He played college basketball at Norfolk State and was even drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 1968, yet chose to return to the more lucrative operations he ran in Harlem. Considering he is often credited with inventing the cross-over as well as the spin move to the bucket, we truly wish he had chosen the other life. Despite his stock at an all-time low, he declared for the draft and was taken in the second round by the Grizzlies. Caitlin Clark Early Life. However, there is another group of players who were better served in going to college than skipping it. Know Her Career And Life! My friend gave me the kind of look one would expect from a person who had just seen a human defy physics. She is getting popular day by day. 9. Despite never playing high school or college ball, Joe The Destroyer Hammond was perhaps the greatest basketball player to ever come out of Harlem. Well never know. Mike DeCourcy. Our editorial content is not influenced by any commissions we receive. 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). That means getting to see them play in high school. He was selected 13th overall by the Trail Blazers and his pro career proceeded to be a never-ending shuffle. 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. There's not much to write about LeBron that hasn't already been published; he's one of the preeminent talents the NBA ever has, or ever will, produce. 2. Viraj is a Content Editor currently working at Whistlernews.com, He intended to write on the most recent developments of Entertainment, Sports to News from his own unique angle. Kevin Love 6. Pretty sure I gave him the same look. Caitlin keeps her focus on her goal at all times. Pee Wee Kirkland, another legend of Rucker Park, made a name for himself in two highly distinct ways: as a drug kingpin and superstar basketball player. 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. 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. There's been an ongoing debate for years, even decades, on whether the "one and done" rule in the NBA should be liftedor if in fact, basketball players should spend even more time in college. Favorite athlete: Stephen Curry. Although he played college ball at Cal State LA, Lewis is most notable forbeing arguably the greatest California streetball legends of all time. Her father participated in baseball and basketball at Simpson College. That pretty much sums up the professional "career" of Cisse, who lead Montgomery Catholic High School in Alabama to a state title in 1999. 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. By. Fast forward to the Capital Center in Landover, Md., in late March, at the Capital Classic. The nation's top high school basketball players used to be able to go straight to the draft. Heck, there was no YouTube. Yet, for all the incredible individuals who left their mark on the NBA, there are those who, while talented enough to play in the league, never got the chance. The rest is a cautionary tale seen here in this Homage documentary , but for the sake of a modern comparison it felt like watching Derrick Rose and Vince Carter at the same time. Telfair was arguably the most famous basketball player in the New York City area in the early 2000s. Big mistake. For those of us who did attend a university, we know the unmatched experience and knowledge that going to college provides a young person's mind, and life in general. Some players found themselves a little too drawn to the hustler lifestyle. Dakota Candler, South Knox: The 6-5 senior made the game-winning three-point play in the final seconds as South Knox defeated Pike Central 60-58. This is what I wrote in Sporting News after seeing LeBron James play as a rising junior at the 2001 ABCD Camp in New Jersey: 'Some baby boomers who've got me by a few years make a big deal of the first time they saw The Beatles on 'The Ed Sullivan Show.' I left the game that night feeling lucky to have seen that caliber of player in person but also anguished knowing that I'd be seeing a lot more of Antawn Jamison in the future." The bleachers at the Sumter Civic Center were full by the time Williamson's team took the floor for pregame warm-ups. Caitlin was born on January 22, 2002, in Des Moines, Iowa, and is currently 19 years old. 30. But it was never meant to be in the NBA for Cisse, despite being drafted #46 overall in the 2001 by the Denver Nuggets, as hecouldn't stay healthy and bounced around, getting released by one NBA team after another until heading overseas. Although he never strutted his stuff in the NBA, Haynes played in two separate stints for the Harlem Globetrotters, mesmerizing the crowd with his style, pizzazz, and insane handle. 15 Basketball High School Phenoms Who Never Made It In The NBA. She was the most sought-after student at her high school and rose to fame as a result of her performances in high school athletics. Caitlin might have a future plan to reveal it, and if she does, regular readers will be aware of it. He was selected in the first round of the 2003 draft (26th overall) by the Timberwolves, but was never suited for the pros and wound up playing overseas for one obscure team after the next. MORE: What drives LeBron's next decision? Cooke was once the top prospect in the nation but that may have been because he was so much older than everyone else. With his height, physical attributes and skill level, it's not hard to believe that Howard led his high school, the blandly named Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy to a 31-2 record and the 2004 Georgia state title. 