Who are past generation's Shaun Livingstons?

[bdm860]

While reading today that Shaun Livingston will/has signed with Miami, it got me thinking a little.  Here's a player who had a lot of potential, but may now never come anywhere close to reaching it.  There were talks of him being like the next Magic Johnson due to his size, and now I don't think he'll ever come anywhere close to an All-Star (just my opinion, maybe I'm wrong).  So assuming Livingston does flame out, who are some past generation's Shaun Livingstons?  Guys who showed a lot of potential but then got derailed by injuries before they ever had a chance to truly shine?

Of course there's guys like Len Bias, Hank Gathers and even Ben Wilson, but I'm thinking more along the lines of guys who actually made it to the NBA but due to injuries never reached their potential.  Maybe showed promise for a season or two, then had a career ending injury. 

Like Shaun Livingston and Jonathan Bender, who are some of the guys in the past who had similar potential and unfortunately ended with similar fates?

[shookones99]

While reading today that Shaun Livingston will/has signed with Miami, it got me thinking a little.  Here's a player who had a lot of potential, but may now never come anywhere close to reaching it.  There were talks of him being like the next Magic Johnson due to his size, and now I don't think he'll ever come anywhere close to an All-Star (just my opinion, maybe I'm wrong).  So assuming Livingston does flame out, who are some past generation's Shaun Livingstons?  Guys who showed a lot of potential but then got derailed by injuries before they ever had a chance to truly shine?

Of course there's guys like Len Bias, Hank Gathers and even Ben Wilson, but I'm thinking more along the lines of guys who actually made it to the NBA but due to injuries never reached their potential.  Maybe showed promise for a season or two, then had a career ending injury. 

Like Shaun Livingston and Jonathan Bender, who are some of the guys in the past who had similar potential and unfortunately ended with similar fates?

Jay Williams was a star at Duke and the 2nd overall pick.  I think he only played one or two years before his motorcycle accident.  He never reached his potential.   I remember a couple years ago he went to training camp with the Nets and got cut early.

[Redz]

Penny Hardaway to some degree - though he stetched out his career still.

Sam Bowie

[indeedproceed]

Jonathan Bender also comes to mind. His knees gave out on him but he had a lot of the tools..

I think penny though might be the most relevant.

[KCattheStripe]

Bill Walton

[Michael Anthony]

Penny is a touch call, because he actually did live up to his potential - it just did not last long because of injury. Sort of like Bil Walton; he played at an extremely high level, but  injuries cut his productive years short.

Livingston is a rare case because he was billed as a potentially great player, but he never broke out. It would be like Big Al never bouncing back after his injury plagued start.

This should be a real challenge, because these guys wash out of the league before we have a chance to remember them.

[nickagneta]

Here's the problem with the question. Livingston was as rare an entity as there is in NBA history. A huge, athletic PG that had his best years in the league at 19, 20, and 21. Who can you compare him to, Magic, Penny, and who else? No one really.

He'll never be Magic, god, who will. But, there are a lot of similarities to Penny Hardaway due to early success and then a devastating injury that could linger and halt any true greatness he might have had.

But other than those two guys who is there? Magic broke the mold when it came to big young PGs. Before and for the most part after him as well, PGs that got lots of playing time in this league were not tall or young. Even 22 year old PGs chosen high in the draft tended to sit a year or more before getting some run. And none were big. 6'7"-6'9" PGs with NBA level talent just don't happen much.

Now if you just want to pick a guy that was highly touted and then flamed after a bad injury, there's tons of guys like that throughout NBA history. But someone who was anything like Livingston and had similar things happen to them, there just aren't any if you don't count Penny Hardaway.

[jdub1660]

Before finishing the first post paragraph, I immediately was thinking Jonathan Bender. But after putting more thought into it, though some might argue the different situations, I'd like to mention Eddie Griffin. The guy had talent, a big that could hit the 3 and rebound well and block shots. But he was seemingly depressed his entire NBA career leading him into alcoholism and his death(most likely suicide). His inability to connect to players around him(KG) was caused by all that, and I believe he would have had a much better career if his problems had been noticed sooner. RIP Eddie Griffin. (May 30, 1982 – August 17, 2007)

[greg683x]

What about Robert Swift??  Remember, the guy Danny Ainge was apparently in love with going into the draft, but Seattle nabbed him right before us and we ended up with Al Jefferson, which may have been the biggest blessing ever.

