10 NBA Draft Busts Whose Careers Could Still Be Resurrected
When is it officially time to label an NBA player as a permanent bust?
There's no right answer. The necessary amount of time is judged on a case-by-case basis, and it's generally obvious when there's no hope for redemption. Hasheem Thabeet isn't suddenly going to morph into a rim-protecting rotation stalwart, and it's pretty obvious Evan Turner and Wesley Johnson aren't going to live up to their top-five slots from the 2010 NBA draft.
But these 10 players still have chances for redemption. They can resurrect their careers and become valuable contributors to high-quality squads before the world decides to pull the plug on their potential. Time is running thin for some of them, but the hourglass still has some sand left for all 10.
The path they'll be attempting to travel down? For the sake of recency, let's call it the Danny Green route, though the North Carolina product who's made a name for himself with the San Antonio Spurs was admittedly drafted much lower in the proceedings (No. 46 in 2009) than these 10.
Green played in only 20 games during his rookie season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he was waived after the campaign drew to a close. Then the Spurs picked him up and subsequently waived him as well. It wasn't until after stints in the D-League and with Liga ABA's KK Union Olimpija during the 2011 lockout that he rejoined the Spurs and became a two-way standout on a championship-winning team.
Achieving that kind of happy ending would surely be great news for any of these 10. They've all struggled to live up to the draft-day hype, and the passage of time is relentlessly ticking away.
Anthony Bennett
1 of 10
Drafted: No. 1 in 2013 by the Cleveland Cavaliers
Current Team: Minnesota Timberwolves
Age: 22
Career Per-Game Stats: 4.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.4 steals, 0.2 blocks, 9.5 PER
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 5.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.3 blocks, 11.4 PER
It's only been two seasons.
Thus far, Anthony Bennett has to go down as the worst No. 1 pick of the last decade—Greg Oden and Andrea Bargnani are really the only other choices. But that doesn't mean he's incapable of improving, especially because he's still only 22 years old and has yet to experience any sort of continuity during his brief career.
Heading into his rookie season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Bennett was dealing with a nagging shoulder injury and showed up at camp out of shape. That was the precursor to one of the worst starts to a professional career by a top pick in NBA history, and Bennett became a punchline before he'd even finished his first cup of coffee in the Association.
Year 2 was slightly better. He made a concerted effort to show up with his conditioning under control, but he was then traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves as part of the package that netted Kevin Love.
With his second team in two years, the No. 1 pick was significantly better.
Head coach Flip Saunders helped him ease the three-ball out of his game, instead asking him to emphasize his physical advantages around the basket. That worked quite well, and his field-goal percentage soared from 35.6 percent as a rookie to 42.1 percent in 2014-15.
Obviously, Bennett has plenty more work left ahead of him. But he's at least trending in the right direction, and, for the first time during his brief stint in the NBA, he'll have the advantage of continuity as he heads into his third go-round.
Jimmer Fredette
2 of 10
Drafted: No. 10 in 2011 by the Milwaukee Bucks
Last Team: New Orleans Pelicans
Age: 26
Career Per-Game Stats: 6.1 points, 1.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.4 steals, 0.0 blocks, 12.6 PER
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 3.6 points, 0.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.3 steals, 0.0 blocks, 9.8 PER
Up to this point in his four-season NBA career, the former BYU standout hasn't been very good. There's no point in sugarcoating it. He's struggled immensely on the defensive end, hasn't spent enough time on the court to gain any sort of rhythm from the perimeter and generally has trouble creating a positive impact when his outside stroke isn't working.
But there's one enduring reason why it would be foolish to give up on Jimmer Fredette.
Based on his past, he can shoot the basketball. In a league that values three-point strokes more and more as the years go by, that's enough for him to keep getting looks. And it only takes one good fit for him to find a long-term home.
During the 2014-15 campaign, Fredette knocked down just nine of his 48 attempts from beyond the arc, which equates to a putrid 18.8 percent. However, even that misery only dropped his career mark to 38.1 percent, and he'd broken past the 40 percent barrier each of the previous two seasons.
Now, the 26-year-old is an unrestricted free agent, and he'd do himself a big favor if he signed with a team in dire need of a perimeter sniper. As Kincade Upstill suggests for the Deseret News, that could be the New York Knicks, though even that landing spot has some drawbacks:
"The New York Knicks run Phil Jackson's triangle. The Knicks could use Fredette to play the John Paxson/Steve Kerr role in that system. They also really need something to get their fan base more excited, and Fredette is part New Yorker, growing up in Glen Falls, New York. Their roster isn't loaded with a top-quality point guard, and depending on how the draft breaks, the Knicks may not get one, so playing time will be easier to come by. This might be his best and only hope, but being coached by Derek Fisher and sharing the floor but not the ball with Carmelo Anthony probably isn't an ideal situation for helping Fredette prove he can have a career in the NBA.
