8. John Wall (2010):
Two years after the latter entered the NBA, scouting types saw the University of Kentucky’s John Wall as a slightly bigger version of Derrick Rose — an electrifying point guard who could blow past defenders in less than the blink of an eye, and just needs to add a jump shot before he could wreck the league. If he maximized the potential he demonstrated when taking the Wildcats to Elite Eight of the 2010 NCAA Tournament, Wall could have become a bigger Rajon Rondo with a little bit of Russell Westbrook spliced in to his point guard DNA.
The only questions teams had was his ability to develop a reliable outside jump shot and his penchant for taking possessions off on defense, which seemingly followed him to the NBA. But very few NBA teams in the position of the Washington Wizards, who had the #1 overall pick in 2010, would’ve given much thought to taking someone like Evan Turner, the college basketball player of the year, over Wall.