Your 10 Most Disappointing Pro Sports Players???
Big_Stacks
"I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
Hey Guys,
The football thread (nice one, Phill) made me think about the topic of sports player "busts". You know, those guys that came out of school or the amateurs highly touted, only to be a dud in the pros. Who are your top 10 guys? Here is my list (in no particular order):
1. Charles White.
-How do you win the 1979 Heisman trophy, only to be a butt pro running back?
2. Al Wood.
-Cat was an All-American small forward for UNC in the late 70's, just to be a bust as an NBA pro. Cat only played like 6 years and then faded into oblivion.
3. Tyrell Biggs.
-Gold medal heavyweight in the '84 Olympics, but had the misfortune of entering pro boxing during Mike Tyson's best years. He never lived up to his Olympic achievements.
4. Mark Macon.
-Dude was the truth as a guard at Temple (late 80's, early 90's), but nothing during his 6 year pro career. He only scored double figures for one season (1992), and fell off afterwards.
5. Art Schlichter.
-Dude was a Heisman hopeful in the early 80's, but a total dud as an NFL quarterback. But, he was one of Ohio State's finest ever in the pocket.
6. Rahsaan Salaam.
-Cat was naaaastay at U of Colorado as a halfback (1994 Heisman Trophy winner), but stunk like dog shit as a Bear and Dolphin (if I remember correctly). I thought dude was gonna make serious noise as a NFL runner, but it NEVER happened.
7. Howard Davis.
-Another 1976 Olympic gold medalist, lightweight boxer. Dude had a stellar amateur career, but never got the job done as a professional. Jim Watt got in his ass badly when he challenged for Watt's lightweight title (in 1980, I think). I thought dude would be legendary, oh well!!!
8. Marc Breland.
-This might be a controversial choice, but given his stature as an Olympic gold medalist, and great amateur career, dude never reached his potential as a professional boxer (welterweight). He could never solve Marlon Starling (slick counterpuncher, southpaw), and Aaron Davis finished him off with a picture perfect right hook to end his career. Breland is doing well as a trainer, though.
9. Derrick Coleman.
-My man was a monster in the post in the late 80's. An All-American power forward at Syracuse, I knew he was gonna be a pro star. Didn't happen. Dude was more interest in eating than staying in shape, plus he had injury problems that keep him from playing at his full potential.
10. Pearl Washington.
-This kid was one of the nicest that ever handled the pill at Syracuse. NYC street-ball legend and All-American point guard at SU, dude did nathan as a pro. I thought my man would make some noise fo sho!!! I almost picked Kenny Anderson instead, but the thought of Kenny primed memories of Pearl's college greatness, and pro dud-ness.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
The football thread (nice one, Phill) made me think about the topic of sports player "busts". You know, those guys that came out of school or the amateurs highly touted, only to be a dud in the pros. Who are your top 10 guys? Here is my list (in no particular order):
1. Charles White.
-How do you win the 1979 Heisman trophy, only to be a butt pro running back?
2. Al Wood.
-Cat was an All-American small forward for UNC in the late 70's, just to be a bust as an NBA pro. Cat only played like 6 years and then faded into oblivion.
3. Tyrell Biggs.
-Gold medal heavyweight in the '84 Olympics, but had the misfortune of entering pro boxing during Mike Tyson's best years. He never lived up to his Olympic achievements.
4. Mark Macon.
-Dude was the truth as a guard at Temple (late 80's, early 90's), but nothing during his 6 year pro career. He only scored double figures for one season (1992), and fell off afterwards.
5. Art Schlichter.
-Dude was a Heisman hopeful in the early 80's, but a total dud as an NFL quarterback. But, he was one of Ohio State's finest ever in the pocket.
6. Rahsaan Salaam.
-Cat was naaaastay at U of Colorado as a halfback (1994 Heisman Trophy winner), but stunk like dog shit as a Bear and Dolphin (if I remember correctly). I thought dude was gonna make serious noise as a NFL runner, but it NEVER happened.
7. Howard Davis.
-Another 1976 Olympic gold medalist, lightweight boxer. Dude had a stellar amateur career, but never got the job done as a professional. Jim Watt got in his ass badly when he challenged for Watt's lightweight title (in 1980, I think). I thought dude would be legendary, oh well!!!
