'Almost there' players

[elementally morale]

This is not about championships so Barkley or Karl Malone are not good examples here. They got there as they were very very good players.

This thread is about players who for whatever reason were expected to make the next step from say better than average to All-Star level or 1-2 times All-Star to top 10 in the NBA level but never made it. (Kind of like Butch for Marcellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction.)

For you, who are or were these almost there players? Trae Young is someone I have in mind -- at least so far. Brandon Ingram. Cedric Ceballos from the past. You may argue these are bad examples but you get the idea.

Who you got?

[Im Still Ballin]

Ralph Sampson?

[SouBeachTalents]

Sheed for sure, I'd throw in Eddie Jones as well.

[rawimpact]

KAT
Ricky Davis

[elementally morale]

Sheed for sure, I'd throw in Eddie Jones as well.

Very good examples I think. Ralph Sampson is nice as well.

[elementally morale]

Jonas Valenciunas. Zach LaVine. Jermaine O'Neal. I'm not sure about Marc Gasol.

[ShawkFactory]

Came in to say KAT but he’s taken so I’ll go with. If things continue down this road (and I think they will) I’ll go with Ja.

[iamgine]

I remember Gary Harris was once a young stud and then he just got worse and worse.

[elementally morale]

Amare Stoudemire. Deron Williams. Latrell Sprewell. Blake Griffin as well.

[RRR3]

Amare Stoudemire. Deron Williams. Latrell Sprewell. Blake Griffin as well.

Both Amare and Blake have fairly good chances to make the HOF. You can argue they didn’t reach their full potential but both were considered All-NBA 1st team level players in their prime so I feel weird including them. Deron Williams also got there imo

[elementally morale]

Both Amare and Blake have fairly good chances to make the HOF. You can argue they didn’t reach their full potential but both were considered All-NBA 1st team level players in their prime so I feel weird including them. Deron Williams also got there imo

I expected all three to become a lot better for a lot longer. To me they almost got there. I can see your point though. We may be thinking different levels of greatness.

[elementally morale]

Ama're was all star multiple times and was up there among the top scorers in the league. i

True. But weren't you expecting more? More elite years for example? To me Amare was a vwry godd player who had a chance to become great among his peers. I think he remained in the very good category. I may be wrong though.

[HylianNightmare]

Myles turner

[90sgoat]

Kukoc probably.

[Reggie43]

Jalen Rose