

 

[TheChamps990411]

I'm pretty confident that Tony Parker did not have a CBB career.

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.

 

[Mr. French]

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.

 

[Jaydumo20]

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.

100% and good call on Austin Reaves. If he pans out that's one of the best examples ever.

 

[gtcam]

Miami is full of undrafted players who are huge contributors
very underrated front office and HC
this from a huge Celtics fan