The 2019 Draft Class is an Incredible Disaster
Despite a bunch of hype and some strong rookie seasons, the 2019 draft class has turned into one of the weakest and most disappointing ever. It doesn’t seem like there will be even be a single hall of fame from the class, much less a MVP or #1 option on a championship team. Everyone from the highly hyped players, to the guys with surprisingly good rookie seasons, to the guys who seemed like late bloomers, have all struggled.
Among the 8 players who received ROTY votes, essentially all of them have struggled
-Ja Morant has been heavily injured and on the decline when he does play
-Kendrick Nunn went from ROTY runner up to out of the league in 5 years (with an entire season missed to injuries)
-Zion is Zion, even now that he’s been healthy he hasn’t been winning or putting up great stats
-Brandon Clarke has barely played due to injuries this season
-Coby White is doing ok, although he has the reputation of a high volume low efficiency one way player
-Terence Davis is out of the league
-Eric Pascall was out of the league in 3 years
-RJ Barrett didn’t live up to 3rd pick standards but he’s been playing alright
For the players who didn’t get votes, many of them are also doing bad
-Darius Garland had a terrible rookie seasons, seemed to rebound and look like a future perennial allstar, then disappointed in the playoffs while getting injured a ton
-Tyler Herro has battled injuries pretty consistently while his team seems to be in constant soft rebuilding mode
-Jordan Poole got punched in the damn face, declined after one promising year, and is currently playing very poorly
-DeAndre Hunter had a season ending eye injury while bouncing around to different teams
-Jaxson Hayes was wildly disappointing and can barley play in the playoffs without getting exploited
-Jarrett Culver was out of the league in 4 years
-Rui Hachimura puts up good counting stats but has a poor engine/advanced stats
-Cam Reddish was out of the league in 6 years
-Romeo Langford was out of the league in 4 years
Compared to 2018, 2020, and 2021 this class is far weaker both at the top and in terms of depth despite incredible hype. Do you see any of these players actually reaching their potential? Or is seven years in the league enough to call their careers disappointing?