5 Spartans who didn’t live up to the NBA hype

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These Michigan State basketball studs didn’t live up to the NBA hype.

The Michigan State Spartans are one of college basketball’s blue bloods so they have a great tradition of producing excellent players. Magic Johnson is the best Spartan to ever suit up in East Lansing with Draymond Green becoming a superstar in recent years.

That hasn’t always been the case with Michigan State, which has had its fair share of players fail to live up to the hype at the next level. Let’s take a look at five of the worst offenders today, beginning with Scott Skiles.

5. Michigan State basketball NBA busts: Scott Skiles

A one-time Big Ten Player of the Year, Scott Skiles was certainly expected to be a very good pro. Skiles was drafted 22nd overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in 1987 but didn’t contribute much for them.

After bouncing around for a bit Skiles found a home in Orlando, where he settled into a supporting role on a young Magic team. Skiles’ most memorable moment came as a member of the Magic when he set the NBA record with 30 assists in a single game on Dec. 30, 1990, against the Denver Nuggets.

The Magic years were the best of Skiles’ career but he never really developed into a star like he was at Michigan State. Skiles’ pro career was fine, which is far more than we can say for the next four guys we’ll discuss today.