"
Whether he signs with the Knicks, his hometown Utah Jazz or another potential contender for his services, Fredette may be down to his last chance to stick in this league, even if inept team management doomed him during his first few years with the Sacramento Kings and he didn't receive much consistent playing time by the Bayou.
There's a chance he could just bite the bullet and attempt to resurrect his career in Europe before a return to the NBA years down the road. But if he finds one more landing spot in the sport's top professional league, he may as well be shooting for his life.
Jeremy Lamb
3 of 10
Drafted: No. 12 in 2012 by the Houston Rockets
Current Team: Oklahoma City Thunder
Age: 23
Career Per-Game Stats: 7.0 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.2 blocks, 13.7 PER
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 6.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.4 steals, 0.1 blocks, 14.9 PER
Could a coaching change solve all of Jeremy Lamb's problems?
He's spent the entirety of his professional career with the Oklahoma City Thunder, but he and former head coach Scott Brooks never seemed to see eye to eye. Even when injuries had befallen the squad, Lamb's playing time was anything but consistent, and his upside was never truly tested.
Under new coach Billy Donovan, that could change.
Lest we forget, Lamb has actually been quite productive when he's on the floor, and his player efficiency rating has actually gone up every season. During the 2014-15 campaign, he averaged 16.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.2 steals per 36 minutes, and while his field-goal percentage (41.6) wasn't impressive, it was boosted by his ability to knock down triples and convert at the charity stripe.
"Brooks let players such as Jeremy Lamb and Perry Jones fall through the cracks in ways that Donovan shouldn't," Adi Joseph wrote for SportingNews.com shortly after the former Florida head coach took his talents to the pros. "He turned a lot of lesser recruits into great college players by identifying and building on their strengths, and the NBA system means he’ll have more than a four-year window to do that."
Lamb only just turned 23 years old, and all the tools that made him such a special prospect after his breakout campaign for Connecticut haven't just washed away. Now, he may finally get a chance to show them off again.
Fab Melo
4 of 10
Drafted: No. 22 in 2012 by the Boston Celtics
Last Team: Boston Celtics
Age: 24
Career Per-Game Stats: 1.2 points, 0.5 rebounds, 0.0 assists, 0.3 steals, 0.3 blocks, 4.9 PER
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: N/A
“I learned a lot from what I've been through. Now I feel like I know what I'm dealing with," Fab Melo recently told
Austin Rivers
5 of 10
Drafted: No. 10 in 2012 by the New Orleans Hornets
Current Team: Los Angeles Clippers
Age: 22
Career Per-Game Stats: 7.0 points, 1.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.6 steals, 0.2 blocks, 9.3 PER
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 7.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.6 steals, 0.2 blocks, 10.3 PER
This one is almost too easy.
Austin Rivers was basically a laughingstock in New Orleans. He served as a volume shooter who couldn't actually shoot, and his rookie season was just historically bad. Somehow, steady improvement during his next 1.5 campaigns with the Pelicans allowed him to finish the NOLA portion of his professional career with a meager 0.2 win shares.
But then his father came to the rescue.
Acting as both the head coach and the president of basketball operations for the Los Angeles Clippers, Doc Rivers traded away Chris Douglas-Roberts, Reggie Bullock and a 2017 second-round pick in a three-team deal, and his son came to town. Throughout the remainder of the regular season, the 22-year-old guard was better than ever.
Then, as he filled in for a hamstrung Chris Paul, he was a revelation in the playoffs. The obvious highlight came in Game 3 against the Houston Rockets, when he managed to record 25 points, six rebounds and two assists on 10-of-13 shooting from the field.
"I really don't know what to tell you," Rivers told Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times after that outing, in which he scored 13 consecutive points at the end of the third quarter and went to the bench with his name ringing through the rafters of Staples Center. "It's been a long journey."
The journey isn't over yet, though.
Thomas Robinson
6 of 10
Drafted: No. 5 in 2012 by the Sacramento Kings
Last Team: Philadelphia 76ers
Age: 24
Career Per-Game Stats: 5.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.3 blocks, 13.2 PER
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 5.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.6 steals, 0.4 blocks, 15.3 PER
By all indications, Thomas Robinson was going to be a force in the NBA. At Kansas, he looked every bit the part of a future double-double threat, and his back-to-the-basket moves were certainly getting better each time he played. When the Sacramento Kings took him with the No. 5 pick of the 2012 NBA draft, stardom seemed to be in his future.
