You know it's interesting when you see the NBA boxscores...

[SouthTampaBill]

how guys who were can't miss NBA superstars in college get a "have not entered game" because they are not good enough or at the end of the trail. I know they're still making the bucks but not for much longer. No tears though

Tonight guys like:

Cory Maggette
Juwan Howard
Eddy Curry
Sebastian Telfair
Josh Childress
Austin Daye
Jonny Flynn

There's lots more.
Maybe some injuries mixed in here but still sad

 

[UCHuskies08]

Corey Maggette is injured, otherwise he is the starting 3

Juwan Howard is just old as duck*

Childress kinda derailed his career when he randomly decided to take a huge contract in Greece.

Jonny Flynn is the most surprising to me. He was taken, what, #6 overall? And he had an okay rookie season. Seems like he's fallen off a cliff since.

 

[auror]

Telfair had that devastating injury and Daye was a mid-first round pick (not exactly can't miss NBA superstar).

So pretty much just Curry and Flynn.

 

[HooperScooper]

All of us should be so lucky to be Juwan Howard. He's had a pretty good and long NBA career and made a load of money.

 

[aceboon]

What injury?

Telfair had that devastating injury and Daye was a mid-first round pick (not exactly can't miss NBA superstar).

So pretty much just Curry and Flynn.

 

[hungry husky]

What injury?

I think he might be confusing him with Sean Livingston. I had high hopes for Livingston coming out of high school, not many 6'7" point guards out there. Too bad.

Childress was a dynamite player at Stanford.



One of the best games in my lifetime.

 

[TheChamps990411]

ill add a few names to that list
charlie villanueva
emeka okafor

yeah i know ok4 is still starting but his career has been disappointing. i heard on espn recently that no was looking to trade him or put him in as part of the paul trade and teams werent interested.

 

[SouthTampaBill]

Actually more of the point was all these guys from college who the announcers/experts say will be bonafide NBA stars, well they never really make it at all

Really how very few make an impact and surprisingly guys you never heard of play for many years. Non Mickey D'ers

 

[tykurez]

ill add a few names to that list
charlie villanueva
emeka okafor

yeah i know ok4 is still starting but his career has been disappointing. i heard on espn recently that no was looking to trade him or put him in as part of the paul trade and teams werent interested.

I don't think you can really call Oak's career disappointing ... he's averaged a double double.

It's still fairly early, but I would put Thabeet there for sure.

 

[SouthTampaBill]

ill add a few names to that list
charlie villanueva
emeka okafor

yeah i know ok4 is still starting but his career has been disappointing. i heard on espn recently that no was looking to trade him or put him in as part of the paul trade and teams werent interested.

You're right. I thought Emeka would make an impact but he is basically an 10-10 guy which is not bad but not what I expected.

 

[hungry husky]

I don't think you can really call Oak's career disappointing ... he's averaged a double double.

It's still fairly early, but I would put Thabeet there for sure.

I don't know anyone that called Thabeet a surefire NBA star. They said his potential was extremely high but it's pretty clear that if you don't go into the league with at least some semblance of an offensive game you're in big trouble.

See: Michael "The Candy Man" Olowokandi

 

[aceboon]

Thabeet's offense wasn't the problem, he still has no idea how to box out and rebound and he isn't that good a defender either. There's a big difference when you have to rotate weakside and/or provide help defense compared to parking in the lane forever like he was able to do in college. As far as Emeka, he's not a bust, but he's definitely been disappointing, when you put up the best numbers of your career in your rookie year and then backslide every year after that, that's not a good thing.

 

[tykurez]

I don't know anyone that called Thabeet a surefire NBA star. They said his potential was extremely high but it's pretty clear that if you don't go into the league with at least some semblance of an offensive game you're in big trouble.

See: Michael "The Candy Man" Olowokandi

I agree ... but you don't get picked where he did in the draft if at least someone doesn't think you're gonna be a star.

 

[SouthTampaBill]

Most people confuse BE Defensive Player of the Year with playing defense. Donyell never played defense except for the weakside blocked shot

 

[hungry husky]

Emeka is always going to be compared to Dwight, though. They are miles apart.

 

[Gurleyman]

Howard's frame is just ridiculous - his shoulders are so broad with no fat content all. Once I saw him play, I could tell the Magic did the right thing. So much more raw material to work with. He's still a pretty ordinary basketball player skill-wise, but he's such a physical specimen that he doesn't have to have much skill.

When teams don't want players in trades, they are usually looking more at contract/cap issues than talent level. When Emeka comes into the last year of his contract, everyone will want him. I posted in another thread that in his second or third year he bulked up like a he-man in the weight room and got injured, which set him back more than anything. He needed to stay his same weight and develop a 15-18 foot jumper.

I wouldn't call him a total disappointment, since he always has ranked in the top 10 in the league in rebounding, which isn't easy to do and is a competent shot-blocker. I'm still hoping he can end up a role-playing 4 on a championship team/contender before his career is over. He's been on enough expansion teams (and teams like this year's Hornets).

 

[Prezidint]

I'm never disappointed in how guys do in the NBA. Who am I to be disappointed in how other men run their lives? Would they be disappointed in me? Or you? Are you still planted in a cube farm in middle management? Never did go back to get that MBA?

Not sure why we put so much worth on how guys do in the NBA. Is it bragging rights? Is it vicarious success? Do we all have some sort of weird, reverse, fan-based Munchhausen's by proxy?

