Six NBA Players Whose Careers Should Have Been Better

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There are a ton of “what if’s” in every single sport.   You just never know what kind of player a person could have been had this not happened or that not happened.   Usually the what if scenarios come in the form of injuries that prevented said player from achieving the potential they could have achieved.

It kind of sucks to talk about but a debate is a debate.   So anyway, here are six NBA players whose careers have or will come up short.

Baron Davis

Surprisingly enough he’s only been an All-Star twice.   When dominant Davis is easily a top 5 point guard.  At least he is stats wise and playoff caliber wise.   The dude was scorching in his only playoff appearances and put up ridiculous stats in his healthy years.  Unfortunately Davis really hasn’t had any healthy years and that’ll be the difference between a good career and one I think could have been hall of fame.  Now?  Now he’s completely being lazy (and I think on purpose) with the Cavs.

Penny Hardaway

Remember that Hardaway was nearly as hyped as Shaq at the beginning of his career?  And let’s not forget the guy had 4 all-star appearances and was a dominant force in Orlando.  He was labeled the next Magic Johnson remember.   Oh how things get forgotten.   Just as he was entering his prime, injuries messed him up and he was never the same.   He showed signs in Phoenix but nothing matriculated.

Tracy McGrady

We’re talking a potential top 50 of ALL time player here.  When McGrady was in his prime in Orlando there weren’t many guards as good as him.  At the time I would say that Kobe Bryant and he were the top 2 and everyone else was a notch below.   He’s still only 33 years old but his knees are probably made of foam at this point.   It’s  shame.  This is a 25, 5, and 5 guy.  Oh well.  Sucks for the Pistons.

Grant Hill

Everyone knows the Grant Hill story and it sucks.   He’s still gutting it out in the league but if there was ever a modern day Oscar Robertson, Grant Hill had it.  Look at his stats in his first 7 seasons.  They are ridiculous.   It’s nice that he’s still in the league and being productive but we’re talking hall of famer here.

Yao Ming

Most big men suffer from bad feet and it sucks that Ming isn’t an exception.   He was clearly the predecessor to Shaq and it looks like now Ming may never play again.  It’s rare to have a 20-10 guy at the center position and Ming was certainly a hall of fame caliber player when healthy.  Oh well.

Michael Redd

He was about as close to a modern day Bernard King as you can get.   The guy was just pure scoring.   He had flashes of brilliance with a couple of  50 point efforts and he seemed to score whenever he wanted.  Now Redd has all but disappeared from the league.  He may play again with the Bucks but I’m sure he’ll be a shadow of his former self.

