Eveybody has a: I always liked him before anybody else did comment.
Al-Farouq Aminu. I hated that the Clippers drafted him, and so did everyone on the Clippers forum over at realgm. He always seemed to be more of a power forward then a SF, and I still will never understand why we drafted him. We were all basically begging for the Clippers to draft George, he seemed like such a nice fit for us back then. A SF we desperately needed who was long and athletic. Not to mention the fact in his interviews he said he was a Clipper fan growing up (he grew up in LA area) and said he wanted to play for us. But to be honest we probably would have included him in the deal for CP3 (replacing Aminu's spot).
If were talking about signings, Shandon Anderson and Howard Eisley for the Knicks.
If we're talking about drafts, Landry Fields (first year he made me a believer, but quickly drew the ire of Knicks fans by not doing anything well except rebound), and Renaldo Balkman, drafted right before Rajon Rando.........
I actually hoped Michael Sweetney would amount to something... besides a 300+lbs slob.
Rajon Rondo- I remember when he KILLED Louisville at Rupp Arena his Sophomore year and he also had a couple of other strong games that year and I always knew he'd end up being a great PG.
Jeff Teague- The way he dominated college ball his Sophomore year at Wake I knew he'd be good as well.
Lebron James- seems like an obvious choice, but he still had doubters when he first came in the L, and at one point everybody was Melo fans instead of Lebron, but I knew he'd be the best in the NBA sooner than later.
Sixers with Elton Brand. The guy was coming off of big injury issues and they gave him a max deal. No surprise they amnestied him last off season. The only thing that did surprise me is how hard he played as a Sixer and despite being over matched physically almost every night he got the job done. I actually gained some respect for a Duke player when he was in Philly but it was the typical Sixer move of getting an aging star...see Chris Webber and Glenn Robinson....They had to amnesty him because of his contract but the Sixers are really missing his effort and consistent front court scoring this year.
But who is a player that you hated first or you thought ruined your team or your teams future just being by being on your team?
Mine would have to be a toss-up between Christian Laettner and J.R. Rider... obviously I'm a long suffering Wolves fan.