September 11, 2008 10:20 am | 75 Comments
The SLAM Fresh 50 - 2009
See how the top HS seniors in the nation–including our PUNKS diarist–stack up.
By Aggrey Sam
Maybe you’re not into high school basketball. Maybe you feel like these kids should prove themselves on the college level before you put in the effort to learn their names. That’s all well and good, but when your favorite NBA team is drafting one of them in a couple years, maybe you’ll wish you had took the time to see how their game developed over the years, whether they’re a good fit or if you’re getting a bust. Enjoy.
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This story is filed under: High School, High School Wire, School Daze
- J.R. Smith Isn’t Going to Jail
- Odom and His Knee
- J-Rich Looking to Make All-Star Weekend History
- Darius Miles: Waived
- Are the Raptors Looking to Land Josh Howard?
- Stern to Feel the Wrath of Przybilla’s Grandma
- Dennis Rodman, Little People Make A Film
- So Much for that Marcus Camby Trade
- Corey Maggette Passed His Injury Off to Stephen Jackson
- More of the Wire »
- Bishop Daniels Taking Off
- Conflict And Resolution
- J.R. Smith Isn’t Going to Jail
- Odom and His Knee
- Bobcats Would Not Be ‘Punked’ By Celtics
- J-Rich Looking to Make All-Star Weekend History
- Darius Miles: Waived
- Video: Darius Miles’ Big Block on Randy Foye
- Are the Raptors Looking to Land Josh Howard?
- More of the Wire »
Shout-out to SLAM.COM
For making Stephenson #1 unlike that
Wack #ss rivals , who has him ranked 7th.
(Anything 4 sum extra hits) LOL
I need to see more of Lance.
Sucks that so many dudes have the “they can dominate when they want to…” tag.
USA 4 LIFE: See above comment.
Tom: Didn’t see enough of Royce this summer. He was in my last top 50, but off the little bit I’ve seen of him (like half a game last summer), I didn’t think he was THAT much better than other kids I’ve seen a lot more of. Did too much floating on the perimeter for my taste, although I’ve heard he’s gotten a lot better.
Keegan: See my comment to Gosh.
mike: I didn’t forget him, just haven’t seen him play enough. When I did, he did the outside thing and wasn’t hitting shots.
1) It’s my opinion. If you’ve seen our NBA player rankings–guys who everybody can see on national TV–then why should the ranking of the top high school kids–who a much smaller demographic see–be uniform?
2) I know a lot of those other guys and they’re cool people, but I don’t always agree with them. Thus, I don’t really give f*ck where they rank a kid. I do me.
3) I am from the Northeast (mid-Atlantic is more accurate; I get a lot of flack back home about not showing enough love to DC/MD kids) and until recently, those are the kids I saw the most of. I travel to do stories and see events, but I also work and write about other stuff (besides high school) for the mag. If you wanna fund my trips to AAU tourneys, camps and HS games, be my guest. But you know what? I still won’t see everybody. It’s physically impossible.
4) I won’t address every kid you mentioned, but I’ll fill you in on Aaric and Lamar. Most of those other dudes have only seen Aaric this summer. I’ve been fortunate enough to see him over the last two years. As for Lamar, Rivals had him crazy high (I think 20s or 30s) prior to their last update, but dropped him because they didn’t see him play this summer. You know why? Because he was hurt. Do your research. And like I said about Jennings and Kelly earlier, I didn’t see enough of them.
5) Why aren’t you mad about my overly high rankings of Michael Snaer and Joe Burton? I know Snaer is now up there by most people, but I’ve had him up there since last year, when he wasn’t even a consensus top-five prospect in Cali, let alone the nation. And I know HoopScoop loves Burton, but who else has him in the top 25? Where’s your West Coast bias?
6) Get a life. These are high school kids. I see enough of them to form an opinion, but I don’t see all of them. If you don’t like my rankings, stick with the other guys as your primary sources. Better yet, see them yourself and start a scouting service.
I’ll leave y’all with two quick stories. There was a kid in the class of 2000 from a big city who played on a big-time AAU team with another player who many thought was the best in the country and a whole bunch of other high-major kids. He was about 6-4 and athletic, but raw, skinny, didn’t really have a position and couldn’t shoot. Although a lot of coaches saw him play, he got mostly mid-major looks, but eventually was offered a scholarship by school with a good tradition, which stuck with him even when he didn’t qualify. He was a borderline top-100 kid, if that. His name? Dwyane Wade. His teammate? Darius Miles.
Bad example? Here’s another one, that I personally witnessed happen. There was another kid from the Chi, class of 2006. I saw him play in national summer-league event the summer prior to his senior year. Other teams there included Artesia from Cali, other regional powerhouses and some of the kids who played in it included Raymar Morgan (Michigan State), James Harden (Arizona State) and others with national profiles. The kid absolutely killed the comp, getting almost 40 in two games, but his team was outmanned. Talking with the other media on press row, I was convinced he was a big-time player, potentially a top-25 type. I put him on the same level with the best in Philly that year, kids like Wayne Ellington (UNC), Gerald Henderson (Duke), Jeff Jones (UVA), etc. They said he was a solid mid-major type, but he was too skinny, no position, etc. I talked to him after the game and it turned out that he was getting only mid-major looks. He didn’t play any AAU that summer (although he was on that MTV “Battlegrounds” show), so that didn’t really change and he ended up verbally committing to Toledo. For whatever reason, he changed his mind before the high school season, didn’t sign with them in the fall and went on to lead the state in scoring, take his team to the state chip and attract a slew of high-major offers. He ended up signing with Arkansas in the spring, where he went on to be the 2006-07 SEC Freshman of the Year. His name is Patrick Beverley. Shows you what the so-called experts (and I could be one of them) know.
Sorry for the long story and all the comments. Let’s just not have this discussion again. All the kids who get the hype are talented. Whether or not you’re a fan of their game is a different question. They are at least regional names by high school and expected to do something when they get to college. See how they pan out then. Until that point, it’s just a debate. But with me, there’s never any bias. I’m more interested in the kids you don’t see on this list.
Crazy duke fans lol
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