To me, there are guys that never quite lived up to their promise due to injuries or otherwise;  guys like Penny Hardaway, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, Shawn Kemp etc..

All guys that had some great seasons but their path towards true greatness derailed by whatever.  I would never call them "busts", though

Then you have "busts" in my eyes.  Guys pumped coming out of college or high school who never panned out period.  They couldn't even show a season or two of greatness.  Take your pick from the '86 draft.  Then you have kids like Darius Miles on the cover of S.I. right of the bat being hyped up.  High lottery picks that did very little or squat would be those "busts".

Darko Milicic
Eddie Curry
Kwame Brown
Sagana Diop
Nickoloz Tskitishvili
Adam Morrison
Patrick O'Bryant
Joe Alexander
Jordan Hill

That's top draft picks from this decade I think all would need to be included.

Joe Forte
Kedrick Brown
Jerome Moiso
Gabe Pruitt
JR Giddens
Rafael Araujo
Robert Swift
Shaun Livingston
Raymond Felton
Rashard McCants
Josh McRoberts
Sean May
William Avery
Trajon Langdon
so far Thabeet but it's too early
Michael Sweetney
Tractor Traylor
Leon Smith
Vitally Potapenko
Travis Knight
Gerald Green
Marvin Williams
Shannon Brown
Zoran Planinic
Fran Vazquez
Frederick Weis


My theory is....if it feels like a bust, then it's a bust

Wow, you have quite a list.....didn't traylor play a few good seasons....he was a dinner bell though..!

My vote for topic of the year, (though I don't think we can actually discuss it, can we?)

 TP for you...do you mean that or is it sarcasm.....LOL, I don't mind if I missed it, it was just a thought to talk about, I am amazed and impressed at the knowledge and depth you guys have..!

Joe Forte
Kedrick Brown
Jerome Moiso
Gabe Pruitt
JR Giddens
Rafael Araujo
Robert Swift
Shaun Livingston
Raymond Felton
Rashard McCants
Josh McRoberts
Sean May
William Avery
Trajon Langdon
so far Thabeet but it's too early
Michael Sweetney
Tractor Traylor
Leon Smith
Vitally Potapenko
Travis Knight
Gerald Green
Marvin Williams
Shannon Brown
Zoran Planinic
Fran Vazquez
Frederick Weis
My theory is....if it feels like a bust, then it's a bust

I understand the 'feels like a bust' perspective, but I'll offer a counter-argument:
It's a little unfair to label late first and second round picks as busts since almost by definition they are gambles and longshots.  In some years, like Moiso's, the draft class was so bad that lottery picks were like second rounders.  

I think 'bust' may be too harsh an assessment on the following guys:
Forte (late 1st round)
Moiso (who really thought he had a chance?)
Pruitt (2nd)
Giddens (last pick in 1st)
Knight (Late 1st and he surprised people by looking decent in his 1st year)
McRoberts (2nd)
Brown (late 1st)
Smith (late 1st and probably mentally ill)

Of course, hype has a lot to do with perception of 'bust' and therefore all Duke guys (like Avery, McRoberts, Langdon) are automatic busts if they don't perform. Add Laetner.

Quote from: Meadowlark_Scal on December 30, 2009, 06:20:28 PM

Quote from: Bahku on December 30, 2009, 05:29:25 PM

My vote for topic of the year, (though I don't think we can actually discuss it, can we?)

 TP for you...do you mean that or is it sarcasm.....LOL, I don't mind if I missed it, it was just a thought to talk about, I am amazed and impressed at the knowledge and depth you guys have..!

Having read many posts by Bahku, my bet is that he was being sarcastic but not intending any disrespect. I'm thinking he enjoyed the play on words in your thread title. 

Here's hoping that the play on words was intentional (there is actually an all-elusive triple entendre in your title...)

Yeah, NG nailed it as usual ... I just loved the pun/play on words ... I did not intend anything negative whatsoever to MS, just the "bust players" conjured up interesting possibilities as far as what the discussion would be about. Wasn't sure anyone would catch the pun ... TP's to you guys for doing so.