Who are the biggest draft busts of all-time chosen in the top 3? Joe Smith #1, Darko #2, Shawn Bradley (#2?), and Kwame Brown (#1) come to mind. Smith and Bradley are players that still found a role in the league in spite of falling far short of their draft day expectations. Brown and Darko appear to be heading down the same road. Are there any that did not even make it in the league? Career threatening injuries aside, because that was not their fault.
I don't want to come off like I'm a big fan of Kwame Brown, but I have to defend the guy on this one. Look at his stats this year. Watch a couple Lakers games. How can he be leading the team on a + basis by double the next closest player on the team and still be a bust? What is it with the bust fascination? It's like how everyone wanted to call Phil Michelson a failure because he couldn't win a major. Then he busted out with 3 in about a year.
Compare him to other top 3's and see how he stacks up. He is not even their main future guy at the center spot. To me top 3 means superstar potential. To fall short of that and end up as a bench player, even a solid bench player is still a bust. Another criteria for a bust is when the original drafting team has to deal him to give him a fresh start away from all the baggage. I know there has to be more and some guys that did not even make it in the league?
In the early '70s, the Blazers drafted a guy named LaRue Martin #1 overall, and he averaged only 5 points per game in 4 seasons. He's generally regarded as the all-time biggest NBA draft bust, the worst #1 overall pick of them all. And in the year that Len Bias died just after being drafted #2, the Warriors had picked Chris Washburn from N.C. State at #3. He only played parts of two seasons, before his career ended because of (I think) a drug suspension. All 4 guys mentioned in Max's original post are practically hall-of-famers in comparison to those two dudes. There are also a bunch of guys who were either disappointingly mediocre or couldn't stay healthy. Sam Bowie and Pervis Ellison were both in that category. And Dale Davis' fellow tazee, The Kandi Man, is certainly more of a disappointment as a #1 overall pick than Joe Smith.
How about Jay Williams? I think that a good rule of thumb is that you have to either be out of the league or older than 25 to qualify as a bust.
... At what # was Harold "Baby Jordan" Miner picked? I also remember that there was a major bust in the 1985 draft, but forgot the name.
looks like the 1985 featured some mediocre players who were drafted early- Tisdale, Benoit Benjamin, Xavier Mc Daniel, Jon Koncak, Joe Kleine- in the same year, Malone or Dumars where picked later. 1985 NBA Draft - Basketball-Reference.com
Darko definately did not help the team that drafted him, but it seems like it was by choice. That's why I don't consider it a bust. We picked up Rasheed and then went on a 2 year title run with no PT for newbies. It was a very unusual situation that the team that got the 2nd pick won the title... without using the 2nd pick.
I consider it a bust. Most times its the players fault but sometimes its not. Its unfortunate that a player has to carry a bust label but the one who made him one is the GM.
i would say darko is an incomplete more than a bust. how can you be a bust if you are getting your first real court time in year 3 of your nba career.
Cuz the pistons blew it. If darko is awesome detroit blew it. If darko sucks detroit blew it. Bottom line Darko was a bust for detroit. Overall, its incomplete but he has some serious growing to do cuz of the guys picked after him.
i will agree detroit blew it though. so that makes the organization more of a bust than the player to me. darko was just in one of the greatest drafts in history. can't hold that against him. those guys will always put up great stats. i think darko will win a few championships in his career and those guys won't win as many except wade and lebron.
I wouldn't say the X-man was mediocore. A 5 time 20+ PPG scorer, 12 year veteran, and career averages of 15 + 6, which if you subtract the last couple years playing out the string, he's a lifetime 17.5 PPG player.
Darko is currently a bust because of his high draft status...but primarily because of the players picked around him. If Darko gets drafted 2nd round, the Darko debate immediately has no legs. This is not to say that he can't turn it around. (although I doubt it)
