Biggest fall from grace in NBA history?

[Yoki_IsTheName]

Eddy Curry.

How can people forget?

[Finkelskyhook]

I would say Shaq.  By getting so grossly out of shape...Really ended up a caracature of himself.

Sour grape book was icing on the cake.

[MJohnnyboy]

The biggest fall from grace a player has ever had was in fact (and its not even close) David Thompson. The man was MJ before MJ came into the league. He had amazing hops and a killer jumpshot. Not to mention the man was way before his time (The league wasn't populated with incredibly athletic two-guards yet). He was one of the first players to challenge Wilt's record when he scored 53 points in a half and then 73 for the game. In his first two years in the league, he was an all-NBA first teamer and had even gotten the nickname "Skywalker". He was even MJ's idol.

Then his monster coke problem got in the way thanks to the drug-ravaged era of the late 70s. His coke problem and his untimely injuries derailed his conditioning, and he was washed up and out of the league when he was 30.

That is what I call a fall from grace from what should have been a mindblowing superstar.

[fairweatherfan]

The biggest fall from grace a player has ever had was in fact (and its not even close) David Thompson. The man was MJ before MJ came into the league. He had amazing hops and a killer jumpshot. Not to mention the man was way before his time (The league wasn't populated with incredibly athletic two-guards yet). He was one of the first players to challenge Wilt's record when he scored 53 points in a half and then 73 for the game. In his first two years in the league, he was an all-NBA first teamer and had even gotten the nickname "Skywalker". He was even MJ's idol.

Then his monster coke problem got in the way thanks to the drug-ravaged era of the late 70s. His coke problem and his untimely injuries derailed his conditioning, and he was washed up and out of the league when he was 30.

That is what I call a fall from grace from what should have been a mindblowing superstar.

Great call, can't believe I forgot that one.  TP.

If you want to go super old-school, Alex Groza.  Captain of 2 NCAA title teams at Kentucky, led the 48 Olympic team to gold, Rookie of the Year and 2-time All-Star in 2 seasons in the NBA.  One of the true "golden boys" of his time, and probably on track for a HOF career.

Then he was found to have shaved points at Kentucky, and was banned from the NBA for life.  You don't see much of a bigger fall from grace than that.

[saltlover]

Tim Hardaway.

You really think so?

Dude was All-NBA 2nd team in '99 at age 32 (coming off a 3 year run of All NBA 1st or 2nd team).  And he had a solid 2000 and 2001 as the starting point guard for a 50+ win team that was a lot of people's favorite to come out of the East.  That's at ages 33 and 34.  He drops off after that and bounces around a few teams, but that's at age 35+.  Can't expect too much from a 6'0" PG then.

Remember his comment after he retired.


He has not been allowed around the NBA since.

See, I like to think of Tim Hardaway as more of an ongoing story of redemption.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/dave_zirin/08/22/tim.hardaway/index.html

[slamtheking]

The biggest fall from grace a player has ever had was in fact (and its not even close) David Thompson. The man was MJ before MJ came into the league. He had amazing hops and a killer jumpshot. Not to mention the man was way before his time (The league wasn't populated with incredibly athletic two-guards yet). He was one of the first players to challenge Wilt's record when he scored 53 points in a half and then 73 for the game. In his first two years in the league, he was an all-NBA first teamer and had even gotten the nickname "Skywalker". He was even MJ's idol.

Then his monster coke problem got in the way thanks to the drug-ravaged era of the late 70s. His coke problem and his untimely injuries derailed his conditioning, and he was washed up and out of the league when he was 30.

That is what I call a fall from grace from what should have been a mindblowing superstar.

Great call, can't believe I forgot that one.  TP.

If you want to go super old-school, Alex Groza.  Captain of 2 NCAA title teams at Kentucky, led the 48 Olympic team to gold, Rookie of the Year and 2-time All-Star in 2 seasons in the NBA.  One of the true "golden boys" of his time, and probably on track for a HOF career.

Then he was found to have shaved points at Kentucky, and was banned from the NBA for life.  You don't see much of a bigger fall from grace than that.

beat me to that Thompson selection.  Groza fits the bill as well.  Michael Ray Richardson was another one.

for me a 'fall from grace' is someone who suffered a self-inflicted catastrophe.  I think some of the obvious names missing are from the 80's:  Roy Tarpley, Keith Lee, William Bedford, Chris Washburn.

