1st year in the league players

[richi]

How many, if any players can you name within the 1st year of there career where seen as superstars in the league?

[TripleA]

Wilt
Oscar robertson
Kareem

[Locked_Up_Tonight]

Essentially just about any good player that was drafted pre 1995 or so. Can't remember what year the rule changed, but from 96 on it was a crapshoot in that respect. You get guys like LeBron who was ready from day 1. But most aren't.

So:

Larry
Magic
Jordan
Worthy
Ewing
Hakeem
Shaq

etc etc...

[Rocketswin2013]

Blake Griffin.

[jlip]

Duncan

[LoneyROY7]

Blake Griffin.

This.

[Dragonyeuw]

The most recent I can think of was Duncan in 98. Blake wasn't top 10 in 2011 IMO. In no order:

Lebron
Wade
Dirk
Kobe
Paul
Durant
Rose
Howard
Melo

I don't think he had a case over anyone above, and then you had Gasol, Amare, Deron who I don't think he had cases over either. Maybe fringe top 15....

[FatComputerNerd]

Kyrie

[Locked_Up_Tonight]

Dirk

Dirk was not considered a star in the league from year 1. Dirk is probably the anti-hype guy who turned out to be a star.

He didn't play basketball til he was like 15. And if Holger never found him, he would have been been a decent player. Go look at his footage on youtube from his high school games. He wasn't that good. When he graduated he didn't get a lot of recruitment. He played in the German second (or third) division. And if it wasn't for the Nike Hoops Summit where he shined, he may not have even been taken in the first round, may not have even came over.

Kobe/Garnett/ etc had rough rookie years too, but they were HIGHLY touted coming out of high school. They weren't someone who just rose up the ranks and came from nowhere.

(And during his rookie year, people were roasting Nellie for not taking Pierce who was still on the board at the time, and taking some unknown Euro...)

[clipps]

Blake Griffin.

This. He was the most beloved player in the league as a rookie and then became one of the most hated players in his second season.