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Chuck Daly died, he was 78

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Chuck Daly, who coached the Dream Team to the Olympic gold medal in 1992 after winning back-to-back NBA championships with the Detroit Pistons, has died. He was 78.
He died Saturday morning in Jupiter, Fla., with his family by his side, the Pistons said. The team announced in March the Hall of Fame coach was being treated for pancreatic cancer.
Daly was renowned for his ability to create harmony out of diverse personalities at all levels of the game, whether they were Ivy Leaguers at Pennsylvania, Dream Teamers Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, or Pistons as dissimilar as Dennis Rodman and Joe Dumars.
“It’s a players’ league. They allow you to coach them or they don’t,” Daly once said. “Once they stop allowing you to coach, you’re on your way out.”
Daly was voted one of the 10 greatest coaches of the NBA’s first half-century in 1996, two years after being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the first coach to win both NBA and Olympic titles.
“I think Chuck understood people as well as basketball,” Dumars told The Associated Press in 1995. “It’s a people business.”
On Saturday, Dumars called Daly “a special coach, but more importantly he was a special human being.”
Doug Collins, a former Pistons and Chicago Bulls coach, lauded Daly for his class and dignity.
“He was a mentor and a friend,” Collins said. “He taught me so much and was always so supportive of me and my family. I loved him and will miss him.”
Daly had a golden touch at the Barcelona Games with the likes of Magic Johnson, Jordan, Larry Bird and Barkley, using a different lineup every game.
“I played against Chuck’s teams throughout the NBA for a lot of years. He always had his team prepared, he’s a fine coach,” Bird said shortly after Daly’s diagnosis became public.
“Chuck did a good job of keeping us together. It wasn’t about who scored the most points. It was about one thing: winning the gold medal.”
Daly humbled the NBA superstars by coaching a group of college players to victory in a controlled scrimmage weeks before the Olympics.
“I was the happiest man in the gym,” Daly said.
Daly also made the right moves for the Pistons, who were notorious for their physical play with Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn leading the fight, Rodman making headlines and Hall of Fame guards Isiah Thomas and Dumars lifting the team to titles in 1989 and 1990.
“He did an unbelievable job of taking a bunch of different personalities and molding them into a team,” Mahorn said.
Thomas, the former New York Knicks coach and president who now coaches at Florida International University, added: “I can’t explain in words how much he gave me as a player and a man. … This is an immeasurable loss for the NBA and the entire basketball world.”
Former Piston John Salley gave Daly the nickname Daddy Rich for his impeccably tailored suits. The National Basketball Coaches’ Association created pins with the initials “CD” that many coaches and broadcasters are wearing as it dedicates this postseason to Daly. The organization also established the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award, which will be given annually.
Daly had a career regular-season record of 638-437 in 13 NBA seasons. In 12 playoff appearances, his teams went 75-51. He left Detroit as the Pistons’ leader in regular-season and playoff victories.
“Chuck left a lasting impression with everyone he met both personally and professionally and his spirit will live with all of us forever,” family and team spokesman Matt Dobek said.
Despite his success, Daly wasn’t part of a Coach of the Year presentation until he handed the trophy to then-Detroit coach Rick Carlisle in 2002.
“This is as close as I’ve ever been to that thing,” Daly said, looking at the Red Auerbach Trophy.
Born July 20, 1930, in St. Marys, Pa., Charles Jerome Daly played college ball at St. Bonaventure and Bloomsburg. After two years in the military, he coached for eight seasons at Punxsutawney (Pa.) High School and then spent six years as an assistant at Duke.
Succeeding Bob Cousy as coach at Boston College, Daly coached the Eagles to a 26-24 record over two seasons and then spent seven seasons at Penn, leading the Quakers to the Ivy League championship in 1972-75.
Daly joined the NBA coaching ranks in 1978 as an assistant under Billy Cunningham in Philadelphia. His first head coaching job was with Cleveland, but he was fired after the Cavaliers went 9-32 the first half of the 1981-82 season.
In 1983, Daly took over a Detroit team that had never had two straight winning seasons and led the Pistons to nine straight. He persuaded Rodman, Thomas, Dumars, Mahorn and Laimbeer to play as a unit and they responded with championships in 1989 and 1990.
Far from being intimidated by the Pistons’ Bad Boys image, Daly saw the upside of it.
“I’ve also had players who did not care,” he said a decade later. “I’d rather have a challenging team.”
After leaving Detroit, Daly coached the New Jersey Nets for two seasons and led them to the playoffs both times.
He left broadcasting to return to the bench 1997 with the Orlando Magic and won 74 games over two seasons, then retired at 68 because he was weary of the travel. Daly joined the Vancouver Grizzlies as a senior adviser in 2000. In retirement, he split time between residences in Jupiter, Fla., and suburban Detroit.
The Pistons retired No. 2 in 1997 to honor Daly’s two NBA titles.
“Without you, there wouldn’t be us,” Mahorn told the coach during the ceremony.
Daly is survived by his wife, Terry, daughter Cydney and grandchildren Sebrina and Connor.
Associated Press Writer Jim Irwin in Detroit and AP Sports Writers Cliff Brunt in Indianapolis and Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.

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