For those of you who've seen NBA players play in HS, how good are they?

[#1 pick]

It depends on when they peak.

I coached a future NFL player when he was 14. (Well, he was on the team, but he played offense and I was defensive coordinator). He was a great athlete but none of us, literally none of us, had a clue that he was NFL bound. It wasn't until maybe his sophomore year that he really started making waves, eventually became a 4-star recruit. He was a VERY hard worker with a good head on his shoulders, and he eventually made it. But it was one of those "redshirt and then play four years of college, get drafted late round, then pay your dues in practice squads and you might make it" kind of situations, not like some of the automatic stars ya'all talking about.

Football, these happen far more often than not. Usually things like growth spurts or late bloomer happens. The same happen to Megatron

 

[#1 pick]

He was 5'10 in 10th grade that's why he was cut.

He was still really good. He used to draw a crowd to JV games. He was more like Fultz playing JV than me.

 

[#1 pick]

There was a gap between regular hoopers and D1/D2 talent. There was usually some length/height/size gap from D2 to D1. The skills gap from D1 to D2 wasn't big but the skills gap from high D1 to lower D1 was huge. The biggest gap is NBA prospect from high D1. Of course, if you have NBA prospect talent in HS, it will look damn near insane which is it.

 

[#1 pick]

rob sacre was pretty stiff in high school, did not think he would make the league. he could dunk if wide open, but throwing it to him in the post, at times he would struggle scoring on 6'4 dudes

olynyk was a slow 6'3 guard in grade 10, and then grew 9 inches in two years. he was DEF not league bound before it, and i didn't think he was even with the growth spurt because he still didnt have the athleticism, but that redshirt year at gonzaga really helped him.

I always said, the best high school players were usually around 6' to 6'6 but once those 6'8 and taller get to college, they start to improve faster than the 6'6 and under players. You can't teach height. I seen so many scrubs get college scholarships only to become good college players by their senior yr.

 

[spencerforhire]

This thread reminded me of that Brian Scalabrine Challenge. He took a bunch prospects 1 on 1 and still beat they ass! And this a washed up bench player we talking about.

 

[Art Barr]

yea I saw JR Smith at the mcdonalds game and dude was so effortlessly gifted.

Kenny smith always says that JR would've been an elite player or whatever if he would've went to UNC for at least a year. I totally agree.

and I'm still mad that they ripped him off at that dunk contest and gave the trophy to Candace parker and her glorified layups. JR is one of the best contest dunkers to make the league in this century.

Byron Scott hated on Jr and made him into the contract corporate player we see today.
Originally, before Scott Jr was next.

fukk Byron Scott for that.


Art Barr

 

[#1 pick]

Byron Scott hated on Jr and made him into the contract corporate player we see today.
Originally, before Scott Jr was next.

fukk Byron Scott for that.


Art Barr

J.R. sucked back then as a pro. I didn't see it. His handles were weak, his BBIQ was poor and his discipline on the court was horrendous. He should have been a 3 year college player.

 

[Art Barr]

J.R. sucked back then as a pro. I didn't see it. His handles were weak, his BBIQ was poor and his discipline on the court was horrendous. He should have been a 3 year college player.

Scott should have actually coached the kid instead of being a disciplinarian.
Also, we see under Scott what type of leadership and social situations and environment go awry.
As he let the hazing go on for so long in la, get so out of control. That d loading and nick young are involved in the bullshyt that spun out of control socially.
So, I can only think of what occurred when jr was under his tutelage.


Art Barr

 

[Po pimp]

Did D Will do the when you played against him?

Hahaha. Naw, I actually played with him only once (never seen him at our rec center except for that day). I had a class with him, so he knew me, plus since I had next, I picked up him, Jerrance Howard (who was a bench warmer on the team and later became an assistant coach) and two randoms. We ran the court until they left (like 6-7 games). Mind you, this was his freshman year, so no one thought of him as a possible 3rd overall pick at the time.

Luther and Dee would hoop there more often, so I've played with and against them for a couple of years.

 

[Stuntone]

I was wandering what happened to this guy. His dunks were insane. I thought Stromile Swift, Yao Ming, and Mcgrady was gonna go places.

He kind of reminded me of a poor mans Shawn Kemp.

He played like 12 years in the league and then went overseas for a few. He's around Shreveport now, i'm sure with that NBA pension he probably doesn't have to work ever again down here.

 

[Bledswole]

Clear difference. Like not even close.

Not true

 

[Wacky D]

I'm from Philly and vividly remember this time period. I graduated in High school in 04. I went to E&S. My pops was refereeing all the games......Public league, catholic league, AAU. He was the ref that got stole on while reffing back in the day by a player SMH.

Part of the reason I'm such a big fan of Lowry now is because I've seen his growth from being at Northeast taking his team to the public league chip and losing to Maureece Rice & Strawberry Mansion and then transferring to Cardinal Dougherty and crushing the Catholic league to killing it at Villanova. I remember going to a catholic league all star game and he was tearing shyt up. There's no way I expected him to be as good as he's been with the Raptors the last 4 seasons tho. He's legit been a top 5 point guard and that's absolutely shocking.

