It's not every day that you see the NBA Draft's 31st overall pick being referred to as a gamble. But that was the case with Manute Bol, who was selected by the Washington Bullets early in the second round back in 1985. Yes, it's true that he averaged 22.5 points, 13.5 rebounds, and a ridiculous 7.1 blocks per game while playing for the University of Bridgeport in the 1984-85 season (via Basketball-Reference). But firstly, Bridgeport was an NCAA Division II school, and not a Division I powerhouse like North Carolina, Duke, or Indiana. Secondly, the Sudanese center was the very definition of a project, an extremely tall (7-feet-7-inches) player who, at 200 pounds, weighed just about as much as a 6-foot-6-inch small forward. He may have been the NBA's tallest-ever player at that point, but his skinny frame almost ensured that he would get bullied in the paint by shorter, yet more conventionally built centers.
Interestingly, Bol won the starting center job at Washington as a rookie and, while coming off the bench in his second season, still saw meaningful minutes. His rebounding, and especially his scoring, was nothing to write home about. But he did lead the NBA in blocked shots, averaging an even 5 per game in the 1985-86 season, and followed that up with 3.7 per game in only 18.9 minutes in 1986-87. He was making good use of his height on defense and playing for a decent Bullets team that won 42 games and made the first round of the playoffs in 1986-87. But the Bullets needed help at the point guard position, and they addressed that need in the 1987 draft ... by selecting someone who stood a good 28 inches shorter than Bol.
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