He’s actually a proven good basketball player unlike some of the other candidates like Kai Jones or James Bouknight.
His issues here were drug abuse and self admitted just not taking professional basketball seriously.
He’s become the player we all thought he could be elsewhere and truly did waste his real potential here with poor off the court decisions.
cz03se
Miles bridges?
chillbreezy
MKG gets my vote – no injury excuses like with Adam Morrison. Dude straight up just could not learn to shoot as the league became extremely 3 point centric during his career
DongTongs
Emeka Okafor feels like a good candidate. His unrealized potential was mostly due to injuries, but still fits the criteria
InShambles234
So IMO this has to be a high draft pick that people thought could be all star level and never really panned out. Also don’t think you can include traded picks like SGA or Kobe. As Monk has already been named I’m leaning towards Noah Vonleh or old school JR Reid from OG Hornets.
I’m gonna go with Noah Vonleh though. Was supposed to be a great C prospect and was a nobody from the start. Never even turned into a decent backup like a lot of failed C prospects.
skadoosh0019
I’m going to go a different direction here. The one that got away and wasted the potential of a rising Charlotte Hornets franchise.
My candidate for most wasted potential is Alonza Mourning.
Dude was a young, rising star player who we traded because of contract negotiation issues that we absolutely should have worked out. Mourning himself has come out and said he would have stayed if we would have not been so insultingly cheap. Went on to become a Hall of Famer who we didn’t get to enjoy.
LeMicky_James_23
Devonte Graham
CharlotteHornetSicko
PJ Hairston
macAaronE
Sadly, it’s Larry Johnson and it’s down to his back injury not him wasting his potential himself. He was on a Hall of Fame trajectory before his back problems derailed his career path. Rookie of the Year followed by a Second Team All-NBA season where he was 22 and 10 and was one of the rising stars of the league. He’s easily one of the Top 5 What-Ifs in NBA history.
BizzaroMatthews
Noah Vonleh. Lotto pick who had all the tools, skillset, and athleticism to become an all-star caliber forward but sadly didn’t have the IQ to play the game in an NBA setting. So much untapped potential with that kid. Could’ve been Jermaine O’neal / Julius Randle 2.0.
And probably Alexis Ajinca too lol
BetweenTheBuzzAndMe
I’m taking Kai Jones here. If he was a really hard worker instead of a complete loon, we might have a completely different trajectory right now as a team.
BapeBalla
Kwame Brown
North_Korea_Nukess
Batum
North_Korea_Nukess
The facts are there are a lot of candidates for this one. The newer Bobcats/Hornets were terrible at developing players for so long. Might be a 3-4 way tie.
devinbookersuncle
If we go based on injuries derailing said players career then Larry Johnson is the absolute only player who should be getting voted for this considering how highly touted and talented he truly was, dude was easily the only player close to lamelo so far in terms of potential.
However if we go by a player just absolutely wasting their potential by not giving a shit despite being healthy then the only answer is James bouknight considering how good of a natural scorer he was in college and how he cared even less than Malik monk did somehow during his time here in Charlotte.
North_Korea_Nukess
Frank the Tank.
BizzaroMatthews
Another take on this: that ‘09-10 Bobcats roster. Such a waste of a great season. All star campaign of Gerald Wallace, best defense in the league (iirc), Flip fucking Murray, and a playoff caliber roster. Still cant figure out how we didnt even win 1 game in that Orlando series. Fck Felton and his fat ass getting smoked by Jameer Nelson for 4 games damn
nygmattyp
MKG!
wander_eyez
Gerald Henderson – 12th overall pick, came out of Duke highly touted, had all the tools to be an all star level player for us, but ended up just being nothing of what the franchise expected at the time but had so much potential. A forgettable solid role player on a bad team even when he had all the hype at least in Charlotte to help us turn things around
whillpower
Sean May – amazing talent, zero effs given. Could have been a better Al Horford at minimum if he cared and treated his career like he did his one championship season at UNC.
madhatter-87
Kind of sad that there a tons a players to choose from. Hornets and wasted potential is a tale as old as time.
whillpower
Adam Morrison – he was special in too many ways, unfortunately. But he was a projected lock as a franchise player that never came close to it.
