best high school basketball player that never made it

Only twice has a player won the award two times: LeBron James and Greg Oden. At 26.6 points per game, Caitlin set the Iowa freshman record and led NCAA Division I scoring in 202021. Bennett ended the 2016-17 season in Turkey but was cut after his team won the championship. He now plays for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the G-League and averaged 5.9 PPG in 2016-17. Samaki Walker, Michael Redd, Gary Trent and Kenny Gregory were must-see players too, but I can't remember a time when I was more excited to see a player for the first time than Weaver. As the top-ranked recruit in his class, Ward was expected to be the next Chris Webber but he wasnt even the next Juwan Howard or Jalen Rose. 7. The top three-ranked players in the Class of 1998 all jumped straight from high school to the NBA. A 2008 documentary that follows the lives of 8 of the best high school basketball prospects at the time leading up the 1st annual Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic at Rucker Park. He started in the McDonald's game and the Capital Classic, then nearly on a par with the McDonald's game in national prestige. Here are SN's staff picks: "I will always be indebted to my sophomore year biology teacher for noting my passion for basketball and asking if I'd like to go along with him to see the 1976 Dapper Dan Roundball Classic. In fact, in a summer league game, Lewis dropped 52 points against a bunch of Los Angeles Lakers he was still in high school at the time. Her father participated in baseball and basketball at Simpson College. McDonald's All-American. But when the Nets told Ryan to hone his skills in the NBA's former minor league, the CBA, Black Jack gave up his pro playing aspirations and gave up on the game altogether. Some of these high school phenoms did decide to go to college but they still werent able to relive the glory from their high school days. Some context: less than three months before the Capital Classic, in mid-January 1984, top-ranked North Carolina beat fifth-ranked Maryland at Cole Field House, and the win was capped in the final seconds by one of Michael Jordan's most legendary dunks , a swooping breakaway rock-the-cradle jam, silencing the building except for a collective "oooooooohhhhh.". Daniel Tippit, New Palestine: The senior hit a 30-footer in New Palestines 61-31 win over Greenwood on senior night as the Dragons finished off a 21-2 regular season. Unfortunately, while Los Angeles offered Hammond $50,000 to sign as a rookie, there was just one problem: Hammond was making more money than that on the street, dealing drugs and shooting dice. Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. We were playing Salem at our small gym with a brick wall that was about 10 feet off the baseline. But then Jackie decided he was too good to go to the University of Tennessee and declared for the NBA Draft. Swimming in National Player of the Year awards just a year after Kevin Garnett's successful leap from high school to the NBA, Bryant made the none-too-surprising decision to turn pro himself. By the time Weaver reached high school, you couldn't get a seat at the gym. Despite his stock at an all-time low, he declared for the draft and was taken in the second round by the Grizzlies. Dr. A's weekly risers and fallers: Jeremy Sochan, Christian Wood make the list, NBA Power Rankings: Kevin Durant's return could rock the West. Kevin Love 6. That's how real it was." For this particular list, we take a look at those basketball phenoms that are termed "Prep-to-Pro," meaning thatno college was deemed necessary for this or that particular player to achieve success in the National Basketball Association. He played in a total of 105 games in the NBA and another 25 games in the Chinese Basketball Association. Favorite athlete: Stephen Curry. IF POLL DOES NOT APPEAR, click here to vote. 3. It's unfortunate Ebi didn't make it in the NBA. Only two members of the Fab Five II would go on to play in the NBA: Maceo Baston and Maurice Taylor. Telfair played for nine NBA teams in 10 years and spent some time overseas as well, never living up to the incredible hype. Back in the late '90s and early 2000s, there were far fewer, readily accessible media outlets that covered prep sports beyond a local level. Follow Us On Social Media!Twitter: http://bit.ly/2zHv7dJInstagram: http://bit.ly/2inVlI4Facebook: http://bit.ly/2zNPZNQ He was one of the most-touted players to come out of New York in years and won the Mr. Basketball USA award in 1994. Not only was the wiry Jamison taller than most on the court, he was quicker too. When Butler was with the 2006-07 San Antonio Spurs, a very telling comment by coach Gregg Popovich revealed the player's true nature: "Most of (Butler's) playing time in the initial part of the season is going to be in practice, learning what a work ethic is day in and day out and what it takes to play at this level.". McCain grew up in Sacramento and spent a majority of his life in the . Well, teams lie and Cooke went undrafted which forced him to play in minor leagues like the NBDL and USBL. During his four seasons at Maryland, Len Bias averaged 16.