The 2011 NBA draft class is considered to be shallow in talent, which means one thing. There are a plethora of absolute busts and disappointments that will come from it.

In a draft where there were not many players that stood above the rest, it was difficult for teams to decipher between which player to pick. 

Some were appealing because of their height. Others were appealing because of their ability to score. And others were appealing for the sheer purpose of being used as trade bait.

Whatever the reasoning behind selecting/acquiring any of the incoming draft glass, there are a few teams that took huge risks, many of which were unnecessary and will come back to haunt them.

Such picks naturally come from only the first round as second-round picks are rarely expected to make much of an impact. And with this in mind, let’s take a look at 12 NBA rookies that will fail to meet expectations and prove to be busts next season.

With Real Madrid last season, Nikola Mirotic averaged 7.4 points and 3.6 rebounds in 16 minutes of burn per game. 

At only 20, Mirotic is still developing, and there are high hopes for him. However, such hopes may be thrashed because there is a strong possibility that he becomes another overseas bust.

Mirotic is not a solid rebounder nor is he a good shot blocker. His footwork needs dome work and he needs to put on at least another 15-20 pounds of muscle before he can contend in the low-post with the rest of the NBA's power forwards and centers.

Yes, Mirotic is young, but don't expect time to make him drastically better.

Norris Cole may get some significant playing time for the Miami Heat this upcoming because they are desperate for a true point guard to distribute the ball between their Big Three.

Last season at 21.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game at Cleveland State last season, and he has the tools to become a very good point guard in the league.

So why is it that he will become a bust?

While Cole will have the opportunity to prove himself, he will find himself lost among the shuffle of superstardom in Miami. It would be tough for any point guard in general, let alone a rookie one, to balance the offense between the Heat's LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Cole is going to be tasked with the job that even some of the most prolific veterans could not handle. Miami has high hopes for this kid, but they will be asking too much.

And unfortunately for Cole, he finds himself in a situation that increases the likelihood that he will become a bust.

Jonas Valanciunas averaged 7.6 points and 5.4 rebounds in a little less than 15 minutes of action per game last season while playing overseas.

Valanciunas' numbers do not seem like much, but keep in mind he was barely on the floor, and without playing time, you cannot produce. The 6'11" center has a lot of potential. He can run the floor, score and rebound.

However, Valanciunas is a tremendous risk because the Toronto Raptors are not sure whether or not he will be able to come play for them. There is a very good possibility that Valanciunas may stay in the Euro league, and this could cause major issues for Toronto.

Valanciunas is not a player the Raptors envisioned waiting for. The plan was to bring him to America because they felt he could make an immediate impact. If Valanciunas stays overseas though, his selection becomes an immediate bust.

And even if he does make it to Toronto, we have to factor in the amount of time it will take him to adjust to his surroundings. If his transition is not seamless, and it hardly is, this will affect his on the court performance. It truly is a different game from country to country.

The Raptors have high expectations set for Valanciunas, but they would do be doing themselves a favor if they do not get their hopes up. 

With Tony Parker’s future up in the air, the smart course for the San Antonio Spurs to take in this year’s draft was to select a competent point guard in case anything major went down.

Select a point guard they did, but an NBA ready one, they did not.

Last season while at Texas, Cory Joseph averaged 10.4 points and three assists, which are not exactly overwhelming numbers for a point guard. He is neither an exceptionally good passer nor a proven scorer, and while he is an OK defender, he never had to guard the likes of Chris Paul or Steve Nash.

San Antonio may put too much responsibility on Joseph and expect too much from him too soon. And not only that, based on his college career, he may never be the type of point guard the Spurs need.

Joseph, at best can be a T.J. Ford like player, and that is even reaching. 

The Spurs really set themselves for disappointment with this first-round pick.

Donata Motiejunas will certainly get some substantial playing time with the Houston Rockets, being that he is 7-feet tall and Yao Ming recently retired, but his rookie season may wind up being a major disappointment.

