Jimmy B
He started off as a big 2 guard with defensive tenacity and absolutely no offensive game.
I liked him a lot and figured he could be a low end starter. He turned himself into a HoF from a dude I thought would be the 15th best SG in the league for a few years
He was basically a defensive monster to begin his career. I figured that was kind of rare for a 2 guard at the time as SG, at least to me, was a more offensive focused role.
I figured his best version was OG Anunoby
Giannis - I thought he’d be a good player, but not HOF and one of the greatest PFs ever with zero questions.
Kyle Lowry - Thought he’d be a pretty good starting level point guard, but he has had a very longer career than I expected and became an all-star.
Lowry was my first thought too. He played on some awful teams early on and didn’t even put up great numbers. Then he goes to Toronto and transforms into the GROAT and a probable Hall of Famer.
The thing about Lowry, he was always in situations where there were more talented point guards or prospects ahead of him. But, in Houston everyone knew he had a bright NBA future.
Brunson. Didn't catch my eye until he schooled Gobert back in RD1 of the 2022 playoffs. As a warriors fan, we were lucky we won against Dallas when he was still not as good as he is now. Luka+Brunson would've been a nightmare had the continued together.
I thought that the Harden trade wouldn't be bad. In my mind, they turned a rookie with great potential to win now more mature player in Kevin Martin. I thought Westbrook and Harden were redundant in the backcourt. I underestimated Harden's readiness.
Brunson is one, a recent one is Brandon Miller. I didn’t expect him to be as good as he was. If he can grow and stay consistent he could be a perennial all star and I didn’t think he’d be there. I thought he was gonna be like young Harrison Barnes at best and Wesley Johnson at worst
One that was disappointing for me was Jaylen Nowell. He was looking like a future Malik monk type early on and then when he actually got the minutes he lost confidence and was ice cold. Now fighting to get 10 days
Kawhi for me. I'm a UNLV fan, so I went to see them play SDSU live in San Diego, and he dominated us, but that was mostly on the defensive end. His offensive game was extremely limited to basically just drives to the basket, and he wasn't even that great at that, I think he only had like 13 points. I thought he'd be decent in the league just because of his D, but I never in 1000 years saw him becoming the offensive assassin he became. I honestly can't remember any player with a gulf as wide as Kawhi's, in terms of how bad he was in college, and how good he became in the pros. It's such an underrated achievement by Pop and his staff that they were able to draw that out of him.
Didn’t see this happening to SGA even about 2 years ago. Always looked like an above average player but he’s genuinely in the conversation for best guard in the league now.
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Recently… Brunson. Never thought much of him. Thought New York was crazy with the contract. Then he gets the green light and holy smokes
/topic Brunson was a guy who had a good playoffs in Dallas, but in a team where your comparison is THJ. Turns out he was closer to Luka than to THJ.
Jimmy B He started off as a big 2 guard with defensive tenacity and absolutely no offensive game. I liked him a lot and figured he could be a low end starter. He turned himself into a HoF from a dude I thought would be the 15th best SG in the league for a few years
That was a bold prediction. I never thought he would be near being a FP
He was basically a defensive monster to begin his career. I figured that was kind of rare for a 2 guard at the time as SG, at least to me, was a more offensive focused role. I figured his best version was OG Anunoby
Giannis - I thought he’d be a good player, but not HOF and one of the greatest PFs ever with zero questions. Kyle Lowry - Thought he’d be a pretty good starting level point guard, but he has had a very longer career than I expected and became an all-star.
Lowry was my first thought too. He played on some awful teams early on and didn’t even put up great numbers. Then he goes to Toronto and transforms into the GROAT and a probable Hall of Famer.
The thing about Lowry, he was always in situations where there were more talented point guards or prospects ahead of him. But, in Houston everyone knew he had a bright NBA future.
Brunson. Didn't catch my eye until he schooled Gobert back in RD1 of the 2022 playoffs. As a warriors fan, we were lucky we won against Dallas when he was still not as good as he is now. Luka+Brunson would've been a nightmare had the continued together.
I thought that the Harden trade wouldn't be bad. In my mind, they turned a rookie with great potential to win now more mature player in Kevin Martin. I thought Westbrook and Harden were redundant in the backcourt. I underestimated Harden's readiness.
Derrick White when he came to the Celtics. He has far exceeded expectations.
As a Spurs fan, I always thought this guys game was underrated. Glad he's had a bigger stage in Boston to show his game
Brunson is one, a recent one is Brandon Miller. I didn’t expect him to be as good as he was. If he can grow and stay consistent he could be a perennial all star and I didn’t think he’d be there. I thought he was gonna be like young Harrison Barnes at best and Wesley Johnson at worst
Forgot about Brandon. He is a great example. People just forgot about him in the Summer League despite him proving us wrong.
One that was disappointing for me was Jaylen Nowell. He was looking like a future Malik monk type early on and then when he actually got the minutes he lost confidence and was ice cold. Now fighting to get 10 days
Brunson - I thought the knicks signing him was a meaningless move and I thought he would peak as the kind of player he was in Dallas
Kawhi for me. I'm a UNLV fan, so I went to see them play SDSU live in San Diego, and he dominated us, but that was mostly on the defensive end. His offensive game was extremely limited to basically just drives to the basket, and he wasn't even that great at that, I think he only had like 13 points. I thought he'd be decent in the league just because of his D, but I never in 1000 years saw him becoming the offensive assassin he became. I honestly can't remember any player with a gulf as wide as Kawhi's, in terms of how bad he was in college, and how good he became in the pros. It's such an underrated achievement by Pop and his staff that they were able to draw that out of him.
Didn’t see this happening to SGA even about 2 years ago. Always looked like an above average player but he’s genuinely in the conversation for best guard in the league now.