A slow but steady decline turned into a free fall last season. O.J. Mayo is now more of a punchline than an NBA asset.
You knew the Twitter comedians would get him. Even opposing announcers last year were cracking jokes.
It didn't help that Mayo gained weight during his worst season as a pro because for athletes, we associate gaining weight with not caring.
And considering he hadn't really lived up to the hype through his first five years, you'd expect the motivation to be there.
I'm not sure what's worse—stinking right out of college, in which case we can place some blame on the scouts, or proving you've got the talent by averaging 18.5 points as a rookie and then failing to do what's necessary to sustain it or build on that foundation.
In Mayo's case, the expectations were pretty wild for him each time he reached a new level. An elite recruit who averaged 20.7 points a game his one-and-done year at USC, Mayo would ultimately be traded for Kevin Love on draft night after being taken No. 3 overall.
He even produced immediately once making the jump to the pro ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Jonathan Wasserman
How O.J. Mayo Went from Top Prospect to the NBA’s Biggest Reclamation Project
October 14th, 2014 by Jonathan Wasserman Leave a reply »
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