Most talented NBA Players that never realized/reached their potential
Lamar Odom shouldn't be on this list?
6'10 can handle the ball very very well for someone that size, how well he can shoot it, how high he was drafted, how he was supposed to REVOLUTIONIZE the SF postition AFTER ppl saw he wasn't going to be the NEXT MAGIC JOHSON, yea he deserves to be on here 2 times
Everytime I watched Grant Hill play in the playoffs, it's bittersweet. The man plays with such intensity and energy, especially for a 37 year old. I always think what could of been, if the man is playing like this now, who knows what kind of career he could've had. It frustrates me that one of the true gentlemen and professionals of the league had to deal with what he had to deal with. He's probably one of the most nicest, hard working NBA players ever. He could have just given up, but he kept fighting to come back. True passion right there.
I he so much potential he was so athletic and had good size for a 2 guard.
But the cousins T- Mac and VC are the most talented players to never reach their potentail
to me. These to had all the tools to be one of the all time greats, just not the mentalities.
Tim Thomas is considered the best high school basketball player ever by a lot of people. That guy should have been WAY better. His skill set was unreal.
I think Gerald Green was just athletic, he didn't have the skills that a lot of other players on these lists had.
Wagner got hurt as did J. Williams (Duke)
But how do you know a player would be better than he is now? Lamar Odom isnt a bum or lazy. His game is just predicated on being a do everything kind of player. He's not an aggressive scorer, but hes a versitile defender, an excellent ball handler and passer, and a relentless rebounder. Your overrating his shooting ability. Thats like say Josh Smith should average 24 points because he has the tools to be a good scorer. That may be true, but thats just not their games.
As for the others, Wagner was more injuries, Tim Thomas I agree with, Sheed, he was very good for a long time. Why isnt that enough? Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady? Really? Thats like saying, "You know, Clyde Drexler was really good, but he should of been Jordan." Come on, son. Ijuries derailed their careers late, but just becaus ethey weren't Kobe doesnt mean they weren't good enough. And screw than mentality crap. Give them their due.
How could Stephon marbury have been any better than he was as a basketball player? What did he have to improve on...? As for Francis, what potential? He was a undersized two that got away with being physically superior to everyone, and has the flattest jumpshot every seen on a guard. He's been overrated since day one. He made Baron David look like John Stockton.
How about Eddie Griffin (RIP)? Travis Outlaw, Darius Miles, Chris Wilcox, CHARLIE VILLANUEVA (Tim Thomas 2)? Players that showed flashes of complete dominance, but then disappear for games at a time. At least Odom is consistent. You know hes good for 13-8-4 every night with the potential for more. But hes rarely not productive.
Marvin Williams --- The dude has more skills than what he is showing with the Hawks right now... I think if Joe Johnson leaves, this could give him the opportunity to prove that he could fill in that big shoes... I like what I see in Marvin and I hope he does live up to his billing but the curtain is beginning to close down slowly...
Tim Thomas would have been one of the greatest players to ever play... But his lack of effort says it all...
Vince Carter is amazing... But the thing about not giving enough effort because he gets "spoiled" by the talent he has was just a pure shame... Hell, I could have seen him bang heads with Kobe if he has Kobe's work ethic... I thought he could have been an MVP type of player but sadly, he has become 3-4 levels lower than a superstar...
As I stated for those that CANT COMPREHEND Lamar Odom is NOT A BUST AT ALL, he just isn't as good as he should be, as he was supposed to be, dont start all the ho rah about him helping LA win titles or he did this in Miami, it doesn't matter....Pat Riley said LAMAR ODOM is the only player he has seen that could possibly match the abilities of MAGIC JOHNSON
Odom is extremley Lazy , why hasn't Odom ever been to an All-Star game? Never Made an ALL NBA TEAM?
Best Highschool player period in "97" AND NEVER LIVED TO THE POTENTIAL
How did guys like Tracy McGrady(HS "97),Baron Davis(HS "97"), Elton Brand(HS "97") surpass him? He had a higher ceiling than all of them coming out of highschool, but dude aint put the time and work in, stop playin Odom aint as good as he should be.