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, was a two-time ACC Player of the Year, and earned All-American honors in 198485 and 198586. When he was just 14 years old, legendary Indiana coach Bobby Knight declared that Bailey was better than any point guard his college team had. Watch James make one routine trip down the court and the whole package hits you at once: the size, the skills, the awareness, the competitiveness. The physical resemblance to Shaq went all the way to his extra-low haircut and the occasional cross-eyed expression (but ended with the notable gap in his front teeth). Thislegend preceded LeBron in Ohio, and it was just as big at the start. Candler was 12-for-17 from the field and 4-for-5 from the free-throw line to finish with 28 points, eight rebounds and three assists. But it became clear very soon that Bailey had peaked in high school. Our editorial content is not influenced by any commissions we receive. Cooke went up against his rival in a one-on-one game in 2001 and was soundly schooled, and for some inexplicable reason, allowed that one game to determine his fate forevermore. If only he couldve put basketball before everything else. When Roselle Catholic boys basketball coach Dave Boff originally envisioned his team for the 2021-22 season, he thought he would have at least two of the top players in the state -- if not the nation. He then suffered the Portland-itis that so many other Blazers have suffered as recurring injuries kept him off the court. Those Spurs went on to win the 2007 NBA title, defeating LeBron in his first Finals appearance. Dominique Murphy, East Chicago Central: The 6-5 sophomore scored 34 points on 13-for-19 shooting with six rebounds and two steals in a 76-58 win over Andrean. Brent and Anne Nizzi-daughter Clark's Caitlin is a Clark. Malone didn't need college; his last two years in high school, his team didn't lose a single game, taking back-to-back state titles in Virginia. But with Korleone, it was a total surprise. Young would be a second round pick of the Pistons in 1998 but played a total of 15 minutes in the lockout-shortened season before being cut. The nation's top high school basketball players used to be able to go straight to the draft. Oh, what could have been. First with the Timberwolves, where he never quite had the supporting cast to go all the way, and then with the Celtics, where he teamed with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to bring the C's their 17th championship. Either way, while these talented basketball players never made it to the National Basketball Association, they certainly had the game required to do so. 6. Instead of going to University of Maryland in 1974, Malone joined the NBA's then rival pro basketball league, the ABA, famous for its multi-colored balls and players with outrageous '70's hair styles. The man who was once dubbed The Spanish Michael Jordan reached his peak at just the age of 14. The volume of his talent is staggering, even breathtaking. They either flamed out in college or flamed out in the pros which means the highpoint of their basketball careers came as teenagers. Sergio Llull Unlike the other players in this list, Sergio Llull still has a chance to make. This is who we would take. The National Basketball Association is known for its history ofphenomenal players. And Washburn took off and threw down the exact same dunk. She has amassed more than 10 thousand followers on her Instagram site. He was so skilled that the Lakers even selected him in the NBA's 1971 hardship draft. Two state marks, including the 5A record for most points scored in a game and most 3-pointers made in a game, are held by the young athlete. 1. How Tall Is WWE Beast Cody Rhodes? When I was a freshman at Independence HighJamison was a senior at Providence, our archrival in just about every sport. Below is our take on the 30 greatest basketball players to never play in the NBA. Who was the best high school basketball player you ever saw in person? Swift would play a total of 97 games in the NBA and experience more problems off the court. Either way, they never really "made it" as a pro. These prodigies are so unique that when we catch them early on, it's always more special than if we discover them with the rest of the masses. Cooke was apparently so intent on going pro after high school that he never even bothered taking the SAT or ACT which are required for college. He was a good four-year starter in college, but hardly lived up to the hype he built in high school. We understand this problem because we have gone through the entire Best High School Basketball Player That Never Made It research process already, which is why we have put together a comprehensive list of the Best High School Basketball Player That Never Made It available in the market today. Of course, Williamson is not just a great athlete; hes a great basketball player. From there, it soon became clear that not all was right with Smith and he clearly wasn't ready for the rigours and responsibilities of being a professional athlete. Fans of 1A boys basketball may feel a sense of dj vu as last year's top contenders, region rivals Panguitch and PIute, are set to face off again. I vividly remember his first post-stretch action being a rebound off a teammate's missed warm-up jumper. The most vivid thing I remember was how fast Jamison would get his shot off after catching a pass. Although he played college ball at Cal State LA, Lewis is most notable forbeing arguably the greatest California streetball legends of all time. Whether or not he actually finished high school is up for debate as he didnt qualify academically at the University of Florida. He played one year in Israel and one year in Japan before being drafted in