MUCH higher ceiling than anyone else listed here besides LJ, with Bouk-level impact. IMO everyone else is just an argument for runner up.
whillpower
Shouts to Bobby Phills, may he rest in peace. 
23 Comments
My vote goes to Malik Monk.
He’s actually a proven good basketball player unlike some of the other candidates like Kai Jones or James Bouknight.
His issues here were drug abuse and self admitted just not taking professional basketball seriously.
He’s become the player we all thought he could be elsewhere and truly did waste his real potential here with poor off the court decisions.
Miles bridges?
MKG gets my vote – no injury excuses like with Adam Morrison. Dude straight up just could not learn to shoot as the league became extremely 3 point centric during his career
Emeka Okafor feels like a good candidate. His unrealized potential was mostly due to injuries, but still fits the criteria
So IMO this has to be a high draft pick that people thought could be all star level and never really panned out. Also don’t think you can include traded picks like SGA or Kobe. As Monk has already been named I’m leaning towards Noah Vonleh or old school JR Reid from OG Hornets.
I’m gonna go with Noah Vonleh though. Was supposed to be a great C prospect and was a nobody from the start. Never even turned into a decent backup like a lot of failed C prospects.
I’m going to go a different direction here. The one that got away and wasted the potential of a rising Charlotte Hornets franchise.
My candidate for most wasted potential is Alonza Mourning.
Dude was a young, rising star player who we traded because of contract negotiation issues that we absolutely should have worked out. Mourning himself has come out and said he would have stayed if we would have not been so insultingly cheap. Went on to become a Hall of Famer who we didn’t get to enjoy.
Devonte Graham
PJ Hairston
Sadly, it’s Larry Johnson and it’s down to his back injury not him wasting his potential himself. He was on a Hall of Fame trajectory before his back problems derailed his career path. Rookie of the Year followed by a Second Team All-NBA season where he was 22 and 10 and was one of the rising stars of the league. He’s easily one of the Top 5 What-Ifs in NBA history.
Noah Vonleh. Lotto pick who had all the tools, skillset, and athleticism to become an all-star caliber forward but sadly didn’t have the IQ to play the game in an NBA setting. So much untapped potential with that kid. Could’ve been Jermaine O’neal / Julius Randle 2.0.
And probably Alexis Ajinca too lol
I’m taking Kai Jones here. If he was a really hard worker instead of a complete loon, we might have a completely different trajectory right now as a team.
Kwame Brown
Batum
The facts are there are a lot of candidates for this one. The newer Bobcats/Hornets were terrible at developing players for so long. Might be a 3-4 way tie.
If we go based on injuries derailing said players career then Larry Johnson is the absolute only player who should be getting voted for this considering how highly touted and talented he truly was, dude was easily the only player close to lamelo so far in terms of potential.
However if we go by a player just absolutely wasting their potential by not giving a shit despite being healthy then the only answer is James bouknight considering how good of a natural scorer he was in college and how he cared even less than Malik monk did somehow during his time here in Charlotte.
Frank the Tank.
Another take on this: that ‘09-10 Bobcats roster. Such a waste of a great season. All star campaign of Gerald Wallace, best defense in the league (iirc), Flip fucking Murray, and a playoff caliber roster. Still cant figure out how we didnt even win 1 game in that Orlando series. Fck Felton and his fat ass getting smoked by Jameer Nelson for 4 games damn
MKG!
Gerald Henderson – 12th overall pick, came out of Duke highly touted, had all the tools to be an all star level player for us, but ended up just being nothing of what the franchise expected at the time but had so much potential. A forgettable solid role player on a bad team even when he had all the hype at least in Charlotte to help us turn things around
Sean May – amazing talent, zero effs given. Could have been a better Al Horford at minimum if he cared and treated his career like he did his one championship season at UNC.
Kind of sad that there a tons a players to choose from. Hornets and wasted potential is a tale as old as time.
Adam Morrison – he was special in too many ways, unfortunately. But he was a projected lock as a franchise player that never came close to it.
MUCH higher ceiling than anyone else listed here besides LJ, with Bouk-level impact. IMO everyone else is just an argument for runner up.
Shouts to Bobby Phills, may he rest in peace. 