Players You Were Wrong About

[husky91]

20-12, wow, that is very elite company. In last couple years who has gotten that; D12, Love?

You could argue Okafor is a quasi tweener, his game close to a 5 and a body of a 4.

Gordon had five good years in Chicago. That epic series with Ray Allen was 2009 (his fifth season). Then he went to Detroit and everything fell apart - whether it was because he didn't fit or got lazy after his big payday or a combination, his fall was pretty rapid.

Okafor has been a decent pro. He could have been a steady 12-10 guy on a contender but always ended up with bad franchises. He tried to bulk up his second year in the league and shredded his ankle, and never developed a faceup jump shot. I thought he had the potential to be a 20-12 guy in a best case, but his offensive game didn't translate as well as I hoped. He did score a lot at UConn off set plays - moving across the lane quickly, receiving a pass and going to a move off the catch. The NBA is more of a "dump it in and go to work" league for their bigs.

 

[Husky68]

The Jeff Adrien I thought I saw at UConn had no chance of ever, ever making an NBA team. Fact that the kid kept at it, improved his game and got there is quite the story of believing in yourself and then making it happen. Lot of guys have too much of the former and not enough of working at the latter.

 

[Gurleyman]

20-12, wow, that is very elite company. In last couple years who has gotten that; D12, Love?

You could argue Okafor is a quasi tweener, his game close to a 5 and a body of a 4.

He had started to show some face-up game at UConn, which made me think that with his work ethic he could develop a 15-18 footer that he could knock down regularly and play the 4 and the 5 effectively in a best case. That never happened (too much weight lifting, not enough jump shooting perhaps), so he settled into a role as a slightly undersized five instead, which made it harder for him to score. Even so, he peaked as a 15 and 11 guy. That's not that far off from a best case of 20-12 - pretty much a reliable jumper and a couple more minutes a game.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I always pegged Emeka as being somewhere between Buck Williams and Dale Davis in terms of productivity and numbers.

I was pretty close on that one. Big, strong body type who plays below the rim.

 

[Husky1964]

The scouts KNOW!! We all thought taking Dwight Howard ahead of Mek was off base. Didn't work that way.!!!!

 

[husky91]

Or taking Thabeet over harden, Curry and Jennings. Ouch. Lots of big guy draft busts over the years.

The scouts KNOW!! We all thought taking Dwight Howard ahead of Mek was off base. Didn't work that way.!!!!

 

[kcc1442]

Julius Hodge, Rodney Carney, Darius Lane, James White, Miles Simon, Stanley Robinson, Marcus Williams, Adam Morrison, Hasheem Thabeet, Michael Beasley, John Dorsey, Bryant Reeves "Big Country", Josh Childress, among others are all guys that either didn't have NBA careers and I thought they were going to be very good off a bench for someone or in the case of some they had small roles on NBA benches that I thought were going to have much bigger roles. There are many guys who came out of nowhere simply because they continued to progress even after their time in college but guys like Russell Westbrook, Paul George, MCW (So far), David Lee, Mike Conley, Dwanye Wade, Michael Redd, Mike Dunleavy, Wally Szczerbiak, Kemba Walker.........And finally I'll admit that I said to everyone adamantly that Greg Oden should be taken before Kevin Durant. And as much as injury has not allowed for fair comparison up to this point, I honestly thought KD was too skinny for the 4 and even the 3 and he too tall to be a quick slasher at the 3. I figured his outside shot would lend him to a 15 pt 6 reb career line, but I doubted his stardom.

 

[husky91]

I think people can argue the Oden-Durant thing, but I don't know that anyone thought KD would be a top 3 player, else this would not have been a disscussion.

I agree with Conley and even Zach. I didn't think Zach could be a max player.

 

[UconnU]

Andre Drummond, dude is 4th in the league in player efficiency...

 

[husky91]

Way too premature, this is 30 games @ this level.

Andre Drummond, dude is 4th in the league in player efficiency...

 

[Chin Diesel]

I think people can argue the Oden-Durant thing, but I don't know that anyone thought KD would be a top 3 player, else this would not have been a disscussion.

I agree with Conley and even Zach. I didn't think Zach could be a max player.

There was plenty of buzz with Oden and Durant.

The parallels were being drawn to when Portland drafted Sam Bowie instead of MJ (At least Portland then had the excuse of already having drafted Drexler the year prior).

So Portland has the distinction of having passed on Jordan and Durant to get Bowie and Oden. Ouch. The Raiders laugh at Portland's draft choices.

 

[husky91]

Actually, as much as Portland hates to hear it, it was good for the league and its history that MJ ended up in Chicago. Wouldn't have been the same if he was playing in Portland.

There was plenty of buzz with Oden and Durant.

The parallels were being drawn to when Portland drafted Sam Bowie instead of MJ (At least Portland then had the excuse of already having drafted Drexler the year prior).

So Portland has the distinction of having passed on Jordan and Durant to get Bowie and Oden. Ouch. The Raiders laugh at Portland's draft choices.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Actually, as much as Portland hates to hear it, it was good for the league and it's history that MJ ended up in Chicago. Wouldn't have been the same if he was playing in Portland.

It was good for a big city market like Chicago to get MJ, but it's also fun to imagine a franchise with combinations of Terry Porter, MJ, Danny Ainge, Drexler, Jerome Kersey, Buck Williams, Cliffy and Kevin Duckworth.

