The Finest Moments of the NBA’s Biggest Draft Busts

Sam Bowie, Kwame Brown, Raef LaFrentez, and Greg Oden are all certified high-profile NBA Draft Busts. We ran down the 25 Worst Draft Picks of All-Time a few years ago, detailing how awful these players are/were, and how they became widely known as NBA busts. We've done a lot of "worsts" lists too—crappy NBA draft busts like Oden, Darko Milicic, Adam Morrison and Marvin Williams are often repeat offenders for topics such as The 25 Worst Contracts in NBA History, The Worst Players to Ever Win an NBA Championship, and the aforementioned 25 Worst Draft Picks of All-Time.

Today, however, we bring a new perspective to Complex Sports' NBA coverage. Let's be nice, even if it's just for one listicle. While all the players named above are tremendous disappointments to millions of people, they each had great individual NBA games and/or moments that reminded everyone why they were drafted where they were. From Kwame Brown balling out like he's 2003 Anthony Davis to Adam Morrison scoring 30 points as a rookie, these are The Finest Moments of the NBA’s Biggest Draft Busts.

Sam Bowie Plays Well, Doesn't Get Injured

Date: 12/27/1984

Game: Trail Blazers @ Spurs

The wide array of offensive moves Sam Bowie put on here shows how refined the 7'1” three-year Kentucky starter was coming out of the 1984 Draft. During this 16 point, 7 rebound line against the Spurs, the rookie's legs looked strong. He ran gracefully down the floor, filled in lanes on the break, and finished moves with authority. On the left-block, Bowie's footwork and touch was smooth and agile in such tight spaces. As a franchise center, he looked the part. Although chronic leg injuries ruined the career of the man who was drafted in front of Jordan, he still had those postmoves later on in his career, even after those injuries had sapped much of his speed. Peep the work he put in against the Bulls in 1992.

Shawn Bradley Schools Shaq (Sort-Of)

Date: 1/22/1994

Game: Magic @ 76ers

Look at Shawn Bradley cook! Faced 1v1 against Shaq all night, he scored 24 points and grabbed the same amount of boards as the Big Disel (FIVE!). He was all jump hooks and post-passes out the ass. Bradley finessed his way all around Shaq's girth en route to that impressive offensive performance, but he also got beat up by Shaq on the other end of the floor. You want to know what happens when a rail-thin 7'6” 235 lb center goes up against a hulking 325 lb big? Thirty-three points on 15 of 16 shooting is what. Damn, Shaq.

Raef LaFrentz Does the Impossible

Date: N/A

Game: 76ers @ Nuggets

In every conceivable scenario, the words “Iverson tracked by LaFrentz” doesn't end in Allen Iverson getting legitimately run down and blocked in the open court. Raef LaFrentz, the No. 3 overall pick in that disasterous 1998 draft, is a 6'11” 240 lb man. Without this video, no amount of eye-witness testimony could've convinced me that this play ever happened. Raef LaFrentz finished his career as a 10 point, 6 rebound a night starter who was always paid like he wasn't actually a scrub, and in this insane moment of defensive desire, he wasn't one either.

Kwame Brown Looks Futuristic

Date: 3/23/2003

Game: Wizards @ Warriors

This happened in Kwame Brown's second season, before Michael Jordan presumably destroyed any and all of the kid's confidence and mettle. Brown averaged 22.2 MPG off the bench in 2002-2003, and in this road loss to the Warriors, he showed superstar-level skill. While a 40-year-old Jordan played 42 minutes and scored 24 points on 11 of 23 shooting, Brown put in 20 minutes and finished with an impactful 10 point, 8 rebound, and 3 assist effort. Seeing a near 7-foot center with that kind of length, speed, finishing, and dribbling ability explode to the rim like that is something that we see night-in and night-out from Anthony Davis today. But in 2003, with big burly centers and crafty post specialists running the league, these moments of freakish athletic domination were real “wow” highlights from the former No. 1 overall pick.

Michael Olowokandi Dunks on Shaq

Date: 5/31/2004

Game: Timberwolves @ Lakers

The No. 1 pick by the L.A. Clippers in the 1998 Draft finally notched a highlight-worthy moment against Los Angeles' preeminent center. In the first quarter of that killer Game 6 from the 2004 Western Conference Finals, Olowokandi dunked powerfully for his only bucket of the game after Shaq was late switching over. An assertive two-points over the future Hall of Fame Laker, but a short-lived deuce at that. If you keep watching the video, Shaq posts up Olowokandi on the very next possession and bullies him into commiting a foul. That was his second of the quarter, sending him to the bench. Olowokandi was disposed to racking up 4 fouls in 17 minutes for the rest of the game. Shaq got him back.