the second round in 2011 by Charlotte. Bryant, the son of former NBA player Joe Bryant, was regarded as the top high school player in the entire nation in 1996 when coming out of Lower Merion High School in the Philadelphia suburb of Ardmore. In 2017 and 2019, she won two gold medals in the FIBA Americas Tournament and the FIBA World Cup Tournament with Team USA. West began his pro career with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1960. Jerryd Bayless 4. Young is another entry on this list who was so good he starred at two high schools--and he did it in two different states; both Wichita East High School (a coed public school in Kansas) and Hargrave Military Academy (a private, all-male boarding school in Virginia). Sean Deveney. There weren't. Dating back to the 1960s, and with a decade-long heyday beginning in 1995, some of the NBA's greatest talents made the leap right to the pros. However, there is another group of players who were better served in going to college than skipping it. Young's ego couldn't abide going to college, and while he did get selected by the Detroit Pistons with the 40th overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft, his injury prone and bench-riding career soon went nowhere. When it came to dribbling the basketball, Haynes was a revolutionary; considered by many to be the greatest dribbler in the history of the game. Michael Dyer Dyers freshman year at Auburn not only brought NFL potential but also a national championship. Oftentimes, you'd go into an AAU game, having never laid eyes on your opponent before opening tipoff. But before we get to that, here are a couple more losers: Here's a perfect example of a young hoopster who should have attended the college he committed to; in Ndudi Ebi's case, it was the University of Arizona, a strong basketball program. Right after his junior prom, Tyler announced he was dropping out of school and heading overseas to start his pro basketball career. In the documentary, Hooked: The Legend of Demetrius Hook Mitchell, former NBA superstar and current Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd said the following: Hook could jump over a building. However, he can thank Calipari for not giving him the option of returning to Memphis as Wagner made over $8 million in the NBA and he wouldnt have made a dime had he gotten sick while in college. 3. Lamborghinis are known for their luxury and class in addition to their performance and speed. The bleachers at the Sumter Civic Center were full by the time Williamson's team took the floor for pregame warm-ups. He was later recruited by Chicago's DePaul University, but was ruled academically ineligible. Caitlin was born on January 22, 2002, in Des Moines, Iowa, and is currently 19 years old. I had the unfortunate pleasure of guarding her while I played for Dorman High School. During her junior season, she averaged 32.5 points, seven rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2.2 steals per game as she guided Dowling Catholic High School to a 17-8 record and a spot in the Iowa Class 5A playoffs. Now, everbody knows Amar'e Stoudemire." 'Whatever seed we are, we're ready': Is there room for Cleveland among the East elite? Such was the case when my Tampa Raptors, a rag-tag, best of the rest team, consisting of a band of players not good enough to be scooped up by Nike or adidas' summer outfits. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Smith is the only prep-to-pro to ever be drafted by the Spurs as he was taken in the first round of the 1999 draft. It didn't disappoint. However, Ryan did have his moment in the sun, starring at John Jay High in Brooklyn, where he averaged 26 points a game as a guard with a deadly shot during the late 1970s. Instead he went to the NBA, where he was a memberof the final iteration of the Seattle SuperSonics (2007-08) before they became the OKC Thunder. He was so skilled that the Lakers even selected him in the NBAs 1971 hardship draft. By 18, Telfair was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and just months later he was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers. She also won awards including Iowa Miss Basketball, Gatorade State Player of the Year, and the McDonalds All-American title. No, that isn't comedian Carrot Top, that's NBA flame-out Robert Swift, a great high school player that managed to get Garces High School (Bakersfield, CA) ranked in the USA Today top 25 teams during the 2002-03 season. I don't remember how many points or how many dunks, but what stood out was his ball-handling skills and ability to spin through traffic with an effortless grace I've never seen at the high-school level since. Montverde Academy . As I was sitting on the baseline under the very basket he threw it down on, covering the game for the Black Explosion student paper, I was one of the few who refrained from oooh-ing, but not because the dunk hadn't earned it. Young was a talented small forward from Kansas but even his high school coach was surprised he opted to skip college. On the other hand, she can currently make a respectable living as a college player. Oden lived up to his billing in college, leading the Ohio State Buckeyes to the National Championship game. Nick Birdsong. It is so appropriate that this entry of Fields as a "Never Was" directly follows our previous "Became Bigger"--Kevin Garnett--because the pair were actually high school teammates at Chicago's Farragut Academy. Teenage almost-seven-foot