Talent - recent vs past

Talent of course is very subjective, but one objective measure is the number of players who have appeared on an NBA Roster in any one season. The recent threads inspired me to put together this list of Gophers who have appeared on an NBA roster somewhere since 1975. Hat tip to Eric T. for the list of rosters on his site. The 1975 cut-off is arbitrary on my part, but my fandon-memory is hazy prior to that year. I know guys like Olberding and Hudson played, but some of the more marginal NBA guys are likely to escape my memory prior to 1975......


(roughly choronological)

Mychal Thompson
Ray Williams
Kevin McHale
Leo Rautins (Syracuse)
Trent Tucker
Randy Bruer
Ben Coleman (Maryland)
Jim Petersen
John Shasky
Willie Burton
Richard Coffey
Walter Bond
Melvin Newbern
Kevin Lynch
Marlon Maxey (UTEP)
Bob Martin
Voshon Lenard
Trevor Winter
John Thomas
Sam Jacobson
Bobby Jackson
Quincy Lewis
Kevin Burleson
Joel Przybilla
Kris Humphries


* Bob Martin and Trevor Winter according to my recollection appeared in like 2 games each, but according to this arbitrary criteria, they count as 'present'. This isn't saying that they had comparable talent to say Thompson/McHale/Tucker/Burton/Jackson of course!

Rautins, Coleman, and Maxey all made their (primary) names elsewhere, but did play here. So they too appear on this list.

Players like Holmes, Hall, Rickert who were drafted and appeared in training camp only do not count.

Not sure if you can draw profound conclusions, but when you list this in chronological order, it *is* apparent that there was a talent downgrade from the end of Haskins' era to the present. This talent deficit which likely is being rectified by T. Smith, but results haven't shown up on NBA rosters yet. RSIII strikes me as one likely to eventually appear on this list, with Iversen perhaps having such a possibility.

You can add Mark Jones to the list. I had to look it up because I wasn't completely sure, but Jones played in the NBA for Orlando. Jones started out at the University of Minnesota but transferred to Central Florida.

I found this article, unfortunate it was probably one of the last times we were referred to as "mighty Minnesota" without it coming from the sarcastic pens of a Barreiro or Reusse.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1997-11-14/sports/9711130525_1_mark-jones-speraw-ucf

I believe that Vincent Grier was in the NBA for a little bit.

EG#9 said:

You can add Mark Jones to the list. I had to look it up because I wasn't completely sure, but Jones played in the NBA for Orlando. Jones started out at the University of Minnesota but transferred to Central Florida.

I found this article, unfortunate it was probably one of the last times we were referred to as "mighty Minnesota" without it coming from the sarcastic pens of a Barreiro or Reusse.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1997-11-14/sports/9711130525_1_mark-jones-speraw-ucf

Click to expand...

I remember Mark Jones, thought he was going to be really good. Why did he transfer after one year? Him and BJ could have been pretty exciting playing together...