It?s difficult to predict who?s destined for NBA greatness. Many players who are drafted in the first round plunge into obscurity ?- or worse, they become punchlines like Sam Bowie, drafted ahead of Michael Jordan in 1984. On the other side of the coin are low draft picks who rise to unexpected stardom. In some cases, their off-court antics contribute to their fame, but all of these players performed high above expectations on the court, too. These guys are so good, it?s shocking to remember they were picked so late in the draft.
World B. Free
A colorful character with an unforgettable name, Free delighted the Philadelphia 76ers after they drafted him in the second round in 1975. A risk-taker whose high-flying jumps and dunks made him a player ahead of his time, Free was second in the league in scoring in both 1979 and 1980. In 1980, he averaged 30.2 points per game and made the NBA All-Star Team. To this day, Dick Vitale annually bestows the satirical World B. Free Award for best name in the NBA, and Free has become a Philly institution as a fan ambassador in a flamboyant suit.
Gilbert Arenas
Arenas?s NBA career has come to an ignominious end ?- moral of the story: don?t store a gun in your locker and then make fun of it ? but he made terrific contributions to basketball before things went downhill. In the 2001 draft, Arenas put all of his eggs into the New York Knicks? basket, but they passed on him. The Golden State Warriors acquired him 30th, only to lose him three seasons later to the Washington Wizards to an obscure free agency loophole later fixed by the Gilbert Arenas Rule. Known for his game-saving buzzer shots, Arenas was an NBA All-Star three times and holds the Wizards team record for most points scored in a single game.
Omer Asik
This gangly, gifted seven-footer excelled far from the NBA radar in the Turkish Basketball League for five years. By 2010, he was 24 years old, an age when many players? best years are behind them. The Chicago Bulls picked him up 36th, and from there, he rose from Turkish League standout to double-double workhorse, averaging more than ten rebounds and ten points per game. Now with the Houston Rockets, Asik is more dorky than flashy, but his natural speed and timing have made him one of the most consistent and well-rounded centers currently playing.
Happy Hairston
Hairston remained unassigned until the fourth round of the 1964 draft, when the Cincinnati Royals picked him 33rd overall. In 1969, Hairston would join one of the greatest teams of all time, the ?70s Lakers. Hairston contributed hugely to the Lakers? legendary 1972 season, winning 33 consecutive games and the NBA Championship. He posted over 1,000 rebounds that season, then led the Lakers in rebounds from 1973-1975. Hairston died of prostate cancer in 2001, leaving behind the Happy Hairston Youth Foundation, which provides college scholarships for urban youth.
Rashard Lewis
Rashard Lewis?s first impression on NBA fans was heartbreak. In 1998, he skipped college to go directly to the NBA, and his initial prospects brought him to the ?green room,? where the top 15 hopefuls wait to be drafted. Lewis?s stock plummeted shortly before the draft, and he was left alone and crying in the green room until the second round. When the Seattle SuperSonics picked him 32nd, they wound up with a star three-point shooter. He holds the SuperSonics team record for three-pointers, and he scored an amazing 220 total treys for the Orlando Magic in 2008-9.
Vlade Divac
When Serbian center Divac became the L.A. Lakers? 26th draft choice in 1989, he represented the fall of the Iron Curtain. One of the first European players to thrive in the NBA, Divac?s charming personality and all-around skills proved the NBA could be truly international. His greatest contribution to the NBA was introducing a European attitude toward fouls: he probably imported his habit of ?flopping,? dropping to the floor after a minor shove to gain officials? sympathy, from professional soccer.
Manu Ginobili
Ginobili has put Argentinian basketball on the map ?- he led his national team to a surprise Olympic gold medal in 2004 ?- but he got a slow start in the NBA. Despite four stellar seasons in Argentina and Italy, NBA teams were reluctant to take their chances on him in 1999. The Spurs selected him 57th, but Italian League team Kinder Bologna offered him a better deal. After Ginobili led them to the 2001 Euroleague Championship, the Spurs got much more interested. Since then, he?s helped the Spurs win three NBA championships in the past decade.
Carlos Boozer
Probably the greatest Alaskan ever to play in the NBA, Juneau?s Boozer was a high scorer and 2001 NCAA Champion for Duke University but got overlooked in the 2002 draft. The Cleveland Cavaliers acquired him 35th, but Boozer showed his true star potential after a free agency nightmare took him to the Utah Jazz. A two-time NBA All-Star and two-time USA Olympian, Boozer has struggled with injuries, but he?s very solid when he?s healthy. In 2007, he racked up 41 points in two different games and led the Jazz to their first Western Conference Finals in a decade. Now on the Chicago Bulls, Boozer is still among the most productive bigmen in the league.
Dennis Rodman
It?s hard to believe that rebounding genius and oddball celebrity Rodman was a second-round draft pick, but he went 27th when the Detroit Pistons snagged him in 1986. Already 25 at the time, Rodman had struggled academically in college, playing for Southeastern Oklahoma State, a NAIA team. At eligibility camps, Pistons scouts recognized the future 1992-1998 league leader in rebounds. Rodman was twice crowned Defensive Player of the Year, earned five NBA Championships with the Pistons and the Chicago Bulls, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011. Nowadays, he continues to dye his hair outrageous colors, wear dresses in public, appear on reality TV and embark on publicity-stunt journeys to North Korea.
Dennis Johnson
Among overachieving low draft picks, Johnson is in a class by himself. Chosen 29th in 1976, well into the second round, Johnson emerged as an innovator and clutch player, eclipsing most of the players picked ahead of him. Teams were wary of him because he?d already established himself as a troublemaker; he?d struggle to stick to the straight and narrow throughout his life and was arrested for assault on his wife and son in 1997. But his aggressive and incendiary personality served him well on the court, leading the Seattle SuperSonics to their first and only NBA championship in 1979 and winning two more rings with the Boston Celtics in the 1980s. Two game-winning plays ?- a buzzer-beating jump shot in the 1985 NBA Finals and a successful shot off a Larry Bird steal in the 1987 Conference Finals ?- led the Celtics to retire his jersey and enshrine him as one of Boston?s greatest. In 2010, he was posthumously elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, following his sudden but fitting 2007 death of a heart attack on the court.
?-
You can contact Sarah Rasher on Twitter?@pas_dechat
?
baylor april 9 albatross louis oosthuizen 10 year old gives birth c. difficile carmelo anthony
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.