8. Marc Breland.
-This might be a controversial choice, but given his stature as an Olympic gold medalist, and great amateur career, dude never reached his potential as a professional boxer (welterweight). He could never solve Marlon Starling (slick counterpuncher, southpaw), and Aaron Davis finished him off with a picture perfect right hook to end his career. Breland is doing well as a trainer, though.
9. Derrick Coleman.
-My man was a monster in the post in the late 80's. An All-American power forward at Syracuse, I knew he was gonna be a pro star. Didn't happen. Dude was more interest in eating than staying in shape, plus he had injury problems that keep him from playing at his full potential.
10. Pearl Washington.
-This kid was one of the nicest that ever handled the pill at Syracuse. NYC street-ball legend and All-American point guard at SU, dude did nathan as a pro. I thought my man would make some noise fo sho!!! I almost picked Kenny Anderson instead, but the thought of Kenny primed memories of Pearl's college greatness, and pro dud-ness.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Comments
throw into that another syracuse product billy owens. coming out of high school he was one of the most touted recruits of all time but never really lived up to it in the pros.
i think a lot of the guys who are busts just get injured and never off to the right track like that dude from penn state curtis enis.
like sam bowie who i always thought was a damn good player in the pros but was just injured so much he could never make an impact. people always bring him up because he was drafted before jordan but if he had been healthy he would have been one of the great forwards of all time.
how about every white guy drafted in the lottery in the nba in the last 20 years ?
Always wondered what happened to that dude. He was in the Lords of Discipline, right?
Whenever I think of busts, this cat always comes time. He was so good that he actually worked out a journeyman career even thought he had hall of fame ability.
Sam Bowie for my Blazers was certainly a bust but I never thought he was that hot at Kentucky. SO I can't really count that one.
How about Magic Johnson, professional coach. Not enough games to fully know what he could have done. But he stank real hard the short time he was on the bench. For that matter, Clyde Drexler was a terrible coach at Houston. Rumour has it that foolio would show up 15 min before games and other such nonsense. Thank god we didn't bring him on as GM or coach here. All time biggest player to managment bust was Jordan of course. Apparently, he just wouldn't put the time in. Look at Gretzky that dude is maybe more intense off the ice.
Laurence Philips - Dude looked liked a monster in college, but personal problems fucked him up bad. He came to Montreal & had an amazing season in the CFL, but bailed out after 1 year. I just read that he tried to run-down some kids in his car in LA. I know some guys who played with him that say he's manic depressive & that he refuses any medical treatment for it.
Tommy Fraizer - Another Cornhusker who could run like the wind. Bloodclots in his leg cut his career short.
Doug Wickenhiser - 1st overall pic in the NHL draft in 80-81. He wasn't bad, but couldn't live up to the hype of his draft position. Other guys selected after him had storied careers - former Blackhawk Denis Savard was one such guy.
Tim Biankabatuka - This guy was from Montreal & played @ Michigan. He was a machine. What happened to him?
Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire & Sammy Sosa - All great hitters. All prolly on drugs.
I'll post more as they occur to me...
h
stacks,
true, mark was a pro failure. but i think he got overhyped in college. he used to jack up a ton of shots and clock a real low shooting percentage. cheyney was real ride or die with him...basing offense around him.
we got so many dissapointments just in the confines of philly
eric lindros
mamula
a whole litany of phillies pitching prospects
PAt Burrel
derrick coleman, glen robinson, chrs webber
andrew toney (due to injuries...my man was sooo nice)
and of course:
shawn bradley,who shouldnt have been pro anything
dave: billy owens was supposed to be the next magic!!!
You should have seen Lindros in OHL. Boy was a machine! My friend (Mike Short, 6'7" 250) was the goon in charge of protecting him, so we used to go to the Generals games a lot. You think the NHL is sanctioned violence - go watch a junior game.
K.
What the lakers got in return for shaq.
Tod Van Poppel...Next Nolan Ryan? not.
Jordan as a GM.
Brian Taylor...#1 pick by the (st)Yankees
Patrick Stephan...hahah
Alexandre Daigle...#1 pick by Ottawa after lighting it up in the Quebec Junior League. Career Minor Leaguer.
Every first round pick by the Senators during the 90's (minus Yashin and Hossa).
DARKO.
Sorry, K.
Eric "Bobble-Head" Lindros could have been an all-time great.
His many concussions in the OHL went un-documented as concussions (88-91 i believe) during a time when the severity of concussions was not yet known or fully understood.
