Players you were wrong about - list them (no trolling)

[StrongLurk]

Two most recent players I was wrong about are MPJ and definitely LaMelo Ball.

For MPJ, I truly believed he would not overcome his injury-proned history and I thought his game looked overrated from his high school highlights. People said he was the next KD which I thought was ridiculous (and still is kind of). He clearly had size and a nice shot, but had no handle and really awkward court movement. Now, he is definitely a really solid player and sometimes looks like a 6'10 Klay Thompson.

For LaMelo, I was CERTAIN that he'd be a bust very similar to Lonzo. He definitely seemed to have more talent, confidence, and a natural feel for the game than Lonzo..but he just seemed so immature and low-IQ that I thought he wouldn't adjust to the current burden of being a starting PG in the NBA. He's been very impressive for a rookie and has had a light of amazing passing and layup highlights. I think he's already better than Lonzo.

[GOBB]

Damn your eye for talent is MJ status.

[Clifton]

For me, anyone who ever had bad medicals in their 20s and ended up having a good career. I've never recovered from Brandon Roy and Greg Oden. To me, if a scouting report includes "blah blah, could be a HOFer, also might not be able to walk by the time they're 25," I'm 100% out.

Also everyone who had bad injuries when young is Grant Hill or Penny Hardaway to me until they have proven otherwise, and that has not happened until the day they retire. For example I'm still not totally ready to believe in Curry's durability. I shudder at the thought that he has to play 4th quarters now.

So MPJ, to me, is a time bomb. And I still don't trust Embiid.

As far as guys I've been wrong about the talent, the worst ever is Durant. I thought he would be a 19-22ppg scorer on bad percentages. I thought he would be Rudy Gay impact with Adam Morrison play style. I don't know if it's possible to be more wrong than that...

[Reggie43]

The moment Hibbert dominated the Heat in that one playoff series. I honestly believed he was gonna play something close to that for the rest of his prime. Dude was saying all the right things to the organization, his teammates and the media and even trained with Duncan during the offseason only to get worse the next few years and be out of the league after the next four seasons.

[2much_knowledge]

I been wrong but the opposite way. Players who i thought were gonna be a star

- Nerlens Noel
- Doug McDermott
- Mario Hezonja
- Rashad Mccants
- Jimer Fredete
- Noah Vonleh
- Adam Morrison

To name a few

[LeCola]

Doncic.

I watched him while he was in Euroleague. I expected to be a player slightly better than Bogdan Bogdanovic but he became a lot more.

[Smoke117]

I’ve never been wrong about a player before. I have a 100% rate for player prediction.

[Hamtaro CP3KDKG]

Derrick Williams - thought he'd be a great two-way wing for years to come. Had all the tools but he was a retard on the court

OJ Mayo - was expecting him to be a perennial all star.... :durantunimpressed:

Fred Vanfleet - thought this nikka would be outta the league by now instead he's been one of the best twoway PGs in the league despite being undersized and undrafted. Just grinded, improved, impressive career so far

Zach Lavine - he's kinda overrated ATM but I never thought he'd reach the level he's at rn

[Spain_]

I thought Stauskas had too many good qualities to not have a long NBA career, bouncy, could shoot, handle etc.

I believed Okafor would be an average NBA center that would be a starter most of his career, but the game left him behind very quickly.

I thought Valanciunas would become an All Star level player and I had the opposite expectations of Sabonis.

I thought Reggie Jackson would develop into an abover average starting PG.

[Spain_]

There's also a lot of guys that are about as good as I expected them to be, but ended up getting different playing time/usage/roles than I thought they would.

I thought Bogi would be a 20 PPG guy, Brogdon would be a role player that played 25 mins per game, I thought TJ would be a rotation guy that plays 15 mins, that Doncic would be the second all Star on a team

[Spain_]

Derrick Williams - thought he'd be a great two-way wing for years to come. Had all the tools but he was a retard on the court

OJ Mayo - was expecting him to be a perennial all star.... :durantunimpressed:

Fred Vanfleet - thought this nikka would be outta the league by now instead he's been one of the best twoway PGs in the league despite being undersized and undrafted. Just grinded, improved, impressive career so far

Zach Lavine - he's kinda overrated ATM but I never thought he'd reach the level he's at rn

Mayo messed his own career up by being lazy and a pothead, he had all the talent to be an all star.
Same with Beasley.

[Reggie43]

I thought Myles Turner would develop an offensive game similar to Rasheed Wallace. He turned into a dpoy caliber defender but his lack of agressiveness on offense especially in the post is such a waste of talent.

[Smoke117]

I thought Myles Turner would develop an offensive game similar to Rasheed Wallace. He turned into a dpoy caliber defender but his lack of agressiveness on offense especially in the post is such a waste of talent.

Come on, really? You ever actually see Sheed on the Blazers? Myles Turner has never shown any glimpses that he has that kind of natural talent to build the skill necessary to develop a post game like Sheed’s. Not a lot of players have, frankly. He was incredibly talented and skilled, but just didn’t have the mentality to be the man.

[Reggie43]

Come on, really? You ever actually see Sheed on the Blazers? Myles Turner has never shown any glimpses that he has that kind of natural talent to build the skill necessary to develop a post game like Sheed’s. Not a lot of players have, frankly. He was incredibly talented and skilled, but just didn’t have the mentality to be the man.

He had a decent jumper he could have used ala Rasheed Wallace off the post. Never said he would equal Sheed or have the same impact I only said he might develop a similar game based on his jumper.

