what happened to some of the players we thought would go big in the NBA but jus happened to go low?

like christian laettner for example. we all remember his heroics in his days as a blue devil. his scoring ability and tough play. and his play in the NBA...oh wait nevermind. he jus never had the impact the NBA expects from college players.

Most of those players are simply Duke busts. The Blue Devils have a great college ball system, but produce really bad NBA players. Of course, there are rare exceptions... but, for the most part, Duke players never FULLY live up to what they're supposed to be.

A player that I thought was going to be a real all time star was Harold Miner. He had the physical ability and the flair for late game situations, as I remember him hitting a three in Utah to put the game into overtime. He didn't have a real jumpshot, much like Jordan at the beginning of his career, but he had a great ability to take the ball to the basket.

He lasted two years in the nba

migya wrote:A player that I thought was going to be a real all time star was Harold Miner. He had the physical ability and the flair for late game situations, as I remember him hitting a three in Utah to put the game into overtime. He didn't have a real jumpshot, much like Jordan at the beginning of his career, but he had a great ability to take the ball to the basket.

He lasted two years in the nba

I was never really impressed with Miner. He got noticed when he won that slam dunk contest, but was then called "Baby Jordan". I think that got to him and he buckeld under pressure. Harlod Miner kind of reminds me of a Will Bynum. They're both quick and athletic as hell, but they try to do too much...

Yeah, I also was never impressed with Miner. He was undersized (6'4"), his dunks were great... but not much else about his game was as polished, and the expectations on him just seemed to cripple his confidence.

Didn't he come back and play for the Cav's for a season in, like, '96 or '97?

#32 wrote:Didn't he come back and play for the Cav's for a season in, like, '96 or '97?

According to Wikipedia, he played on the Cav's in '96 and was waived after 19 games.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Miner

He went to the Cavs and then was traded to the Raptors where he was waived before he played a game

He wasn't that bad, at least I'm sure he was talented enough to have a spot in someone's bench. Hype killed him, tho.

But... no player has been so disapponting as Kwame Brown. After all, he was a #1 overall pick, and he's been a complete bust. No other #1 has been so inept, not even Olowokandi (another bust), and you have to go back to Pervis Ellison to find another #1 so bad. And even Never Nervous had one season averaging 20 ppg

Joe Smith was close...

#32 wrote:Joe Smith was close...

No. Not even remotely close. Joe Smith has been a bust as a #1 pick, but he's been better than any of those players in each season he's played. He has averaged over 10 ppg for 10 seasons, and has 4 more over 8 boards per game.

Has he been a disappointment?. Yes, and it hurts more because he was our #1 pick, but he's also been considerably better than Kwame.

Yeah... but Kwame Brown was part of a rather lukewarm draft. The best player to come out of it, really, was Pau Gasol. Aside from him and JRich, the rest of the draft was pretty dull. Joe Johnson didn't start playing like a star until Steve Nash came along... Gilbert Arenas was an unknown, 2nd round pick that nobody could have predicted... The only people Washington should really be kicking themselves about is JR, Pau, and Richard Jefferson (who was taken out of the top 10, so one could argue he was a sleeper).

In 1995, we missed out on some very obviously good players (who were taken immediately after we screwed up), including Jerry Stackhouse, Antonio McDyss, Kevin FREAKING Garnett, Rasheed Wallace, and Damon Stoudamire. We can't really say Michael Finley or Theo Ratliff, because they were later picks... but everyone else was a Top 10.

There was a lot more star talent to be had in the '95 Draft than there was in the '01 Draft. Kwame is a worse player than Joe... but, at best, the Wizards could have had Pau Gasol. At best, we could have had Garnett. That's a pretty big difference.

In that sense, I guess Kwame's a bigger bust... but Golden State made a worse pick.

#32 wrote:In that sense, I guess Kwame's a bigger bust... but Golden State made a worse pick.

That's a good way to end it. Both of us are right.

hmmmm............. Len Bias was a disappointing pick at #2 overall back in the late 80s. In fact he never played a single game!

Yeah, that was pretty tragic...

But Chris Washburn wasn't too good a pick, either. We picked him immediately after Bias... and I think he played less than 10 games before being banned for life from the league for drug use.

Some guys just try to out do other guys