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I thought Steph Curry didn't have the athleticism or PG skills to be more than an explosive scoring guard like Lou Williams or something. I severely underrated his 3 point shooting, by merely thinking he would be one of the best 3 point shooters in league history.

If I take my Duke bias out of it (Okafor). Joe Alexander easily. I honestly thought he was going to be what Gordon Hayward turned out to be, but stronger and meaner. I thought he was the clear #3 guy in that class behind Rose and Beasley (thought he was clearly above Westbrook and Love). Then he was out of the league in a year and a half haha.

That then made me drastically underrate Hayward as a prospect. I thought, this dude is just a skinnier and less aggressive Alexander. Hayward has no shot in the NBA.

So I have him as my biggest miss.

I thought Dion Waiters would have been better. Offensively he just chucked wayy to much and doesn't bring much else to the game.

Basically a lot of Michigan players who looked like a sure thing for the NBA ( Burke, Stauskas etc.). I call this the Beilein effect.

I thought Sherman Douglas would be out of the league after one contract. He turned out to be a solid player and had a long career.

I liked Tyrus Thomas a lot coming out of college. What a bum he turned out to be.

But, on the make side I do remember being on the school bus freshman year in HS and arguing non stop with two buddies who kept saying Chris Mullin would be a bust in the NBA while I was claiming he would be an all star.

Thabeet recent news reminded me of this. Even tho I am big Euro fanboy, I was not very high on MArc Gasol going into the league. I remember when Gasol went to Memphis, team also acquired 2 other international bigs - Darko Milicic and Hammed Haddadi. I was thinking that that situation is fascinating, I was like, well, they got 3 very similar caliber centers ( ), none of them really starter caliber but I think all 3 are above average bench players, I am very interested in their minute distribution. I remember talking about this with my friend, and we both agreed Darko Milicic is the most competent starter out of all 3
And then when Memphis drafted Thabeet, I was like - well, here gos Marc Gasol starter status for good.

Haseem Thabeet is fascinating case, because i swear every fan I listened or read, told how Thabeet is a sure 100% BUST. Like every casual fan knew Thabeet is a bust and a huge useless reach, yet all Professionals had him going top 3 in the draft. Explain me how this is possible?

HeatBeast wrote:Jahlil Okafor was my biggest miss by far. I thought he was going to be the next Tim Duncan. And by the looks of just his rookie season alone, I had a feeling that such a comparison would come into fruition.

But unfortunately, that went haywire real quick. By this point of Duncan's career, 4th season, Duncan had already established himself as one of the best players in the world, won a championship with a Finals MVP nod, and was a bonafide regular season MVP candidate. Topped off by being an all-star/NBA/defense team member consistently.

Meanwhile, Okafor has yet to even sniff a single all-star game, let alone cement himself as an NBA starting bigman.

I loved Big Jah too. I wouldn't have compared him with Duncan but I did think he would be a transformational offensive player with good enough defense and rebounding. What's between the ears matters. Him and Josh Jackson (who I was also SUPER high on) have tons of talent but have respective personal issues that have limited them.

In our defense - they went #s 3 and #4 in real life drafts so it wasn't just us making the wrong call.

A lot of Misses haha

Jahlil Okafor- Lol I thought he'd be Tim Duncan without the elite defense. Actually showing some good form as of late though.

Anthony Bennett- I saw a guy who I thought would be to fast to be defended by 4's and too strong to be defended by 3's, in college he was a good rebounder and could shoot the 3. However I did successfully choose that he would be picked at #1, wasn't that big on Tristan Thompson and Cav's had a huge hole at the 3 spot at the time.

Mario Hezonja- He looked athletic and looked like he had elite shooting skills plus he was so cocky I thought he had that killer mentality.

De'Aaron Fox- Not that I thought he would bust, I just had Fultz, Ball, Smith and Nikatilina ranked ahead. Didn't think he would be able to shoot, thought he was going to be a faster Elfrid Payton. Gosh has he proved me wrong. Potentially might be the best player from this draft.

Jahii Carson- For some reason I remember being really high on the man from Arizona State before the 2014 Draft. Thought he could be a poor mans Ty Lawson.

Stanley Johnson- Brought into the predraft hype, that he could devealop into a Leonard/Butler lite player.

Terrance Ferguson- Watched a little bit of him in the Aussie League, wasn't impressed thought 21 was way to high.

Probably a lot more, that's what I can remember at the moment.

Had fultz as all star ...

Duke4life831 wrote:If I take my Duke bias out of it (Okafor). Joe Alexander easily. I honestly thought he was going to be what Gordon Hayward turned out to be, but stronger and meaner. I thought he was the clear #3 guy in that class behind Rose and Beasley (thought he was clearly above Westbrook and Love). Then he was out of the league in a year and a half haha.