[Spain_]

He had a decent jumper he could have used ala Rasheed Wallace off the post. Never said he would equal Sheed or have the same impact I only said he might develop a similar game based on his jumper.

A lot of these "stretch 5s" are extremely overrated.
They dont really draw the defense out, if you watch the games its obvious that teams would rather just let them shoot.
They also worse shooters than people think are, Turner is career 35% shooter(33% this year), Brook Lopez is 34%.
Generally they shoot league average or below from 3 which becomes even less impressive when you factor in that they are wide open a lot of the time, I dont think they provide the offensive value some teams believe they do.

[Axe]

I'm sure many would point out anthony davis if the lakers are going to come up short this time.

[Reggie43]

A lot of these "stretch 5s" are extremely overrated.
They dont really draw the defense out, if you watch the games its obvious that teams would rather just let them shoot.
They also worse shooters than people think are, Turner is career 35% shooter(33% this year), Brook Lopez is 34%.
Generally they shoot league average or below from 3 which becomes even less impressive when you factor in that they are wide open a lot of the time, I dont think they provide the offensive value some teams believe they do.

Yeah im definitely not a fan of guys playing this way. Why float around the 3pt line when you could go for an easy ft line jumper? The 15-18 foot will always be there but these guys refuse to shoot it because of out of context analytics.

[Clifton]

Doncic.

I watched him while he was in Euroleague. I expected to be a player slightly better than Bogdan Bogdanovic but he became a lot more.
This is another one. After seeing how Ricky Rubio fell flat in the pros, how could anyone really know how a euro-prodigy type player is going to look in the NBA? And on top of that, the year before, Lonzo Ball turned out to be a dud who couldn't work any magic against elite competition.

How the heck were we supposed to know Doncic was going to be Larry Bird and Harden all in one? And why are those other guys league-average players? I find talent so hard to judge on the lower levels. On the other hand, the minute a guy steps on an NBA court I feel like you can know if he's a bust or not.

[ralph_i_el]

i thought Okafor was going to be an all-star. From that same draft, I thought Sam Dekker would be good, and he's out of the league now.

[ShawkFactory]

He's still a top 20ish or so player but I thought that Towns was going to be a bonafide superstar.

[StrongLurk]

He's still a top 20ish or so player but I thought that Towns was going to be a bonafide superstar.

I think Towns will still get better. He has amazing talent and skills, but is a bad defender still. He is also playing for a terrible franchise...idk I still think Towns in a better position would be rated higher than he is now - similar to Anthony Davis on the Pelicans but a level below.

[Axe]

Put towns on a potential contender like the nets and it's likely that he'd flourish.

[plowking]

I thought Anthony Randolph would become a superstar.

6'10, athletic as all hell, and could do everything on the court.

Just didn't happen.

[Objectivity]

Big LeGOAT fan here, I thought Kyrie Irving, Wade, Ray Allen, AD were absolute scrubs with LeGOAT doing the heavy lifting. Recently, I started reconsidering this position.

[PeroAntic]

I guess I was wrong about Jeremy Lin. I thought Linsanity was there to stay, but it was just a perfect storm.

[ShawkFactory]

I think Towns will still get better. He has amazing talent and skills, but is a bad defender still. He is also playing for a terrible franchise...idk I still think Towns in a better position would be rated higher than he is now - similar to Anthony Davis on the Pelicans but a level below.
Yea the circumstances have a lot to do with it. But I pretty much thought that we’d get from Towns what we’re currently getting from Embiid.

It’s crazy that he’s still only 25 so there’s time. I just don’t see any sort of killer instinct or passion from him to really improve and become what he should be.

[Smoke117]

Yea the circumstances have a lot to do with it. But I pretty much thought that we’d get from Towns what we’re currently getting from Embiid.

It’s crazy that he’s still only 25 so there’s time. I just don’t see any sort of killer instinct or passion from him to really improve and become what he should be.

I was gonna respond to one of your earlier post saying Towns has no passion for the game. He’s a finished product.

[Gohan]

iverson i thought hed be a top 30 player of all time. He ended being a top 10 player of all time

[warriorfan]

Lebron. I thought he wasn’t a little bitch who would let his teammates bone his mom and then get outscored by Jason Terry in the NBA Finals.

I was wrong.

[warriorfan]

I thought Anthony Randolph would become a superstar.

6'10, athletic as all hell, and could do everything on the court.

Just didn't happen.

We all did too. lol. Those were dark days for Golden State fans.

[8Ball]

Didn't think LeBron would be the GOAT when it was all said and done.

But I was wrong.

[Taurus]

Wiggins and Jabari Parker

I thought they would both be perennial all-stars, but it just never happened. Wiggins has no heart and Parker got railed by injuries and thinks playing defense is optional.

[dankok8]

I'm not counting guys that got derailed by injuries. There are many there and I still think most would have been studs if they were healthy. This is just those guys who massively underachieved and injury wasn't the main reason.

JR Smith... I thought this guy would be a perennial all-star. He's one of the biggest wastes of talent ever. Just never had the professional attitude... I was completely wrong about him. He ended up irrelevant.

Blake Griffin... already reached close to his prime in his rookie year. He really seemed like a future MVP to me and then just stagnated and got nowhere. Injuries had something to do with it but he didn't improve much in his first few years when healthy.

On the other side we have some overachievers...

Demar Derozan... I remember when he started playing for my team. Dude was athletic but didn't seem to be very good at basketball yet. Dude worked so hard on his craft and became a really good basketball player.