Draft Players 99:
Lamar Odom was drafted(4th Pick) before the likes of Wally Sczcerbiak(6th Pick) Rip Hamilton(7th Pick) Shawn Marion(9th Pick)
Ron Artest(16th Pick) Andrei Kirilenko(24th Pick) Manu Ginobli(57th Pick)
You know what all those players have in common?
Each of them have made an All-star game and or ALL NBA TEAM....Odom hasn't made either one EVER.
Odom isn't a bust, just not as good as he supposed to be
1 player I have to say is Rudy Gay..Dude can post up,has a wide variety of offensive moves,shot blocker and an play good defense when he wants to..But sometimes it seems he loses concentration...If you watch him play when he has his game on..You're say he's the next Scottie Pippen..But he's still young hopefully he'll become more focused....
I dont see why you guys keep listing Gerald Green as a great player who never reached his potential..The guy was just a great athlete but never learned to put it all together...
As for Vince Carter,he became a much better player then anyone ever thought he'll be..When he was at UNC Jamison was the National Player of Year..And the guy that everybody said would become the better pro..They only talked about Carter's brilliant athleticism..So i feel like he's an overachiever ..Who people expected more from..
As for Mcgrady.It was only a few years ago people was asking who's better T-Mac or Kobe? And now Kobe is being mentioned as 1 of the 10 best players to ever play....I wouldn't say he failed to reached his potential..Becuz he has missed parts of the past 3 seasons becuz of injuries..He's only 31 might never play another games again and still will become a Hall of Famer....
ALOT!!
Shaun Livingston,Tracy McGrady(Had a few good years but got injured),Penny Hardaway
Vince Carter,Gerald Green(Should have went to college),Lamar Odom,Len Bias
Grant hill(If injuries didnt F****d up his career he would have been LeBron before LeBron)
Marvin WIlliams,Len Bias,Jay Williams,DerMarr Johnson
If you watch Gerald Green play, he had talent. He was a good shooter and he also had good handles. Let's not act like Gerald Green was just an athlete with no skills. He wasn't smart, but that can be said for every guy on this list. If you have true talent, be it seemingly raw or enough to produce at a lower level than the NBA, you have to not be smart about something to not succeed. You can lack an understanding of team basketball, how to push yourself to be the best, what eating habits to have etc etc...but either way you have have taken a dumb approach to not capitalize on your talent. So in a way, Gerald isn't the only guy who was dumb. EVERYBODY that didn't reach their potential or achieve success listed was "dumb"
I'm not gonna put Dajuan Wagner(shout out 2 Camden),Jay Williams,Livington,Hardaway or any guy who basicly had career ending injuries b\c injuries happend & they couldn't control it, but guys like darius miles,Marvin Williams,JR Rider
Harold Miner,Michael Olowakandi,Gerald Green, just never lived up to what they could have been, i wont put guys like kwame,or darko on this list b\c they we full-out bust who did less then nothing
Grant Hill in rookie season:
19.9ppg 6.4rpg 5.0 apg
LeBron:
20.9ppg 5.5rpg 5.9apg
Grant Hills best seasons:
21.4ppg 9.0rpg 7.3apg
25.8ppg 6.6rpg 5.2apg
21.1ppg 7.7rpg 6.8apg
when i said LeBron before LeBron, i meant putting up triple doubles
getting high assists, high rebounds and scoring
of course, Grant Hill never put up the Scoring that LeBron did
And Lebron's FIRST three years(18,19,20 years of age) in the league are better than Grants 3 best seasons, Grant was very good, but not as good as Lebron period
And notice when Grant averaged his most points in the League every other statistic went down, Lebrons continue to go up.
