The Biggest Kansas Jayhawks NBA Draft Busts of All Time
Kansas boasts James Naismith, Phog Allen, Dean Smith, Gregg Popovich, Adolph Rupp, and other basketball luminaries, so where is all the NBA success?
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS JAYHAWKS HAVE A LONG AND STORIED BASKETBALL HISTORY. In fact, Kansas fans will surely remind you they quite literally have the longest basketball history, since KU was home to James Naismith, the inventor of the game of basketball. The university also sports ties to many of basketball’s all-time coaching greats, luminaries like Phog Allen, Dean Smith, Gregg Popovich, Adolph Rupp, Roy Williams, John Calipari, and Bill Self.
The Jayhawks have nine NCAA championship game appearances, winning national championships in 1952, 1988, and 2008. They would surely have been the #1 overall seed this year, favored to add another title this spring, before the Coronavirus zapped the 2020 March Madness tournament before it ever started.
Unfortunately, Jayhawks’ draft picks haven’t often had the same long and storied success in the NBA. Time and again, a Kansas player entered the NBA with hope and pedigree only to turn into a bust. Sure there’s an occasional Paul Pierce or Joel Embiid or even moderate successes like Devonte’ Graham and Kirk Hinrich, and of course there’s The Big Dipper, Wilt Chamberlain.
But for the most part, KU draft picks haven’t lived up to the hype. Not all busts are created equal. There are higher expectations for a lottery pick than someone at the end of the first round, even more so for top-5 or #1 overall. Let’s count down the 15 biggest Kansas Jayhawks draft busts in NBA history, from 15 to 1…
TIER V — HOW BAD CAN YOU BE IF YOU WIN A RING?
15. Brandon Rush, 2008 #13 pick
Brandon Rush is our first of many busted Kansas picks at the tail end of the lottery. Rush led the 2008 national champion Jayhawks in scoring before heading to the NBA, where a career 40.2% three helped keep him around the league for almost a decade. Rush was a microwave bench scorer, but it was one of those old junky microwaves that only works once every few weeks.
The crazy thing about Brandon Rush is that he started 25 games for the 73–9 Golden State Warriors in 2015–16 in place of an injured Harrison Barnes. It’s true! I was even at one of those games, though, notably, it was Golden State’s first loss of the season. Rush was also on the Warriors’ championship roster the previous season. Hard to be to big of a bust if you’ve got those two bullets on your resume.
14. Scot Pollard, 1997 #19 pick
If you’re not sure if Scot Pollard was an NBA bust, just type his name into Google and see what you think. When your appearance on Survivor comes up before your NBA career, you’re probably a bust.
Pollard lasted a decade in the NBA as a journeyman backup center, playing in over 500 games and starting 99 of them. He was actually a pretty quality defender and even ended his career playing 22 games for the 2008 Boston Celtics team that won the championship, though he was no longer on the roster once the playoffs rolled around.
TIER IV — LATE FIRST ROUND IS PANNING FOR GOLD
13. Jacque Vaughn, 1997 #27 pick
Vaughn was the point guard for some terrific Kansas teams, but he never found his footing in the NBA. Vaughn sneaked into the end of the first round, where expectations are pretty low as teams pan for gold. He never really got his shot as an NBA starter outside of one terrible season with the Orlando Magic. Still, despite starting 48 games, Vaughn somehow managed to average under six points and three assists per game.
Jacque Vaughn never really figured got his bearings running an NBA offense and bounced around the league for a decade, but it was not all in vain. His basketball mind superseded his on-court talent, and he’s now the (interim) head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.
12. Wayne Simien, 2005 #29 pick
Wayne Simien was terrific as a tweener forward for the Jayhawks, playing four seasons for Kansas. Simien was even a consensus First-Team All American his final season with the Jayhawks.
NBA scouts doubted his fit anyway as he fell to #29th, and Simien proved them all wrong, winning an NBA championship his first season in the league with Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal, and the Miami Heat. Too bad Simien had nothing to do with it. He played 93 minutes the following season and then disappeared forever.
11. J.R. Giddens, 2008 #30 pick
It’s hard to be a bust as the last pick of the first round, but Giddens managed to pull it off. He played in only 38 NBA games, scoring a grand total of a whopping 73 points.
