ziggy
07-01-2006, 07:08 PM
Adam Morrison is clearly the media darling of this years NBA rookies. He already has his EA Sports commercials, Adidas contracts, hes working on an XBox gig... His commercials were even shown during the draft. When is the last time you\'ve seen that from a rookie entering the NBA?
My question is, Why is it that media darling draft picks very rarely fail in the NBA? It seems like just based on odds that one of the incoming draft picks that the media falls head over heels in love with, would fail miserably and not live up to the hype. However, Trying to come up with one really stumped me. Going through the old draft boards these are the players that I felt were media darlings at the time of their draft.
2005
No media darlings, Chris Paul was popular, but he didn\'t really become a media darling until he started doing his thing during the season
2004
No media darlings, Emeka was respected, but not a media darling
2003
Lebron James - he has undoubtably lived up to the hype, its not even worth debating.
I didn\'t include Carmelo in the list of media darlings, because that draft was all about LBJ, it was like a coronation
2002 Yao - he started off slow, but with Shaq aging, he is now THE dominant center in the league.
2001 no media darlings
2000 no media darlings
1999 no media darlings
1998 no media darlings, Vinsanity was drafted at #5, but his hype started after his first slam dunk contest.
1997 Tim Duncan-Nothing needs to be said her. NEXT.
1996 Allen Iverson-Superstar
An intersting note: Even Kobe wasn\'t a media darling that year.
1995 no media darlings
1994 Grant Hill - He had all of the buzz, and if not for his injuries, he would have had a truly amazing career.
Jason Kidd went ahead of Hill in that draft, but he still didn\'t get the crazy amount of media attention at the time that Grant was
1993 Webber #1 - For those of you who are of the age where you don\'t remember the early to mid 1990\'s Chris Webber, he was like Amare Stoudamire with a shooting guards handle. He was amazing. Nothing like the bad kneed fadeaway jump shooting shell of a player that you see today.
Penny Hardaway went #3 - I won\'t classify him as a media darling, because he didn\'t get truly hyped up until after he was drafted and paired with The Diesel.
1992 Shaq - The motherload of media hype, And 4 rings later hes certainly lived up to it.
Zo - Even though Shaq sucked up 80 percent of all basketball attention that year leading up to the draft, Zo wrestled away the remaining 20% with him being the next great center in the Georgetown lineage ( On a side note, don\'t you miss great Georgetown Centers? )
I didn\'t include Christine Laettner as a media darling because after Shaq and Zo, there was no buzz left to be had.
1991-Larry Johnson. Man, before the back problems he was a more athletic, more fit and much meaner Charles Barkley... with a side of Charles Oakley thrown in for good measure. He was Hell. #@$#$ Damned back problems.
1990-No media darlings
So why is it that there aren\'t any busts amongst the guys that were hyped up by the media leading up to the draft? I can\'t figure it out, but I\'d be interested in hearing your opinions.
My question is, Why is it that media darling draft picks very rarely fail in the NBA? It seems like just based on odds that one of the incoming draft picks that the media falls head over heels in love with, would fail miserably and not live up to the hype. However, Trying to come up with one really stumped me. Going through the old draft boards these are the players that I felt were media darlings at the time of their draft.
2005
No media darlings, Chris Paul was popular, but he didn\'t really become a media darling until he started doing his thing during the season
2004
No media darlings, Emeka was respected, but not a media darling
2003
Lebron James - he has undoubtably lived up to the hype, its not even worth debating.
I didn\'t include Carmelo in the list of media darlings, because that draft was all about LBJ, it was like a coronation
2002 Yao - he started off slow, but with Shaq aging, he is now THE dominant center in the league.
2001 no media darlings
2000 no media darlings
1999 no media darlings
1998 no media darlings, Vinsanity was drafted at #5, but his hype started after his first slam dunk contest.
1997 Tim Duncan-Nothing needs to be said her. NEXT.
1996 Allen Iverson-Superstar
An intersting note: Even Kobe wasn\'t a media darling that year.
1995 no media darlings
1994 Grant Hill - He had all of the buzz, and if not for his injuries, he would have had a truly amazing career.
Jason Kidd went ahead of Hill in that draft, but he still didn\'t get the crazy amount of media attention at the time that Grant was
1993 Webber #1 - For those of you who are of the age where you don\'t remember the early to mid 1990\'s Chris Webber, he was like Amare Stoudamire with a shooting guards handle. He was amazing. Nothing like the bad kneed fadeaway jump shooting shell of a player that you see today.
Penny Hardaway went #3 - I won\'t classify him as a media darling, because he didn\'t get truly hyped up until after he was drafted and paired with The Diesel.
1992 Shaq - The motherload of media hype, And 4 rings later hes certainly lived up to it.
Zo - Even though Shaq sucked up 80 percent of all basketball attention that year leading up to the draft, Zo wrestled away the remaining 20% with him being the next great center in the Georgetown lineage ( On a side note, don\'t you miss great Georgetown Centers? )
I didn\'t include Christine Laettner as a media darling because after Shaq and Zo, there was no buzz left to be had.
1991-Larry Johnson. Man, before the back problems he was a more athletic, more fit and much meaner Charles Barkley... with a side of Charles Oakley thrown in for good measure. He was Hell. #@$#$ Damned back problems.
1990-No media darlings
So why is it that there aren\'t any busts amongst the guys that were hyped up by the media leading up to the draft? I can\'t figure it out, but I\'d be interested in hearing your opinions.