Players you had high hopes for...

[JBreezey]

A thread for players you had high hopes for... but for one reason or another didn't reach your expectations.

Shaun Livingston
Its such a shame what happened to Shaun. Being too young to have ever seen Magic Johnson in action, I had never seen someone that tall operate as smoothly as he did in Clipper land and he instantly became one of my favourite players. He had great speed, athleticism, court vision as well as a good head on his shoulders. During 2006-2007 SLAM and HOOP magazines ran a couple articles on him, praising his uniqueness and his potential, ranking him up there with Deron and Chris as one of the young and up-and-comming guards to watch out for... then came THAT accident.

He's slowly coming back into shape (I reckon he's a PERFECT fit for the Thunder by the way), but I don't know if he'll ever reach what he could've been.

J.J. Redick
One of the 2 players (the other being LaMarcus Aldridge) from the 2006 draft class I believed, by this time, would've solidified their place as a starter-borderline-star. Flash forward 3 years and LaMarcus has established himself as one of the best young bigs in the league, whilst J.J. is still stuck on the bench. 1 out of 2 ain't bad i guess?

Orlando at the time had Keith Bogans starting and I think Kenyon Dooling (?) backing him up. When I saw that Orlando drafted him I thought to myself, "Perfect! He'll compliment Dwight greatly" (I was a big fan of his during latter College career, damn he had alot of haters), and thought that SG spot was his for the taking either midway or to end of the season. Awesome shooting stroke, great freethrow percentages, awesome in the clutch, killer instinct, Duke pedigree, decent basketball IQ, honestly I thought he had what it took. Then he started training camp with an injury, then came the lack of play time, tales of bad defense and stories of him being frustrating and wanting out of Orlando... and here we are now.

He's got one of the best looking strokes in the league, and his skill set means that he'll always be welcomed on any roster, but I really did believe he'd have a better career than he has now.

How about you guys?

[Modifly]

JJ Redick is a perfect example, I believe most of us had high expectations for him, only to see him as a benchwarmer. I think his strokes isn't just one of the best in the league, but probably one of the best I've seen my entire life. At first I thought he was going to develop as a star in the NBA, but I began to question his ability when he was drafted 11th overall, way below what I was expecting. If he's good enough to be a star, then other teams with high picks wouldn't pass him over until the 11th pick. We had all the reasons to believe that he would be a top 5 picks, but then again, he fell to the 11th.

I still think that he could become successful in the NBA, he can still flat out shoot the ball and shoot lights out, but in order to do that he'll need to earn playing time which will require him to step up other aspects of his game.

By the way, your sig stabbed me right through the heart.

[Lamrock]

Any Sonics draft pick pre-2007.

[Martti.]

Redick for me also. Also Corey Brewer, although he has a great chance this season to prove himself.

[Andrew]

Jay Williams.

[Kenny]

Definitely Shaun Livingston and JJ Reddick. Livingston had the potential to be very dominant at the point but yeah... that injury he got from that layup is the worst thing I've ever seen in the NBA. As for JJ, he was an absolute gun in college, it's a shame he hasn't found his range in the NBA... but who knows, both of them still have time.

Adding to these two on the already mentioned, I'd say Jonathon Bender and Dajuan Wagner. Bender showed what he could have offered a few times, but yeah, we all know how that ended up. And Dajuan Wagner, I feel sorry for the guy, he's only young but some of the health problems he's had are crazy. I read he had to have surgery to remove his colon. That's unbelievable for a guy who's only 26.

[Lamrock]

Why did everyone say Redick? He has no real talent. I expected him to be a rich man's Kyle Korver and turned out to be a poor man's Kyle Korver. There were bigger disappointments higher on the draft board. Like AMMO?

[Dee.]

Emeka Okafor,I Don't say hes a bad player,but he Should of been a 1st pick in the draft,with all the talks i truly believed that he will be better that Dwight Howard,now i see i was wrong,Hes still a hell of a player Though.
Shaun Livingston too,but that crazy Injury messed up everything for him.
Another Guy that i can think of is Stromile Swift,i actually thought he can be a very nice Starting Center...