That then made me drastically underrate Hayward as a prospect. I thought, this dude is just a skinnier and less aggressive Alexander. Hayward has no shot in the NBA.

So I have him as my biggest miss.

The Duke player I messed up the worst on was... Will Avery. He left after his sophomore year with Brand, and Coach K made scathing remarks at how foolish he thought Avery was for leaving - while heaping big praises on Brand. It seemed to me that Coach K's words about Avery were far too harsh and perhaps damaged Avery's confidence. He was like a deer in the headlights in the NBA.

THIS DECADE DRAFTS

Much better than I expected:
2018 - M.Bagley
2017 - D.Fox
2016 - B.Hield
2015 - J.Richardson
2014 - Z.LaVine
2013 - V.Oladipo
2012 - K.Middleton
2011 - K.Leonard
2010 - H.Whiteside

Much worse than I expected:
2018 - M.Bamba
2017 - J.Jackson
2016 - T.Prince
2015 - J.Okafor
2014 - A.Wiggins
2013 - M.C.Williams
2012 - H.Barnes
2011 - K.Faried
2010 - G.Monroe

I thought Tayshaun Prince was an abomination of a pick for the Pistons. Rail thin, no way he'd ever contribute anything. Only ended up with the most iconic play in the Pistons' championship run.

Three prospects immediately come to mind.

Jahlil Okafor - I had switched over to preferring Towns by the time the draft rolled around, but I still thought he would have a very good career.

Adreian Payne - Even after years in the NBA, I thought he could still have a good career. Had the physical tools, but didn't account for his brain of Wizard of Oz's Scarecrow.

Meyers Leonard - No joke, I thought he would wind up the best player from his draft class.

How I missed:

Overrated - Thomas Robinson, Ben McLemore, Dante Exum, Noah Vonleh, Markelle Fultz

Underrated - Bradley Beal, Karl Anthony Towns, Lauri Markkanen

Ruzious wrote:

Duke4life831 wrote:If I take my Duke bias out of it (Okafor). Joe Alexander easily. I honestly thought he was going to be what Gordon Hayward turned out to be, but stronger and meaner. I thought he was the clear #3 guy in that class behind Rose and Beasley (thought he was clearly above Westbrook and Love). Then he was out of the league in a year and a half haha.

That then made me drastically underrate Hayward as a prospect. I thought, this dude is just a skinnier and less aggressive Alexander. Hayward has no shot in the NBA.

So I have him as my biggest miss.

The Duke player I messed up the worst on was... Will Avery. He left after his sophomore year with Brand, and Coach K made scathing remarks at how foolish he thought Avery was for leaving - while heaping big praises on Brand. It seemed to me that Coach K's words about Avery were far too harsh and perhaps damaged Avery's confidence. He was like a deer in the headlights in the NBA.

Gosh, Avery got me too. Back on AOL or prodigy there was a guy who hyped Avery up as the top amateur PLAYER in the country, better than Brand. I was ready for him to be the next great point guard, an efficient Steph Marbury, and welp, wrong I was. I thought Trajon Langdon would be a great spot up shooter and that Maggette would have developed more.

I was right to hype of Francis as the next great point guard... for about 2-3 years.

I'm still holding on Jahlil

Felt HoF bound:
Michael Beasley
Greg Oden

Felt longterm NBA starter level:

Acie Law
Salim Stoudemire
Allan Ray
Trajan Langdon
Jon Scheyer
Gerry McNamara
Troy Bell
Scottie Reynolds
Khalid El-Amin
Da'Sean Butler
Miles Simon
Juan Dixon
Julius Hodge
Luther Head
Dee Brown


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I just started watching basketball but I though Ed o bannon was going to be a star. I remember like Cherokee parks a lot cause of his name. I was super high on joe smith and bought his jersey and several of his basketball cards. I thought drew gooden, Shane battier and nick collision were going to be stars. It took me a while to realize college success doesn’t lead to nba stardom. I also had a lot of bias towards Stanford players. I was super high on josh Childress, Casey Jacobsen and Jason Collins. I really liked scoonie pen in college and thought he would have been in the league as a backup at least. I was super high on Stromile swift, demarr Johnson, anthony Randolph, brandan wright, Jan vesley, skal labissiere, Marcus Williams and so many more. i also said the magic were stupid for drafting Howard over okafor. I didn’t think Yao Ming was going to be any good. Jimmy butler and klay Thompson have far exceeded my expectations. I didn’t think they would be all stars.

Eh. I had Bamba #2 on my board (behind Luka, at least). Considering how strong the class looks so far, that may not age well. I'm pretty sure I've had worse misses, but that one is fresh in my mind.

I also thought Elfrid Payton and Cameron Payne were good value picks - nothing too crazy. Payton was a miss, but on Payne I was flat-out wrong.

I think there's a reddit comment I made during Giannis' second season where I said I didn't envision him being an All Star. That was probably my worst lol