NBA Draft 2012: Highlighting Biggest Potential Busts in the Draft

On paper, the upcoming NBA draft in June looks deep on talent, but not all of that talent will turn into NBA stars.

Just like any other draft, this one could feature as many busts as it will future All-Stars.

The trick for teams in the first round is sorting through all of the potential they're going to hear about over the course of the next couple months and finding the right fit for their franchises.

With that being said, here’s a look at a few players who offer up as much risk as they do reward.

Damian Lillard, Weber State

I, for one, love Lillard’s game. He’s an explosive scorer, averaging 24.5 points per game during the season, but there’s no guarantee that he will translate that skill to the NBA.

Playing at a small school draws a red flag, but that’s not the drawback here. He’s likely to be the first point guard off the board in June, but he never had a collegiate season where he averaged more than 4.0 assists per game and had an assist-to-turnover ratio of only 1.74.

He does a lot of things well other than score, including shooting a good percentage from the floor (.467) and rebounding (5.0 RPG), but there are some doubts about whether he can run an NBA offense.

Andre Drummond, Connecticut

Drummond has an NBA body and world of potential, but leaving UConn after one year makes him a risky proposition.

He clearly could use another year of college. While he should be able to come in and rebound (7.7 RPG) and block shots (2.9 BPG) effectively, his complete game doesn’t seem NBA-ready just yet.

Drummond showed very little signs of being a dominant big man during his freshman season, scoring under 10 points in 16 of 34 games and grabbing five rebounds or fewer in 13 of those. The last look we got at Drummond, against Iowa State in the NCAA tournament, he scored two points and grabbed only four rebounds.

There’s no doubting his potential, but he would have been much better off bettering his skills in college for one more year instead of potentially struggling initially in the NBA.

Jared Sullinger, Ohio State

I love Sullinger’s advanced post game, but there are some concerns about him.

The fact that he’s not a great athlete is a big concern, as is the fact that he didn’t perform well against longer and more athletic defenders during the course of the past two seasons. He will be seeing better athletes on a regular basis in the NBA, and it will be interesting to see how he can adjust.

Austin Rivers, Duke

The concern about Rivers is how he will adjust to the NBA. He doesn’t play well without the ball and struggled to use his teammates effectively.

He came into Duke as a point guard and he’s clearly not that, but his jumper is very inconsistent and becoming a good NBA 2-guard is questionable. He shot .433 from the floor which isn’t terrible, but given his skill set, teams would like to have seen more out of him.

There’s no doubting Rivers has the talent to become a natural scorer, but to do so in the NBA, he will have to learn to use his team better and be less reliant on his isolation game.

Harrison Barnes, North Carolina

Barnes’ lack of success in the NCAA tournament, where he shot only 33 percent from the floor, raises some doubts over his ability to become a primary scoring option in the NBA.

He has the skills, but if he doesn’t become the scorer that many feel he can, Barnes does little else well on the floor, which makes him a potential bust.

Perry Jones III, Baylor

Here’s another guy whose talent I love, but there have been some very talented players over the years who couldn’t cut it in the NBA. Jones has a skill set that betters almost every other player in the draft, but can he bring out that talent on a consistent basis?

He didn’t at Baylor, averaging only 13.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per game on the season. What’s more disturbing is the fact that his numbers didn’t improve from his freshman season, when he averaged 13.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.

Then there’s his shooting percentage, which dropped from .549 to .500. That's still a good number, but represents a big drop.

Jones is viewed as a wing in the NBA and doesn’t shoot that great from the perimeter (.303 3FG) either.

He’s the type of guy who could become a huge star or may never fully tap into his talent.