The CJ argument is a tough one. He played on a team with a front-line of Shaq and Stanley Roberts and yet did not clear the Sweet 16 in the big dance.

On one hand, he was almost unstoppable in college, as a freshman!!!! I saw him throw down some dunks in traffic that made my head spin. He was 5'10-ish and 185 lbs. Not sure what happened to him in the pros. The onset of his turette's syndrome in the NBA may have been a cause. Maybe he lost his drive and motivation to be a great player. Some may argue it was due to his new-found religious beliefs at the time. Soon after he was drafted he changed his name to Mahmod Abdul-Rauf.

Bobby Hurley and Christian Laettner were GREAT college players that did not translate to the pros.

IMHO Isiah Thomas is the best little man in history. AI is tough as nails and maybe a better scorer, but he is selfish and a ball-hog.

Great thread here!!!! I love talking hoops with fellow fans

 

Can't argue Isiah and for the old school TS'ers, Tiny Archibald before injuries slowed him down. He had on the best seasons in NBA history. Lead league in scoring and assists on a really bad team (scoring part easier to accomplish, but assists leader to is off the charts!).

 

Christian Laetner for Duke was nasty.

 

I saw the LSU team's play a number of games in person from that era. The other irony is that Stanely Roberts was by far a better offensive player than Shaq. He couldn't control his weight, otherwise would have been a "Bob Lanier"-type center vs. eating himself out of the league.

 

Hurley might've turned out to be a decent PG in the pros if he didn't almost die in a traffic accident. IIRC, he was making a right turn when some guy barrelled thru a red light and totalled Hurley's SUV. He was never the same afterwards. Jason Williams (the Duke PG, not White Chocolate) is also another possibly good pro PG whose career went askew b/c of a solo motorcycle accident.

Laettner was another Duke guy who was the product of a great system which didn't translate to success in the pros. Danny Ferry holds the single game scoring record @ Duke, and he was a bust of a pro.

Put AI on any of those Detroit squads, and he would've never had to have been a ballhog. The 76er squads he played for weren't particularly good, and they guys the team traded away (e.g. Stackhouse & Larry Hughes) to make AI the focal point of the offense were nothing on the level that the Bad Boys squads had (Dumars, Vinnie Johnson, Mark Aquirre, Rodman, Mahorn, Edwards, Laimbeer, etc.).

Isiah could score when the team needed him to. I remember him leading Detroit back at the end of a game where they were down double digits with less than 2 minutes to go. Isiah scored 16 points in 91 seconds to send the game into OT, which the Pistons eventually won. Not too many guys are capable of doing stuff like that at the pro level.......

 

How about Hakeem Olajuwon / Clyde Drexler combination at UofH?

 

Phi Slamma Jamma!!

 

Fun to watch; tons of talent; but no titles.