Whenever a team drafts a 7-footer, expectations are high, but the reality of Motiejunas is he has some serious bulking up to do. His stature is not NBA ready material and bound to get abused in the paint by other centers.

Additionally, at his size, Motiejunas should be a prolific shot blocker, and he isn’t. He averaged 0.5 blocks per game overseas last year. 

Motiejunas is a quick big man, who can score, yet even those numbers are not impressive. He averaged a combined 11.9 points per game last season, and those numbers are sure to decrease in the NBA.

And finally, his five rebounds per game are frightening. There are point guards who can grab more boards per game.

The stage is set for Motiejunas to become a bust.

Kawhi Leonard averaged 15.5 points and 10.6 rebounds per game last year at San Diego State and is known as a solid defender and rebounder.

Despite these upsides though, it is unclear if he is going to be an effective NBA player. At 6’7”, Leonard is the build of player that should have an inside and out game, yet he doesn’t. His jump shot needs some serious work.

Additionally, his defensive game is not going to follow him to the NBA, at least not right away. Players are bigger and stronger at this level. And then we cannot forget that Leonard does not exactly have an NBA build to him just yet.

The San Antonio Spurs’ plan may be to groom Leonard as Richard Jefferson’s successor, but their expectations of him may be unreasonable. 

Leonard’s lack of versatility will be exposed in the NBA, leaving the Spurs with the taste of disappointment and Leonard sporting the label of “bust.”

Not to sound incredibly harsh, but what exactly were the Phoenix Suns thinking when they drafted Markieff Morris ahead of his twin brother Marcus?

Last season, Morris averaged 13.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game for the Kansas Jayhawks, while his brother averaged 17.2 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.

The thinking here is that the Suns may have been opting to go for defense over offense, but Markieff is not that much better of a defender than his brother. Phoenix could have gained a whole lot of offense in Marcus, without sacrificing nearly any defense.

Markieff was a solid player, but his stats will be lower than they were in college. He does not have an NBA build just yet either.

Additionally, with Robin Lopez coming along slower then anticipated and Channing Frye being more of an outside threat, the Suns may try to rush Morris along just to have a true inside presence. And while he is a lottery pick, Morris is not ready to be a key player for any team.

Morris needs time to develop and make his low-post game stronger. He has to adjust to opposing NBA bodies and learn how to effectively block shots.

All indications are that he will not be given an adequate time to develop.

Morris will simply turn out to be a bust by becoming one of those players that was pushed too hard, too soon.

With the seventh overall pick, the Charlotte Bobcats, via the Sacramento Kings, selected the 6'9" Bismack Biyombo, who averaged 6.4 points and 5.1 rebounds in 17 minutes per game last season in the ACB league.

Biyombo is only 18, and some believe that he could possibly the next Kevin Garnett.

The odds of that happening are slim to none. In reality, Biyombo is poised to become just another overseas bust. 

Biyombo was less than impressive in his Italy workout. Chad Ford of ESPN.com reported that after said workout, an NBA GM told him, "Bismack Biyombo just played a game of one-on-none...and he lost." 

Biyombo has an enormous wingspan and is thought to possess basketball knowledge well beyond his years, but he has already shown he may cave under pressure. And some may even take his subpar workout as a sign that the previous six months, in which he played magnificently, were a fluke for him.

So is Biyombo going to emerge as the next Garnett or will he prove to be just another knotch under the belt of disappointment?

Unfortunately, I'm inclined to go with the latter.

Brandon Knight brings a whole lot of offense to the table for the Detroit Pistons, but that is about it.

Knight averaged 17.3 points and 4.2 assists per game last year for Kentucky, while shooting nearly 38 percent from downtown.

The major knock on Knight is that his defense is subpar. He was able to get away with it in college, but at the NBA level, he has to worry about a whole different caliber of guard, like Deron Williams or Dwyane Wade.

