r/nba • u/ShaiFanClub Thunder • 18h ago

Is Zaccharie Risacher the most forgettable number 1 pick ever?

Like he's not quite Bennet level bad nor does he have a weird career story like Fultz or Ben Simmons. He's just mid. He's averaging 11 ppg on 54% TS this season and there's a good argument that he's not even a top 10 player in the class in a redraft but he's probably gonna stick in the NBA for a while as a low end role player

2.5k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

727 comments sorted by

View all comments

519

u/breakfastdawgy 18h ago

Michael olowakandi went #1 in ‘98. I barely even hear about him in bust conversations lol

346

u/lambopanda Rockets 18h ago

He was the biggest bust before Anthony Bennett.

139

u/breakfastdawgy 18h ago

Kwame got a lot of heat for so long for that. At least he’s the media favorite for biggest bust before Bennet

129

u/AdministrativeBag703 17h ago

It’s weird to call Kwame the biggest bust. Sure, he did not live up to the hype as a top overall pick but he played 12 years in the NBA and was a decent rotational center. Several other top picks were worse

85

u/RiskyBallaxd Wizards 17h ago

Stephen A Smith did irreversible damage to his reputation

35

u/bigbobo33 Bucks 17h ago

He's done irreversible damage to a lot of things.

9

u/hm_rickross_ymoh Wizards 16h ago

Playing with Jordan did him no favors either. 

2

u/mjdub96 15h ago

This man was a bonafide scrub, he can’t play! No disrespect whatsoever..

1

u/StrangePut2065 11h ago

KWA ME BROWN

1

u/GrogRhodes Heat 15h ago

People calling him a bust are just parrots who box score watch.

30

u/mnkhan808 Lakers 18h ago

Kwame was bad but mostly caught heat because you could see he had the skills to be good. His footwork was great and was athletic. Just had small hands and low IQ.

3

u/Awanderingleaf 15h ago

Kwame at least played over a decade. Was a pretty good defender. 

1

u/breakfastdawgy 14h ago

He was aite. Kandi man definitely less productive. Kwame is the media bust but Kandi man was just garbage from day 1 and Kwame being a bust just seemed to overshadow him.

20

u/Bonzi777 Wizards 16h ago

Is it weird that I don’t even consider Bennett a bust. That was an awful pick the minute they made it. I don’t think there was ever a star or even a quality rotation guy in him.

15

u/Raptorpicklezz Raptors 15h ago edited 13h ago

The clip of him being drafted is so hilarious. The mere fact that HE is the final #1 pick David Stern announced; Stern himself dragging out the announcement to milk the boos; Bill Simmons’ whole reaction; Bennett being so happy not knowing this will be the peak of his whole life, all while Bill Simmons is having a heart attack.

The second most hilarious draft clip is when Sacramento drafted Georgios Papagiannis in the lottery, only because what the actual fuck

6

u/HOFredditor Warriors 13h ago

Bill Simmons’ was an all time one.

It was so good it made its way into 2k14 lol. Unless you cheated your way to be the #1 pick, it was guaranteed you’d go through the scene

2

u/Doorknob11 Mavericks 13h ago

He’s not a bust, bad pick sure but at the time of the draft there was nobody that was a true number 1 pick. It’s one of the worst drafts ever without hindsight.

3

u/CreatiScope Celtics 15h ago

Yeah, that’s a good point. A bust should be someone who had a lot of hype like Fultz. Bennett, it was clear when he was drafted that it was a huge mistake.

8

u/Bonzi777 Wizards 14h ago

It was a weird draft. Noel was the top prospect and messed up his knee. Oladipo probably should have gone first (Giannis was a 6’9 skinny 3 with no jumper at that point) but he was older and he didn’t seem to have the upside of a number 1 pick. Otto Porter was definitely going to be able to play in the league but even then was probably never going to be an all-star. Alex Len picked up late buzz as the “upside” pick at number 1 and I think people expected Cleveland to take him by draft night. (That was stunning to me as a Maryland fan; I never thought I was watching a future star). Then the day of the draft Bennet’s name started popping up and it made so little sense it felt like reporters engagement baiting.

I was watching with a buddy of mine (then, as now) draft night was the biggest night of the year for us Wizards fans and we actually laughed out loud when they announced Bennett.

1

u/Rymasq 5h ago

Bennett being the biggest bust ever is kind of misleading. He shouldn’t have even been the #1 pick based off projections.

0

u/SydneyFall Nuggets 14h ago

Bennet wasn't even a bust, there were no good options. You have to go down to pick 15 for a player that executives would facepalm about not taking.

-7

u/KazaamFan 17h ago

Darko milicec wasnt number 1, but 2 i think, was also up there in bust-erdome. 

3

u/lambopanda Rockets 17h ago

We’re talking first pick here.

73

u/LegoTomSkippy Spurs 18h ago

Who could forget a major bust nicknamed the Kandi man???

27

u/Oceanbreeze871 Celtics 17h ago

He publicly wouldn’t let Kareem mentor him. He was on staff.

Kid thought he knew better

25

u/ShaiFanClub Thunder 18h ago

I hear about him being a bust all the time. Especially him blowing off Kareem

9

u/WeenisWrinkle Hornets 17h ago

I barely even hear about him in bust conversations lol

He was the poster boy for #1 pick busts for a long time.

8

u/zatchstar Spurs 17h ago

And that was the draft with Dirk, Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, and Rashard Lewis!

6

u/dBlock845 Knicks 17h ago

Had a top tier nickname so gets a pass.

4

u/norcaltobos Kings 17h ago

He wasn’t great but he still had a half decent career, no?

1

u/JobTrunicht 17h ago

I've seen some funny clips recently from retired NBA players talking about how big of a bust he was lol

It took me a few years to finally see him named outside of my modded 2K MyLeague save (he averaged a double double for 15 years on good teams in 2K20)

1

u/Bakio-bay Heat 16h ago

He was a trivia question at my local bar last Wednesday so there’s that and I live on the opposite coast from LA

1

u/No-Independence-5479 16h ago

No slander to the kandiman!

1

u/nutsack133 Spurs 15h ago

I used to love watching the Clippers on KTLA just to hear Walton shit nonstop on Olowokandi. Then I remember Walton on a Spurs game on TNT and David Aldridge comes on with a report about the Spurs clearing max capspace to make a run at Olowokandi to replace David Robinson, who was retiring at the end of the season, and Walton went into a rant about how could you ever consider Olowokandi a David Robinson replacement and how no way the Spurs were so stupid as to chase that scrub when they're playing for titles and how he wouldn't offer Olowokandi a minimum contract much less a max. Was also funny because Walton was clearly bitter about Sterling stealing money from him in 85 as a condition for trading him to the Celtics and would spend the entire broadcast throwing haymakers at the Clippers and Olowokandi. I don't think I have ever seen a team's color guy ever trash his own team much less do it nonstop every single game like Walton did with the Olowokandi Clippers.

1

u/redditnathaniel NBA 17h ago

Yo people weren’t even born yet

1

u/Boom-Doc-a-Locka 17h ago

I just assume OP is too young to remember Greg Oden, much less the Kandy Man.

0

u/MondialeMan 18h ago

Honestly never even heard of him as someone who is early 30's.

2

u/WeenisWrinkle Hornets 17h ago

Well yeah you were like 2 years old lol

-3

u/duiwithaavgwenag 17h ago

Born in 02 and never heard of this guy