Some draft picks that you swore couldn't miss

[andrewmoquin]

My list:

1) Joe Smith - He was dominant in an ACC conference w/some other great bigs (Sheed, Duncan). Took the nation by storm by thoroughly outplaying Othella Harrington (who was supposed to be the next great Hoya center).

2) Chris Jackson - The guy overshadowed teammate Shaq w/some of his scoring exploits and he could get hot like few players I've ever seen.

3) Walt Williams - Magic Johnson was the comparison out of college, the dude played a wonderful all around game, stuffed the stat sheet and carried a pretty lackluster Maryland team.

4) Rodney Rogers - I thought he would be the next Karl Malone, had the physique, nice jumper, solid in the post.

5) Shawn Respert - lights out shooter, unlimited range...what the hell happened?
http://sportvideogames.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/nba-2k9-banner-messenjahmatt1.jpg

[The X]

John Wallace of Syracuse (drafted by Knicks with 18th pick of 1996 Draft)

Wallace was a fav of mine & he really should not have fallen out of the lottery (was the equivalent of other seniors like Jameer Nelson and Danny Granger falling). Whilst I didn't think he would be an All-Star, I thought he at least would be a 10 year guy who would start for most of his career. Didn't quite pan out unfortunately He had the offensive ability, but his lack of effort on defense & perceived attitude problem caused his early exit from the NBA.

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

[J@3]

Walt Williams had a pretty good NBA career, though yeah definitely not Magic Johnson there.

#1 Darko Milicic
- I remember posting here before the 03 draft saying LeBron was going to be a bust and Darko was the real deal. Obviously I was right.

#2 Derrick Coleman
- He had a good career but this guy could've done whatever he wanted in the NBA. Unfortunately for most of us what he wanted was donuts and weed.

#3 Dajuan Wagner
- Dominant player in high school, put up some big numbers in Memphis. Everyone saw him as the heir apparent to AI and I guess that's how he turned out. Had Iverson bombed and eventually retired due to colon problems.

#4 Greg Oden
- I know it's too early to write him off but this guy had the most hype of any player coming into the draft since LeBron. People were saying he was like David Robinson mixed with Bill Russell and all sorts of crazy shit.

#5 Jason Gardner
- Gilbert Arenas' partner in crime in college. I remember watching them and thinking at times Gardner was the better of the two, went undrafted and didn't play a second in the NBA.

#6 Joe Forte
- I knew he wouldn't be the star he was in college but I didn't expect him to fail as much as he did in the NBA

#7 Qyntel Woods
- The next Tracy McGrady if I remember correctly.

[Dan's Brain]

Qyntel Woods was an NBA Live Genius, loved having him in any dynassociation that I started. Him and Jonathan Bender make this list for me. Bender was maybe not "can't-miss", but at the time there was a lot of hype surrounding him, particularly after the emergence of KG as a bonafide superstar. I remember condemning the Raptors for trading him for Antonio Davis, that deal ended up being one of those all too common lose/"wouldn't really call it a win" situations.

Trajan Langdon, the other - a little bit Redickesque.

Ah also, Jerome Moiso.

[Mayerhendrix]

every player who's ever been drafted by the charlotte bobcats?

[Lamrock]

Greg Oden is David Robinson mixed with Bill Russell and all sorts of crazy shit. Marvin Williams deserves to make the list. He's not that bad, but he was taken over CP3 and Deron by a team in need of a PG, and turned out to be nothing more than a poor man's Al Harrington.

AMMO is #1 though. He was supposed to be a superstar, but his style of play didn't work out in the NBA, he got injured and now he is one of the worst players in the NBA.

[jonthefon]

Glenn Robinson. Look at his freakin' college averages. He did it all on the offensive end, he could shoot from all over the court, he was strong and athletic, he dunked on pretty much everyone. And then after he got that rookie contract, it seemed like he stopped really giving a shit. Still a pretty good career, but still...

[Brave Sir Rubin]

J.J. Redick. - He was a scoring champion, after all. I was at the game the first time he ever played (against the Hawks). Brian Hill put him in during the garbage time, and the crowd exploded.

People still get excited at Amway every time he steps on the court, and he still doesn't deliver nearly enough. Hell, he's probably completely off the rotation with the signing of Barnes.

Tis a shame.