Many say it was too late even BEFORE the Scott Stevens hit.
That was nice hit, though. IS there a condition where you're pre-conditioned to get consussions easily? His bro had to leave hockey early, too. I remember hearing a party somewhere that a couple other of his family members had similar troubles.
Didn't seem to affect him with Oshawa.
IS Crosby the next Daigle? Don't think so. You guys in the Burg are going to get entertained this year.
K.
Damn I forgot all about his brother Brett! he actually had a promising rookie year wth the Islanders after going 5th in the draft...what a shame.
The current standing on this is once you sustain a concussion (especially if it's your 3rd or more) you are more prone to another but more severe concussion. I believe Eric had a total of 6 "offical" concussions in the NHL. If you add that to the undocumented concussions from his OHL days, Eric probably suffered a total of around 10 (or possibly more) concussions in less than 10 years.
The Stevens hit was indeed clean and an all time classic.
Great topic!
Some Wisconsin busts:
1. Tony Mandarich - The Packers drafted him ahead of Barry Sanders. Sports Illustrated had him on the cover, with the headline "The Incredible Bulk." A few years later, he was on the SI cover again...this time as "The Incredible Bust."
2. Shawn Respert - The Bucks drafting in the early to mid 90s was nothing to write home about at all - but they traded Gary Trent to Portland in a draft-day deal for Shawn Respert. I was reading some other picks in the 95 NBA draft, there are a lot of busts in it...Cherokee Parks, Bryant 'Big Country' Reeves, Ed O'Bannon, and more.
Gotta partially disagree with you here. The 2 years that he had under Chuck Daly as coach with the Nets he played up to all his potential. There was one year where they lost in the first round, think it was the Cavs but he put on a show that was hard to believe with scoring, rebounding, block shots, just everything. The guy was a stud. The fat and injuries took him down, but he was still a very competent role player for a bit.
That's what happened to Billy Owens. He had a great rookie year under Don Nelson. Got to play a lot of point forward that showcased his running and passing abilities. Eventually he blew out both knees however and when he lost some of his speed he never developed a jumper and became a nothing.
Ok, I'm posting replies quicker than I should.
Sam Bowie you knew was going to be a bust because he had leg injuries coming out of college, and then guess what happens? He busts his leg in I think his rookie season. He was a center by the way.
And there have been some really good white guys drafted in the NBA in the last 20 years. If you shorten it to 10 years it gets harder, but 20 years ago you had Chris Mullin (85), Dan Majerle (88), etc. from the beginning of that period, and then a slew of Europeans in recent years like Dirk Nowitzki, Manu Ginobli, Peja Stojakovic, plus a few U.S. products like Steve Nash (U.S. college at least) thrown in there for good measure. The list could be expanded if you included some good role players like Brad Miller, etc.
brad miller went undrafted ...
as far as disappointments, as a long time nordiques fan (stastny brothers were heroes followed by joe sakic) i've gotta say at first i was disappointed with him. still young enough to look up the these guys and dream (even though as a cali kid i knew it was highly improbable) of playing in the nhl, i could not understand how you could say you were not going to play if you had to play with that team. to me it was always a fucking game, which is why they call it playing. how could you not want to play? every team has a chance, from first to last, and if you are as dope as you say you are lets see what you got. (looking forward to seeing what crosby has.) i never wish an injury on anybody, but boy does it ever seem like karma. in the end lindros was traded to philly for one of the best players in the world, peter forsberg, along with mike ricci, ron hexall, chris simon, steve duchesne, two draft picks, and some cash (i think i might have forgotten a player or two). pieces of that trade were later used for trades for patrick roy, alex tanguay, ray bourque, and rob blake. so in the end the giant disappointment turned my team into two time stanley cup champions.
p.s. there was a time when lindros played in philly on a line with leclerc and i believe recchi that they were pretty dangerous.
Oops! okay here's some good white role players. Oakland bias is comig out but I think Mike Dunleavy is finally coming into his own, doesn't do any one thing great, but does a lot of good out on the court. Zarko Cabarkapa, another Warriors player that has gone under the radar, but has only been in the league 2 years? Jason Williams, finally got his head and game on straight under Hubie Brown. Mike Miller had some injuries, but still a good complimentary scorer. Vladimir Radmonvic, another foreigner who got slowed by injures but is good from the outside when healthy. Luke Ridenour, did some things as a point guard. Troy Murphy good for 10 rebounds per game and some outside shooting. Jon Barry, nice hustler. OK, now my memory is running short, but there's others. I THINK all of those guys got drafted.
