I liked the top 10 foreign players thread. How about HS players? 1. Moses Malone 2. Kobe Bryant 3. Kevin Garnett 4. Tracy McGrady 5. Lebron James (although he'll trump them all in the end) 6. Amare Stoudemire 7. Dwight Howard 8. Jermaine O'Neal 9. Shawn Kemp 10. Darryl Dawkins
Technically, Shawn Kemp didn't come straight out of high school. He went to Kentucky, but was kicked off the team before the season started. Then, he went to Trinity Valley CC, but never played. Even though he never played a college game, he did attend college.
NBA star ready after HS: Magic Johnson Carmelo Anthony Why is King James so low btw? He did quite well in his first NBA season.
Magic played 2 yrs of college ball. Carmelo played one. I put Lebron that low because he's only had 3 yrs in the league.
i agree except for i'd move kemp just ahead of t-mac. t-mac has been great for a long time but he hasn't gotten out of the first round yet, and kemp and the supersonics were powerhouses in the mid-nineties. i'd also move jermaine over both howard and stoudamire atleast at this point. i'm not picking on you but it's hilarious that everytime i see a ranking and lebron isn't number one the person making the list has to put some qualifier on that explaining why he did the king this injustice. it's hard to win a ring and if lebron doesn't, which is very possible, he won't be better then moses or kobe. and t-mac after he gets 2 or 3 with yao.
I thought that he played only one. My bad. What is exactly the point of this thread anyway? Most of the NBA's best players could have gone straight from HS to the NBA and had about the same NBA career they had or are having. Another question might be who at 18/19 were NBA stars? Kobe was not, but he certainly will go into the Basketball Hall of Fame as one of the greatest. Looking at the list, who besides King James was an all star their first year out?
Tmac lead the league in scoring TWICE and has been a MVP candidate. He is #1 option. Has played with nothing but scrubs. Shawn Kemp is just a highlight real who was lucky to play on a good team that included perhaps the greatest 2-way point guard of all-time. He only avg 20pts for a season ONCE. TMAC > drizzle man
from his wikipedia entry: Lebron James finished his rookie season with 20.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game, joining Oscar Robertson and Michael Jordan as the only three players to average at least 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists per game in a rookie season. NBA highlights * NBA All-Star Game MVP: 2006 * 2-time NBA All-Star: 2005, 2006 * 2-time All-NBA: o First Team: 2006 o Second Team: 2005 * NBA All-Rookie First Team: 2004 * NBA Rookie of the Year: 2004 James played his first all-star game in his second season. James also made his first All-NBA team in his second year. FWIW Magic average 18.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 9.4 assists per game, in his first season. And what is that on his finger? A championship ring? Magic, NBA Finals MVP, did not make the All NBA team in his first year.
Shawn Kemp was only productive for a couple of years, and then fell hard and never got up. I think he deserves to be on the list, but not high, and certainly not higher than McGrady.
i don't know what those numbers are, but it was something like 18/7.7/7.3 or closer to those numbers. i'll look it up later. edit: okay it was exactly those numbers and your numbers were his playoff averages.
shawn kemp was far more then just a highlight reel. he was a HUGE reason why seattle was so good, not just the right guy in the right place. i don't have a problem if you rank mcgrady ahead of him because i think t-mac when all is said and done will be a hall of famer, but kemp deserves some props.
Top players by PER over seasons played under the age of 20 (age as of February 1st of the given season): Code: [COLOR=Navy] player MP PER[/COLOR] 1 Tracy McGrady 2285 18.91 2 LeBron James 3122 18.32 3 Carmelo Anthony 2995 17.56 4 Dwight Howard 2670 17.22 5 Kobe Bryant 3159 17.10 6 Cliff Robinson 1661 16.96 7 Stephon Marbury 2324 16.13 8 Kevin Garnett 2293 15.84 9 Josh Smith 2050 15.41 10 Chris Bosh 2510 15.15
Kobe has championships, killer instincts, and is physically tougher and has more endurance than any highschool player ever. Kobe never gets props on this board so I thought I would throw this out there. I believe Tmac will have his time and it will be in the next couple of years here.He will wake-up and piss excellence.
Wilt was drafted straight out of high school but forbidden to play in the NBA. If that counts, I put him #1.
