Once Highly Touted, Now Forgotten

[*Fox2Monk*]

Lets not forget the first Lenny Cooke and really the first Lebron.
Lloyd "Sweet Pea" Daniels.
In 85 Garfinkle called him the best junior(hs) thats even been born.
He got busted at a Vegas crack house and was later shot but he still played a few years on some crappy Spurs teams.

Dang I’ll have to look him up, he’s right before I was born. That’s a crazy story.

 

[gossie21_rivals69805]

I think Chris Burgess is the guy you’re thinking of. Started at Duke and ended up at Utah.

Wasn’t he HS teammates with Shae Cotton?

Shae Cotton was another name to add to the list. He was the #1 recruit for years and I don’t know that he even made much of a splash in college.

 

[Cychologist]

I always thought Dirk M. would make it the league. Shows what I know.

 

[SkyPrince1]

I always thought Dirk M. would make it the league. Shows what I know.

Honestly most of Joe B's players could be on this list.
In 13 years you had Grevey, Goose, Robey,Phillips, Lee, ,Bowie, Turpin, Walker and Davender.
Those players backed up thier hs rankings on the court.
I think you can make the case that the rest underperformed.
Some slightly(Dirk,Bennett,Harden)
Some quite a bit(Madison, Bearup,Williams, Anderson, Blackmon)

 

[SkyPrince1]

I always thought Dirk M. would make it the league. Shows what I know.

He did make the league.
Substance abuse cost him a long career.

 

[jjsomer]

He misused Skal and didn’t adapt to the kids game and tried to force him to fit but cant agree with any of what you posted.

Wrong. Skal was going to be a bust no matter how CAL used him. Success or bust for elite players is between the ears.

 

[STL_Cat]

Wasn’t he HS teammates with Shae Cotton?

Shae Cotton was another name to add to the list. He was the #1 recruit for years and I don’t know that he even made much of a splash in college.

That's right, great addition. Shae Cotton was basically Lebron before Lebron, at least that was his hype early on.

 

[ruppsrunt1]

begok attempted to put a square peg in a round hole when he mis-used Skal.

Never a banger, begok attempted to make him bang inside--mistake, failure.

rr

 

[zannmann]

Rashaad Carruth

 

[Emarc]

Renardo Sydney of Mississippi State. Rated right behind Cousins as a center in the 2009 class and never accomplished a thing.

Stansbury is just not a good coach. Mediocre at Msu and at WKU.

 

[Emarc]

Marvin Stone
Brett Bearup
Leron Ellis
EJ Montgomery

 

[gossie21_rivals69805]

It's interesting reading through this thread how many of those late signing 2015 recruits are on here. We were scrambling late and going after Jaylen Brown, Cheik Diallo, Malik Newman, Steve Zimmerman, and Caleb Swanigan. Only Jaylen Brown turned out from that group... but missing on him and Newman helped us land Jamal Murray.

 

[BigKari]

That’s a damn good list of busts right there, that’s why I don’t like recurring most “Elite” West Coast Talent. Most are soft, over rated, and over hyped. Devin Askew should be added to that list as well. That’s like the all BallisLife fail list right there lmfao.

EXACTLY!! And that was literally off the top of my head. If I actually looked into the rankings lists, I’m sure we could add quite a few more.

 

[fatguy87]

James Lang

 

[BigKari]

I can't believe we forgot Ed O'Bannon. I'm going to add a few more guys to my original list. Here's a few more:

Dan Gadzuric - UCLA
Ed O'Bannon - UCLA
Aaron Miles - Kansas
Shabazz Muhammed - UCLA
MKG - UK
Darius Miles - St. John's
Erick Barkley - St. John's

Idk if anyone else pointed this out but I’m crying laughing right now. Darius Miles went to St. John’s in the movie “The Perfect Score”. In real life he went to the league out of HS. I actually wouldn’t quite call him a bust either, disappointment yes. Averaged double digits scoring for his career but had injury troubles. Definitely should’ve gone to college but he was not bad.

Edit: And now looking closer Miles was hitting his stride in Portland in his 6th season at just 24 years old. Was averaging 14ppg when he went out with a knee injury that he never really made it back from. Missed the rest of that season and all of the 2 seasons after. Attempted a comeback with the Grizzlies but failed to make an impact. Verdict- Darius Miles was actually closer to NBA all-star level than bust level.

 

[king of cali]

Wasn’t he HS teammates with Shae Cotton?

