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I was pushing Ben McLemore so much. I was sure he was 10 year starter and perennial All Star. I was thinking Ray Allen, Drexler levels.

Injuries don't make a player a bust. A player that had high expectations and sucks is a bust.

Joe Alexander. He was the 8th overall pick in the 2008 draft by the Bucks and was out of the league in two years.

Maybe not a bust, but I think of OJ Mayo as not coming close to expectations. Didn’t realize he’s playing in Saudi Arabia until now!

Everyone has forgotten about bouknight apparently but he was a lottery pick that we aren't even playing in preseason right now

There was a time in the early 10’s when every year, the most dominant and athletic wing in HS was labeled the next Kobe or next lebron. Shabazz Muhammad was a bust before he even got to the league, Jabari Parker didn’t pan out and honestly based on predraft expectations labeling him the next lebron Wiggins was a sleeper bust.

Derrick Williams, 2nd overall pick in 2011

As a kings fan, we should talk MORE about Marvin Bagley until his dad understands

Nobody mentions Joe Smith. They just talk about how stupid the Timberwolves are. He was the guy in his draft.

Bo Kimble and Billy Owens are two others.

Christian Laettner. Two NCAA championships. The only amateur selected for the first Dream Team. Had a very forgetful career after college.

Emmanuel Mudiay

Evan Turner, he caught too much of a wave of redemption with point-forward. Selected at number two and was DOODOO DOGSHIT, even by that era sixers standards

Nikoloz Tskitishvili

might be one of the worst players ever selected at 5

I think the biggest draft busts are when you trade away a good player for the picks package and then they suck.

Anthony Bennett is not a bust. He shouldn’t of been picked 1st, no team was selecting him until the 7th. You need hype to be a bust. Nobody gaf about Bennett, everyone thought that 2013 draft was weak, and the real draft was going to be 2014. Oden, Darko, Simmons, Derrick Williams, OJ Mayo, Bagley, Ayton, and MKG are better examples of busts, even though some of them weren’t even bad NBA players.

The people who were in the draft should matter when comparing the player. If they realistically couldn’t have done much better then it’s not as bad in my opinion. That said, Josh Jackson is not mentioned nearly enough for coming out of a loaded 2017 draft, with Fultz in the conversation too.

Warriors drafted Ekpe Udoh with the 6th pick in 2010.

Since you are a new fan, you likely missed all the shit those guys have gotten, but they've been been shit on proper.

Anthony Bennett: He gets a bit of a pass because nobody had him going number one and it was a legit shock when the Cavs picked him. I think the belief was that the Cavs simply picked a bad player so it was more about the Cavs being awful than it was about Bennett being bad.

Greg Oden: He gets a pass from most (justifiably) because of injuries.

Darko: This guy got shit on a LOT. But if there is a pass here it is because he was drafted after LeBron and not before him, and he was drafted more on potential the readiness.

Along the same lines, Kwame Brown got shit on a lot, as did Thabeet. You might not hear about them much if you are a new fan because there is no sense beating a dead horse.

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As for guys who never really got shit on despite being high picks, I'd say that Kenyon Martin comes to mind, he did manage an All-Star appearance (still shrugging my shoulders on that one) but he was more of a quality starter who was more about rebounding and defence, but he never even averaged a double-double. Frankly speaking, he was a poor man's Horace Grant. Don't get me wrong: He was a good player.

But he was also the #1 pick. But it was a shitty draft and just about nobody really panned out there other than Michael Redd. Some good roation players/starters, sure, but nobody that was swinging the balance of power in the NBA.

I'd say that Andrea Barngani also gets a pass, but the first overall pick was a toss up that year. I remember the Raptors shopping that pick in a trade and not getting any bites.

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The Clippers drafted the Candy Man, Michael OlolowoKandi, and he wasn't terribly good. He got drafted ahead of Dirk, Paul Pierce, Vince Carter, Antwan Jamison, and Rashard Lewis. But when you get drafted by the Clippers, people just assume you are doomed for failure... at least that's how people saw it back then, though I don't think it was on a lot of people's radar.

Does Shawn Bradley count?

Derrick Williams