Basketball List 10 Thread

Thread Games
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Same kind of list as the pro wrestling, movies, TV, and music playlists. Create a topic, list 10 things that match, move to next topic.

Only this time, we’re just talking about basketball.

Players That Their Original Team Gave Up On Too Early
(Note: This does not include draft-day trades. The player would have had to play for their original team first.)

  1. Jermaine O’Neal, Portland Trail Blazers to Indiana Pacers

Jermaine played four seasons in Portland, only averaging 3.9 PPG in 11.5 MPG. After the 1999-2000 season, the Blazers traded him to the defending Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers for Dale Davis as the Pacers opted to rebuild. O’Neal went on to become the face of the franchise and a 6-time All-Star.

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Players That Their Original Team Gave Up On Too Early
(Note: This does not include draft-day trades. The player would have had to play for their original team first.)

  1. Jermaine O’Neal, Portland Trail Blazers to Indiana Pacers
  2. Dražen Petrović, Portland to New Jersey Nets

A Croatian player drafted by Portland, he averaged around 6 PPG for two years before being traded to New Jersy in 1991. He went on to average 20+ points for three years, earning several awards before tragically dying in the '93 off-season.

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Players That Their Original Team Gave Up On Too Early
(Note: This does not include draft-day trades. The player would have had to play for their original team first.)

  1. Jermaine O’Neal, Portland Trail Blazers to Indiana Pacers
  2. Dražen Petrović, Portland to New Jersey Nets
  3. Aaron Nesmith, Boston Celtics to Indiana Pacers

In his two years with the Celtics, he only averaged about 11 minutes a game and hardly ever started. As a Pacer, he’s a starter and key contributor to their ongoing 2024 playoff run.

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Players That Their Original Team Gave Up On Too Early
(Note: This does not include draft-day trades. The player would have had to play for their original team first.)

  1. Jermaine O’Neal, Portland Trail Blazers to Indiana Pacers
  2. Dražen Petrović, Portland to New Jersey Nets
  3. Aaron Nesmith, Boston Celtics to Indiana Pacers
  4. Robert Parish, Golden State Warriors to Boston Celtics (OK, back in 1980)

In 4 years with the Warriors, 1976-1980, Robert Parish rode the franchise’s decline from 1975 NBA Champions to missing the playoffs entirely in the final 3 seasons in that stretch. In 1980 the Celtics and Warriors exchanged draft picks for Parish, and those picks became Kevin McHale for the Celtics and Joe Barry Carroll for the Warriors. Joe Barry Who? Yeah.

With Boston, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale joined with Larry Bird and were known as “The Big Three”, one of the greatest frontcourts in NBA history.

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Players That Their Original Team Gave Up On Too Early
(Note: This does not include draft-day trades. The player would have had to play for their original team first.)

  1. Jermaine O’Neal, Portland Trail Blazers to Indiana Pacers
  2. Dražen Petrović, Portland to New Jersey Nets
  3. Aaron Nesmith, Boston Celtics to Indiana Pacers
  4. Robert Parish, Golden State Warriors to Boston Celtics (OK, back in 1980)

Edit: Invalid entry

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Players That Their Original Team Gave Up On Too Early
(Note: This does not include draft-day trades. The player would have had to play for their original team first.)

  1. Jermaine O’Neal, Portland Trail Blazers to Indiana Pacers
  2. Dražen Petrović, Portland to New Jersey Nets
  3. Aaron Nesmith, Boston Celtics to Indiana Pacers
  4. Robert Parish, Golden State Warriors to Boston Celtics (OK, back in 1980)
  5. James Harden, Oklahoma City Thunder to Houston Rockets

Harden started only seven games in Oklahoma City, averaging 12.7 PPG. In his third and final year with the team, he won Sixth Man of the Year. His series loss with the Thunder to the Heat in the NBA Finals was his last series in OKC. After failing to come to terms with the Thunder on a contract extension, he was traded to Houston and became an MVP and one of the Top 75 players in NBA history.

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What?

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I added an invalid entry, and I can’t delete the post.

Sorry, after re-reading the post, I see how it appears directed at the previous entry (yours). My bad.

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OK, no worries. I was wondering if I played it incorrectly.

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Players That Their Original Team Gave Up On Too Early
(Note: This does not include draft-day trades. The player would have had to play for their original team first.)

  1. Jermaine O’Neal, Portland Trail Blazers to Indiana Pacers
  2. Dražen Petrović, Portland to New Jersey Nets
  3. Aaron Nesmith, Boston Celtics to Indiana Pacers
  4. Robert Parish, Golden State Warriors to Boston Celtics (OK, back in 1980)
  5. James Harden, Oklahoma City Thunder to Houston Rockets
  6. Chris Webber, Golden State Warriors to Washington Bullets

Webber won the Rookie of the Year award and led the Warriors back to the playoffs. But coach Don Nelson’s insistence on trying to turn him into a post-up center led Webber to exercise a one-year escape clause in his contract (and what the hell first overall pick gets THOSE?!) and leave the team for Washington. Me, I’d have fired the coach.

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New category:

Players that ought to have their numbers retired (but don’t)

  1. Jermaine O’Neal, #7, Indiana Pacers

6-time NBA All-Star.

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Players that ought to have their numbers retired (but don’t)

  1. Jermaine O’Neal, #7, Indiana Pacers
  2. Carmelo Anthony, #7, New York Knicks; #15, Denver Nuggets

He’s just been named a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He’s not the only one who deserves to have his #15 retired by the Nuggets eventually.

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Maybe nitpicking, but the Blazers didn’t really “give up” on Petrovic. He demanded a trade, because he wasn’t getting playing time with Drexler, Porter and Ainge on the team. Can’t really blame him, but he was a very fun player to watch and I hated to see him go. All the Blazers got in return was one year of a way-over-the-hill Walter Davis.

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1. Jermaine O’Neal, #7, Indiana Pacers
2. Carmelo Anthony, #7, New York Knicks; #15, Denver Nuggets
3. Buck Williams, #52, Portland Trail Blazers

Williams doesn’t have gaudy stats (though he did lead the league in FG% twice for Portland), but he made first-team all-defense twice. The argument for him is that he (along with Petrovic and first-round draft pick Cliffy Robinson) was Portland’s only major addition of the 1989 offseason. The four seasons before Williams arrived, they lost in the first round every time. His first three seasons in Portland, they went to the Conference Finals every year, and won them twice. He was a central figure of the second-best Blazer squad ever.

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Players who should have their numbers retired (but don’t)

  1. Jermaine O’Neal, #7, Indiana Pacers
  2. Carmelo Anthony, #7, New York Knicks; #15, Denver Nuggets
  3. Buck Williams, #52, Portland Trail Blazers
  4. Ray Allen, #34, Milwaukee Bucks; #20, Boston Celtics

Allen was a four-time All-Star in Milwaukee, and won a title with the '08 Celtics, setting a then-record with seven three-pointers in the championship-clinching Game 6. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett have their jerseys retired but not Allen.