The rookies I remember having immense hype, the kind where the draft is considered a sweepstakes for who will get them:
Shaquille O’Neal (1992) Tim Duncan (1997) LeBron James (2003) Zion Williamson (2019) Victor Wembanyama (2023)
Three out of four have had top 10-15 all time careers. I hope Zion gets it together to have at least a Hall of Fame career.
Who am I forgetting / who was there before 1992?
Your list in the modern time (last 30 years) is accurate. Wiggins, Oden, were not hyped to the level of these players. Dwight was extremely hyped, but wouldn’t put him quite on this level…but his hype is underrated by people.
Oden is definitely warranted on that level, especially if Zion is going to be on that list. He was legitimately argued against KD.
What’s worse is that he DID warrant the hype. Pre-injury Oden, the very little we saw in the NBA, was a monster. Dude was easily going to be in the David Robinson/Patrick Ewing tier of centers. Not the level of Shaq/Hakeem/Kareem, but jesus did he look good.
AD should also be on this list.
I don’t think Oden or AD were truly at the once-in-a-lifetime level as a prospect. Definitely not Oden. AD was close though. Oden was viewed as a great prospect, elite, bringing the center position back, but not at that generational level.
I’m from Indiana so I’m sure that skews my perception him being from my homestate, but people were saying he was the best high school player since Kareem. Then he went to Ohio State and dominated. The dude couldn’t use his right hand to shoot for half the year and still dominated with his offhand. He was touted as a can’t miss generational big man and I’d argue moreso than AD because he accomplished way more in high school and college.
Maybe I’m missing the boat on Oden myself. Guess it depends on the circles you were/weren’t in and how clued in you were with the consensus. No question he was very hyped though. Deservedly.
Oden was most definitely viewed as generational talent. Hype bigger than anyone since LeBron and most after.
It doesn’t matter what you are forgetting, you cherry picked 4 players, completely disregarding all of the #1 picks that don’t fit your goal.
Almost every #1 pick has immense rookie hype.
Anthony Bennett for example didn’t have the same hype as Wiggins, AD or wemby
Almost every #1 pick has immense rookie hype.
Most of them are hyped, yes…but you’d be remiss to act like John Wall, Kyrie Irving, KAT, and Victor Wembanyama got the same levels of hype just because all of them were #1 picks.
Yeah true but Zion AD Andrea barngiani even d rose were seen as potential all time guys, plus all the other guys like Greg oden kwame and Michael olawakndi who were pretty hyped as well
Lol no one said that about Bargnani. It was a incredibly weak draft with no clear cut #1 (looks even worse now)
Greg oden, OJ mayo, michael beasley. kwame brown was pretty hyped as well
Neither Beasley or Mayo were #1 overall picks.
Wiggins and Oden were very hyped
Wiggins was weird. Wiggins was very hyped coming out of high school. Then at Kanas he was overtaken and the hype was reduced some. Then Embiid got hurt and suddenly his hype resurfaced because he was going #1 instead of #3
Wiggins’ HS hype was extraordinary, but it died down a couple notches after he didn’t back it up at Kansas. There’s a reason Cleveland was ok trading the pick. Teams wouldn’t consider trading the pick for any of these names mentioned, even if the goal was to win now.
Oden was very hyped, and absolutely warranted it, but I’d say it was more on AD’s level. Which is just a hair below these guys imo.
I think AD was more hyped that both imo
Lonzo was so hyped among casual fans, while Luka was hyped among hardcore bball nerds before the draft.
What about Blake wasn’t he immensely hyped as well?
Blake had hype, but if a GM could’ve and didn’t pick Shaq, Duncan, LeBron, Zion or Wemby they would’ve had the severance package in their inbox before Zo, Van Horn, Darko, Ja and Miller got to the stage.
Can you imagine the Spurs with Keith Van Horn?
Just because Darko went 2nd after Lebron does not mean he would’ve been the guy chosen 1st in this alternate universe. Melo was consensus #2, and taking Darko was an all-time screw-up by Dumars.
For sure, I remember all I could talk about in 2003 was Steve Blake.
He was very hyped, not on the same level as these names though.
Zion hasn’t done shit though…
How strong was the Ewing hype in 1984? He was the clear consensus #1 pick, but I’m looking for “not picking him at #1 would be your last act as a GM” level hype.
Ewing was a no-doubter and one one the most hyped prospects ever. He even has his own conspiracy theory
There’s a reason they froze that envelope.
Oden was so hyped! I thought he was going to be the next big thing.
The Oden vs KD debate was real, though.
Definitely! If Zion is on the list for hype, you have to have Oden there by the same metric
I remember Harold Miner being called Baby Jordan. Does that count?
Going way back, Lew Alcindor, they were writing stories about Kareem when he was in high school. Bird and Magic were hyped up when they were drafted. Hakeem might have been the next one after that. I remember there being a lot of hype about Jason Kidd, but he was drafted second, behind Glenn Robinson.
Hindsight is a helluva drug.
Fultz and Cade were hyped and have been pretty meh. Not on the same level as the guys you listed, but they were viewed as safe bets to be all stars when they were picked.
IMO, Yao Ming could make a case as a “rookie” but those injuries definitely could take him out of that :(
Ralph Sampson was the can’t miss pick in 1983, but the injuries caught up to him during his NBA career.