1 entry. Said former Lynwood coach Bill Lee:Ive seen Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, and Michael Jordan and Ive never seen anyone better with the basketball. Trey Buchanan, Westfield: The junior guard had a career-high 32 points on 10-for-15 shooting from the 3-point line in a 59-32 win over Frankfort. Ward didnt even become a starter until his senior season and by then the luster off his Naismith award had worn away. He is also the only player in NBA history to be named Finals MVP despite being on the losing team. 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. But then Jackie decided he was too good to go to the University of Tennessee and declared for the NBA Draft. Demetrius Hook Mitchell may have only been 5-foot-9, but the man who could jump over a Volkswagen was a legend on the playgrounds of Oakland. Copyright 2023 Sporting News Holdings Limited. He now plays for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the G-League and averaged 5.9 PPG in 2016-17. Now, I've got a moment to compare with that. He started in the McDonald's game and the Capital Classic, then nearly on a par with the McDonald's game in national prestige. Now, everbody knows Amar'e Stoudemire." Vinnie Iyer, "Before she starred at North Carolinaand was later drafted No. Perhaps the singular flaw on KG's resume is the fact he "only" won one title; but still, KG is an all-time great. The ball had hit the rim and was rising toward the top of the backboard; Williamson snatched the ball, his head easily above said rim, before gravity had a chance to take effect. The Tigers coach, John Calipari, then revoked Wagners scholarship after the season to force him to go to the NBA so Coach Cal was pulling the one-and-done long before he got to Lexington. (Feb. 20-25), Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. The Mavs were probably a bad fit for Smith, as they were coached by Don Nelson, an old-school type who was particularly hard on rookies. Best move: Uses a hesitation dribble to free the defender then shoots a 3-pointer or blows past for a lay-up. 7. 10. Oden lived up to his billing in college, leading the Ohio State Buckeyes to the National Championship game. He had not turned 18 yet. Oden was already being called the next Patrick Ewing or the next Tim Duncan when he was just 16 years old. 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. Though Bryant was drafted #13 overall by the Charlotte Hornets, of course, such an obscure franchise was beneath Kobe's destined greatness, so he promptly engineered a curious trade to the Los Angeles Lakers (for Vlade Divac?) 2 overall pick in the 1986 draft and that was as close to the NBA as Bias would ever get. Unfortunately, like many of the other NYC playground talents, Manigaults life was destroyed by drugs. Standing about 6-8 and about 230 or 240 pounds, he looked like a grown man, and I had no clue who he was. McCain grew up in Sacramento and spent a majority of his life in the . News on all your favorite celebs, reality TV, and movies. 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. best high school basketball player that never made it. 3. Thislegend preceded LeBron in Ohio, and it was just as big at the start. In 1984, as a senior, he was the Parade Magazine co-player of the year with none other than Danny Manning. Founded by Sonny Vaccaro in Pittsburgh, that event was the fore-runner of the McDonald's All-American Game. West began his pro career with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1960. Cooke did have good times, first at Lane High in Brooklyn and then he moved on to La Salle Academy in Manhattan. They either flamed out in college or flamed out in the pros which means the highpoint of their basketball careers came as teenagers. MORE: Have you seen the legend of Mac McClung? How good could Wilson have been? A summer league stint with the Boston Celtics is the closest Cooke would ever get to the NBA and a pair of torn Achilles tendons ended his career by the age of 25. There's no big tragic story behind Williams' failures; he appears to have not been good enough, at least for any teams to believe in him to sign him and actually play him. It was a Golden Age in Central Ohio hoops in the 1990s. Williams wound up being a "Summer League" player, when real ballers want to hoop in the winter and spring. That is, until July 1, 2016 when he was banned from the league for two years for drugs. 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. 1. Lamborghinis are known for their luxury and class in addition to their performance and speed. 5. The top three-ranked players in the Class of 1998 all jumped straight from high school to the NBA. Selby was one of the best players to ever come out of the DMV area and he was the No. The 'Punks'section of Slam Magazine and maybe ESPN's 'SSA'were the primary ways we caught wind of big-time hoopers elsewhere. That meant more time on the bench for the main attraction. Favorite . Go figure: The best high school player performance I saw was on campus when I was a college student attending a game at Evanston's Welsh-Ryan Arena, in Chicago's second-ever City/Suburban Showdown. The 10 players listed here either went to college and saw their careers dip, or their pro career just never lived up to what they achieved in high school. Walker thought that his play in high school would warrant a draft selection in the pros but that wasnt the case and he ended up lasting just one month as an undrafted free agent with the Rockets. Won two gold medals with USA Basketball. 