Shae Cotton was another name to add to the list. He was the #1 recruit for years and I don’t know that he even made much of a splash in college.

I believe he was 2nd team All Sec at Bama. He was the classic case of someone who matured earlier than others and he could just bully them in the post. By the time he got to college he had to be a 2 guard.

 

[chroix]

Wrong. Skal was going to be a bust no matter how CAL used him. Success or bust for elite players is between the ears.

Can’t argue with that.

 

[Ukfanfromlou]

Dude who went number 1 from UNLV to Cleveland can’t remember his name.

Wasn't his last name bennett?

 

[Ukfanfromlou]

Dude who went number 1 from UNLV to Cleveland can’t remember his name.

Anthony bennett

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Wasn’t he HS teammates with Shae Cotton?

Shae Cotton was another name to add to the list. He was the #1 recruit for years and I don’t know that he even made much of a splash in college.

Is it Schea Cotton? I just found an older thread about a documentary about him. Played with Ron Mercer and Garnett during HS? Peaked as a Sophomore and played for Bama?

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Idk if anyone else pointed this out but I’m crying laughing right now. Darius Miles went to St. John’s in the movie “The Perfect Score”. In real life he went to the league out of HS. I actually wouldn’t quite call him a bust either, disappointment yes. Averaged double digits scoring for his career but had injury troubles. Definitely should’ve gone to college but he was not bad.

Edit: And now looking closer Miles was hitting his stride in Portland in his 6th season at just 24 years old. Was averaging 14ppg when he went out with a knee injury that he never really made it back from. Missed the rest of that season and all of the 2 seasons after. Attempted a comeback with the Grizzlies but failed to make an impact. Verdict- Darius Miles was actually closer to NBA all-star level than bust level.

Not sure why it's so funny, as Miles committed to St. John's out of high school. Just a mistake on my part.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Idk if anyone else pointed this out but I’m crying laughing right now. Darius Miles went to St. John’s in the movie “The Perfect Score”. In real life he went to the league out of HS. I actually wouldn’t quite call him a bust either, disappointment yes. Averaged double digits scoring for his career but had injury troubles. Definitely should’ve gone to college but he was not bad.

Edit: And now looking closer Miles was hitting his stride in Portland in his 6th season at just 24 years old. Was averaging 14ppg when he went out with a knee injury that he never really made it back from. Missed the rest of that season and all of the 2 seasons after. Attempted a comeback with the Grizzlies but failed to make an impact. Verdict- Darius Miles was actually closer to NBA all-star level than bust level.

Yea Miles was good.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Jonathan Bender (RIP) has to be on that list.

Kwame Brown.

Donnell Harvey (Florida).

Schea Cotton (Alabama).

Ronnie Fields (no college).

Same for DerMarr Johnson (Cincinnati).

Dontonio Wingfield (Cincy).

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Vincent Yarbrough (Tennessee).

Lester Earl (Kansas/ LSU).

Marvin Stone (Kentucky). RIP

Cedric Bozeman (UCLA).

 

[BigKari]

Not sure why it's so funny, as Miles committed to St. John's out of high school. Just a mistake on my part.

Dude you’re gonna be fine, I was just imagining this alternate reality where The Perfect Score was based on a true story with Miles playing himself and it just made me laugh.

 

[catsfancy]

Billy Owens
JR Reid
Hot Take: Rex

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Can't forget Chris Burgess and Shavlik Randolph.

The top 10 guys over the last 30 years have to be:


Felipe Lopez
Ed O'Bannon
Rodrick Rhodes
Sebastian Telfair
Schea Cotton
Ronnie Fields
Lenny Cooke
Harry Giles
Chris Burgess
Kwame Brown

All of those guys were 1st team-All Americans as high school prospects.

Some UK fan will say Rhodes doesn't deserve to be on there, but yes, he certainly does. He and Kidd were considered the best prospects in their class by a wide margin. Rhodes had Kobe-level hype coming out of high school to the degree that Pitino laminated his LOI when he signed with Kentucky. Rhodes was in college for five years and shot 2-10 against UNC, 0-1 against Michigan, and 0-9 against Marquette for a collective 2-20 in UK's season-ending losses while he was at UK. He was dreadful on the biggest stage.

In addition, he barely had a cameo in the NBA.

 

[Catzman]

Cal’s recruiting bit him in the rear. We didn’t have a big man. So he had to play Skal, and play him out of position.

