The NBA doesn’t exactly adopt the Marine’s motto of “never leave a man behind” because the NBA draftees often leave behind a lot of their classmates. Just this past week great players like Scott Machado out of Iona, Henry Sims from Georgetown, and West Virginia’s Kevin Jones found themselves without a handshake from David Stern. So we had our Thomas Edison light bulb moment and thought, “Who are the best undrafted players of All-Time?”
Avery Johnson
Year His Phone Didn’t Ring: 1988
Reason They Regretted It: Avery spent 16 years in the NBA as a player winning one championship. He has coached the Mavs and is the current coach of the Brooklyn Nets.
Udonis Haslem
Year His Phone Didn’t Ring: 2002
Reason They Regretted It: The 2x World Champion has shown true grit in his years in the league remaining with the Miami Heat since 2003.
Darrell Armstrong
Year His Phone Didn’t Ring: 1991
Reason They Regretted It: The floor general raked up 7,712 points, an NBA Most Improved and an NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award. Armstrong is currently an assistant coach for the Mavs.
Ben Wallace
Year His Phone Didn’t Ring: 1996
Reason They Regretted It: Let’s see…4x Defensive Player of the Year, 2x Rebounding Champion, 2002 Block Leader, 5x All-Defensive First Team and an NBA Championship may be a good place to start.
John Starks
Year His Phone Didn’t Ring: 1988
Reason They Regretted It: One of Reggie Miller’s biggest nemesis, Starks was an NBA All-Star and Sixth Man of the Year. He is also the Knicks’ all-time leader in three point field goals with 982.
Jeremy Lin
Year His Phone Didn’t Ring: 2010
Reason They Regretted It: LINsanity, ever heard of it?
Honorable mentions: Bo Outlaw, J.J. Barea, Brad Miller, Bruce Bowden and Raja Bell
By Johnny Reeves – comments@blitzweekly.com