Here's what Matt Moore of CBS Sports wrote while giving the Kings an A+ for their efforts in the 2012 NBA draft, and he was just one of many who had nothing but praise for the downtrodden organization:
"T-Rob is a relentless rebounder who slid a few spots, but will give the Kings another force up front to pair with DeMarcus Cousins. Robinson is a man who can step in immediately and make an impact on the glass. This was a terrific get for Geoff Petrie, one of the best drafters in the NBA.
"
But Robinson didn't work out in Sacramento, and he was traded to the Houston Rockets just 51 games into his professional career. Then, after he closed out the 2012-13 campaign with Houston, a second trade sent him to the Portland Trail Blazers. The big man spent 1.5 seasons in Rip City before he was dealt to the Denver Nuggets, who waived him immediately.
After signing with the Philadelphia 76ers, he was on his fifth team in only three years.
But fortunately, he played rather well for head coach Brett Brown, averaging 8.8 points and 7.7 rebounds during his 22 appearances. Per 36 minutes, he produced 17.1 and 15 while shooting 46.7 percent from the field, and his PER was a strong 19.3—rather easily the top mark of his brief career.
Now, he gets to build off that success, regardless of whether Philly re-signs him or he ends up in a sixth location for the start of his fourth season in the Association. Sometimes, a little confidence is all it takes to get a struggling career back on track.
Terrence Ross
7 of 10
Drafted: No. 8 in 2012 by the Toronto Raptors
Current Team: Toronto Raptors
Age: 24
Career Per-Game Stats: 9.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.7 steals, 0.3 blocks, 11.3 PER
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 9.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.6 steals, 0.3 blocks, 11.2 PER
On Jan. 25, 2014, Terrence Ross had a field day against a hapless Los Angeles Clippers defense, though his Toronto Raptors were admittedly on the short end of the final score. That was no fault of his own, as the swingman dropped a career-best 51 points while hitting 16 of his 29 shots from the field and 10 of his 17 looks from beyond the arc.
Unfortunately, the passage of time is starting to make that performance feel even more fluky. By my calculations, that LAC outburst actually ranks as the No. 2 most unlikely scoring show in the last 10 years.
After all, his point total was nearly double the second-best outing of his career—a 26-spot against the Portland Trail Blazers on Jan. 2, 2013—and he's scored over 20 points just 10 times during his three seasons in the league.
Despite the overall lack of production, it's tough to identify exactly what Ross' problem is.
He's been given plenty of opportunities by head coach Dwane Casey, who often left him on the court far longer than many other signal-callers would. His shot hasn't been particularly putrid, seeing as he connected on 39.5 and 37.2 percent of his deep looks during the last two seasons, respectively. His defense hasn't lived up to the billing it received during his time at the University of Washington, but that can't be the sole source of his woes.
Inconsistency is the heart of the problem. Some games, Ross will look like an offensive terror, knocking down shots from the perimeter and attacking the rim with Russell Westbrook-ian ferocity. He has all the tools necessary to thrive in at least some capacity, given that combination of athleticism and shooting touch.
Now, he needs to showcase them on a more consistent basis. Prolonged slumps that lead to benchings from a head coach who always seemed to support him during the rough patches won't bode well for him any longer.
Dion Waiters
8 of 10
Drafted: No. 4 in 2012 by the Cleveland Cavaliers
Current Team: Oklahoma City Thunder
Age: 23
Career Per-Game Stats: 14.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.3 blocks, 12.8 PER
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 11.8 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.1 steals, 0.3 blocks, 10.9 PER
The other nine players are more obvious busts, but Dion Waiters qualifies as well. Throughout his time with both the Cleveland Cavaliers, who somewhat surprisingly drafted him at No. 4 in 2012, and the Oklahoma City Thunder, he's put up point totals that mask the overall ineffectiveness of his game.
It appeared Waiters was trending in the right direction during his sophomore campaign. His shooting stroke was leading to that sweet swishing sound more often, his perimeter marksmanship was coming around, and he seemed to be a positive contributor to a struggling Cavs squad, even as chemistry issues and ugly rumors reared their heads.
But he regressed on the court throughout this past go-round, both when he was still in Northeast Ohio and after he was traded to OKC. Somehow, he connected on only 39.6 percent of his attempts from the field and hit his threes at a 29.7 percent clip, which led to a career-worst 10.9 PER.