Skal would be an amazing 4 to play alongside a, say, Oscar at the 5

 

[bthaunert]

Dang I’ll have to look him up, he’s right before I was born. That’s a crazy story.

If I remember correctly, he was initially picked up by the Spurs because Tarkanian was there coach. Tarkanian had recruited Daniels to UNLV before he went the JUCO route.

 

[Gromcat_rivals]

In my time as an adult Greg Oden is the one that will always stand out to me. I can’t tell you how many people told me I was crazy for saying he’s overrated and won’t pan out. I’ll never forget the popular response - “he shoots free throws with either hand!!” So what?

Even without injuries I don’t think he would have amounted to much. He didn’t have the drive and the killer and you could easily see that. He thrived in college because of his size and talent. But I feel it was easy to see it wouldn’t translate to the NBA. I would have never drafted him had I been a GM. Not even with the number 30 pick.

 

[bthaunert]

Can't forget Chris Burgess and Shavlik Randolph.

The top 10 guys over the last 30 years have to be:


Felipe Lopez
Ed O'Bannon
Rodrick Rhodes
Sebastian Telfair
Schea Cotton
Ronnie Fields
Lenny Cooke
Harry Giles
Chris Burgess
Kwame Brown

All of those guys were 1st team-All Americans as high school prospects.

Some UK fan will say Rhodes doesn't deserve to be on there, but yes, he certainly does. He and Kidd were considered the best prospects in their class by a wide margin. Rhodes had Kobe-level hype coming out of high school to the degree that Pitino laminated his LOI when he signed with Kentucky. Rhodes was in college for five years and shot 2-10 against UNC, 0-1 against Michigan, and 0-9 against Marquette for a collective 2-20 in UK's season-ending losses while he was at UK. He was dreadful on the biggest stage.

In addition, he barely had a cameo in the NBA.

I’m trying to figure out what your list is. You have guys that never played college ball, guys that were very good college players but were NBA busts and a guy that was a great college player and an NBA bust and guys that sucked in college.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

I’m trying to figure out what your list is. You have guys that never played college ball, guys that were very good college players but were NBA busts and a guy that was a great college player and an NBA bust and guys that sucked in college.

Read the first post in the thread which stated the criteria: "Amazing how many players weren't "cant-miss" prospects, then for one reason or another, a faded memory."

So guys who were considered "can't miss" but who ultimately never met that hype in one way, shape or form.

 

[bthaunert]

Read the first post in the thread which stated the criteria: "Amazing how many players weren't "cant-miss" prospects, then for one reason or another, a faded memory."

So guys who were considered "can't miss" but who ultimately never met that hype.

Who pissed in your Cheerios

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Who pissed in your Cheerios

I was going to say the same thing to you. You're analyzing these lists like they're the Zapruder film or something.

 

[bthaunert]

I was going to say the same thing to you. You're analyzing these lists like they're the Zapruder film or something.

Personally, I took the OP as players highly touted who disappeared in college since the two examples he used was one who did just that and one headed in that direction. Didn’t realize commenting on players I disagree with was analyzing. Carry on.

 

[catsfan9234]

If something doesn't change, Brandon Boston..

Sam Bowie
Nerlins Noel
Greg Oden
Tyler Hansbrough
Adam Morrison

There is a pretty long list if you really dig into it.

BJ a Bust? He’s a 2nd round pick with a Trevor Ariza floor. Not everyone is a superstar he’ll make plenty of money in the league.

 

[king of cali]

Yeah it’s kinda puzzling to list a guy that won POY and a NC as faded from memory. O’Bannon wasn’t much in the NBA, but her certainly didn’t “fade” from the memory of those who remember how good he was in 1995.

 

[CrimsonCats_rivals]

You could arguably include Randolph Morris in this category. McDonald’s All-American who some services had as a top 10 player nationally, and was certainly hyped up as a program changing player when he committed to us. He did score a fair bit in his sophomore and junior seasons, but often seemed to have a poor motor and never really elevated the team to anything worth noting. Then he bolted to the NBA where he only lasted for 4 seasons as a benchwarmer averaging just under 2 PPG.

 

[Kingslayer07]

Michael Olowokandi.

As a Wolves fan don't remind me!! Lol

 

[UK-Chulo]

Skal would be an amazing 4 to play alongside a, say, Oscar at the 5

Perfect. Skal shooting those free throw line extended shots Brooks took last year. Those two playing some high-low. Plus the weak side blocks Skal would get with Oscar bodying players in the lane.