'Man among boys'was not a cliche with him. 1. Texas (575 Athletes) California (399 Athletes) Florida (389 Athletes) Illinois (308 Athletes) New York (299 Athletes) Georgia (294 Athletes) Some players are just a flash in the pan. These are the best high school basketball players in the country, state by state, and they represent the future of the game. Either way, they never really "made it" as a pro. Whether or not he actually finished high school is up for debate as he didnt qualify academically at the University of Florida. You cant find her Wikipedia article on the internet. I had the unfortunate pleasure of guarding her while I played for Dorman High School. The Philadelphia 76ers selected Raymond Lewis with the No. Jalen was good, but it was not quite as good as his dad playing with a bum wrist against Feehan, and posting 42 points." Swift was going to hoop for USC, which probably would have been been the smarter decision. There's a reason the NBA stopped letting kids straight outta high school join the league--because most have been disappointing, as this list will demonstrate time and time again. A post shared by Tadd Haislop (@taddhaislop) on Feb 18, 2017 at 12:03pm PST. Oh, what could have been. She is currently attending the University of Iowa and is likely to graduate in 2020. Lopez left school ranking sixth all-time in Big East history in points but when you are on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a teenager, more was expected of him. Such was Garnett's maturity that he was able to bypass college and still exceed expectations. In alphabetical order, here are 10 Super 5 candidates to watch. Brent and Anne Nizzi-daughter Clarks Caitlin is a Clark. For the last three seasons hes played for three different teams in the Chinese Basketball Association. 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. Guard. Everyone remembers the Fab Five of Michigan but did you know there was a Fab Five II? Here's a Butler that no NBA team wanted serving them. And it's really not close. She is 5 feet 11 inches tall and 70 kg, and she has a slim build. Lance . All that you've heard about his ability is true, except that it may be incomplete. They arent All-Star caliber players but they still made tens of millions of dollars and proved right in their decisions to skip college. Inside His Life! 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. Despite my best defensive efforts, Latta was able to score 54 points against my team, the future 4A State Champions. Williamson, at the time, was still considering South Carolina as a college commitment, so as a Gamecocks fan who had seen the YouTube videos, my friend was all in for a trip to see Spartanburg Day play in the first round of the state playoffs. Others achieve college stardom. Below is our take on the 30 greatest basketball players to never play in the NBA. The San Antonio Spurs drafted him first overall in 1997. "He was a star guard for Salem High, someone we all saw regularly at the Salem YMCA. Like Antoine Walker and Juwan Howard before him, Smith was thought to be the next All-Star big man to come from Chicago. J.J. Redick was one of the best players in Duke basketball history, and he was one of the kings of the college basketball world at the time. By Posted google sheets script get row number In los angeles skateboard deck Mayo AKA Grocery List was the consensus top player of the Class of 2007 and ahead of such players as Kevin Love, Blake Griffin and James Harden. Coincidentally, Dawkins also skipped college, but never became the pro on Malone's level. I just shot at the one in the middle. Michael Beasley 2. Layups, jumpers, dunks; they were off his fingertips like electrostatic sparks. After one year at USC Mayo joined the NBA where he wasnt the star that many expected but was still a serviceable role player. McBride now has 1,822 career points going into the sectional. Greg Oden did in fact spend a year in college after being hyped up as a future superstar in the NBA. Salem won the state title, and Brunson surprised a few of us by choosing Temple over Kentucky. He played a total of 15 games in the NBA and played in now-defunct leagues such as the IBL and BSN. Know About Her Amusing Dating History. Graham made a spot start for the Spurs on Thursday, finishing with 18 points on 5 of 10 shooting. 