Chris Washburn doing it was like seeing man walk on the moon. Howard practically fulfilled the selection by taking the 2008-09 Magic all the way to the NBA Finals. Founded by Sonny Vaccaro in Pittsburgh, that event was the fore-runner of the McDonald's All-American Game. In the history of the NBA draft, 45 players have been taken directly out of high school. Emoni Bates, Jr., Ypsi Prep Academy (Ypsilanti) Preseason favorite to win MaxPreps National Player of the Year honors averaged 32.4 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.2 steals for the 19-3 Railsplitters. Graham made a spot start for the Spurs on Thursday, finishing with 18 points on 5 of 10 shooting. Her 799 points set a freshman record, while her 39 points in one game broke a previous school mark. After the 2005 draft, the NBA's collective bargaining agreement ended the prep-to-pro pipeline. The Capital Centre didn't react with an "ooohhhhh,"but with an explosion of "WHOAAAAAAA! (This time, it included me, as I was again seated behind the same basket he slammed on). Fat chance. These individuals have broken records, displayed otherworldly talent, and taken the game itself to new heights. Malone was a three-time NBA MVP (1979, 1982 and '83), and in 1981 took alackluster Houston Rockets team all the way to the NBA Finals, before Larry Bird and Kevin McHale won their first title with the Boston Celtics. Salem won the state title, and Brunson surprised a few of us by choosing Temple over Kentucky. It should be noted that the tragic tales of the likes of Hank Gathers and Benji Wilson will be left off the list, as their circumstances went far beyond anything basketball related. Therefore, in most of these cases, as you shall discover, college probably would have been a good idea for the player in question. Basketball scorers start young. And in the early 1990s, I began to cover recruiting camps like the ABCD and then the elite tournaments like the Big Time and Peach Jam. Nonetheless, she has a chance to be selected by a WNBA team in the upcoming days, and if that occurs, she will make almost as much as the stated sums. Telfair also had various run-ins with the law including multiple arrests for possession of weapons. Washburn, from Hickory, N.C., was 6-11, 230-plus pounds, ran the floor like a forward, handled like someone eight inches shorter and 50 pounds lighter, shook backboards with his dunks and blocked everything in sight. He died of natural causes back in 2015 at the age of 89. Clark stands tall at a height of 5 foot 11 inches. Is The Famous Actress And Comedian, Aubrey Plaza, Married? In the state tournament shortly thereafter, Burnson had perhaps the greatest performance in Massachusetts high school basketball history: 42 points against Bishop Feehan in the state tournament at Boston Garden. And few ever played the game with such passion as Kevin Garnett, who transformed the culture of not one, but two NBA franchises. With five players ranked in the 2023 ESPN 100 and four more ranked in the 2024 ESPN . Here's a Butler that no NBA team wanted serving them. Some of them are legends of the playgrounds; others are individuals whose lives werecut way too short. The World's Most Entertaining Car Website. The basketball player was born to Brent and Anne Nizzi Clark, her sisters. Some ballers opted not to enter the league for monetary reasons (back in the day, most NBA players made meager, five-figure salaries). Sun-Times Player of the Year. 2. . He would eventually move on to play in the CBA before retiring in 2003. Press Esc to cancel. In contrast, the most well-known NBA contracts, according to Go Banking Rates, are worth more than $40 million for an 82-game regular season, or $487,800 per game. 5. Jordan really didn't top that one until the 1988 NBA dunk contest maybe. A Lamborghini is a Lamborghini, and Williamson is a Murcilago with a 6.2 L V12 engine. You were drawn to Estaban. Caitlin Clark is a college basketball player who has been involved in the sport throughout her entire life. Brad Pinkerton. Sara Jane Harris. He played a total of 15 games in the NBA and played in now-defunct leagues such as the IBL and BSN. "Moments usually stick with you longer than stats, which is why on the surfaceit makes no sense to mention Chris Washburn in a conversation about the best high school players anybody ever saw. Caitlin might have a future plan to reveal it, and if she does, regular readers will be aware of it. His unstoppable offensive drives, clutch defense, dominating physicality and sheer will to win are an almost incomparable combination; and only playing some great Spurs and Warriors teams in the NBA Finals over the years has prevented "The King" from owning more than three crowns at this point in his career. When Bailey was 14 years old, Indiana coach Bob Knight saw him play and said, Damon Bailey is better than any guard we have right now. His post-career life (as well as his college and NBA days) proved that his peak was at age 17. Other stories are more positive; some international players elected to ball out and stack paper in their home country instead of making the leap to the States. By James Edward [email protected]. Won two gold medals with USA Basketball. Eventually, the Boston Celtics selected him with the No. When you've put on the "classic" uniform of basketball franchises like Lokomotiv Mineralnye Vody and Bnai HaSharon, who needs the Celtics or the Lakers?

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