The hope here is that Waiters, much like Jeremy Lamb, will benefit from the coaching change in Oklahoma City. He's still a talented offensive player who can knock down looks in a variety of ways, but his shot selection needs a significant amount of tweaking. Plus, he has to learn how he can contribute when the ball isn't in his hands, since he spent too much time waving those appendages up in the air ineffectively during the 2014-15 campaign.
"Can he convince a contract year Dion Waiters that points and shots and dollars are not as important as wins and rings? We'll see," Anthony Slater of the Oklahoman wrote about Billy Donovan after he was hired as Scott Brook's replacement. "Donovan’s NBA players, including the uniquely wired Joakim Noah, seem to love him. From all reports, he's extremely humble and likable."
With a healthy Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant back in the lineup, touches will be few and far between—unless Waiters accepts a bench role and serves as a scoring spark plug when the stars are catching their breath. Whether he makes the most of those touches will speak volumes about the potential resurrection of his declining NBA career.
Royce White
9 of 10
Drafted: No. 16 in 2012 by the Houston Rockets
Last Team: Sacramento Kings
Age: 24
Career Per-Game Stats: 0.0 points, 0.0 rebounds, 0.0 assists, 0.0 steals, 0.0 blocks, minus-8.3 PER
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: N/A
As Bleacher Report's Fred Katz astutely noted, "It's unfair to speculate from the outside on [Royce] White's past, if only because, with details as subtle and individual as mental health ones, the specifics are all that matter. And frankly, we're unable to know them without being there."
Regardless of the specific twists and turns on the long and winding road that led to Royce White's quick exit from the Association, the Houston Rockets spent a top-20 pick on him three years ago. And the fact remains that his entire resume consists of just nine minutes of NBA action spread out over three games. During that time, he missed his only shot from the field—a 14-foot jumper against the Milwaukee Bucks with only seven seconds remaining in a 19-point loss—and committed two personal fouls.
But White is still an immense talent, assuming he remains in playing shape and has a firm handle on the anxiety issues that plagued him during his first attempt at an NBA career.
Now, he'll get a chance to prove himself for the Los Angeles Clippers during Orlando Summer League, as reported by 1500ESPN's Darren Wolfson. If he does exactly that, he could resurrect his career by helping add a significant amount of upside to the limited LAC bench. And even if he doesn't, it's impossible to ignore a certain coaching hire in the Windy City.
When the Chicago Bulls hired Fred Hoiberg, White's eyes had to open wide with eager anticipation. The two spent time together at Iowa State, and it was the head coach known as "The Mayor" who was able to milk the most production out of his talented star player in Ames.
Remember, White averaged 13.4 points, 9.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists during his 2011-12 season for the Cyclones.
At this point, expecting that type of production in the pros from this 24-year-old would be foolish. But he has an opportunity now, and we know he has the talent necessary to make the most of it, so long as the situation is an advantageous one.
Derrick Williams
10 of 10
Drafted: No. 2 in 2011 by the Minnesota Timberwolves
Current Team: Sacramento Kings
Age: 24
Career Per-Game Stats: 9.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.3 blocks, 13.0 PER
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 8.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.1 blocks, 12.8 PER
"[Derrick Williams is] a gifted player, but for some reason one that doesn't aspire to maybe get to the level that we think a No. 2 draft choice should get to," Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said in an early June luncheon, via Nick Halter of the St. Paul Business Journal. "I think we have to be really careful not to do that again."
That's a pretty damning quote, though there's obviously no telling how much is steeped in truth and how much is the Wolves organization displaying bitterness or making a retroactive excuse for its misfire at the top of the 2011 selection process.
If it's valid, though, Williams has to do everything possible to change that in expeditious fashion. The 24-year-old forward now has four NBA seasons under his belt, and his contract has just expired, which throws him into the free-agency pool—albeit in restricted fashion, if the Sacramento Kings extend a qualifying offer—for the first time in his professional career.
To his credit, the former Arizona standout did improve in some areas during his first full go-round with the Kings in 2014-15. Thanks to an increased ability to eschew inefficient two-point jumpers and finish at the rim better than ever, he posted the best shooting percentages of his NBA tenure. And as a result, he earned a career-best 1.7 win shares on the offensive end.
Unfortunately, defense was a struggle, as evidenced by his career-worst minus-2.7 defensive box plus/minus. Williams has always been a net negative in that stat, which estimates the difference per 100 possessions between the player in question and a league-average contributor on an average team, but he finished ahead of only seven qualified players throughout the entire league this past season.
The offense seems to be slowly coming around. The defense, on the other hand, has to become much better, and quickly.
All stats, unless otherwise indicated, come from Basketball-Reference.com.
Adam Fromal covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @fromal09.