Derrick Coleman - "I wont be the next Magic Johnson, I will be second to none." There was this one Georgetown game where Georgetown got ten technicals in a row, most on Thompson who was ejected. DC sunk 11 straight freethrows is the way I remember it.
Sherman Douglas - He was our point guard, sat on the bench at Boston and some other spots.
Billy Owens - Yep.
Stephen Thompson - was drafted by Denver, I think, but didn't finish the year. He was phenomanal at SU running the fast break.
Rony Sikely - I guess he did ok.
Matt Row - He was the shooting guard, could sink the 3 and was a hometown boy.
That "Bo knows" guy busted right after he got his Nike contracts.
Rahsheed Wallace - He can play, but chooses not to most of the time.
OK, that is everything I know about sports.
Coleman was a walking legend when we were at Syracuse, I know lots of stories.
Dan
tony mandrich! tod von poppel! forgot about those bums. wow
what about jeff george. hhahahahah. fuckin bum
ralph samson???? another injury case
i feel for eric lindros. a little bit. he got hit so many damn times. you gotta be a pretty rugged dude to keep lacing up after getting your head knocked around. we gave up so much in that trade to get him, and besides having a couple other guys on his lines, he was always left to carry things. coupled with his overbearing family and his nasty little coke habit, i'm not surprised he couldnt get it together
biggest NHL tragedy- pelle lindbergh
Kevin Stevens - In Boston, he didn't have Lemieux dishing him the puck...so he didn't do anything. His later problems were even sadder, and I do hope his life is a little more together these days, since he was a local boy and BC star.
Paul Coffey - look, dude won 3 Norris trophies, 4 Stanley Cups, and is in the Hall of Fame - so I ain't trying to claim he was a "bust" for most of his career, but he landed in Boston as his final stop with a lot of fanfare, and I was psyched to get him because I admired him, but DAMN dude was a nightmare!! You cringed everytime he was on the ice...too bad.
Pervis Ellison.
He was a
Here's one some dudes might call foul on, but:
He had some good years with the Pats, and he was a pretty tough guy, but dude was a #1 pick[/b] - he was supposed to be the saviour of the franchise, and although they got to the Super Bowl with him, I never felt he was the reason, I felt he was one of the weak spots. He has a hell of a gun, no question. A freakin' rifle. But his decision making was always mad suspect, and he couldn't improvise worth a damn. No mobility. It's easy to kick dude with what happened with Brady and Lombardis and all, and I honestly felt Drew got kind of shafted in the end, and I genuinely felt bad for him. But I was glad he was replaced, because he wasn't ever all that great.
Do coaches count?
Hey Hank,
What's up, man? I might be responding to the wrong post. Remember guys, when I think of "duds", I'm referring to guys that should have become legends, but end up mediocre (at best) or awful (at worst). Here are some more:
1. Alfredrick Hughes.
-One of the NCAA basketball's all-time leading scorers (out of Loyola, I think), who ended up a dud in the NBA (all of three years as a pro).
2. Milt Wagner.
-I used to like some Louisville b-ball, y'all. Cat was all-that in 1986, All-American, but never came with it as a pro.
3. Steve Alford.
-Dude was deadly from the perimeter as a All-American with Indiana (point guard), but never made the transition to the pros. I thought he could have been Stockton-esque, as NBA point guards go, but he wasn't.
4. Ray Mercer.
-Ray Mercer was nice comin' out of the '88 Olympics, and I thought he be a great pro heavyweight. Dude had an OK career, but he was always under-trained, so he underperformed too. How did he lose to butt-ass Jesse Ferguson, knocking him out of a title shot with Riddick Bowe? That was stupid. Then, he lost to a 40+ year old Larry Holmes.
5. Rick Mirer.
-Dude was supposed to be that dude out of Notre Dame. Nice as a collegiate (All-American) quarterback, he sucked his whole career (doesn't he back-up somewhere now). Cat never put it together. Heath Shuler could be thrown in here too.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
I don't know if these guys would have been considered "future legend" potentials, though. I'm talking about top-dawg type cats.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
But was the star of one of the greatest comedies of modern American cinema!