Why do we also think that these guys want what we want? That is, to be as successful as possible as basketball players? How many normal people would get to a few million a year and decide to coast? Why kill yourself? To be the greatest? Meh. Look at it this way. In 60 years, there won't be 5 guys in the NBA today who are known to fans in 2072. There might not be any. So what would Oak be doing killing himself to get better? Make a few more mill? Finish a hundred places higher on the all-time scoring list? What's the point? To be the best only for the purpose of being the best? Isn't that masturbation?

Thabeet? Somebody said his problem in the NBA was that he . . . . whatever. No D. No O. No boards. It's all wrong.

Thabeet is only missing a single element to being a great NBA player. If you dissected his game and Olajuwon's game, you'd see what it is - passion. The Hakeem wanted it. Badly. And he worked extremely hard to get it. And he got it. Fame, fortune, rings. Thabeet could give a duck less about it. He got his money. He's set for life. He's a national hero in his home country. He doubled his nation's net worth. Why the duck would he want to spend all his free time getting hammered by angry 7 foot guys who want his to swallow his teeth?

If a guy wants it very badly, and doesn't make it. I feel bad for him, but not disappointed in him or disappointed that my own vision wasn't fulfilled. If a guy doesn't make it and really doesn't care too much - then he's better off.

Living well starts and ends with these two things:

1. Change what you can control to be as close to the person you want to be as possible.
2. Be happy with who you are.

 

[TheChamps990411]

I'm never disappointed in how guys do in the NBA. Who am I to be disappointed in how other men run their lives? Would they be disappointed in me? Or you? Are you still planted in a cube farm in middle management? Never did go back to get that MBA?

Not sure why we put so much worth on how guys do in the NBA. Is it bragging rights? Is it vicarious success? Do we all have some sort of weird, reverse, fan-based Munchhausen's by proxy?

Why do we also think that these guys want what we want? That is, to be as successful as possible as basketball players? How many normal people would get to a few million a year and decide to coast? Why kill yourself? To be the greatest? Meh. Look at it this way. In 60 years, there won't be 5 guys in the NBA today who are known to fans in 2072. There might not be any. So what would Oak be doing killing himself to get better? Make a few more mill? Finish a hundred places higher on the all-time scoring list? What's the point? To be the best only for the purpose of being the best? Isn't that masturbation?

Thabeet? Somebody said his problem in the NBA was that he . . . . whatever. No D. No O. No boards. It's all wrong.

Thabeet is only missing a single element to being a great NBA player. If you dissected his game and Olajuwon's game, you'd see what it is - passion. The Hakeem wanted it. Badly. And he worked extremely hard to get it. And he got it. Fame, fortune, rings. Thabeet could give a duck less about it. He got his money. He's set for life. He's a national hero in his home country. He doubled his nation's net worth. Why the duck would he want to spend all his free time getting hammered by angry 7 foot guys who want his to swallow his teeth?

If a guy wants it very badly, and doesn't make it. I feel bad for him, but not disappointed in him or disappointed that my own vision wasn't fulfilled. If a guy doesn't make it and really doesn't care too much - then he's better off.

Living well starts and ends with these two things:

1. Change what you can control to be as close to the person you want to be as possible.
2. Be happy with who you are.

yeah yeah. great motivational speech and i agree with some of what you said but as fans of any sport we give our opinions which creates topics of conversation which allows us to share our views and hear those of others and last i checked its a free country so why not give an opinion on an athletes career?

i didnt mention thabeet because am i the only one who saw this coming? i wasnt a fan of his game while he was here and i was stunned when he was the #2 pick in the draft. he had no offense,no defense and no passion on the court. dejuan blair told me everything i needed to know about HT. if you could take DB`s toughness and relentlessness and instill that in HT youd have a 25-12-4 guy in the nba.

 

[aceboon]

People were already calling him Thabust before the draft took place, Hasheem being a bust was easy to see coming.

 

[Gurleyman]

The improvement Thabeet showed from his freshman year to junior year was remarkable. As a freshman, he could not play standing up. If he tried to shoot, he fell down. If he went for a block, he fell down. He stayed upright on most foul shots, but that was about it. Even as a junior, he occasionally showed an effective post move or two, but Hakeem had a level of coordination/fluidity of motion that Thabeet couldn't dream of achieving. It wasn't work ethic so much as just natural athletic ability. You couldn't teach Thabeet to do "the Dream Shake" any more than you could teach Alex Oriakhi to run and jump like Drummond or teach Kemba to have Jeremy's wingspan. Surprised that NBA folks didn't see that and reached for him at #2.

 

[kobebeanbryant]

he had no offense,no defense and no passion on the court.

well that's certainly debatable. not like he was DPOY in the BE or anything.

 

[Fishy]

well that's certainly debatable. not like he was DPOY in the BE or anything.

You have to admit the stupidity here is just breathtaking at times, isn't it?

 

[Burnsbros23]

Amazing stuff. Thabeet had no defense? Wow

To the original poster Eddy Curry and Telfair were can't miss stars in College, they didnt go to college. Maggette and Howard have had fine NBA careers. Flynn had hip sugery after his rookie year. I never considered Austin Daye a cant miss NBA superstar he wasn't that great at Gonzaga he was all potential and still is.

 

[kobebeanbryant]

You have to admit the stupidity here is just breathtaking at times, isn't it?

the boneyard has gotten a bit sloppy as of late. we need some internet rent-a-cops to patrol the 'yard and clean this up. i'll spearhead the effort, but it's not a battle one man can fight on his own.

 

[TheChamps990411]

You have to admit the stupidity here is just breathtaking at times, isn't it?

oh /c/k you and the high horse you road in on.theres more to defense besides blocked shots. hilton armstrong and josh boone won bedpoty and we saw what happened to them in the post against george mason. are they still in the nba?