NBA: The All-Time Busts Team

Before I start this article, I have to give credit to Erick Blasco. His recent article on his All-Time NBA Team (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/44828-erick-blascos-all-time-nba-team) gave me the idea for this article, my All-Time NBA Bust Team.

These guys have to meet three certain criteria for my team:

1. They must have been drafted top 10 overall
2. They must have busted due to lack of talent or work ethic, NOT injury (a la Jay Williams)
3. They must have been drafted AFTER 1976. Being a top 10 pick when there's only 18 teams (expanded to 22 in 1977) isn't as impressive.

Thanks for the inspiration Erick, and more to the point, here we go:

Point Guard: Keith Edmonson, Purdue (No. 10 pick in 1982 Draft, Atlanta Hawks)

Keith Edmonson was a crucial part of the Purdue Boilermakers Final Four team in 1980.

During his senior season, Edmonson averaged 21.3 PPG and was named an Academic All-American.

His pro career? Well he played fewer games as a pro than he did as a collegiate.

In his 87-game career, Edmonson averaged 6.0 PPG while playing for the Hawks, Spurs, and Nuggets.

He also played in France, Belgium, and Spain after his NBA career was over.

Edmonson is currently a players' agent and also hosts youth basketball summer camps in the San Antonio area.

Runner-Up: Jerome "Pooh" Richardson, UCLA (No. 10 pick in 1989 Draft, Minnesota Timberwolves)

Shooting Guard: Darius Miles, East St. Louis HS (No. 3 pick in 2000 NBA Draft, L.A. Clippers)

What can you say about Darius Miles that hasn't already been said?

Cocky. Lazy. Talented, but not willing to show it.

Miles has all the athletic ability in the world, and could have been a great player if he put his mind to it.

Instead, he soaked up the fame appearing in a few movies such as Van Wilder, The Perfect Score, and The Youngest Guns. He played the part of a basketball player in all three.

Say what you want about his recent injury, that's not why he busted. He busted because he came into the league thinking he was the second coming of Christ, and when he didn't get treated like it, he whined his way out of L.A., Cleveland, and ultimately annoyed the Blazers to the point where he is currently out of a job.

The Suns were recently considering giving Miles a look, but decided against it. Smart move.

Runner-Up: Isiah Rider, UNLV (No. 5 pick in 1993 Draft, Minnesota Timberwolves)

Small Forward: Ed O'Bannon, UCLA (No. 9 pick in 1995 Draft, New Jersey Nets)

Ed O'Bannon had a great collegiate career at UCLA, scoring 30 points to go along with 17 rebounds to help the Bruins win the 1995 NCAA Championship.

His number 31 was retired at UCLA, and he was picked ninth overall in the 1995 NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets.

His professional career? Not so stellar.

He wasn't physical enough to play forward and wasn't fast enough to play guard, and therefore never really found his spot in the NBA.

His career-high averages include 6.2 PPG and 2.6 RPG, both during his rookie season with the Nets.

He was traded to the Dallas Mavericks during his third (and final) NBA season. That year he was traded again, this time to the Magic, who released him shortly after the deal was completed.

O'Bannon also spent time in Greece, Italy, Spain, Argentina, and Poland after his NBA days before finally deciding to retire at age 30.

Runner-Up: Marcus Fizer, Iowa State (No. 4 pick in 2000 Draft, Chicago Bulls)

Power Forward: Kwame Brown, Glynn Academy HS (No. 1 pick in 2001 Draft, Washington Wizards)

Michael Jordan was a great player, but he can't scout players to save his life.

Case in point, Kwame Brown.

After a pre-draft workout with Washington, Brown told then head coach Doug Collins "If you draft me, you'll never regret it."

That didn't turn out well. During his rookie year, Brown averaged a whopping 4.5 PPG and 3.5 RPG. Not exactly the studly performance that was expected.

Brown did average career-highs in PPG (10.9) and RPG (7.4) in his third year, but after that season, things took a turn for the worse.

That off-season, Brown turned down a 5-year, $30 million contract so that he could test the free agent market when his contract expired after his fourth season. Big mistake.

In season number four, Brown averaged 7.0 PPG over 42 games, and got into verbal arguments with both Gilbert Arenas and new head coach Eddie Jordan, spelling his way out of town.

The Wizards should be thankful to Brown for one thing though: Caron Butler. In the off-season after his fourth year, Washington was able to complete a sign-and-trade which sent Brown and Laron Profit to the L.A. Lakers in exchange for Butler and Chucky Atkins.

Talk about a steal for the Wizards.

Butler has since developed into an All-Star and a key piece of Washington's lineup, while Brown has bounced around the league, somehow always being involved in a trade with big names; he also brought Pau Gasol to L.A.

He was most recently signed by the Detroit Pistons, who decided it would be a good idea to throw away $8 million over two years for his "services".

Runner-Up: Darko Milicic, Serbia-Montenegro (No. 2 pick in 2003 Draft, Detroit Pistons)

Center: Michael Olowokandi, Pacific (No. 1 pick in 1998 Draft, L.A. Clippers)

The Kandi Man! He certainly turned out well.

Olowokandi was regarded as a can't-miss prospect whose potential was through the roof when he came into the NBA in 1998.

He led his Pacific team to the NCAA tournament his junior year, despite only starting to play basketball at age 17. His size, coupled with his untapped potential, made him the top pick in the 1998 NBA Draft, ahead of Antawn Jamison (pick No. 4), Vince Carter (pick No. 5), Dirk Nowitzki (pick No. 9), and Paul Pierce (pick No. 10).

In Olowokandi's defense, however, 1998 was not an exceptionally strong class for centers, featuring fellow first-rounders Michael Doleac, Rasho Nesterovic, Vladimir Stepania, and Nazr Mohammed. The best of the bunch was undrafted free agent Brad Miller.

Olowokandi's final seasons with the Clippers were the best of his career; in 2002 he averaged 12.3 PPG and 9.1 RPG, but after that everything changed.

Olowokandi signed with the Timberwolves after that season, and never averaged more than 6.5 PPG again in his career.

He was traded to Boston as part of the Wally Szczerbiak deal in 2005, and is currently still looking for work.

Runner-Up: Shawn Bradley, BYU (No. 2 pick in 1993 Draft, Philadelphia 76ers)

And that rounds out my team. If you see these guys on the street, feel free to challenge them to a game of one-on-one.

And if you really want to make it interesting, why not bet on the game? Maybe somewhere along the lines of the millions of dollars they never deserved?