Enjoy the kid while you can

One name: Ryan Minor.

He stayed one year too long. He went from a surefire top 20 pick to a second rounder, and didn't make an NBA roster. I would never make that mistake if it was possible to be a first round draft pick.
Ended up making the MLB though and stayed with it the rest of his life. He probably made more in baseball then he would basketball at that time.
 
Ended up making the MLB though and stayed with it the rest of his life. He probably made more in baseball then he would basketball at that time.
his rookie deal would have been around 2 mil in the NBA .. (for 3 years) .. (or more) ..

he didn't make a 1 mil in all his years playing baseball combined ..
 
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his rookie deal would have been around 2 mil in the NBA .. (for 3 years) .. (or more) ..

he didn't make a 1 mil in all his years playing baseball combined ..
I thought he made more than that. But I didn't realize how bad he was outside of that one year.

He did stick with baseball as a coach though. I remember him playing basketball for the OKC Cavs in the late 90s too
 
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One name: Ryan Minor.

He stayed one year too long. He went from a surefire top 20 pick to a second rounder, and didn't make an NBA roster. I would never make that mistake if it was possible to be a first round draft pick.

Willie Warren was the one that always comes to my mind. He was likely a lotto pick after freshman year.

ironically he may have been better off staying another year after his sophomore year to try to improve his stock.
 
How few players did we have that even got NBA looks from like the 90s till Griffin Bros? Even late Tubbs didn't have near the NBA talent he had in the 80s.

Blake was the first first rounder since Mookie Blaylock. There really weren't even a lot of others that got many looks from the NBA despite that we won a lot of games. We've won a bit less the last 10 years and we'll end up having 3 first round picks. And have an undrafted guy that is probably gonna play his way to being a key role player for the Lakers for a long time most likely. Strange that this era has produced some of the best NBA talent.
 
One name: Ryan Minor.

He stayed one year too long. He went from a surefire top 20 pick to a second rounder, and didn't make an NBA roster. I would never make that mistake if it was possible to be a first round draft pick.

how do you know he was a "surefire top 20 pick"?
players don't just magically lose their nba basketball talent.
 
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how do you know he was a "surefire top 20 pick"?
players don't just magically lose their nba basketball talent.
Because I was alive back then and followed basketball very closely, both NCAA annd NBA, especially OU players. Pretty much every expert had him as a top 20 pick if not a fringe lottery pick.
 
Because I was alive back then and followed basketball very closely, both NCAA annd NBA, especially OU players. Pretty much every expert had him as a top 20 pick if not a fringe lottery pick.

maybe they were wrong.
you don't just magically lose your nba talent.
 
Because I was alive back then and followed basketball very closely, both NCAA annd NBA, especially OU players. Pretty much every expert had him as a top 20 pick if not a fringe lottery pick.
I’ll back you on this one. I remember Red Auerbach in an interview saying that he was going to be Boston’s pick had Ryan declared, & IIRC they had a top 15-ish slot.
 
here's a quote from an article from the daily oklahoman back in 96

"I hear teams are interested in me playing the 2 (shooting guard position)," Minor said.
Scouts see Minor's primary flaw as matchup problems defensively. Is he physical enough to defend a forward or quick enough to defend a shooting guard?

he was kinda like jalon moore today.... good college player but based on his measurables...not able to play the position he would have to play in the nba.
and that didn't change from minor's jr to his sr year.
 
maybe they were wrong.
you don't just magically lose your nba talent.
He didn’t lose his NBA talent. He was the first or second player drafted in the second round by the Sixers. I have no idea why they took him because they didn’t have a roster spot for him. It was a much stronger draft class than the previous year.
 
I can’t believe people are arguing that Ryan Minor should have stayed after his junior year. It’s common knowledge that it was a big mistake. Even the Wikipedia article says he was projected as a possible lottery pick.
 
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