College star who you thought would be a great pro..but wasnt.

OttoMets · Mar 26, 2015

UnderHisOwnPower said:
Another over achiever, I nearly fell out of a chair when Josh McRoberts declared after what, his sophomore year? What a stiff I thought! Now he is no Dr J of course, but he has carved out a nice little career for a big with some skills that I didn't see while he was at Duke.

Had the same opinion.

On the flip side, who was the white Duke kid whose father coached the Clippers? I thought he was going to be a huge NBA star. That didn't come to pass.

Cusefan0307 · Mar 26, 2015

OttoMets said:
Had the same opinion.

On the flip side, who was the white Duke kid whose father coached the Clippers? I thought he was going to be a huge NBA star. That didn't come to pass.

Mike Dunleavy? He currently starts for the Bulls.

http://www.espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/1708/mike-dunleavy

Cusefan0307 · Mar 26, 2015

djcon57 said:
Emeka Okafor easily.

I'm still shocked he wasn't a 10 yr all star

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/o/okafoem01.html

He's averaged nearly a double double, but has missed the last two years due to a degenerative neck issue. He's expected to try to make a comeback next year.

Oakland · Mar 26, 2015

After that game, I predicted that that would be the best game of his entire career - a prediction that is looking good right now.

cuse2013 said:
Otto Porter. Scored 33 in the Dome in front of a record crowd! Boeheim thought he definitely should have been the #1 pick.

OttoMets · Mar 26, 2015

Cusefan0307 said:
Mike Dunleavy? He currently starts for the Bulls.

http://www.espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/1708/mike-dunleavy

Wow, didn't know he stuck this long. I did think he'd be way better than a 12/4.5 guy for his career, though.

jgeorge322 · Mar 26, 2015

i was surprised ben gordon wasn't a betternba guy.

jgeorge322 · Mar 26, 2015

SoBeCuse said:
Thomas Robinson
Otto Porter
Derrick Williams
Louis Bullock
Wayne Ellington

agree on thomas robinson.

jgeorge322 · Mar 26, 2015

i thought mike sweetney would be a great pro. add him to the list.

djcon57 · Mar 26, 2015

Cusefan0307 said:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/o/okafoem01.html

He's averaged nearly a double double, but has missed the last two years due to a degenerative neck issue. He's expected to try to make a comeback next year.

I'm aware, but he was never really close to all star.

He was more a poor man's David West type.

I thought he'd be dominating like a Malone or Barkley.

anomander · Mar 26, 2015

Devan Ebanks
Hasheem Thabeet
Michael Beasely
Bo Kimble
Hakim Warrick
Terrance Williams
Earl Clark
Eric Barkley

SWC75 · Mar 26, 2015

Derrick Coleman should have been an All-Time great.

anomander · Mar 26, 2015

Knicks411 said:
I feel like we need to take out the guys who had at least real serious injury issues. I don't think that's the real question, right? Not sure when Jonny would land though, since I agree the size was an issue before he ever got hurt. I remember being team Lawson as Ty vs Jonny was a debate around the draft.
Pretty amazing Steph went as late as he did, all considered.

Ya I don't think we should count guys like Flynn as busts. He showed his rookie year that he could play at a high level in the NBA before chronic hip problems derailed his career. I find it easier calling guys like Thabeet, or Beasley busts, then it is calling Flynn a bust. With Thabeet and Beasley they were high lottery picks, who either never played due to skill like Thabeet, or underachieved like Beasley, while Flynn was out of the league due to some bad breaks with injuries.

two3zone · Mar 26, 2015

VaBeachOrFan said:
Can't believe no one has yet mentioned Lawrence Moten. SU's all-time leading scorer, ball-magnet and fantastic finisher under the basket, yet he didn't make it in the pros. He's the one I was rooting for the most.-VBOF

At the end of the day he shot 31% from three during his 4 years here. Not too shocking.

NashvilleOrange · Mar 26, 2015

Marcus Fizer and Sean May.

Others mentioned but I thought Steph Curry and Kevin Love would stink

SoBeCuse · Mar 26, 2015

anomander said:
Devan Ebanks
Hasheem Thabeet
Michael Beasely
Bo Kimble
Hakim Warrick
Terrance Williams
Earl Clark
Eric Barkley

Good calls on Clark and Williams. TWill especially I thought would be a solid 2G/SF. Beasley has sort of made it and should have millions in the bank so I don't know if he applies. He wasn't All-Star material but he had at least six productive seasons.

JDubbin · Mar 26, 2015

anomander said:
Devan Ebanks
Hasheem Thabeet
Michael Beasely
Bo Kimble
Hakim Warrick
Terrance Williams
Earl Clark
Eric Barkley

Speaking of Eric Barkley... do you remember Omar Cook? Was second in the entire nation in assists his freshman year at St. John's, dropping dimes left and right. Entered the draft and disappeared completely from there.

OrangeDW · Mar 26, 2015

Randy Foye - He's been a decent pro, but I thought he'd be like a poor man's Dwyane Wade, all star level.

And from the same college backcourt, even though I liked him in college I never thought Kyle Lowry would be an NBA all star level player.

MSOrange · Mar 26, 2015

jgeorge322 said:
i thought mike sweetney would be a great pro. add him to the list.

Which one? Because if you've seen him lately, there is two of him!

anomander · Mar 26, 2015

JDubbin said:
Speaking of Eric Barkley... do you remember Omar Cook? Was second in the entire nation in assists his freshman year at St. John's, dropping dimes left and right. Entered the draft and disappeared completely from there.

The Johnnies had a good run of pg's going for a while. Barkley, Cook, Hatton, Daryll Hill. I know I am forgetting someone too.

tbonezone · Mar 26, 2015

i thought tom hammonds (georgia tech '85-89) was also a prototypical NBA PF. he lasted 10 yrs in the league mainly coming off the bench. i expected more.

Ringostar57 · Mar 26, 2015

Phil Hubbard OSU 1977-79

jncuse · Mar 26, 2015

Michael Beasley

Lamond Murray. He had a decent NBA career. I just expected all star after watching him team with Kidd at Cal.

God Shammgod, and God's Gift Achiuwa.

RF2044 · Mar 26, 2015

Jimmy Jackson from Ohio State. Kid was amazingly versatile. His career was a blip for a kid that talented.

jncuse · Mar 26, 2015

RF2044 said:
Jimmy Jackson from Ohio State. Kid was amazingly versatile. His career was a blip for a kid that talented.

I was going to include Jimmy Jackson as well -- but he did have a solid NBA Career. I think a lot more was expected from him after averaging 26 ppg in his 3rd year league, and he just faded from there.

RF2044 · Mar 26, 2015

jncuse said:
I was going to include Jimmy Jackson as well -- but he did have a solid NBA Career. I think a lot more was expected from him after averaging 26 ppg in his 3rd year league, and he just faded from there.

I discount the 26ppg as a system thing, on that Dallas team that was completely run and gun. And for me, it's not so much that he had a "bad" career, because he was a fairly solid NBA player for several years. Its that I thought that he had the talent / versatility to be a great player, and he was actually generally average for a large portion of his career.

Loved this kid's game in college. Thought he might be a mini-Magic or Oscar.

College star who you thought would be a great pro..but wasnt.

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