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What If They Had Gone To College? High School NBA Draftee Edition
Posted on 3/19/19 at 8:42 pm
Posted on 3/19/19 at 8:42 pm
With the tournament here, I just purchased Slam's Top 100 College Basketball Players magazine, and while some of their rankings are flawed (not the point of this thread), they had an interesting section on what would have happened if the top high school NBA draftees went to college.
LeBron James, Ohio State: An 03-04 Buckeyes team that went 14-16 likely has a much different story with LeBron. The supporting cast wouldn't have been great with guys like J.J. Sullinger and Terence Dials, but LeBron makes them title game bound if a Georgia Tech squad can make it there.
Kobe Bryant, Duke: Like LeBron, Kobe wouldn't be on one of Duke's better squads, but is one filled with veteran-caliber players in Trajan Langdon, Jeff Capel and Roshown McLeod. Miles Simon's run for Arizona may have gone by the wayside if Duke is cutting down the nets instead of Zona.
Kevin Garnett, Michigan: Garnett said the Fab Five's influence would have sent him to Michigan, where he would have formed a scary trio of bigs with Maurice Taylor and a freshman Robert "Tractor" Traylor.
Tracy McGrady, Kentucky: McGrady would add star power to a squad that won the 1997-98 national title with guys like Jeff Sheppard, Nazr Mohammed and Scott Padgett.
Dwight Howard & JR Smith, North Carolina: Sean May, Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton, Marvin Williams, Jawad Williams and those two. That's just not fair.
Amar'e Stoudemire, Memphis: Chris Massie and John Grice were the only two double-digit point scorers for 2002-03 Memphis, but maybe Stoudemire joining could have kept Dajuan Wagner around a year longer.
Moses Malone, Maryland: The starter of the high school to pro basketball movement, Malone would have formed one of the best inside-outside duos with John Lucas, alongside forwards Owen Brown and Steve Sheppard.
LeBron James, Ohio State: An 03-04 Buckeyes team that went 14-16 likely has a much different story with LeBron. The supporting cast wouldn't have been great with guys like J.J. Sullinger and Terence Dials, but LeBron makes them title game bound if a Georgia Tech squad can make it there.
Kobe Bryant, Duke: Like LeBron, Kobe wouldn't be on one of Duke's better squads, but is one filled with veteran-caliber players in Trajan Langdon, Jeff Capel and Roshown McLeod. Miles Simon's run for Arizona may have gone by the wayside if Duke is cutting down the nets instead of Zona.
Kevin Garnett, Michigan: Garnett said the Fab Five's influence would have sent him to Michigan, where he would have formed a scary trio of bigs with Maurice Taylor and a freshman Robert "Tractor" Traylor.
Tracy McGrady, Kentucky: McGrady would add star power to a squad that won the 1997-98 national title with guys like Jeff Sheppard, Nazr Mohammed and Scott Padgett.
Dwight Howard & JR Smith, North Carolina: Sean May, Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton, Marvin Williams, Jawad Williams and those two. That's just not fair.
Amar'e Stoudemire, Memphis: Chris Massie and John Grice were the only two double-digit point scorers for 2002-03 Memphis, but maybe Stoudemire joining could have kept Dajuan Wagner around a year longer.
Moses Malone, Maryland: The starter of the high school to pro basketball movement, Malone would have formed one of the best inside-outside duos with John Lucas, alongside forwards Owen Brown and Steve Sheppard.
This post was edited on 3/19/19 at 8:46 pm
14
Posted on 3/19/19 at 8:48 pm to GeauxAggie972
LSU-tOSU had a couple good games in 04-05/05-06
Posted on 3/19/19 at 8:53 pm to S
quote:
LeBron James, Ohio State: An 03-04 Buckeyes team that went 14-16 likely has a much different story with LeBron. The supporting cast wouldn't have been great with guys like J.J. Sullinger and Terence Dials, but LeBron makes them title game bound if a Georgia Tech squad can make it there.
He would have gone to wherever the best players were going
Posted on 3/19/19 at 9:02 pm to GeauxAggie972
Mississippi St had 4 guys leave as HS draftees
Bender
Outlaw
Ellis
And Center from around Jackson.
Just remembered the C name it was Bradley
Bender
Outlaw
Ellis
And Center from around Jackson.
Just remembered the C name it was Bradley
This post was edited on 3/19/19 at 9:14 pm
Posted on 3/19/19 at 9:04 pm to sms151t
Didn’t LeBron come out and say he would’ve gone to Duke?
Posted on 3/19/19 at 9:08 pm to sms151t
quote:
Didn’t LeBron come out and say he would’ve gone to Duke?
I was just going off an article from 2013 that he said during a pregame speech for an Ohio State football game that he would've gone there
Posted on 3/19/19 at 9:10 pm to GeauxAggie972
I thought he said in an interview before the 16 Olympics the only place he would’ve gone was Duke because of K
I mean LeBron plays to his audience so who knows?
I mean LeBron plays to his audience so who knows?
