What high BBIQ players have not made it in the NBA

[Fan from VT]

As to the original question of High BBall IQ players who have not made it, this is hard. I'm 32, so it gets hard once you get back a few years, because looking at drafts at some point I'm only familiar with players who "made it," and have no idea why all the other players who didn't make it were drafted in the first place (whether for shooting, IQ, defense, athleticism, size, etc).

There are innumerable college players with high IQ who everyone knows lack the skill/athleticism/size to play in the NBA so we never even hear of them leading up to the draft. So we are talking about a funny group of players who were good enough overall with size, athleticism, etc to be worthy of being drafted/signed but were also well known for their IQ who then flamed out.

After a quick look, (wikipedia for draft lists, google/draftexpress for profile), here's a brief list:

Johnny Flynn
Wayne Ellington
Julian Wright
Nick Fazekas
Adam Morrison
Shelden Williams
Marcus Williams (UConn PG)
Ronnie Brewer
David Noel
Chris Duhon
Dan Dickau

To name a few.

[2short]

Good list.  You think Adam Morrison would be considered high bbiq though?
I think he was more an unathetic college shooter who wasn't smart enough to get his shot off in pros with better athletes the opposite of a Chris Mullins who was super cerebral

[Fan from VT]

Good list.  You think Adam Morrison would be considered high bbiq though?
I think he was more an unathetic college shooter who wasn't smart enough to get his shot off in pros with better athletes the opposite of a Chris Mullins who was super cerebral

I think morrisons athleticism was even worse than feared and i think mullins athleticism is underrated

[KG Living Legend]

As to the original question of High BBall IQ players who have not made it, this is hard. I'm 32, so it gets hard once you get back a few years, because looking at drafts at some point I'm only familiar with players who "made it," and have no idea why all the other players who didn't make it were drafted in the first place (whether for shooting, IQ, defense, athleticism, size, etc).

There are innumerable college players with high IQ who everyone knows lack the skill/athleticism/size to play in the NBA so we never even hear of them leading up to the draft. So we are talking about a funny group of players who were good enough overall with size, athleticism, etc to be worthy of being drafted/signed but were also well known for their IQ who then flamed out.

After a quick look, (wikipedia for draft lists, google/draftexpress for profile), here's a brief list:

Johnny Flynn
Wayne Ellington
Julian Wright
Nick Fazekas
Adam Morrison
Shelden Williams
Marcus Williams (UConn PG)
Ronnie Brewer
David Noel
Chris Duhon
Dan Dickau

To name a few.

TP VT, Marcus Williams us a great call. 12 ppg and 8.5 apg in college very smart player and had size 6'3" and a 6'7" wingspan. Bad vertical jump numbers
 Avg 6 points and 3 assists in the Nba

[2short]

Good list.  You think Adam Morrison would be considered high bbiq though?
I think he was more an unathetic college shooter who wasn't smart enough to get his shot off in pros with better athletes the opposite of a Chris Mullins who was super cerebral

I think morrisons athleticism was even worse than feared and i think mullins athleticism is underrated

Birds athleticism was way under rated.  Chris played slow and low

[action781]

Somebody mentioned Acie Law who is a good one and somebody I had high hopes for as a player.

A few others off the top of my head are Scottie Wilbekin, Mateen Cleaves, and Khaled El-Amin.  All those guys noticeably lack athleticism.  I tried really hard to come up with a non-PG and Julius Hodge came to mind.

It's hard to think of big guys since they typically aren't known for their high bball iq as much as guard are.  Shelden Williams maybe?

[littleteapot]

I heard that when Rick Carlisle was playing with Larry Bird, a reporter who was interviewing Bird in the locker room asked who Carlisle was. Bird says "Oh he's one of the smartest players on our team. He's gonna be a really good coach someday." The reporter asked why he'd never heard of him in that case and Bird said "Oh that's because he sucks."

[Snakehead]

Nick Fazekas

This dude was such a stud in college.  I used to live in Reno when he was playing at UNR and saw him play a ton.  He was a killer for the team.  Double teams every posession virtually and always made the right play and usually could score regardless of the double.  Could score from everywhere on the court.  Sad he didn't pan out, but I didn't think he'd go pro just watching him virtually tip toe up and down the court.  He was a very smart player though.

[RAAAAAAAANDY]

Shabazz Napier, every Duke guard ever, Tyler Hansbrough, 90% of all white players that northeastern fan bases want their teams to take.

Hansbrough is both in the NBA and a quality role player.

He's a role player, I'd argue not a quality one and definitely a big disappointment based on his college career.

[Eja117]

Troy Bell?  Billy Curley?

[mgent]

Ricky Rubio.

[mgent]

The flip side is kind of interesting to me: who was the best player ever to have a very low BBIQ?

Gilbert Arenas.

[Roy H.]

Adam Morrison
Ed O'Bannon