All-Time Wasted Talent Team (BBall Related)
Rockadelic
Out Digging 13,993 Posts
Been home sick and really enjoying the basketball related posts.....Who are the players who had all the talent in the world, coulda been some of the all-time greats but for one reason or another never made it?My #1 nominee has to be Chris Washburn.....2 years at NC State....a couple of short stays in the NBA and last I heard he was homeless....should have been one of the greatest big men to ever play the game.
I'll also throw Roy Tarpley and Walter Berry in there.....let's hear yours...
I'll also throw Roy Tarpley and Walter Berry in there.....let's hear yours...
Comments
Obviously Derrick Coleman would be the captain of this team. Considering the career he has had, one can only imagine what he might have done with a little pride and work ethic.
Lastly, Arvydas Sabonis mostly cause he wasted his best years playing in Europe when he should have been kicking Kareem's teeth in. Can you imagine that dude healthy?
Someone recently who wasted his talent was Vin Baker who just looked superb coming out of college and then ran into alchol problems. I just read he got picked up by the Clippers for a 3rd I think lease on returnig to the NBA.
SHAWN KEMP
AND SOME OTHER FOLLS TOO.
that dude fell offffff.
guess who signed with the clippers this week?
because he had injury problems plaguing him. his first couple years in the league with Orlando was kinda special though.
Darius Miles....if he actually had enough motivation, he woulda been decent.
Jason Williams....tragic that he couldn't play in the league....he woulda been one of the top guards in the league by now if not for the motorcycle accident.
Carlos Arroyo....from what i've seen, he seems a bit timid when he's playing with Detroit....maybe i just haven't seen enough games...but the fiery spirit with the Puerto Rico national team seems missing. although a bit of exaggerated to say he is wasted talent, cuz he is far from it.
You can't say Jason Williams was wasted talent. He had no control over getting in an accident. That's more like never had time to show his talent.
Darius Miles on the other hand ... ESPN was just talking about him tonight which echoes what I've read about him in the past. The guy is a good guy. Shows up to practice. He just has no idea how to play team basketball. It's one of the big draw backs from jumping straight from high school where he was a star and just got to do anything he wanted. Miles has been in the league long enough that he's not going to learn how to play the game any time soon.
Shawn Kemp though has to top the list. Guy was freaking awesome and actually developed a game after basically having nothing but speed, athleticism and the ability to dunk on people like they were children. Let it all slip by him. Again though, he had it going for quite some time in Seattle.
I think Washburn might actually be a better candidate for the list as he never really showed up for the NBA.
yea, got kinda delineated there.
and to my memory, John Starks didn't suck all that bad when he was with the Knicks...he got MJ and Miller on lock at one point
or was he really that bad since day one ?
This reminded me about this guy
naw, i wouldn't call him wasted talent. he made millions in the league, has people talking about his dunks til this day, was 6'10" and could dunk with the best of 'em, and he even got some playing time as a fat Trailblazer. That's a pretty good career if you ask me!
Is wasted talent people who never showed anything in the NBA like Washburn and Miner?
Is it players who had it but lost it like Kemp?
Is it guys like Coleman that showed flashes but then faded?
If I were to be a little harsh, i'd say all these dudes are wasted talent: J-Rich, Paul Pierce, Ricky Davis, Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, the list goes on....all have/had potential to take it to the
Joe Smith
Nice call on Sabonis......he is to basketball what Teofilo Stevenson was to boxing....."The Great Unknown".....Could Sabonis have played head to head with Kareem in his prime???
Could Stevenson have beaten Ali when they were both in their prime.....we'll never know!!
JR Rider is a good addition too!!
One guy who probably qualifies because of injury is Bill Walton....GREAT player, BAD TV Analyst!!
For the all injured team, spelling Penny Hardaway of the bench would be Grant Hill.
Some of the guys mentioned I don't get...John Starks? He was a good-decent NBA player. Considering he came from bagging groceries and playing in the CBA, we can't expect Jordan. He was an all-star, had some great seasons, and then left. About what you'd expect from a former grocery bagger.
As for the Ricky Davis, Paul Pierce, et al, they aren't truly wasting their talent. They are playing great basketball...not necessarily TEAM basketball or WINNING basketball, but they are taking full advantage of their individual talent.
I don't know...who else is gonna exclaim the words "PURPLE HAZE" after a nasty dunk?
Wasted talent on the Bulls end: Marcus Fizer and Tyson Chandler.
Chandler will be the undoing of Paxson and the entire organization.
And they're talking about trading Ben Gordon? EXPEL CHANDLER.
I honestly don't think anyone in the Bulls organization is seriously considering a Gordon trade. That'd be a cool 20 or 30 points off our already meager game totals and who, really, could we get in return?
Chandler's finally coming around at least. Still, both of our high school Baby Bulls (the other being Eddy Curry) lack the killer instinct that would take them to the next level. They always will be guys happy to be pretty good, and if they ever win a championship, it will be as role players.
Why didn't Castro let Teofilio go out and kick some ass. What could have been the problem?
Walton, unlike Coleman, lived to his potential when he physically could. Dood, was the truth on the court.
Brian Williams was another one that was supposed to be great. He was a free spirit, changed his name to Bison Dele, and got killed by his brother. Shame, cause my man was very talented.
Don't get me wrong...Walton is entertaining, it's just that he says shit sometimes just for shock value, either that or he has some Grateful Dead Tour flashbacks and says shit like ...
"Richard Jefferson is the greatest athlete to ever play in the NBA" (Of course later in the game he'll let it slip that Jefferson was his son's roomie)
Another guy who never made good on his talent was Cherokee Parks....but I let him slide because his sister is the bassist in Nashville Pussy!!!
Man, that's beautiful. For me, the crazier, the better as far as announcers go. Sure, they may say some off-the-wall shit, but that just makes it more fun.
The local White Sox announcer used to play on the Red Sox with Carl Yastrzemski (sp?). He didn't play that long and wasn't that good, but never lets an opportunity slip to start a story with, "When I was in the big leagues.." He also is fond of comments such as "I love me some cotton candy."
I guess all of the above to me, though a case like Coleman is particularly bad. Dude was ballin' when he first hit the league, then decided he didn't care and turned into a fat, useless sack of shit with the quickness. That's a waste because he proved he could be dominant and simply chose not to be.
Kemp was certainly a "wasted" talent when he would play after sniffing yayo--nyuk nyuk nyuk.
Was Miner ever considered a real NBA talent? I don't remember. All I remember is he won the dunk contest and did little else on the court.
He was drafted high, with the nickname "Baby Jordan," so there were some expectations.
I'll never forget his final college game, though, when James Forrest of Ga Tech hit his only career 3 at the buzzer to beat USC.
Sounds like Ken "Hawk" Harrelson!!!
Yes, yes it is.
Randolph Childress
Christian Laettner (I hate to say it because he's a cock-knocker, but he's probably the best college player I've ever seen)
Trajan Langdon
Donyell Marshall (man, I wish this weren't true, but dude's been pretty disappointing for the most part)
Danny Ferry
Billy Owens
Bryant Reeves (aka Fat Country)
John Wallace
and many more.