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. Dwight Howard's decision to forego college was influenced by KG, who went from high school stardom in Chicago at Farragut Career Academy directly to stardom in the pros. That was near the end of the regular season in 1990. Caitlin was born on January 22, 2002, in Des Moines, Iowa, and is currently 19 years old. David Steele. That's where I saw him, Wearing straight-back cornrows, he was laced in a Tracy McGrady Nike Swingman jersey with a oversized grey tee beneath it, a gleamy gold chain with a matching medallion, shin-length jean shorts (Hey, that was the wave back then), and a pearly white pair of mid-top Air Force 1s. I don't mean potentially better, I mean better today. Bailey was LeBron before LeBron and had over 40,000 people coming to watch his high school games which remains an all-time attendance record. Buta lack of inner motivation proved to be a distraction, and the closest Ryan ever came to the NBA was a tryout he had with the then-New Jersey Nets in 1990. The 10th is Chris Walker who struggled as soon as he finished high school. Sun-Times Player of the Year. Only twice has a player won the award two times: LeBron James and Greg Oden. His last known basketball activity was a tryout with the Warriors D-League team in 2016. 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. The World's Most Entertaining Car Website. Brandon Jennings 5. The first thing that came to mind upon watching him was this: Magic Johnson's head on Michael Jordan's body. Nicknamed 'Benji'. "Like dating, the Internet has taken the mystery out travel basketball. The scant highlight clips available in those prehistoric days for videoshowed a kid who looked like the next evolutionary stage of the game. In the 2010s, seeing high schoolers do things beyond their sizes is almost commonplace. Avon defeats Danville 61-49 on Friday, February 24, 2023. Who is IHSAA boys basketball player of the week? That's like saying a Lamborghini isn't as impressive because it's sharing the road with Volvos and Subarus. The first high school player to be drafted straight out of high school was Tim Duncan of Rock Hill High School in South Carolina. His problems off the court were worse than his problems on it as in 2014 he pleaded guilty to battery for punching his ex-girlfriend. 9 in the next summer's NBA Draft. Nothing made me feel older than to watch his son, Jalen, playing in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eightfor Villanova at the Garden (different building, of course) this past year. Our two best players wound up signing with Florida State and East Tennessee State. Orem players celebrate a 3-pointer in the 5A boys basketball state quarterfinal game against Lehi at the Dee Events Center in Ogden on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. Her zodiac sign is Aquarius, based on the day of her birth. Mayo became the first player in 10 years to be banned by the NBA. He scored 2,124 points in high school and led his team to 50 straight wins. There weren't. Sometimes, it's a maturity issue, other times, players' skills are simply too raw and it's clear they could have used some more time in college or in a developmental league rounding out their game. However, Manigault should be glad he never made it to the NBA, because he became much more famous being a "never made it" as opposed to some obscure player who rode the bench for a couple of meaningless NBA seasons. Blake is a football player for Iowa State and is also an athlete. He played one year in Israel and one year in Japan before being drafted in the second round in 2011 by Charlotte. Of the 10 players who started in the 2013 Jordan Brand Classic, nine of them were either drafted or are currently in the NBA including Joel Embiid, Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker. 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.". 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? As a senior he led the Mustangs to a 25-2 record and a state championship after an undefeated regular season and semi-finals appearance the previous year. I could tell you what happened next, but I'd rather show you. Cooke's story is proof positive there is a very thin line between achieving athletic greatness and being mired in obscurity. Caitlin won the Big Ten Freshman of the Week award 13 times, a conference record. He was then traded to the Mavs but never played a game due to more psychological issues. The nights watching tournament games at the State Fairgrounds in Columbus affectionately known as the 'The Barn' were the best. He says it was due to him smoking marijuana and abusing prescription drugs though many suspect some other drugs were in his system. Tyreke Evans 3. A stint with the 76ers summer-league team would be the next-closest Young would get to the NBA and he would toil in various minor leagues around the world. There are some basketball high school phenoms that simply never take that next step at the pro level, whereas others are even better as pros. Charlie fouled Brunson from behind, pushing him into the brick wall, and he fractured his wrist. The NBA has been home to plenty of elite ball handlers, but in all fairness, point guard Marques Hayenes was on another level. Seconds after throwing down a vicious alley-oop during the 1990West Coast Conference tournament championship game, Gathers unexpectedlycollapsed. Two days after being taken by the Celtics, Biasdied of a cardiac arrest brought on by a cocaine overdose. 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. 1 player in the nation and skipped college altogether, going No. Will Spellman, Center Grove: Spellman had 18 points, six rebounds, four blocked shots and three assists as Center Grove defeated Brownsburg 61-60 in a top-10 matchup. He played for eight different teams and was traded six different times including in the deal that sent Kevin Garnett to Boston.