[Its_asdf]

Marcus Williams - He was such a stud for UCONN despite his off-court troubles. I haven't followed his career too closely but I've been hearing that he was simply too unathletic and slow to play the point. That combined with his inability to shoot far outweighed any playmaking ability he had I guess.

Ike Diogu - Absolute beast in the post. He posted some pretty good per averages but I guess he just never got the right amount of PT.

Kwame Brown - I was pretty high on the guy on his last season with the Wizards and looked like he was finally on the verge of breaking out into something more than the lousy role player that he is.

Ron Mercer - He had some good seasons statistically... But he kind of just disappeared after a while.

[NovU]

Besides the guys you guys mentioned, Adam Morrison I think should be included.

[Lamrock]

I included him. What a turd.

[Doobie]

I remember some guy named Travis Knight who was very overpaid? I think he was, I'm not too sure what or who he was.

[benji]

He was the last pick of the 1996 first round after averaging 9/9 for UCONN. The Bulls released him within two weeks of drafting him. (He had an OK rookie season for the Lakers, so Rick Pitino gave him a six year contract, and then a year later traded him back to the Lakers. They sent him to the Knicks in that massive Ewing trade.)

Did you really think he was a "draft pick who couldn't miss"?

[Doobie]

No I was just wondering who he was. I didn't do research on that so that was my fault.

[benji]

I only went on because I found his career amusing after looking up his college stats. The guy gets waived within two weeks of being drafted, latches on for the minimum, then gets a six year contract only to be traded back to the team he just came from, and then within another year gets traded to the Knicks in a blockbuster then barely plays for them until his contract ends and he's out of the league. Similar to Jim McIlvaine's rags to riches to rags story. Only without the whole "imploding a franchise due to your crappy contract" factor.

[Andrew]

Jay Williams...need more be said?

I suppose in all fairness, if not for the motorcycle accident things could've been different and those high hopes might have been reached. It's the running theme with players like this though. "If only..."

[The X]

Jay Williams...need more be said?

I suppose in all fairness, if not for the motorcycle accident things could've been different and those high hopes might have been reached. It's the running theme with players like this though. "If only..."

I was actually going to say Jay Williams but given the circumstances I didn't think it was appropriate....

[Its_asdf]

Oh yeah, forgot to add so called "NBA-Ready" swingmen like Joey Graham and Antoine Wright. Graham was this athletic stud who seemed like he had the perfect motor and athleticism to play at a high level, but his confidence was shot down quickly by Sam Mitchell (I have never seen a more terrible coach on developing young talent, by the way), and he just looked like a hulking idiot throwing his body around for 10 minutes a game or so.

Wright was a shooter who just couldn't shoot at the NBA level. He just magically started bricking every shot he took as soon as he entered the NBA for some reason.

[Lamrock]

In those two players defense, they both started coming into their own last year.

[The X]

Oh yeah, forgot to add so called "NBA-Ready" swingmen like Joey Graham and Antoine Wright. Graham was this athletic stud who seemed like he had the perfect motor and athleticism to play at a high level, but his confidence was shot down quickly by Sam Mitchell (I have never seen a more terrible coach on developing young talent, by the way), and he just looked like a hulking idiot throwing his body around for 10 minutes a game or so.

Wright was a shooter who just couldn't shoot at the NBA level. He just magically started bricking every shot he took as soon as he entered the NBA for some reason.

Yes, I'd have to agree with both those, especially Joey Graham. I thought at very worst he would be the 2nd or 3rd off the bench.

[benji]

In those two players defense, they both started coming into their own last year.

By respectively putting up a season basically as good as his rookie year (and worse than his second) and being so irrelevant (or maybe even holding his team back) despite starting for no rational reason that he was immediately dumped in a salary purge? (And Wright wasn't any better than his second season either.)

[shadowgrin]

Ed O'Bannon.

[The X]

Ed O'Bannon.

Agreed. I loved Tyus Edney (47th pick in '95) on the Kings but back then I wouldn't have imagined Edney having a far superior pro career than Ed O'Bannon (9th pick in '95).

[benji]

Didn't he have so many knee problems that he had to even quit playing in Europe? I know he's a car salesman now and he seems happy with it.

He's probably the only Wooden Award winner to only play two seasons in the NBA.

Yeah...what is wrong with me, I'm normally the one who researches this stuff on here.

[Lamrock]

In the ize of the world, yes.