Who are past generation's Shaun Livingstons?

[cordobes]

As I've just written in another thread, I guess I never had Livingston on such as high regard as others here.

It's hard to answer that question because, with or without injuries, Livingston and Bender didn't show enough to be considered sure bets to be great or even very good. They did too little on NBA courts to offer a decent prediction. I mean, had Derrick Coleman gone down with injuries after his 3rd season, he would be considered a HOFer who never made it because of injuries. On the other hand, had the same thing happened to Steve Nash, nobody would say that. 

See my whole thought when I asked the original question was that in 10-15 years there will be probably be a whole lot of very knowledgeable basketball fans in that next generation of fans who have never heard of Shaun Livingston, just because he came and went so quick.  He showed flashes of brilliance, and had a huge amounts of potential, and now...
I figure there's got be guys like that from past generations too.  Guys who everyone thought was going to be the next big thing, but now nobody remembers.

Yeah, I kind of mis-read your first post, sorry for the quasi-thread jack.

I don't remember many of those guys because they are inherently forgettable. Most of them never proved to be good basketball players... Danny Manning is a great example, although he showed a lot more than potential, as Nick says.

[JBone4eva]

I think Maurice Stokes fits pretty well though he shined alot more before his injury

[Edgar]

Penny Hardaway to some degree - though he stetched out his career still.

Sam Bowie

ure a wise man redz

[im right]

As I've just written in another thread, I guess I never had Livingston on such as high regard as others here.

It's hard to answer that question because, with or without injuries, Livingston and Bender didn't show enough to be considered sure bets to be great or even very good. They did too little on NBA courts to offer a decent prediction. I mean, had Derrick Coleman gone down with injuries after his 3rd season, he would be considered a HOFer who never made it because of injuries. On the other hand, had the same thing happened to Steve Nash, nobody would say that. 

See my whole thought when I asked the original question was that in 10-15 years there will be probably be a whole lot of very knowledgeable basketball fans in that next generation of fans who have never heard of Shaun Livingston, just because he came and went so quick.  He showed flashes of brilliance, and had a huge amounts of potential, and now...
I figure there's got be guys like that from past generations too.  Guys who everyone thought was going to be the next big thing, but now nobody remembers.

I might mention Antonio McDyess too.  He started off as a beast, putting up All-Star numbers, then that injury bug hit.  
Ron Harper and Brad Daugherty from the past generation too.  While they both had productive careers, Harper had that knee injury and Daugherty had those back problems, and they were both never the same.  Not on the Livingston level because these guys all were successful even if just for short periods, but they could very well be forgotten by future generations.

You could say the same thing about Webber, both totally remolded their games after injuries

[cdif911]

Bernard King.

He still had a heckuva career but he had a devastating injury right in the middle of his prime and it definitely hindered him the rest of his career.  (Despite that, he still had a decent comeback part of his career)

EDIT: I guess, re-reading the question, King had more than "one or two productive seasons" before his injury.  Eh...  I'll still throw it out there. 

at lunch today we actually were comparing B. King to Agent 0, very similar careers injury/production wise

as for Livingston, I'm going with my man, Bobby Hurley

[Evantime34]

Here's one for the list that actually played with the Celtics on the tail end of his career: Pervis Ellison

[Redz]

Tony Allen?

We shall find out soon enough

(I guess that's current, but I think it fits to some degree)

[JBcat]

Larry Johnson and Grant Hill are guys I wish they careers weren't curtailed so much by injuries.

Some recent high draft picks that have had some bad injuries are Demarr Johnson a 6th overall pick and Nene of Denver.

Jay Williams has to be right up there along with Bobby Hurley as both have already been mentioned.  

[JStri5]

I would say Darius Miles to an extent we still need to see what he can prove though. Looking like Emeka Okafor could be another one. Maybe even Ron Mercer but I would say his downfall was more because of being constantly traded and never being able to settle into a system

[ederson]

Jay Williams was a star at Duke and the 2nd overall pick.  I think he only played one or two years before his motorcycle accident.  He never reached his potential.   I remember a couple years ago he went to training camp with the Nets and got cut early.

Same story with Bobby Hurley but i don`t think you could call him a star in Duke.

If i get to select only one player i`d Grant Hill and Sabonis as a "runner up"
Both had (have) succesfull carriers , they weren`t ruined by injuries like other laready metioned players but i feel that they both had much more potential. 

[cdif911]

Jay Williams was a star at Duke and the 2nd overall pick.  I think he only played one or two years before his motorcycle accident.  He never reached his potential.   I remember a couple years ago he went to training camp with the Nets and got cut early.

Same story with Bobby Hurley but i don`t think you could call him a star in Duke.

If i get to select only one player i`d Grant Hill and Sabonis as a "runner up"
Both had (have) succesfull carriers , they weren`t ruined by injuries like other laready metioned players but i feel that they both had much more potential. 

Sabonis doesn't really fit though, b/c he came to America so late in his career, unless he was constantly injured over in Europe, and you're making that comparison...

[Sweet17]

Meh. This is an interesting topic except for the fact that I am in the camp that he never showed that much at the NBA level. People love the magic comparison but Magic would have played SG or SF today - even if he acted like a PG on the court. Magic was huge. He would have been a Point Forward - much like a better passing Lebron.

Livingston lacked the lateral quickness to stay with the Chris Pauls of the world (Rondo, T.J. Ford etc etc) and yet had a very slight (and in my view injury prone) build so he would be unable to be really effective at the other spots.

 If that wasn't enough his jumper wasn't really spectacular (look at the ugly 3 point shooting) nor was the rest of his game. He was of course an excellent passer and people throw love on a player like that but defense is half the game.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/livinsh01.html

Look at his career statistics - meh is the word that comes to mind. Shawn Livingston is in an entirely different catergory. Mediocre players that C's fans love.. I put him with Robert Swift. And don't get me started with the "but he was so young" stuff. So was Telfair. Look at his numbers.

[fairweatherfan06]

Penny, accept Penny was better much better and for a longer time than Livingston was.  Honorable mention Grant Hill accept he too was better with a larger upside.

[shiggins]

How about Terrell Brandon?

[Behaviorla]

Two point guards who stand out to me are Ronnie Lester who was dominant at Iowa until he blew his knee out and won a ring with the Lakers in the 80's strictly off of basketball IQ.  The other is Randy Livingston who looked incredible at LSU his freshman year until blowing his knee out.  He bounces around training camps and wins D-league titles as a veteran presence but pre-injury like Shaun Livingston both of these looked like potential All-star point guards