The NBA’s Forgotten Waste Buckets: Center Edition

By Garrett Howell

While sitting on my low-grade apartment balcony last week, I sat there trying to decide what I should write about, and then it came to me. It wasn’t a single word or a phrase, it was an image of Byron Mullens and his 70’s porn stache in his Bobcats uniform. Why did this image pop into my head you ask? I wish I knew but, it felt meant to be, so here we are now. It got me thinking about all the NBA players I have forgotten about over the years and there is way more than I could’ve expected. Who knows, maybe I’ll turn this into a once per month article because there are so many forgotten ones but, for now we will be profiling ELITE centers. ​

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1) BYRON MULLENS: After attending THE Ohio State University for only 1 year, this future waste bucket was drafted 24th overall by the Dallas Mavericks in 2009 and immediately traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder for an Air Fryer and a $50 Walmart gift card that only had $38.60 left on it. Dallas must’ve seen it coming as Mullens finished with a career average of 7.4 PPG, 4.2 RPG, and 0.8 APG while only shooting 40% from the field AS A CENTER. Byron only made it 189 games before the 5 teams he had already played for and the rest of the NBA were ready to boot his pasty figure overseas.

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2) GREG STIEMSMA: This big cheese eating bastard is easily the one I forgot about the most. I was honestly upset he reentered my mind. A 4 year player at the University of Wisconsin, Greg went undrafted to the shock of absolutely no one. In 2009, the Boston Celtics Front Office lost a bet with the Miami Heat Front Office and were forced to sign Stiemsma for the year. It is dubbed as one of the biggest wastes of money in Celtics history. Stiemsma was only in the league for 4 seasons and 203 games with a different team each season while averaging 3.2 PPG, 3.3 RPG, and 0.5 APG on 50% shooting from the field for his underwhelming career. ​

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3) HASHEEM THABEET: Potentially one of the biggest NBA cons of all time, 7’3” Thabeet spent only one season at UCONN before entering the NBA draft and getting drafted 2nd (!!!) by the Memphis Grizzlies in 2009. After one season of wasted time, the Grizzlies had enough and shipped Thabeet out for a time share in Alaska. Thabeet would only last 5 seasons and 224 games in the league. He played for 5 different teams during this span. Since he was drafted 2nd overall, he is easily considered a bust because of his career averages of 2.2 PPG, 2.7 RPG, and 0.1 APG on 56% shooting. A quick reminder that this man was 7 FEET AND 3 INCHES TALL and could only grab 2 damn boards a game. If I was the person that drafted this man, I’d break 7 of my toes. ​

Photo Credit: pbteen.com, atthehive.com, bleacherreport.com, clutchpoints.com

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