Maureece Rice did have the City on SMASH! You could kinda see Maureece was in trouble as far as going pro tho. Maureece Rice was a shooting guard in a point guard's body and didn't have the ball handling ability. Lowry was actually ranked higher than Maureece coming out of high school despite Maureece having the bigger buzz by breaking Wilt's scoring record, having games where he'd drop 63 against Bodine, being on the cover of the Daily News and getting mentioned in Chris and Neef freestyles ("youngins in the game, kill em like Reece Rice"). I actually remember him playing my high school in our gym and I think he might have been high during the game but he still put up a smooth 25 on my school.

For lack of a better word or phrase, he just seemed like a nikka that couldn't get out of his own way SMH. He didn't have the work ethic and smarts that Lowry had and that's why he is where he is and why Lowry is where he is. As much as everyone from Jay Wright to numerous NBA teams and coaches have complained about Lowry's attitude, everyone knows how bright he is and how hard dude works. He was finally able to put it together in Toronto with a little luck (given Dolan vetoing the trade to NY) otherwise he would have been a journey man too based on his attitude problems.



I remember I used to read this site tedsilary.com damn near every day in high school....This guy covers high school sports. This guy covered the top players he's seen in Philly basketball (public league & Catholic league) over 35 seasons.........He lists the top 5 then has the other names by school so names like Wayne Ellington (his sister went to Upenn around the same time I attended), Kyle Lowry, Lyn Greer (went to my high school) aren't even in the top 5.

http://www.tedsilary.com/BB35yearteam.htm

youre about 4-5 years younger than I thought.

lol. LeBron is giving reece rice big props in that interview. I think I have the reese rice interview after that game on VHS. I remember they asked him about LeBron and he just said "hes alright". and dead-ass, I think I saw Rice at CCP the next school-year. I figured it wasn't him, but I wouldn't be surprised.

I wouldn't say that northeast was lowry's team tho breh. he was the most talented on that squad, but chit, their JV squad was more talented too. that varsity team was just big as chit. that power forward they had, was getting the most hype that year - altho I knew he wasn't gonna be nothing. their center ended up starting for Drexel tho. they had a lot of height & strength. they had tall football players on their team too, that weren't particularly good but served their purpose. they looked ugly compared to mansion. it was dope that northeast had a female coach tho.

yea, lowry was a crybaby/whiner. dudes like him are harmless tho.

yea. the '80s was a golden era. lionel simmons, pooh Richardson, doug overton, hank gathers, bo kimble, etc etc etc. I think wilt chamberlain's era might've been the best tho. Comcast sportsnet has some good ass documentaries on this stuff.
I'm gonna check that website out.

Byron Scott hated on Jr and made him into the contract corporate player we see today.
Originally, before Scott Jr was next.

fukk Byron Scott for that.


Art Barr

yea I hear Byron scott is the worst with rookies.

I knew JR Smith was gonna be a handful tho, just by seeing him at the mcdonalds game. he turned out to be a lovable wildcard nick young-type character, but back then, he looked like a real a$$hole on top of being a wildcard.

 

[Bledswole]

Ok I've seen plenty now some are making it seem like they all are head and shoulders above the rest of the pack which is just not true,maybe with the Lebrons and Derrick Roses those guys stand out totally but most of these guys separate themselves once they get to college I saw plenty of HS players who were good and did things that made them be a top rated recruit in the state/nationally but nothing that made me say oh he's going to the league,that happened after they got to college. I forgot this thecoli where alot of lies are told for days tho.

 

[Wacky D]

Yeah you see Rasheed Wallace tapes from Gratz and it's just fukking unfair.

Wagner was on some shyt too. I'm still sad he got sick and was out of the league after a few years. Glad he got paid tho.

I ran into Jameer at the Farmers Market in Ardmore last year. He is little as shyt by NBA standards. I'm only 5'6 but he really isn't much taller than me.....Just a stocky/husky little nikka.

What ever happened to Mustafa Shakur? I remember he had crazy hype in the early 2000s in Philly. Qdeezy used to have him on the come up show, He was always hyped on tedsilary.com.....I remember he went to Arizona then I never heard from him again? Dude was like the number 1 point guard in the country....WTF?

you know if reese rice went to community college? I thought I saw dude in there right after high school, but I figured it wasn't him.

Rasheed would be ranked with KG & dirk if he wasn't so laid back.

wagner still saddens me to this day.

I think the name of that other chester point guard is burton or something.

I'm pretty sure Mustafa shakur was a starter in Arizona. I think he even had a cup of coffee in the league. I don't know man. a lot of these dudes should be staying in the city.


.

J.R. sucked back then as a pro. I didn't see it. His handles were weak, his BBIQ was poor and his discipline on the court was horrendous. He should have been a 3 year college player.

cmon breh.

3-years?

 

[CJ]

This thread reminded me of that Brian Scalabrine Challenge. He took a bunch prospects 1 on 1 and still beat they ass! And this a washed up bench player we talking about.

I had to look this up as I never seen this. Man I thought the Syracuse guy would give him the most work, nope