Predicting 7 NBA Rookies Who Will Crumble Beneath Heavy Expectations

It has been a fun summer for a lot of the top NBA draft picks, but come October 30th, everything changes. 

Upon the start of the 2012-13 season, the real pressure begins to kick in. These highly-touted prospects will start sinking or swimming based on their own performances. All the conjectures and predictions go out the window when the basketball finally hits the floor.

Every year there are first rounders who fade into the back of the NBA player pool. These seven players will have more pressure riding on them than other rookies.

Unfortunately, they will stumble under the weight of high expectations.

Jonas Valanciunas, Toronto Raptors

Raptors fans were looking for more when Jonas Valanciunas took the court in London for the Olympic Games.

They were somewhat let down when their 2011 lottery pick struggled while playing for the Lithuanian team. He did show glimpses of potential, like in the team's quarterfinal loss to Russia when he posted seven points and nine rebounds. However, the majority of the tournament he was silent.

The Raptors have a lot riding on this season. With some big offseason maneuvers they have set themselves up to challenge in the Atlantic Division and are striving for a playoff spot. With Valanciunas the lone true center on the roster, he will see a lot playing time immediately and may even start. 

Unfortunately for Toronto, foreign big men do not have a great history of making an immediate impact in the NBA. The extra year of seasoning overseas will help, but the 20-year-old Lithuanian will be in a state of shock dealing with NBA-caliber frontcourts. He will feel the weight of Toronto's high expectations for this year and falter beneath them.

Dion Waiters, Cleveland Cavaliers

Dion Waiters was drafted much higher than predicted, which immediately saddled him with the unnecessary pressure of a top-four NBA pick. Had he been drafted in the teens as expected, there would be considerably less riding on his shoulders. 

Cleveland has no one to blame but themselves if he does not work out, as they spent the fourth-overall pick on the shooting guard.

The fourth-overall pick seems out of this world for a player who was a backup in college and didn't lead his own team in scoring. At Syracuse, Waiters did not start a single game and only scored 12.6 points per game from the shooting guard spot. 

Now in the NBA, he will be paired with last year's Rookie of the Year, and tasked with a continuing rebuilding effort with the Cavaliers. The pressure of his draft price, as well as playing opposite a ball-dominating guard like Kyrie Irving, will prove to be too much for Waiters. 

Even if he plays up to expectations, they will not live up to where he was selected in a very deep draft. If Waiters' shot isn't falling at the next level, there won't be much keeping him on the court.

Andrew Nicholson, Orlando Magic

The Magic fans have very little to look forward to this season as they continue reeling from the Dwight Howard departure. They will attach their hopes and dreams to a middle-first round draft pick out of a small school in western New York. 

Andrew Nicholson was selected at No. 19 back in June by Orlando and now becomes a focal point of this fluctuating team. With Howard and Ryan Anderson out of the picture, Nicholson will see a lot of playing time.

He will also see a lot of unjust pressure.

He is one of those players who, over the month-or-so leading up to the draft, became seen so widely as underrated he became overrated. Now Nicholson must face up to some unreasonable expectations. 

As a college player at Saint Bonaventure, Nicholson faced just seven top-25 teams in his four-year career. As a big man, that is too small of a sample size to say that he will be a good NBA player. 

Through no fault of his own, Nicholson has amassed too much pressure for him to succeed at the level fans are expecting.

Meyers Leonard, Portland Trail Blazers

Like Jonas Valanciunas, Meyers Leonard will be very lonely at the center position next season. Portland is very thin there and Leonard may be forced into a starting role as a rookie. 

The No. 11 pick in June, Leonard joins an under-performing Trail Blazers team that is still stocked with talent. They will be counting on both Leonard and fellow rookie Damian Lillard to carry large roles. This is a team with playoff aspirations. 

The standard with which LaMarcus Aldridge and Nicolas Batum are held to is now cast upon Leonard and Lilliard. Can Leonard hold up against all that weight?

Leonard had a tendency to disappear in college. He got away with that by using his superior length and athleticism at Illinois. In the NBA, there can be no lapses in effort. Taking a play off will now get him burned and a spot on the bench. 

A lot is riding on Portland's two rookies. Lillard has the elite skill set to handle it, but Leonard will be the one who struggles to adjust.

Royce White, Houston Rockets

Any time a player has admitted anxiety issues, the worry over how they will respond to NBA pressure comes up. 

In the case of Royce White, it is very important. Experienced leaders are hard to find on the Houston Rockets depth chart. The team has overhauled their roster to the point of being immensely young and void of elder statesmen. 

This is a problem, because a player like White needs a veteran role-model with which to emulate his career. Not only because he is a young big man who needs a work ethic instilled, but because of these side issues that may rear their ugly head.

No NBA players are perfect. They all have minor issues or personality flaws on the side, but these things don't get brought up often. This is because they have been taught how to keep things out of the media and out of their minds. Without someone to guide him, White is flying blind into this NBA season. 

The pressure could suck him up and spit him out. Because he is learning as he goes with these preexisting conditions, he will be forced to wilt before the challenges of the NBA game and lifestyle.

Maurice Harkless, Orlando Magic

Maurice Harkless will have most of the pressure that Andrew Nicholson will bear, with an added bonus. He has switched teams before even playing a minute of NBA basketball. 

There is enough stress and pressure on NBA rookies making the transition from college to pro hoops, this is almost unheard of. Because of the Dwight Howard trade, Harkless will now be suiting up for the Magic instead of the 76ers.

It is common for picks to be traded on draft day or in the following week. This is different because Harkless was already trying to carve out a niche for himself in Philadelphia. He played for the 76ers Summer League team and was getting to know his future teammates.

Now he will be forced to go through that all again come Magic training camp. 

This time, he does it with the added bonus of massive minutes staring him in the face for a franchise that just lost one of the best players in the NBA. The pressure on Harkless is both unique and immense. With just one year of college experience under his belt, it is unlikely that a 19-year-old has the maturity to handle this type of situation.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Charlotte Bobcats

Before the outrage pours, understand that no NBA rookie will have as much pressure on his back as Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Anthony Davis is entering into what looks like a pretty good situation in New Orleans with a star player already there in Eric Gordon.

Kidd-Gilchrist is largely alone in Charlotte.

He absorbs all the necessary pressure of a second-overall pick, while also joining a team that was arguably the worst in NBA history last season. He won 31 more games at Kentucky than the Bobcats did last season. He instantly becomes the on-court face of a talented and success-starved franchise. 

That is a lot of pressure for a player who has not yet celebrated his 19th birthday. All of this is building up Kidd-Gilchrist into something he may just not be. At Kentucky he was surrounded by dominant players at nearly every position.

With the Bobcats, he is being challenged as maybe the only dominant player. He will also be playing the position where the best NBA talent is located—on the wing. 

Bobcats fans expect results after last season's fiasco, and I do not think Kidd-Gilchrist understands just what he is about to get into. It will take a lot of heart and mental fortitude to overcome both the pressure and shock-to-the-system the losing brings for him to emerge from this coming season unscathed.