D'tective
But Lonzo!
Still a bust, tbh.
In what way? Below is a list of #2 picks since 2005 (excluded this year). On this list the only ones you can say definitely have been better/had a better career than him thus far are Durant, Dipo, and LMA. Let's not forget that Dipo didn't hit his stride until last year. You can argue MKG and Jabari have been better maybe, I would say you are wrong though.
#2 picks routinely don't pan out, at all. Look how many of these guys below were absolute . The kid is only in his 4th year and is playing pretty well imo.
2017 Lonzo Ball, UCLA – Los Angeles Lakers
2016 Brandon Ingram, Duke – Los Angeles Lakers
2015 D’Angelo Russell, Ohio State – Los Angeles Lakers
2014 Jabari Parker, Duke – Milwaukee Bucks
2013 Victor Oladipo, Indiana – Orlando Magic
2012 Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Kentucky – Charlotte Bobcats
2011 Derrick Williams, Arizona – Minnesota Timberwolves
2010 Evan Turner, Ohio State – Philadelphia 76ers
2000’s
2009 Hasheem Thabeet, Connecticut – Memphis Grizzlies
2008 Michael Beasley, Kansas State – Miami HEAT
2007 Kevin Durant, Texas – Seattle Supersonics
2006 LaMarcus Aldridge, Texas – Chicago Bulls (Draft rights traded to Portland Trail Blazers)
2005 Marvin Williams, North Carolina – Atlanta Hawks
In the way that if you're not hitting all-star level you're a bust as a #2 overall. It doesn't surprise me that the NBA front offices have got it wrong so many times though.
No, a bust is trading up to #10 to draft a scrub that washes out of the league within a few years tbh.
Object lesson in how a team can fail it's draftee, tbh.
I wouldn’t call him a bust yet. He’s having a pretty good season and his team isn’t super ty even though they’re in the East. So the stats aren’t completely empty. But suggesting that him being probably the 4th best #2 pick of the last 13 drafts doesn’t mean he’s not a bust. Just like being the fourth skinniest kid at fat camp doesn’t make you not fat. The #2 pick has been historically bad over the recent history of the draft. The expectation should be to have a franchise caliber player for over a decade with that pick, certainly a multiple all star caliber guy. Yet it’s happened so rarely at #2 over the years.
Time will tell, but “bust” is not out of the question.
Thats a bit much. How many franchise players are even in the league right now? 5? maybe 10, I think that would be generous. To expect a franchise player is kind of ridiculous. Maybe a multiple all star guy is fair, but he still has time to build to that.
If you get #2 in a draft, you should have pretty high hopes for the kid. Franchise caliber player isn’t too high an expectation imo. I’m not suggesting Shaq, Duncan, LeBron generational type talent. But franchise player, including the likes of a Russ or Anthony Davis, an Iverson or McGrady type guy. Call them losers but they are/were franchise caliber players. Every draft has a franchise player in its class. Most have at least a couple. At #2, go get one. That should be the expectation. Multiple all star level should be the floor expectation.
We all know that hasn’t happened with the #2 pick very much over the past couple decades. It’s riddled with guys like Darko and Thabeet and even college studs like Derrick Williams busted. It’s the curse of Len Bias really. Since him, the #2 pick has been for the most part an utter disaster. before Durant, the last #2 pick to be “great” enough to finish his career with a 20+ ppg average was 1972’s #2 pick Bob McAdoo. Even before the past 13 drafts, the #2 pick has been littered with Danny Ferrys and Shawn Bradleys and Stromile Swifts. It’s cursed.
take. Go kill yourself already.
Definitely not a bust. Guessing most of you haven't watched him much. He's playing a different game now. He's a threat as a shooter and has nice court vision. His defense has actually improved. He has star quality, to be sure. I'd pick him, absolutely, over any of the Lakers Babies. But that's not even the topic anymore. He needed to get out of that toxic environment, has a coach and GM that are pushing him and teaching him, and he's inching toward All-Star quality.
Turned into a pretty good basketball player once he left the toxic environment.
he's an obvious bust, the burden of having a busted draft pick is on the team, not the player. Whether he becomes a good player in a far distant future, has little to do with a teams capability to draft.
DLO- definitely not a bust if you understand basketball at all.
ZO- definitely looks like a bust if you understand basketball at all. He will never play at the level DLO plays because of his shooting ability. Its extremely streaky at best. Thats not good enough for the NBA long term.
Might have taken longer than expected for him to start playing at a high level but that’s in large part because the Lakers wasted his rookie year with the Kobe retirement tour.
Turning the Lakers into a tribute to Kobe for more or less two full seasons without any effort to win or rebuild during that time set that franchise back 5 years.
This.
#mamba_mentality
This tbh
Who’s ty troll is this btw? You can come out of hiding pussy
Drafting well and developing well are not the same. You can draft a talent and they blossom else where. Means scouts were right but coaching staff couldn't unlock the potential.
He is not a a star and not a bust...
But Russell was a bust in year two according to everyone here... Revisionist history...and lack of perspective.
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