Additionally, his shot selection is murky. Knight has a habit of taking low-quality shots way too often. And his court awareness is not where it should be.

Many people are skeptical about the Pistons take Knight with such a high pick, and such criticism is not unwarranted. His only consistent attribute is his scoring, but if the rest of his game does not fall into place that aspect will suffer as well.

Not to mention it may turn out that he needs 25 or more shots per game to even reach 20 points.

Such circumstances imply that Knight has all the makings of a draft day bust.

The Cleveland Cavaliers took a big, unnecessary risk by drafting Tristan Thompson with the fourth overall pick in this year’s draft.

In his one and only season with Texas, Thompson averaged 13.1 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game, impressive numbers for a freshman. It seems clear that Cleveland values Thompson’s abilities, but do the Cavaliers understand how difficult of a transition the NBA is going to be for the incoming rookie?

Thompson, at 6’8”, may have been able to block a large amount of shots in college, but he is now going to be going up against players that are much stronger and taller than he and not the other way around.

Additionally, Thompson may have been better off staying a little bit longer at Texas, although you cannot blame his decision to declare since Cleveland picked him fourth overall.

Thompson does not add substantial size, prolific scoring or even significant strength to the Cavaliers. He is just too average a player to have gone so high in this year’s draft.

Cleveland is going to ask, and fans are going to expect the world of Thompson.

But he might just crumble under the pressure and become just another draft day bust.

Jimmer Fredette's inclusion on this list is not an attempt to hate on the point guard because I'll be one of the first to admit that he is an extremely athletic player.

That being said, Jimmer is considered by many to not be an NBA caliber player, and there is some truth to such skepticism.

In his last season at BYU, Fredette averaged 28.9 points and 4.3 assists per game, extremely impressive numbers. He also shot nearly 40 percent from beyond the arc, and many of his attempts came from further than the NBA's three-point line.

The problem with Fredette lies in his size. At 6'3" he is listed as a point guard, and that's appropriate given his height. However, he is really an undersized shooting guard because he does not possess the qualities a floor general needs to direct offenses.

He is only an OK passer, and his ball-handling skills are solid, but not as well off as a point guard's should be.

Additionally, it is unclear whether or not Fredette can play defense. He certainly didn't in college, but it was designed that way to keep him out of foul trouble. He is athletic enough to make it happen, yet we cannot say for sure how good a defender he will be.

Ultimately though, the pressure of "Jimmer Mania" may get to the rookie, and he will have trouble adjusting to what is almost a completely different game.

Don't set the bar too high for Fredette next season. You will only find disappointment.

Kyrie Irving is a selection that may turn some heads, but the truth is he not only has the potential to become a disappointment but an absolute bust as well.

In his one and only season at Duke, Irving averaged 17.5 points, 4.3 assists and 1.5 steals in under 28 minutes per game. He is extremely athletic and some peg him to develop into a Chris Paul type player.

But the odds are against him on that one.

To be fair, Irving does have the potential to shock and awe the league, but the situation he is coming into with the Cleveland Cavaliers could potentially ruin his development.

With Baron Davis, the Cavs have not only a mentor for Irving, but a reason to not rush his development, yet all indications are that they will. The Cleveland organization is looking for a LeBron James type savior. Think of how much pressure that puts on Irving.

Even if Irving put up solid numbers like 10 points and six assists per game, the Cavs will be at a certain level of disappointment. However, even the aforementioned numbers could prove to be a reach. Irving is the Cavs' consolation prize for losing LeBron, and it may be impossible to live up to his expect ions.

Not to mention the Cleveland organization is already drawing criticism for taking Irving over Derrick Williams, which is not exactly a vote of confidence for Irving.

All in all, in the small market of Cleveland, Irving is facing big market pressure.

And he may not be up to the challenge just yet.

You can follow Dan Favale on Twitter here @DannyFavs2033.