[Modifly]

Why did everyone say Redick? He has no real talent.

He set ACC records for most consecutive free throws made, and most career ACC tournament points; and set several Duke records, including most points in a single season. He formerly held the record for the most ACC career points, but was surpassed by Tyler Hansbrough of UNC on March 19, 2009."

Maybe that's why everyone said Redick. Eventhough accurate shooting can be acquired through practices, I still think it's also a talent. Personally I think he's really gifted, but he got all of this from practicing too and not just that alone. If Redick has no real talent however, then I dont think he could have played the way he did back in college.

[JBreezey]

Why did everyone say Redick? He has no real talent. I expected him to be a rich man's Kyle Korver and turned out to be a poor man's Kyle Korver. There were bigger disappointments higher on the draft board. Like AMMO?

Its because of this...

He set ACC records for most consecutive free throws made, and most career ACC tournament points; and set several Duke records, including most points in a single season. He formerly held the record for the most ACC career points, but was surpassed by Tyler Hansbrough of UNC on March 19, 2009.

To go with: ACC Men's Basketball Player of the Year (2005, 2006), Naismith College Player of the Year (2006), John R. Wooden Award (2006), Oscar Robertson Trophy (2006) and the Adolph Rupp Trophy (2005, 2006).

I'm pretty sure "Talent" is the least of his worries. The argument "The 3pnt line is further", i believe, is invalid because great shooters never loose their touch and he was consistently taking long jumpers in college. I'm almost %100 sure its his athleticism (or lack thereof), that has lead to his downfall in the NBA. Everyone is bigger, faster and stronger than they were in college. I honestly thought that despite it, he would thrive in Orlando's system, they space the floor amongst the best of them, so it would help hide his lack of height or athleticism. On the defensive end I thought that he did a 'well-enough' job so that Dwight didn't have to shoulder the entire defensive load.

Its sad to say, but J.J is the reason why these days I'm not longer sold on exceptional college players who lack athleticism (which is very much the key to being a great prospect in the NBA) Ala Tyler Hansborough.

[Kenny]

Its sad to say, but J.J is the reason why these days I'm not longer sold on exceptional college players who lack athleticism (which is very much the key to being a great prospect in the NBA) Ala Tyler Hansborough.

I haven't lost faith because guys like John Stockton and Mark Price both had great careers in the NBA despite the fact they weren't the most athletic. Then you look at a guy like Michael Olowokandi, who really was an athletic guy out of college with an NBA ready body, he never lived up to expectations and a big part of that was his work ethic and temperament. Athleticism is a big part, but not the most important in my opinion.

[Oznogrd]

for me...all the illini that aren't deron williams.
I expected more out of luther head and dee...
somehow i knew augustine and powell would suck though.

[Modifly]

I expected Luther Head to be a good role player who will average around 15 ppg too. He showed sign of promise during his second season, but then he basically went missing in action after that.

[Alejandrov011]

The entire NBA World throwed flowers to Saer Sene, saying that he was going to be a Mutombo like player, with an amazing wingspan...

I still believe that Adam Morrison can rebound... i think that is just my fanaticism for him

[Rip32]

Jay Williams.

I totally agree, I loved him coming out of Duke. I think he's pretty happy with his job at ESPN as a College ball analyst though, he had a time a few summers ago when he was working out for teams with the other rookie point guards that year, but nothing ever came of it and he played pretty well if I remember right. He's probably dunzo though, a shame, but he'll have a good career as an analyst.

[Andrew]

I suppose I shouldn't have gotten my hopes as high as I did, given that it's a rare talent at guard that can change the fortunes of a franchise (well, the same goes for any position I guess but building around a talented big is the traditional approach) and there is the stigma of standout Duke players coming up short in the NBA for whatever reason, injuries being a frequent one. Still, it looked like the Bulls had ended up with a good player moving forward after disappointment in free agency and the Brand-for-Chandler swap. Should've gone with Amar'e.

