Wasting top talent in vain! These 4 active NBA top picks are almost gone and everyone has become a parallel product

I have to say that this year's offseason is indeed crazy, with transactions, drafts, contract renewals, and hot news never stopped. As James executes next season's options, Harden also reaches a contract renewal with the Clippers. Who will be the biggest fish in the free market this summer? It should be Aiton. It was a bit surprising that Ayton actually reached a buyout with the Trail Blazers and became a free agent. Regarding this news, our focus is mainly on two aspects. One is that after Ayton left, Yang Hansen could get more opportunities in the Trail Blazers, and might even be trained as a core center. The other is whether Ayton becomes a free agent. Can the Lakers succeed? After all, until now, the Lakers have been actively pursuing the main center. It is difficult for Ayton to come to the Lakers through trades, but after he becomes a free agent, the probability of joining the Lakers has increased greatly.

However, Ayton was bought out, and there is actually another focus here. Why did the Trail Blazers not choose to trade but buy it out? There are probably two reasons. First, the Trail Blazers must have tried trading Ayton, but the market reaction was cold and could not get the bargaining chips they wanted. In recent years, Ayton's performance has been lukewarm and the trading value has become lower and lower. Second, Ayton's contract is too big, with an annual salary of more than 35 million. Even if it is through a transaction, it is necessary to accept long-term contracts from other teams, which will increase the team's reconstruction burden. In fact, to put it bluntly, Ayton himself is not good. Although his data looks good, his enthusiasm on the field has fallen to the bottom. Tombe Billups once said in public: "I don't like the spirit and attitude he showed in the game." Ayton always seems to have a clean obsession with playing basketball.

No matter what, Ayton did not realize his super talent, and the top scorer fell to the point of losing his trading value and being bought out, it would not be an exaggeration to say that he is a parallel product. In addition, there are two top picks in the active league, which have the same common problems as Ayton, one is Wiggins and the other is Ben Simmons. Do you still remember the overwhelming praises of Wiggins before entering the league? It is said that he is the next James, which is written in the draft report: he has the ability to run and jump and the speed of explosion. He basically does not need to bend his knees when taking off, has excellent lateral movement speed and first step breakthrough, and has a perfect forward size and physical fitness. In terms of physical test data, Wiggins' touch height reached 2.72 meters, which is stronger than many centers; his vertical jump height reached 1.12 meters, surpassing the peak Jordan and McGrady.

The physical fitness is so explosive, but Mouth Brother has almost never shown his talent in the NBA arena. He can make layups and never dunks. His average score per game has remained at the level of 17 or 18 points for many years. Since he was a 22-year career highlight, he has started playing Buddhist health balls again in the following years. After being traded by the Warriors to the Heat, Wiggins' performance continued to decline. He only played for less than half a season and was put on the trading stand by the Heat. From the perspective of an ordinary NBA player, the career of the Mouth Brother is of course excellent, but his background is the highly anticipated No. 1 pick and James' successor. From this perspective, Wiggins undoubtedly did not meet people's expectations for him. Compared to Brother Mouth, Simmons is even more disappointing. His template was Magic Johnson, a rare big point guard in the league. His body, athletic ability, and coordination are all top-notch, and his offense and defense are integrated.

And now Simmons is not even a qualified substitute, and his positioning has fallen to the edge of the water dispenser. After joining the Clippers this season, Simmons averaged less than 3 points per game, his shooting percentage was less than 50% for the first time in his career. He averaged less than 1 point per game in the playoffs, making it difficult to associate his data with the No. 1 pick. The biggest reason why Simmons was injured by Zhongyong was that he had his psychological shadow in the last season of the Sixers. From then on, he was unwilling to end his shooting on the court. That year, Simmons shot only 34% of the free throw rate, and his opponent frequently used the "slashing Western tactic", which made Simmons increasingly afraid of shooting. In the end, it was precisely because of his fear of taking action that the game was ruined. Until now, Simmons has not yet come out of this shadow.

Ayton, Wiggins, and Simmons, these three top picks are all talented, but their mentality is problematic and they have no ambition to play, which has become the main reason for their loss. There is also a top pick in the active league, who is also moving forward on the road to parallel goods. He is not because of his mentality, but because of injuries and lack of self-discipline, that is Zion Williams. In his six-year career, Zion has played more than 30 games in just two seasons and has never played in a playoff game. No matter how strong your ability is, your attendance rate cannot be guaranteed, it is no different from being a parallel product. Besides, Zion has many rumors on the off-court, but in fact he is just not self-disciplined. After the end of this season, the Pelicans have lost trust in Zion and do not intend to continue to train him. However, other teams seem to be unwilling to accept Zion. I don’t know if Zion can freeze his glassman attributes in the future. In short, the four guys, Simmons, Ayton, and Zion, have not met their expectations when they first entered the league. What do you think?