Darko Milicic's Beef with Dikembe Mutombo

Date: 11/19/2005

Game: Pistons @ Rockets

A glossed-over fact in Darko Milicic's sad NBA career: He's was, at one point, a bad motherfucker. Bad as in, baaaaaad, not like, “He's obviously a bad basketball player.” On a November night in 2005, he blocked Dikembe Mutombo and exchanged a few elbows, Mutombo hit him with the finger-wag—he ultimate sign of respectful disrespect. After the game, Pistons fans were pumped that their No. 2 overall pick was showing some fight against a 38-year-old center. Rasheed Wallace called him a “Serbian gangster,” claiming that Darko can go “psycho on guys.” Guess that's why he fights professionally these days instead of playing basketball.

Adam Morrison and Emeka Okafor Tag-Team the Pacers

Date: 1/30/2006

Game: Bobcats @ Pacers

Adam Morrison can play NBA basketball. His short-lived NBA career might've been one that he's ultimately peaceful with, but three NBA seasons out of the former No. 3 overall pick isn't anything to sneeze at. This 30-point night, backed up by Emeka Okafor scoring 11 fourth quarter points and putting in 14 boards and five blocks, lead the fledging Bobcats to a nice road win over the Pacers.

Morrison was white hot that night—peeling off screens and hitting mid-range jumpers, letting it fly with accuracy from downtown, and driving hard to the rack when faced with good matchups on the wing. The career 37 percent shooter shot 52 percent that night. His jumper was working, bruh. Still, he looked like an awkward, bushy white guy with a ring, which is how he'll be known at the NBA level forever and ever.

Jonny Flynn Actually Plays Point Guard

Date: 3/30/2012

Game: Trail Blazers @ Clippers

Proof of how far the Trail Blazers have come in recent years: In 2014, they no longer have Jonny Flynn and Hasheem Thabeet playing any significant minutes for them. Here, however, we have evidence that Flynn, as well as Thabeet, are both somewhat capable of doing the exact thing that they needed to do consistently to stick around in the NBA.

In Flynn's case, reading a situation, using a pick-and-roll effectively, drawing in defenders, and passing accurately were all key point guard things that he did well here. Flynn never did point guard things that well in the NBA. The former No. 6 overall pick finished his three-year NBA career with a dismal 1.69 assist-to-turnover ratio, proving that highlights like the one above were rarities.

Given that the Timberwolves selected Flynn and Ricky Rubio with the No. 5 and No. 6 picks in the 2009 Draft, I feel even worse for Kevin Love. In that same draft, Steph Curry and DeMar DeRozan went 7th and 9th overall, respectively. Sucks to suck.

Greg Oden's Comeback Game

Date: 1/15/2014

Game: Heat @ Wizards

Greg Oden, what happened man? Oh wait, more body issues than ESPN the Magazine. Yikes. While a presumably re-vitalized Oden looked like he had some spring in his step last January, just 10 months later, he was quoted around Thanksgiving as being “not interested” in any basketball comeback. “I have to deal with other stuff first. Life stuff,” he said told the Akron Beacon Journal. Yeah, that's probably for the best.

Marvin Williams Beats the Heat

Date: 2/8/2014

Game: Heat @ Jazz

Putting up 23 points and hitting all these big shots against the 2013-2014 Heat should warrant a flowery paragraph for Marvin Williams, but the YouTube user who uploaded this video had something brilliant to say:

“You would think that a former second-overall pick would be more popular, but I have reached the conclusion that there exists not a single fan of Marvin Williams. At most, there are fans of the Jazz who appreciate Marvin as a decent role-player; but there is not one person in the world who likes Marvin more than any other player.

With his clutch performance in the Jazz's win over the Heat last night, he might have gained some small amount of admiration from fans around the league. But this admiration will be short-lived, and soon, Marvin will withdraw back into the unconquerable darkness of his obscurity.

If this video ever reaches 1,000 views, I will delete this channel and stop watching the NBA entirely. 2,000 views, and I will delete every other channel on YouTube as well.”

Over 6,000 views later, and user DownToBuck remains.