Talent Wasted

A couple of small news items caught my eye over the last two days. One was funny, both were sad, and two things came immediately to mind. First, I am old. Really old. I am having to come to grips with that. Two, how did such immense talent get essentially wasted in the bodies of Derrick Coleman and Chris Webber? After all, both were heavily recruited prep stars in the Detroit area, both were #1 overall picks in their respective drafts, and both could be considered incredible disappointments.



The funny story can be found here. That's right, Derrick Coleman became the first Pro athlete to succumb to an injury during the television show Pros vs. Joes. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

I was a sophomore at Syracuse when DC arrived on campus with as much fanfare as any recruit that we had seen in recent memory. At 6'10", he could do it all! Absolutely one of Syracuse's most important recruits. From there, his career could be described as questionable. And I am not sure if that is a compliment or an insult. He simply didn't care. Ever! Just sleptwalked for seasons at time. Despite it all, DC lead Syracuse to the NCAA Championship game as a freshman, was NBA Rookie of the Year 1991, an All-Star in 1994, and averaged a double-double 5 times during his 15 year career. Despite all of that, he was considered one the the biggest busts in NBA history. Just a shame.


Chris Webber was a different sort of sad. It was noted yesterday that C-Webb retired after a 15 year NBA career that included the 1994 NBA Rookie of the Year award and 5 All-Star appearances. He had a respectable career, but certainly not on par with the hype and expectation of the 1991 High School Player of the Year and the leader of the most highly publicized recruiting class of all time, The Fab Five.

When Chris Webber arrived at the University of Michigan, he entered with a group of freshmen (Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson) that was at the forefront of a cultural revolution in the sport. Fashion, trash talking, bravado, and arrogance would evolve into something that most purists thought barely resembled basketball. Forget the showtime Lakers or the 1990/1991 UNLV Rebels, the Michigan Wolverines' Fab Five were the next coming!

Forget the fact that they went to back to back NCAA national championship games as freshmen and sophomores, just look at the difference in the shorts players are wearing pre-1991 and what the Michigan players (specifically Jalen Rose, #5) were wearing as freshmen. Evolution from short shorts to what we see today is directly attributable to the Fab Five and their adoration of Michael Jordan.

It's a shame that both pro careers ended with so little appreciation given the promise of both throughout their high school and college careers. It just makes me sad.

Oh, and read the book Fab Five by Mitch Album. It is phenomenal.