[Michael.S.Participant]

Len Bias—drafted 2 years after Jordan he was said to be the player to rival Jordan for he next decade. IMO he would have been one of the 10 greatest players ever ,and would have competed in the eastern Conf. Finals every single year against Jordan. He died 2 days after he was drafted by the Celts from doing drugs and getting a heart attack moments after, if this didn’t happen we all would have been comparing the likes of Kobe and King James to Lenny as well as Jordan

Thoughts?

[LarryDaTruBirdmanParticipant]

You’re probably right. But there might have been some guy who played another sport such as football or baseball who was very good. Maybe, also, their was some foriegn guy who stayed overseas.

[BlackMamba24Participant]

Yeah, it is not even close. This guy was unreal. He was MJ, before there was Jordan. He could do everything in the world. It was so sad to see him leave the world so soon with a tragedy

[Michael.S.Participant]

Michael Ray Richardson ? he could have been better than Magic,he was friggin great

[LarryDaTruBirdmanParticipant]

He played nine or so seasons for the Knicks and was league leader in steals a bunch of times. Get your facts straight

[13kavak]

the goat also

[Knicksboy34Participant]

I agree. Len Bias. 100%

Can I say Connie Hawkins? I know he played like 3-5 years in the NBA but he lost his good years in the ABA since the NBA banned him?

Also, people dont know about Mel Daniels…he was pretty good.

[Michael.S.Participant]

WHAT???
He played nine or so seasons for the Knicks and was league leader in steals a bunch of times. Get your facts straight

WTF SHUT UP WHATS WRONG WITH WHAT I SAID?

He was always slacking and drugs ruined his career,if he was dedicated he would have surpassed Magic, mark my work

[13kavak]

there were other legends that should have been made that NEVER played in the nba ronnie fields before injury would have been a jordan or an ai and the goat WAS jordan before jordan abdul jabbar best player he ever saw he stated was the goat

[Michael.S.Participant]

whats his name i wanna check him out?

[13kavak]

and demetrius ” hook” mitchell has to be mentioned as well he was so good he got a tryout at 51 movies were also made about both of them and ill tell you another one you might as well know about because he kind of played in the nba ricky berry played half a season with the kings before commiting suicide

[OldSkoolBasketballParticipant]

Len Bias can’t be compare to MJ when the dude never step onto an NBA court once and never faced NBA competition.

[13kavak]

hank gathers

[leppyParticipant]

hands down. i couldnt imagine anybody being better than him. he still might play in the nba tho

[ZKParticipant]

New york street baller. I read about him in Slam Magazine.

[ZKParticipant]

New york street baller. I read about him in Slam Magazine.

[JJ7Participant]

yeh i agree Hank Gathers would of been awesome to see play in the NBA. Also Corey Homicide Williams I heard a story that he once scored 36 points on Ron Artest in a street ball game.

[maravich44Participant]

High school Senior played at Simion H.S. in Chicago (As did Derrick Rose). He was shot and killed around Thanksgiving by gang members. He was arguably the best high school player in the country in 1984. Who knows what his future would have been, but he was the star of state championship team his junior year (with Nick Anderson). He could score, rebound and pass. He was 6’9″ and could have been incredible had it not been for this senseless tragedy.

[cliffhanger5262Participant]

Dejan Bodiroga

[CrackattackParticipant]

A few of the “Black Magic” guys deserve consideration. Pee Wee Kirkland is up there. I don’t care what level you do it on, anytime you score 135 in a game, you’re special. Fits a similar mold as Hook Mitchell, but was better from all accounts I’ve heard.

Cleco Hill played a year in the NBA, so he doesn’t really qualify, but a ton of old timers sing his praises.

I don’t know that he really qualifies as he can’t get out of the NBDL, but Kareem Reid just does not lose in Rucker and has torn apart Arenas, Davis and the like.

A different sort of “what if” due to injury nod should go to Jay Williams. Everytime I see Chris Paul play I think “Huh. So that’s what Jay Williams would’ve been like.” I’m sure there’s a bunch of other injury guys that I can’t think of right now.

Of course the GOAT serious deserves consideration. He’d probably my pick.

If you want to broaden it out to include the Michael Ray types of careers lost to drugs and/or not given a crap, Marvin Barnes is a mile ahead of Michael Ray and David Thompson is 10 miles ahead of Barnes. Theres another PF that deserves consideration in this category that I just can’t think of right now.

The Len Bias mythos continues to amuse me. “He would’ve been as good as Jordan.” No he wouldn’t have. Jordan was as great as he was because of his dedication. Bias wasn’t even dedicated enough to not do coke after seeing what it did to the similarly talented guys mentioned above. He might have had that type of potential, but I don’t see anyway in hell it would’ve been reached with the mindset that ended up taking his life.

Taylor Coppernath? Booger Smith? Really?

Good call on Bodiroga. I was reading this and wondering when he was going to come up 🙂

Along the same lines as others like Hawkins and Daniels (he did play in the NBA), Sabonis deserves consideration as he did play for a number of years in the league, but not in his prime. You ask a lot of guys in Europe and they will still say he was better than Chamberlain. And unlike a lot of guys discussed, he actually fit into the NBA game rather than the dunker/streetballer mold. ABA Dr. J should of course earn some love as well.

[spencerishawesome]

greg paulus

[TRC1991Participant]

good college players that never made it

ex: ademola okulaja for UNC in 1998 the guy was 6’9” and a great athlete, could shoot, a typical NBA small forward–played in germany instead of in the NBA..hell of a baller though

also,

what about Darius Rice from Miami (FL) 6’10”’ long arms could stroke the 3 he played at miami in around 2003-2005 or about then

[auberParticipant]

Darius Rice will get his shine eventually.

For me it’s Lenny Cooke Hands down. The guy was never given the chance and has put up numbers every where he’s played.

[CorningKingsFan31Participant]

he was an amazing floor general and great defender…..never got a shot….and i know he played in nba but i am going to say that i thought royal ivey had a great deal of talent but never got it going

[Author]

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