Nathan, Why not list Len Bias, just cuz he died? You gonna get on me for that. Dude was suppose to be the next best thing to Jordan. He clearly did not fulfill that potential even in if the circumstances for that short coming were unfortunate due to his death. Don't be crucifying me b/c I put him here all b/c you feel that its unethical to put him on a shortcomings list due to his death. No doubt he was unbelievable in college, but if he learned the nba game for a bit, he would have been unstoppable.
Yea.. listing Len Bias is beyond ignorant.
Olowakandi, Kwame Brown and Eddie Griffin all come to mind as big time front court players that never really ended up panning out. Hell... we could say the lottery of the 2001 draft was unreached potential save Joe Johnson. Jared Jefferies also comes to mind as someone who had one good season in his career and has really done nothing else.
I'm NOT gonna count players with injuries (Jay Williams, Dajaun Wagner, Grant Hill, Penny Hardaway, Shaun Livingston, etc...). Those were tragic, freak incidents with them, and shouldn't be taken into account when you're talking about people who never reached their potential. Based on straight-up wastes of talent:
Lamar Odom. There is NOBODY that should be able to match up with this guy. His lack of desire really bothers me.
Tim Thomas: see Odom.
Gerald Green
Sebastian Telfair
Michael Beasley (it may be too early to tell with him, but man, this guy should be dominating!)
T-Mac: I'm hesitant to put him here because of the recent bout of injuries, but when he was healthy he was insane
Vince Carter: Just an athlete who never learned how to play winning basketball when it really counted (like against the Celtics in the conference finals, hahaha)
Rashard Lewis: arguably the most overpaid player in history.
I'm sure there are a lot of others, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind.
I haven't read all the posts because there are so many but if you read the original question it is about guys who did not reach their full potential. It's not just straight out busts. Adam Morrison was a bust, but realistically how much better was he going to get? A lot of people knew coming in, he had some major deficiencies and would not be able to guard anybody. Right now he is on a team that is good enough that they could occasional put him on the floor because they have enough good defenders around him, but he just too slow and weak to even be a reliable scorer. Some guys like Arujo were just horrible picks that were pretty limited anyways.
Odom is a big contributor to the Lakers, but all championship teams have guys like that. The thing with Odom is that his skillset should have made him so much more lethal than he was. The guy hasn't even been an all star. His combination of skill and size should have had people comparing Lebron to him when he came into the league, but instead seeing Lebron as a much more athletic version with even better court vision. From the first list I think Marbuy and Jason Williams pretty much fulfilled their potential. Marbury was a beast as a player, it's just hard for other guys to play with another guy that has to have the ball in his hand so much, plus he didn't always play the game with the best basketball IQ. Jason Williams could play, but he was more hype coming into the league and it took awhile and him aging before his coaches could get him to slow down and play more of a well rounded game.
Being from Chicago, here is a list of Chicago area guys who didn't live up to their potential:
Darius Miles
Shaun Livingston- hurt
Julian Wright
Eddy Curry
Frank Williams
Brian Cook
Leon Smith
Those are just the guys that made it to the NBA. Not saying they were all supposed to be all-stars but the failed to live up to their talent.
a couple guys come to mind:
kwame brown (was supposed to be the next big thing at center)
tyrus thomas (never thought he should have been drafted 2nd overall but def. thought he was gonna be better than he is)
adam morrison
jordan farmar (i thought this guy was the next tony parker watching him in college)
eddy curry
rasheed wallace
gerald green
sebastian telfair
mike dunleavy
shawne williams
corey brewer (thought he was overrated but definitely saw josh howard-like production with his game)
.Tyrus Thomas
.J.J. Reddick
.Mike Beasley(so far)
.Shannon Brown
.Greg Oden
.Shelden Williams(#5 pick WTF??and married the greatest female player ever Candice Parker.....WTF again???)LOL
.Sun Yue (6''9' pg didnt get any tick for LA but in china he's the man)
I GOT 100 MORE OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD.
Who do you guys think?
Off top, I say Vince Carter, Lamar Odom, Tim Thomas, Rasheed Wallace, Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Lamar Odom Tracy McGrady and Jason Williams(White Boy)