 

[husky91]

And to add to Portland's unfortunate history, they drafted Sabonis in 1986, but he couldn't play until 1995. Albeit they knew when they drafted him he couldn't play right away, but imagine if be could have joined that team much sooner.

It was good for a big city market like Chicago to get MJ, but it's also fun to imagine a franchise with combinations of Terry Porter, MJ, Danny Ainge, Drexler, Jerome Kersey, Buck Williams, Cliffy and Kevin Duckworth.

 

[Chin Diesel]

And to add to Portland's unfortunate history, they drafted Sabonis in 1986, but he couldn't play until 1995. Albeit they knew when they drafted him he couldn't play right away, but imagine if be could have joined that team much sooner.

And what a shame it was that by the time Sabonis made it to the States he was a shell of his premier playing days. A 7'3" version of Larry Bird.

He showed glimpses of his passing and shooting, but he came to the NBA with two shot knees.

My other memory of Sabonis is that he was one of the few people who Shaq didn't look gargantuan when they stood next to each other.

 

[Gurleyman]

Way too premature, this is 30 games @ this level.

Not premature at all. It is premature to guess how good he'll get offensively and whether he'll one day average 20 ppg, but the size, strength and agility that allows him to rebound at the second-best rate in the NBA isn't going anywhere. He has 21 double-doubles in those 30 games.

 

[husky91]

He can develop into a legit 20 & 10 guy and Detroit, in next 2-3 years, should challenge for top in East with Indy.

Not premature at all. It is premature to guess how good he'll get offensively and whether he'll one day average 20 ppg, but the size, strength and agility that allows him to rebound at the second-best rate in the NBA isn't going anywhere. He has 21 double-doubles in those 30 games.

 

[James]

I forget , Darius Rice. Dude was lights OUT

 

[Chin Diesel]

Drummond is a dozen a game rebounds for the next decade by accident alone.

Predicting his offensive development is more tricky, but he is going to be a supreme rebounder.

 

[billythekid]

I thought Joe Alexander out of WVA would have a nice NBA career. He seemed to have a nice shot and good athleticism, but never seemed to catch on in the NBA. I also thought Hakim Warrick from Syracuse would have a better NBA career. For the UConn guys, like many, I expected Marcus Williams to have a solid NBA career. Unfortunately, those few early glimpses he showed with the Nets turned out to be his career highlights.

 

[husky91]

Lots of Marcus mentions, to me Thabeet is a much, much bigger disappointment. You think a #2 is a franchise pick, not a guy who eventually only gets limited minutes in scrub time. I would have higher expectations for this pick than what I can expect for a later 1st rounder in terms of saying a guy still in the league vs. out. Both are non factors.

I thought Joe Alexander out of WVA would have a nice NBA career. He seemed to have a nice shot and good athleticism, but never seemed to catch on in the NBA. I also thought Hakim Warrick from Syracuse would have a better NBA career. For the UConn guys, like many, I expected Marcus Williams to have a solid NBA career. Unfortunately, those few early glimpses he showed with the Nets turned out to be his career highlights.

I thought Joe Alexander out of WVA would have a nice NBA career. He seemed to have a nice shot and good athleticism, but never seemed to catch on in the NBA. I also thought Hakim Warrick from Syracuse would have a better NBA career. For the UConn guys, like many, I expected Marcus Williams to have a solid NBA career. Unfortunately, those few early glimpses he showed with the Nets turned out to be his career highlights.

 

[aceboon]

I can't list Thabeet because I didn't expect anything of him, watching Thabeet in college my feeling was he was dominant because of his size, I didn't expect it to translate to the NBA. Going into the draft he was the guy that everyone was picking to bust, it turned out to be true.

 

[Jluc]

I thought Beasley should have been taken first instead of drose at the time.

 

[Horatio]

Lance Stephenson

 

[traitor71]

I'd have to go with James Harden, i wasn't particularly impressed with him in college

I certainly never thought he would be the type of guy you could build a franchise around, which is exactly what Houston has done with him. Sticking with the Rockets, I never, never thought Chandler Parsons could be an NBA player, but he has been pretty damn good for them.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Way too premature, this is 30 games @ this level.

He had a fringe top 10 PER last year. He's really, really good. If he just has a linear development for a young player in the NBA he'll be a regular all-star.

 

[rayrayfor3]

Lance Stephenson

When Uconn played cincy that year I didn't think he'd ever be good let alone a one-and-done. Shows how good I am at scouting I guess..

 

[UChusky916]

Lance Stephenson

Agreed. His maturity is the only thing holding him back. Kid has an all-around game and is a matchup nightmare on a great team. Never thought he'd make it as more than possibly a bench rotational player in the league.

 

[mauconnfan]

Johnnie Time Selvie and Taliek Brown……

As a big fan of both I thought they both would pay out illustrious NBA careers but I was wrong!

 

[Hoophound]

He had started to show some face-up game at UConn, which made me think that with his work ethic he could develop a 15-18 footer that he could knock down regularly and play the 4 and the 5 effectively in a best case. That never happened (too much weight lifting, not enough jump shooting perhaps), so he settled into a role as a slightly undersized five instead, which made it harder for him to score. Even so, he peaked as a 15 and 11 guy. That's not that far off from a best case of 20-12 - pretty much a reliable jumper and a couple more minutes a game.

This. I thought Mek would be the next Charles Oakley. I still think he could have been if put in the right situation. He has nice mechanics on his jumper. He could have made a living from 8-18 feet and crashing the boards. Making him a center wasn't his highest and best use.