Greatest waste of potential in nba history?

greatest waste of potential in nba history?

Michael Beasley is up there. Had the potential to be a 20/10 PF with range. Never gave enough of a shit.

DRose easy

Lebron. Could've been the next MJ but his career has been defined by choking and deferring

you're retarded

Len Bias

This right here might be it.

eh when I think waste of potential I think of guys that could have been incredible but just didn't try hard enough. Rose tried he just has shit luck with injuries.

Shaq. He's already a top 3 center of all time but if he actually tried to stay in shape regularly and had a better work ethic he would be the undisputed best center ever

d howard is definitely near the top of that list

imo though the greatest waste of talent was grant hill

he could have been on the level of mj or lebron if he stayed healthy during his prime

if we're talking pure meaningless waste bc of being a lazy/shitty person yeah dwight prob wins that hands down

Honestly: Shaq. I don't think people realize what could have been if Shaq had a better attitude, stayed in shape, and was more humble.

If he stayed in Orlando instead of chasing fame and fortune in LA, he probably could have taken over the east for a loooong time.

If he had put the Kobe beef aside and actually stayed in shape, they might have had 2-5 more titles with the Lakers, leaving him with perhaps 7-10 titles. Keeping his weight down in the later years may have helped his career longevity too.

Imagine an all-time great center doubling his title count simply by having a different approach. Shaq was a powerhouse; the modern Wilt, but he could have been that even moreso.

hes was just supposed to be the Next Lamar Odom

This. Shaq should have as many rings as Russell. The talent was there.

He's up there. The league's best rebounder for the better part of a decade and a top-level defender. Penny Hardaway and AI come to mind as others.

Latrell Sprewell

Ay caramba
Now that's my numba
As far as I remember
One dry summer

Grant Hill and its not even close

Dude weed lmao

Not at all

At least Dwight and Shaw still ended up being superstars, even if they weren't as good as they could have been. I feel like one of the biggest wastes of talent is this guy right here. This crazy nigger is 7 feet tall with a 44 inch vertical, for reference Michael Jordan had a 48 inch vertical but he was also 6 inches shorter than DJ. He might be the most athletic basketball player ever, up there with Bron and Wilt. But he has no fucking basketball skill, at all. he just relies solely on his athleticism. He can't shoot, he can't pass, he can't handle the ball, he can't post up, all he can do is catch alley oops and rebound. What a colossal waste of a crazy natural gift. If he practiced basketball fundamentals more he could have been legendary.

the real answer
top pick with literally 0 production

all of these. crazy to think that a top 5 center of all time was unironically the biggest waste of talent.

Shaq would have been the undisputed GOAT, period, any position, had he kept in shape and learned to shoot free throws underhanded Rick Barry style. If he even manages 70% free throws he's completely unstoppable, and he'd probably get closer to 90% underhanded.

I think most centers were never skilled, and sometimes it doesn't matter how hard you try, some people are never going to have NBA level skill.

I could practice every day for 10 years and I know I wouldn't be as skilled as some NBA players are naturally. I think for centers they're for the most part, "regular" people who would never have developed that skill. They just got extremely lucky and grew to 7 feet.

>ctrl+f brandon roy
>no results

for shame speee

if T-mac had Kobes mentality, He would have been GOAT

>They just got extremely lucky and grew to 7 feet.

Is it something like 15% of people 7ft or taller in the USA play pro basketball?

I think it's closer to 10% but yeah that's still astronomically high.

It's gotta be Shaq
>Physically dominant in his prime
>Could run the floor, dribble and drive on any big man in the game
>Unstoppable down low
He just had to stay in shape and practice free throws and he would have been averaging 40/20 a night easy.

>he has no fucking basketball skill, at all. he just relies solely on his athleticism. He can't shoot, he can't pass, he can't handle the ball, he can't post up, all he can do is catch alley oops and rebound.
this so fucking much. he is not an all-star and doesn't deserve a gold medal.

Shaq might have him beat

Literally "All I can do is jump straight up, catch, and dunk" man

D Rose

Why should he try and become a mediocre (if even that) post up, ball handling, passing center when he is already the best rim running, lob catching center out there? Both types of centers have their weaknesses, doesn't mean they are wasting their talent because of that. "Basketball skilled" centers need to have a bit of extra weight on them to dominate space better, that wouldn't help Jordan as he needs to be as light as possible in order to preserve his joints. There is a real place for fast, high flying centers in the league nowadays, as show by Javale McGee being an important bench player on a championship team.

He can defend. Do you think Rodman is shit too?

Does Greg Oden count?

No because that's just poor luck with injuries.

Waste of talent usually refers to high ceiling athletes that didn't come anywhere near it due to their own discipline

Fultz

>Rose tried he just has shit luck with injuries
so did Dwight. He was a beast before he got hurt and never recovered

Andrew Bynum

T-Mac really was incredibly gifted. Some of the passes that he was capable of were simply jaw dropping for somebody at his position with his scoring proficiency.

Why everybody haff to shit on Dwight? He was good before that injury