Posted on 3/19/19 at 9:11 pm to GeauxAggie972
LeBron was going to Duke
Posted on 3/19/19 at 9:12 pm to sms151t
And I think Kobe said the only reason why he would have chosen Duke is because K was pretty much the only coach actually recruiting him those final months. But he apparently liked both dean and roy williams and would have considered either if they continued to recruit him and if he chose to go to college
Posted on 3/19/19 at 9:12 pm to GeauxAggie972
A lot of these guys have said they would have ended up at multiple places. Garnett really wanted to go to Georgia Tech with Stephon Marbury. I believe Howard also considered Georgia Tech as his leader.
Kobe has said Duke and UNC but also LaSalle where his dad was an assistant.
LeBron has also said Akron in the past although I think he would have gone to Ohio state.
Kobe has said Duke and UNC but also LaSalle where his dad was an assistant.
LeBron has also said Akron in the past although I think he would have gone to Ohio state.
Posted on 3/19/19 at 9:14 pm to sms151t
quote:
I mean LeBron plays to his audience so who knows?
I was thinking that as well, but I think the hometown thing might be too much to overcome.
But that Duke team was a Final Four squad with Redick, Deng, Shelden Williams and Chris Duhon. If I'm playing one year in college, that's where I would be heading
quote:
Garnett really wanted to go to Georgia Tech with Stephon Marbury.
The magazine also said Garnett had considered Maryland to pick up where Joe Smith left off, but Garnett had recently said on his Area 21 show he would've been Michigan bound.
It's still fun "What if?" scenarios to look at
This post was edited on 3/19/19 at 9:16 pm
Posted on 3/19/19 at 9:15 pm to Keys Open Doors
It was Telfair who signed with Louisville then backed out right?
Posted on 3/19/19 at 9:17 pm to sms151t
quote:
I mean LeBron plays to his audience so who knows
It's more like LeBron was certain to jump to the NBA from the start of his junior year on.
He can say he'd have gone to any college bc the only place he was actually going was the NBA. Kobe was the same, he just went that way as a senior before he decided, where it was obvious about LeBron for longer.
Posted on 3/19/19 at 9:20 pm to sms151t
quote:
It was Telfair who signed with Louisville then backed out right?
Yep. I think a shooting or something around his family's apartments caused him to reconsider and help them get out of there
Telfair with Francisco Garcia, Taquan Dean and Larry O'Bannon would have been solid
This post was edited on 3/19/19 at 9:21 pm
Posted on 3/19/19 at 9:23 pm to GeauxAggie972
The ones I remember
Martell Webster: Washington
Robert Swift: USC
Al Jefferson: Arkansas, I think
CJ Miles: Texas
Shaun Livingston: Duke
Ndudi Ebi: leaning to Arizona
Shawn Kemp tried to play at Kentucky
I think Jackie Butler was the guy who was a Mississippi State commit
Eta: I don’t think most of those guys, aside from Livingston and obviously Kemp, would have been huge difference makers.
Martell Webster: Washington
Robert Swift: USC
Al Jefferson: Arkansas, I think
CJ Miles: Texas
Shaun Livingston: Duke
Ndudi Ebi: leaning to Arizona
Shawn Kemp tried to play at Kentucky
I think Jackie Butler was the guy who was a Mississippi State commit
Eta: I don’t think most of those guys, aside from Livingston and obviously Kemp, would have been huge difference makers.
This post was edited on 3/19/19 at 9:25 pm
Posted on 3/19/19 at 9:40 pm to Keys Open Doors
Rashard Lewis--FSU and maybe Kansas. He's underrated.
Monta Ellis-- Miss State. He would have killed it in college.
Edit: Josh Smith committed to Indiana. Would have put up stats, missed a lot of 3's and missed the tourney.
Monta Ellis-- Miss State. He would have killed it in college.
Edit: Josh Smith committed to Indiana. Would have put up stats, missed a lot of 3's and missed the tourney.
This post was edited on 3/19/19 at 9:43 pm
Posted on 3/19/19 at 9:42 pm to Rep520
Ellis would have put up like 25 points a game on 42 percent shooting
Al Harrington liked Seton Hall and St. John’s, I believe. Didn’t know about Lewis. He took some time to adjust but his prime was great. He was ahead of his time.
DeShawn Stevenson was a Kansas commit.
Al Harrington liked Seton Hall and St. John’s, I believe. Didn’t know about Lewis. He took some time to adjust but his prime was great. He was ahead of his time.
DeShawn Stevenson was a Kansas commit.
Posted on 3/19/19 at 9:46 pm to Keys Open Doors
quote:
Ellis would have put up like 25 points a game on 42 percent shooting
He was always basically a poor man's Iverson.
Jermaine O'Neal would be a solid choice, but his SAT's were basically too bad to have a shot at college.
Posted on 3/19/19 at 9:47 pm to Keys Open Doors
Jonathan Bender is another that would’ve gone to Miss St. GOAT NBA potential based on practice reports.
This post was edited on 3/19/19 at 9:48 pm
Posted on 3/19/19 at 9:58 pm to GeauxAggie972
Derrick Rose at Memphis.
That 2008 team is probably the number one overall seed.
That 2008 team is probably the number one overall seed.
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