Giddens lasted only two years in the league, which Jayhawks fans will surely note is also how long Giddens lasted at Kansas before transferring out to the University of New Mexico to finish his college career. Sorry, Jayhawks fans — we’re counting him among your busts anyway.
TIER III — ROTATION GUYS NOT WORTH THE PICK
10. Ben McLemore, 2013 #7 pick
Ben McLemore is still in the NBA. Actually, he was quite good this season! McLemore has hit 40% of his threes over the past two seasons, and this year he made 154 threes as a spot starter for the small-ball Houston Rockets. He even posted a +6.9 on-court rating per 100 possessions this season!
This, then, is a hedge. McLemore could still have make something of his career, so maybe he can work his way down or off the list. Or maybe that was just one hot shooting stretch. Before this Rockets season, McLemore was just the latest in an endless string of busted Sacramento Kings shooting guard draft picks. Until these last two years, he sported an average 35% career three and had an offensive rating under 100 in four of five seasons.
9. Cole Aldrich, 2010 #11 pick
Aldrich bounced his way through six NBA teams in eight seasons, averaging just 10 minutes a game for his career as mostly a third center. He finished his career averaging just three points and three rebounds a game.
Aldrich was supposed to be a rim protector, but he spent most of his time protecting the end of the bench. He basically only got on the court when every other big man on the team ahead of him is out injured, and even then, Aldrich usually joined them soon after.
8. Raef LaFrentz, 1998 #3 pick
Raef LaFrentz was a member of some incredible Kansas teams in the late 90s, as long as you define incredible by regular season greatness and not their annual March choke job. LaFrentz was drafted well ahead of teammate Paul Pierce in the 1998 draft, going #3 ahead of Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki, and of course Pierce.
As an NBA player, LaFrentz was fine — he just wasn’t any of those guys. He scored 10 points a game in his career with a 36% three, and it’s easy to see looking back that LaFrentz may not have been a bust as much as a decade or two ahead of his time. It’s easy to see him finding a role in today’s NBA as a prototypical stretch big.
7. Drew Gooden, 2002 #4 pick
Gooden carved out a nice, long NBA career, playing 14 seasons around the league and collecting quite a closet full of jerseys. Gooden was drafted by the Grizzlies but didn’t even last a full season before getting traded to the Magic. That would be a sign of things to come. Gooden went from the Magic to the Cavs, where he had a couple moderately successful years thanks to the presence of one LeBron James, then bounced to the Bulls, Kings, Spurs, Mavericks, Clippers, Bucks, and Wizards.
In all, Drew Gooden played for 10 teams, a full one-third of the league. When you play 14 seasons and have a Basketball Reference page so long you have to scroll just to see all your annual stats, you can’t be that much of a bust. In truth, Gooden was a perfectly useful big man, but he’ll mostly be remembered as the #4 pick that got traded every couple seasons… and the guy with a weird soul patch on the back of his head for some odd reason.
TIER II — THE LOTTERY PICKS YOU ALREADY FORGOT
6. Julian Wright, 2007 #13 pick
Wright is one of seven Kansas picks taken between #11 and #15 over the past decade plus, and none of them have been particularly glowing hits. Wright started 40 games in four seasons before washing out of the NBA after his rookie contract. He averaged under four points and two rebounds a game and struggled to stay on the court physically with a never-ending list of nagging injuries.
Wright has since bounced around Europe and currently plies his trade for the Tianjin Pioneers in China, and he’s actually been pretty successful overseas. He was a Turkish League All-Star in 2017 and made All-EuroCup Second Team in 2016. Maybe it was just the wrong place and the wrong time with the Hornets.
5. Xavier Henry, 2010 #12 pick
Xavier Henry was yet another failed Kansas lottery pick from the past decade. I count nine that came up short of expectations, with only Embiid a real success. Henry never found his rhythm in the NBA, bouncing around between the Grizzlies, Hornets, and Lakers and spending as much time on the injured list as any of their active rosters.
Henry was supposed to be a 3-and-D wing, but it never translated. He was a horrendous offensive player and never posted better than a 97 offensive rating in a single season, and his teams were five points worse per 100 possessions with him on the court. Not exactly what Memphis was expecting when Henry made the leap to the NBA after just one season at Kansas.