Towards the end of his second season Swift showed a huge improvement.  Then had a really bad knee injury and was out the entire '06-'07 season.  Swift obviously didnt come into the league with the hype Livingston did, but Swift had a lot of people in Seattle excited after the '05-'06 season, and after the knee injury he hasnt been the same since.

Other than him Im pretty hard pressed to find a guy to lose it that young, and like I said, he isnt even as hyped as Livingston was......Maybe if Greg Oden's knee continuously as problems you could add him.

[Roy Hobbs]

When I think injuries and derailed careers, one of the first names that comes to mind is "Out of Service" Pervis Ellison.  People forget how good he was coming out of college, and he only got to show a fraction of that potential in the NBA.

[Donoghus]

Bernard King.

He still had a heckuva career but he had a devastating injury right in the middle of his prime and it definitely hindered him the rest of his career.  (Despite that, he still had a decent comeback part of his career)

EDIT: I guess, re-reading the question, King had more than "one or two productive seasons" before his injury.  Eh...  I'll still throw it out there. 

[cordobes]

As I've just written in another thread, I guess I never had Livingston on such as high regard as others here.

It's hard to answer that question because, with or without injuries, Livingston and Bender didn't show enough to be considered sure bets to be great or even very good. They did too little on NBA courts to offer a decent prediction. I mean, had Derrick Coleman gone down with injuries after his 3rd season, he would be considered a HOFer who never made it because of injuries. On the other hand, had the same thing happened to Steve Nash, nobody would say that. 

A better question would be which players missed or will miss the HOF due to injuries: a serious injury at the peak of their career, injury proneness reducing their productivity through out their career, premature dead, etc.

Ralph Sampson?
Sam Bowie?
Kiki Vandeweghe?
Reggie Lewis? (homer pick)
Mark Price?
Alonzo Mourning? (I think he'll do it anyway)
Penny?
Kevin Johnson?
C-Webb?
Grant Hill?
Bernard King? (he should be there, anyway)

[nickagneta]

If we are just going with anyone and not specifically a PG, I really liked Roy's Pervis Ellison comparison. The guy was a monster at Louisville.

It also made me think of another college guy that had a similar thing happen and was probably better than Ellison, Danny Manning. After that first ACL went his rookie year, he was just never the same again. And considering he averaged 17 and 6 for a bunch of years and over 22 PPG one year, that's saying something. Manning had the ability to be a HOFer but the knee injury at 23 probably cost him that as it's effects and lingering recurring problems made him so much less than he could have been.

Oh, Livingston probably has never shown he is anywhere near Danny Manning good so maybe this isn't the best example.

[im right]

Rudy Tomjanovich was comming on pretty strong.

[bdm860]

As I've just written in another thread, I guess I never had Livingston on such as high regard as others here.

It's hard to answer that question because, with or without injuries, Livingston and Bender didn't show enough to be considered sure bets to be great or even very good. They did too little on NBA courts to offer a decent prediction. I mean, had Derrick Coleman gone down with injuries after his 3rd season, he would be considered a HOFer who never made it because of injuries. On the other hand, had the same thing happened to Steve Nash, nobody would say that. 

See my whole thought when I asked the original question was that in 10-15 years there will be probably be a whole lot of very knowledgeable basketball fans in that next generation of fans who have never heard of Shaun Livingston, just because he came and went so quick.  He showed flashes of brilliance, and had a huge amounts of potential, and now...
I figure there's got be guys like that from past generations too.  Guys who everyone thought was going to be the next big thing, but now nobody remembers.

I might mention Antonio McDyess too.  He started off as a beast, putting up All-Star numbers, then that injury bug hit.  
Ron Harper and Brad Daugherty from the past generation too.  While they both had productive careers, Harper had that knee injury and Daugherty had those back problems, and they were both never the same.  Not on the Livingston level because these guys all were successful even if just for short periods, but they could very well be forgotten by future generations.