[Oznogrd]

I forgot to mention Channing Frye and Salim Stoudamire...those guys were monsters at Arizona...and as far as NBA goes just havent made much noise other than negative headlines in salim's case

[Its_asdf]

I was on the Gerald Green bandwagon for the longest time and I couldn't believe that a player of his talent dropped out of the lottery. I also thought Qyntel Woods showed flashes in his last NBA season with New York but he never got a contract. I guess I have a strange fixation with T-Mac clones.

You could have fooled me 4 or 5 years ago if you told me that the Cavs had one of the best one two punches in the league when they signed Larry Hughes. Hughes just went from being a solid all around stat stuffing guard to probably one of the most inefficient players in the league.

[NovU]

Roy Hibbert I thought was underrated coming into NBA. While he's becoming a solid presence inside, I thought he was going to be little bit better than where he is today.

Before that, I hoped Khalid El Amin would turn out to be ok NBA caliber player but he ain't even in the NBA no more.

Jay Williams and Shaun Livingston are however different story I think. If wasn't for injuries, I think they could have been in the league for a long time.

[Rip32]

I was on the Gerald Green bandwagon for the longest time and I couldn't believe that a player of his talent dropped out of the lottery.

He's one of the greatest examples of guys who should have gone to college instead of the pros. He would have turned OK St. from Final Four contender to best team in the country annnnd he would have refined his skills and learned that basketball also features defense, IQ and passing. Not just dunking and twahs.

[Andrew]

Before that, I hoped Khalid El Amin would turn out to be ok NBA caliber player but he ain't even in the NBA no more.

His career was over quite abruptly. He didn't too badly in the Rookie Challenge in 2001 but got cut not long after that and caught on anywhere else. I guess his height has worked against him.

[air gordon]

or maybe because he was a fat ass

[shadowgrin]

He set ACC records for most consecutive free throws made, and most career ACC tournament points; and set several Duke records, including most points in a single season. He formerly held the record for the most ACC career points, but was surpassed by Tyler Hansbrough of UNC on March 19, 2009.

To go with: ACC Men's Basketball Player of the Year (2005, 2006), Naismith College Player of the Year (2006), John R. Wooden Award (2006), Oscar Robertson Trophy (2006) and the Adolph Rupp Trophy (2005, 2006).

You all forgot to mention that JJ Redick is the best shooter in basketball history!!!

I haven't lost faith because guys like John Stockton and Mark Price both had great careers in the NBA despite the fact they weren't the most athletic.

Stockton may not be the most athletic but he's a freak physical specimen to a certain extent.

From a purely clinical standpoint, he is a marvel even to doctors. His resting heart rate is 35 beats per minute -- half that of a relatively well-conditioned male. That trait alone allows him to recover while standing at the free throw line; other players must take timeouts or sit out to catch their breath. His body fat is four percent, the same as Karl Malone's and similar to that of world class bicycle racers. His cardiovascular system, lung capacity and blood pressure are far superior to an average person, and even superior to that of most athletes.

He doesn't sweat," says Jeff Condill, a former Gonzaga teammate and co-owner of Jack and Dan's Tavern, along with Stockton's father.

"His body," says Gonzaga trainer Steve Delong, "is, well, very efficient. His capillaries, how the oxygen exchanges through his lungs, his heart rate, blood pressure -- he's taken that and fine tuned it. He's a hell of an athlete as far as the human body is concerned. His body is very efficient."

Dr. Lyle Mason, the orthopedic surgeon who repaired Stockton's knee, concurs. "He could play all day," says Mason. "He wants to play 48 minutes and no doubt he could."

Come to think of it, I never recall any Stockton games that I saw where he sweated like that of other players like Jordan, Malone, Shaq, etc.
Even that bench warmer Redick sweats more than Stockton even though JJ plays less minutes, or doesn't even play at all which is the usual case.

[jettdaking!]

Adam Morrison and Marcus Fizer

[Andrew]

or maybe because he was a fat ass

That too.