Legends to be remembered: Greatest players that never played in the NBA

[L.Kizzle]

Cleo Hill (Mr. Charlie)
Maurice Stokes (Death)

[Hejira]

how about Ben Wilson, the kid from Chicago who was close friends with Nick Anderson that got shot in the late 80s? He was supposedly very talented.

Ronnie Fields

[plowking]

Len Bias
Bob Kurland
Hank Gathers
Earl Manigault
Herman Knowings
Marques Haynes
Pee Wee Kirkland
William "Pop" Gates
Maedowlark Lemon

(+probably a few young stars who never got to play in the old NBA because they were black).

And some great internationals who didn't have the chance:

Sergei Belov
Drazen Dalipagic
Krezimir Cosic
Radivoj Korac
Oscar Schmidt
Nikos Galis
Dejan Bodiroga
Manuel Raga

Both have some of the most amazing jumpsots I have ever seen. Bodriga never seemed to miss. While with Dalipagic, it was impossible to block him; the guy got near 80cm off the ground when releasing the ball.

[mika]

i'd like to see a younger anthony parker in the league, even though he was drafted originally but left for europe later on.

[1~Gibson~1]

Hotsauce never played in the NBA. Isnt he considered a great in streetball

[L.Kizzle]

Hotsauce never played in the NBA. Isnt he considered a great in streetball

No, he's considered a player with great handle, that's about it. His dribbles are nice, but has nothin else to say for his game. He's what 6'2 and can dunk (barely) doesn't have a jumper, D is turrible, ect.

He has cool hair though.

[Paladin55]

Mel Daniels' name popped up when I saw Roger Brown, his teammate, mentioned. Daniels was a 6'9" Indiana ABA center. Ended up injured, and only played about 11 games with the then New York Nets when they moved into the NBA and then retired at age 32. 2x MVP and Rookie of the Year in the ABA.

Sampson and Tarpley, by the way, should not even be mentioned on this list. They should be on a Biggest Disappointments list, though.

Sampson had a lot of injuries, but had 3 full years where he had some success. One of the biggest disappointments of all time, though. A 7'4" guy who had great skills, and was one of the first of the big men to play like a SF instead of trying to use his size to its best advantage. Should have been the next Jabbar.

Tarpley was another failure. Drug use doomed him. Could have been one of the best 4s of all time. The draft he was in (86) was an unlucky one for big men . Bias, Chris Washburn, William Bedford, Walter Berry, and Tarpley were some of the hyped big men who never lived up to their potential in that draft.

[FULL CLIP]

Master P.

There is a reason he's called "Master", and it's definitely not his lyrical skill.

Another name that comes to my mind is Montel jordan.

[Manute for Ever!]

For my fellow Aussies...



Andrew Gaze was pretty much the Australian Larry Bird, 6'7", couldn't run, couldn't jump, shoot the lights out and brought 100% every night. Had two 10-day contracts with Washington in the early '90's, was a member of the 98'-'99 Spurs at the age of 4000. Earned international respect for his play in five Olympic Games

From Wiki:

Andrew Barry Casson Gaze (born July 24, 1965 in Melbourne, Victoria) is Australia's best known basketball player, and undoubtedly one of its most successful.

Son of Australian basketball stalwart Lindsay Gaze, Andrew began a stellar career in the NBL at age 18, being named Rookie of the year in 1984. His incredible shooting skills saw him the top scorer in the league for a total of 14 seasons. Gaze combined a great three-point shot with an equally good pass. A crowd favourite, one of Gaze's trademark plays was a pass to American import Lanard Copeland for an alley oop. Playing under his father with the Melbourne Tigers, Gaze led the team to two titles and were perpetual finalists.

Gaze also excelled at the international arena, playing in a total of five Olympic Games with the Boomers and led them to their best performance, fourth at the 1996 Summer Olympics. He was selected as flagbearer for the Australian team at the opening ceremony at the Sydney 2000 Games. He is the scoring record holder in Olympic competition, and second-highest scorer of all-time in World Championship play.

In 1989 Gaze played a season of U.S. college basketball at Seton Hall, where his team made the 1989 NCAA finals, losing in overtime to Michigan. He tried out with the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics, but was not offered a contract and ultimately waived.[2] In 1993-94 he played seven games for the Washington Bullets. He had another short stint in the NBA in lockout-shortened 1998-99 with the San Antonio Spurs, but received very little court time and was injured for the latter part of the season. He received a championship ring after the Spurs won the 1999 NBA title, although he was left off the playoff roster.

Whilst Gaze never had a steady NBA career like Chicago Bulls center Luc Longley, Gaze's superlative domestic record, not to mention an affable personality, fixed him in the public mind as the face of Australian basketball through the 1990s and early 2000s.

After the Sydney Olympics, Gaze retired from international competition, but continued to play in the NBL. On May 12, 2005, he announced his retirement from the game after 612 games in the NBL and 20 years as a professional basketballer.

Soon after, he released his autobiography, A Kid, a Ball, a Dream, co-authored with Grantley Bernard.

He is known for his gentle, unflappable nature, prematurely grey hair, and reticence to slam dunk. Andrew is married to Melinda. They have four children. He also has his own brand of basketball shoes: "Gaze".

Trivia
Record for most Olympic Games for an Australian basketballer (5)
Second highest scorer in World Championship history
Scored 18,908 points in the NBL over 612 games in a 22-season span at an average of 30.9 points per game
Received Most Valuable Player (MVP) award a record 7 times (1991, 1992, 1994-1998)
Australian International Player of the Year (1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000)
won the NBL Most Efficient Player award every year from 1990 to 1997. The award was then discontinued, making Gaze the only ever person to win the award

[lacasner]

Dejan Bodiroga he had many chances to play in the nba but was making great money and success in europe.

[plowking]

Dejan Bodiroga he had many chances to play in the nba but was making great money and success in europe.

He is an amazing player. Probably one of the best players I've ever seen create of the dribble for himself.

[DinoRadja40]

The dunking Suns gorilla, this guy has been doing it since 1980, and some one should have picked his high flying ass up some time ago.

[D-Fence]

As already said, many black and foreign players.

Bob Kurland

Kurland has to be one of the greatest players never to play in the NBA. Rather unusual reason compared to more modern players, too: that he just turned it down to play in the AAU, have a steady off-season job for the team owner, and play in the Olympics as an official "amateur". It surely would have been good for the league starting out to have someone to rival George Mikan, as Kurland did in college, especially with his great defense. The early NBA lost a lot of talent because (of a lack of) money, especially when AAU, NBL and such were legitimate competitors (which also explains the early retirements back then). Pop Gates was one of the few black players to play in the NBL, which was probably more competitive at the time than the BAA--soon to be NBA.

Bobby McDermott was one of several NBL players who didn't play in the BAA/NBA, but could have to finish their careers. He's also in the Hall of Fame.

Having read up on the Lakers-vs-Globetrotters exhibition games, I don't doubt that Marques Haynes, or Goose Tatum, Ermer Robinson and Babe Pressley could have played in the BAA/NBA.

[Lax4422Chik1342]

Have Pee Wee, Copter, The Destroyer, The Goat, Tarzan, Holcombe, The Boy Wonder, Pops Gates been mentioned? All playground legends.

[RainierBeachPoet]

Marques Haynes

and following up on the GT theme: goose tatum