4. Josh Jackson, 2017 #4 pick
Technically, it’s far too soon to declare Josh Jackson a bust. He’s barely 23 years old after all, still on his rookie contract, and he’s averaged double-digit points per game in each of his three seasons in the NBA. He even found a real bench role with the potentially playoff-bound Memphis Grizzlies this season, making a defensive impact.
Still, Suns fans will certainly list Jackson among the Kansas bust elites. Jackson was the #4 pick sandwiched right between Jayson Tatum and De’Aaron Fox, and he’s been anything but a star. He’s barely over 40% from the field and under 30% behind the arc, and he’s been somewhere between terrible and atrocious on offense. Through two seasons in Phoenix, Jackson accumulated -2.4 win shares. Out of 647 humans to play in the NBA the last two years, that ranks Josh Jackson exactly 647th. But this year he posted a 0.0 BPM and even had positive win shares! Maybe there’s still hope.
TIER I — THE BUSTIEST BUSTS THAT EVER BUSTED
3. Andrew Wiggins, 2014 #1 pick
Speaking of still relatively young Kansas wings that have been massive busts so far but might still redeem some value with a 2020 change of scenery…
Wiggins went two spots ahead of Joel Embiid in the 2014 draft. Oops. Wiggins is a different kind of bust, considering he’s still only 24 years old and averaging almost 20 points per game over 454 NBA games right smack in the middle of a $146-million contract. All NBA busts should be so lucky.
If you just saw the 19.7ppg, you’d figure Wiggins has been just fine as a #1 pick, Minnesota Timberwolves fans and basketball watchers in general beg to differ. Wiggins has yet to show any real improvement in six seasons as a pro, and he’s a broken sieve on defense with a lackadaisical motor and effort level.
Wiggins has a negative Box Plus-Minus every season of his career — and yes, it’s still negative this year even if you look at just the Warriors games. In fact, outside of a few more steals and blocks, he basically matched his production for the Timberwolves… including the outstanding ability to lose games. Actually, Wiggins’s teams combined to lose 20 straight games this season at one point, all with him featuring as the leading scorer.
So, sure… not a bust. And yeah, Golden State is definitely going to package Wiggins and a pick for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Dream on.
2. Thomas Robinson, 2012 #5 pick
It’s hard to believe Robinson was a top five pick this decade as much as the game has changed. Robinson was a classic college big man, dominating in the post for three years with the Jayhawks. That led the Sacramento Kings to take him with the #5 pick, one spot ahead of Damian Lillard. Ouch.
Robinson didn’t even last a single in Sacramento, traded at the deadline his rookie season in a package for Patrick Patterson, who was so valuable he started just nine games in Sacto before being dumped himself. Maybe these guys aren’t busts — maybe the Kings just have no idea what they’re doing.
Robinson played for six NBA teams in five seasons, averaging 13 minutes a game and compiling a whopping 12 starts. He averaged under five points and five rebounds a game. Pretty lifeless for a top-5 pick.
1. Danny Manning, 1988 #1 pick
Manning is a Kansas legend. He dragged the underdog 21–11 Jayhawks all the way to the 1988 national championship as Danny and the Miracles shocked the nation. Manning had 31 points and 18 rebounds in the title game in front of a partisan crowd in Kansas City, just 40 miles from his Lawrence campus. He won the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and was named Naismith National Player of the Year. He was a sure thing and an easy #1 pick.
Unfortunately, that pick belonged to the cursed Los Angeles Clippers, and Manning lasted only 26 games in the NBA before tearing his ACL. That was the beginning of a long career plagued by knee injuries, one Manning admittedly made the most of. He even fought back to make two All-Star teams with the Clippers, later dropping to a bench role and winning Sixth Man of the Year with the Suns.
Manning lasted 15 years in the NBA before retiring to a successful coaching career. Still, Kansas fans will always wonder what might have been. Manning was the hope of Jayhawks nation, and that hope was never really fulfilled. He won only 17 playoff games in 15 seasons, missing 27% of his career games to injury and starting under a third of them. His numbers were fine, really, but he never lived up to the #1 hype and that puts him atop the list.
Maybe you think that’s unfair, considering his 15 seasons and career 14.0ppg with a couple All-Star berths. Breathe easy, Jayhawks fans: Manning is just holding down the fort until Andrew Wiggins officially settles in at #1. ■
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