[KG_ended_Bias]

Although he never played a NBA game it has to be Len Bias! There were numerous amount of exec's scouts who thought he would be better than Jordan & truly woulda been a threat to Jordan's legacy & greatness because of how stacked the Celtics were & the Lebron James type body paired with the skills & athleticism to play 3 positions 2-3-4 at an all-star future HOF level! That's a BIG fall from grace & boy were we cheated from seeing maybe 4 straight titles with the team he was coming to while seriously extending the window another 10-15 yrs. Coach K himself still to this day says he don't know who was better when he was witnessesing their greatness 1st hand.

[Chris]

I would say Shaq.  By getting so grossly out of shape...Really ended up a caracature of himself.

Sour grape book was icing on the cake.

Eh, that happened after he had solidified his legacy IMO.  And he is still loved by the majority of fans I think.

[SHAQATTACK]

One the biggest talents I ever seen go to waste was a guy
called ... "PISTOL PETE Maravich "  Most amazing player I ever seen , until Bird came along and I'm not sure Bird had all his skills. This guy was a one man team. He probally was one of Birds favorite players.


Until Bron won his championship ring and Olympic Gold , he was headed down the Shawn Kemp path of remembered failure.


Drugs have been unkind to many stars.

[KG_ended_Bias]

Others are Danny Manning, Larry "Grandma Ma" Johnson, Richard Dumas (Suns), Ron "Hollywood" Harper before the injuries, not the guy who rode Jordan co-tail to a few titles, Brad Daugherty before the Nascar took his heart away, Chris Jackson before the Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf & health problems.

But #1 hands down if you can't count Len Bias,  RALPH SAMPSON! Dude was the most un-stoppable force in all of basketball! 7'4 yet ran like a gaurd, grace of a SF, unparalleled athleticism paired with a picture perfect jumpshot coming from a dominant center. Very good FT shooter, shotblocker supreme & a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar killer at Kareem's heights. If this guys knees holds up through the duration of his career, maybe we were witnessing the best center of all-time & definitely would be worth the argument because he easily woulda won 3-4 titles in Houston with Hakeem the dream!

[arambone]

Magic Johnson hands down.

[pearljammer10]

For the injury category, I don't think anybody tops Penny Hardaway.  1st team NBA to scrub seemingly overnight.

This was the first person to come to mind for me.

Olowikandi, Kwame brown....

Greg Oden anyone?

[bmxgitch]

Allen Iverson ! MVP to nobody wants him!

[MJohnnyboy]

Others are Danny Manning, Larry "Grandma Ma" Johnson, Richard Dumas (Suns), Ron "Hollywood" Harper before the injuries, not the guy who rode Jordan co-tail to a few titles, Brad Daugherty before the Nascar took his heart away, Chris Jackson before the Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf & health problems.

But #1 hands down if you can't count Len Bias,  RALPH SAMPSON! Dude was the most un-stoppable force in all of basketball! 7'4 yet ran like a gaurd, grace of a SF, unparalleled athleticism paired with a picture perfect jumpshot coming from a dominant center. Very good FT shooter, shotblocker supreme & a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar killer at Kareem's heights. If this guys knees holds up through the duration of his career, maybe we were witnessing the best center of all-time & definitely would be worth the argument because he easily woulda won 3-4 titles in Houston with Hakeem the dream!

From what I've read, however, is that Hakeem and Sampson wanted to get paid, so I'm not sure if both would have stayed on the team long term. Sampson is an ideal choice. He was going to be one of the best ever but his frame was kinda fragile.

For anyone who has read Bill Simmons' book of basketball, he has a list of players whose careers could have been worthy of the hall of fame but twists of fate interfered. He named Michael Ray Richardson, Andrew Toney, James Silas, Marvin Barnes, Gus Johnson, Ralph Sampson, Brad Daugherty, Maurice Stokes, John Lucas, Sam Bowie, Terry Cummings, Roy Tarpley, Reggie Lewis, Grant Hill, Alonzo Mourning, Drazen Petrovic, and the Hardaways.

Kemp and Thompson are on his list of the 96 greatest players ever.

[RAcker]

If you include pre-NBA performance/hype, Sebastian Telfair.

I consider Bassy as more of a "Bust" than a "Fall".  You have to have been awesome at some point to fall in my opinion.