The 10 college players I was most wrong about

[littlekeed]

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I thought Keith Van Horn would end up being better than Tim Duncan

I thought Jay Williams would at this point be the best PG in the NBA, although this could be an injury one.


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even if i wished these at some point, i could never shake the feeling that i was backing a severe underdog.

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I thought Emeka Okafor wouldn't be able to make it on the pro level.

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i admit i thought this too, but only because of his back injuries.


my biggest college players i was most wrong about:

i thought ron dayne was going to be the next bettis and much better than tiki.

i thought mcgahee was going to be a horrible bust for the bills.

i actually thought eli manning would actually BE better than peyton and tom brady put together.

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Um... he was.

Because of him we don't have Travis Henry putting up 1500 yard seasons anymore.

[Green Kool Aid]

2004 i wanted jameer nelson over al jefferson

WHOOOOOOOOOPS TY DANNY

[kyro]

As someone who saw Larry Johnson play in person, I'll say him. I, along with all the scouts, apparently, thought he'd be a bust. Would rip up all the crappy teams, and be non-existent against any good teams.

[Isura]

Calbert Chaney - Thought he'd be an all-star.
Mike Bibby - Didn't think he had an NBA game beyond shooting.
Mateen Cleaves - THought he was better.

[Degenerasian]

While the 2 and the 3 positions are close, it isn't as close as almost everyone in this thread seems to think.

[bpc009]

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I thought lendale white was going to be an NFL stud.

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he played well last year. no reason to knock him in the slightest.

ok, so massive injuries rule out players being on this list. if being crazily addicted to marijuana or beating women eliminate you, then ignore my next two, otherwise I submit two other great college RBs to the I was sooo wrong about these guys list:

-Rashaan Salaam

-Lawrence Phillips

[Colt McCoy]

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I thought lendale white was going to be an NFL stud.

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he played well last year. no reason to knock him in the slightest.

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Especially since if you do knock him the fatass might try to eat you if he bothers to show up.

[brettbrettr]

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#9: Mario Williams- Like Reddick, this one is still way too early, which is why I have them as only #9 and #10 on my list. But I thought that he had to be the real deal if they were taking him over Bush. I thought he'd be DROY for sure.

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Haven't read the replies yet but this guy is going to be a beast. And I think you'll see it in week 1. He was hurt last year *and* a rookie. Jesus. Next year he's going to be #1 on your "Guys I was right about" list.

[Assani Fisher]

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Assani here:

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Thay3R,

I know that your post was made in jest, and yes it was funny. But just to defend myself:

Note: I fully realize that these numbers aren't verified, but at the very least they show that all 3 players are similar:

JJ Reddick has a 33in vertical leap: LINK(6th paragraph)

Rip Hamilton has a 29in vertical leap: LINK(1:34 mark of interview)

Ray Allen has a 32in veritcal leap: LINK(5th post)



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Assani there:

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That's pretty cool that Oden is so athletic. I'm hoping the Blazers take him (and I expect they will). But I wouldn't worry too much about Durant's weaker performance. He's still going to be sick.

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Yeah... good post on TrueHoop about not reading too much into the draft combine numbers:

Draft Combine Numbers Are Almost Pointless

"On DraftExpress, Jonathan Givony makes the point that a player doing really well (Greg Oden) or really poorly (Kevin Durant) in the various measurements taken a few days ago in Orlando is no reason to conclude much of anything. After all, it's a contest to find the best basketball player, not the best jumper, lifter, or reacher. History, he writes, is littered with examples of front offices reading too much into these test results."

-Al

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I searched for this post just to write about this. Seriously think about these two things for a second then tell me how accurate these tests are:

-TJ Ford measured in as being slower in the various footspeed tests than Chris Kaman, Kirk Penney and Carmelo Anthony

-That same Andre Iguodala who was robbed of the slam dunk championship a year ago, only recorded a 34 inch vertical leap, one inch more than J.J. Redick last year

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[img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Yes, I believe testings are pointless and you have to look at how they compete on the basketball court.

I was merely defending JJ's athleticism(which I don't think is even a big issue, as its what you do on the court).

Context, man. Context.

[Assani Fisher]

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Guard = PG SG. Forward = SF PF. Get it?

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This is a really silly thread hijack, but you guys are wrong. In 50% of basketball offenses the 2 and 3 positions are completely interchangeable, as they're the same exact position except on different sides of the court(and the PG can run the play to either side as a result).

My college coach never reffered to them as SG and SF, but rather as 2 guard and 3 guard. From all my experiences(which I'll gladly admit include nothing in the NBA) I've never heard the term "small forward" used in practices or by coaches...its a term that fans use.

I've heard all my coaches use 3 different terms when referring to it.

First is the 3 guard, as I mentioned above.

Second, if they're splitting up the team to do a shooting drill, they'll usually say something like "Ok, guards down on this basket and bigs down here." Carmelo would fit in the "guards" here.

Third, if they're doing something like ball handling drills sometimes they'll want to have PGs separate from the other perimeter players so they'll say "Points down here, wings down there, and bigs over here." Carmelo would fit with in with the wings here.


Next time you're watching a game, watch the 2 and 3 the on offense. I bet you'll see that there really isn't that much of a difference of their role on offense and that they do play the same position just on different sides of the court.

Now the coaches may choose to do something different with each player based upon their strengths. For example, the Pistons offense probably has the 2 coming off of screens looking to shoot a lot more than the 3. But that has nothing to do with their positions, and is solely due to the fact that Hamilton is good at that while Prince is not. I guarantee you that if the Pistons signed a small SG like Iverson and Rip was playing the 3 that he would still do the same exact things on offense. In other words, there is absolutely no difference between the 2 and the 3 spot on offense.

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You do realize you cannot even debate this, right? Like Clarkmeister said, "That's nice and all, but the rest of the world uses "guard" to mean "guard." " That simple. Anthony played very few minutes at SG, and you're on drugs if you think the positions are exactly the same, just on different sides of the court.

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I'm not sure what you refer to as "the rest of the world." I'm telling you that I've played on every level up to college, assistant coached, been a referree for a highly competitive league, worked my summers during college at a private basketball court, and held my own youth basketball seminars...and everyone I've ever encountered in the world of basketball uses my terms. Maybe some fans who sit at home and watch basketball on their tvs differentiate between "small forward" and "shooting guard" on offense.