It's still debatable. During a summer camp Cooke, the then No. It didn't disappoint. They were the best onthe court, and it wasn't close. Below is our take on the 30 greatest basketball players to never play in the NBA. 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. It was impossible to watch anybody else on the court. McCain grew up in Sacramento and spent a majority of his life in the . The top three-ranked players in the Class of 1998 all jumped straight from high school to the NBA. They will all be in the Hall of Fame one day and are considered some of the greatest players in NBA history. The No. Almost literally, because he resembled no player more than he did Shaquille O'Neal. I mashed up some of what I captured for an Instagram video. 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.". In 2017 and 2019, she won two gold medals in the FIBA Americas Tournament and the FIBA World Cup Tournament with Team USA. 1 overall pick to be sent down to the D-League. His last known basketball activity was a tryout with the Warriors D-League team in 2016. 4. Cell phones throughout that crowd were set in video mode and trained on Williamson before he even finished his stretches. The WCAC was the best high school league in the country, as at least 3 teams were nationally ranked. Caitlin has played basketball since she was very little. 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. The two brothers she has are Blake and Colin. The most vivid thing I remember was how fast Jamison would get his shot off after catching a pass. No, that isn't comedian Carrot Top, that's NBA flame-out Robert Swift, a great high school player that managed to get Garces High School (Bakersfield, CA) ranked in the USA Today top 25 teams during the 2002-03 season. . We were playing Salem at our small gym with a brick wall that was about 10 feet off the baseline. David Steele. Everyone remembers the Fab Five of Michigan but did you know there was a Fab Five II? She is getting popular day by day. Like Antoine Walker and Juwan Howard before him, Smith was thought to be the next All-Star big man to come from Chicago. Her zodiac sign is Aquarius, based on the day of her birth. Needless to say they did it without Butler, who never did learn much about that work ethic. He ran the floor like a defensive back doing the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. Williams was a star with two different high schools in Mississippi and Texas and was ranked in the top 20 prospects of 2009. Sergio Llull Unlike the other players in this list, Sergio Llull still has a chance to make. As a sophomore in 201718, Caitlin averaged 27.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.3 steals, leading her squad to a 204 record and the state quarterfinals. Last week, we unveiled our top high school basketball team in each state and today we are digging . He probably scored 30-plus points, and I'm not sure I ever saw him put the ball on the floor. --and five NBA titles later, the rest is history. Unfortunately, once Wagner reached the NBA his body started to fail him as he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and ended up having to remove half his colon. Tippit, the quarterback of the football team, played on basketball and football teams that are a combined 33-3. But imagine an alternate reality where injuries had kept one of these gifted, highly scouted prospects from ever becoming an NBA player. Her 799 points set a freshman record, while her 39 points in one game broke a previous school mark. Howard practically fulfilled the selection by taking the 2008-09 Magic all the way to the NBA Finals. Get your votes in by noon Friday for our high school boys basketball player of the week for Feb. 20-25: Cast your vote in the poll at the bottom of the article or click here to vote.. Trey . Texas (575 Athletes) California (399 Athletes) Florida (389 Athletes) Illinois (308 Athletes) New York (299 Athletes) Georgia (294 Athletes) Oh, what could have been. Said former Lynwood coach Bill Lee:Ive seen Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, and Michael Jordan and Ive never seen anyone better with the basketball. Either way, they never really "made it" as a pro. All that you've heard about his ability is true, except that it may be incomplete. He now plays for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the G-League and averaged 5.9 PPG in 2016-17. Jared McCain is a prominent face in high school basketball. Whether or not he actually finished high school is up for debate as he didnt qualify academically at the University of Florida. Wagner was the No. Dating back to the 1960s, and with a decade-long heyday beginning in 1995, some of the NBA's greatest talents made the leap right to the pros. 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. Swift was going to hoop for USC, which probably would have been been the smarter decision. I remember listening to Weaver's first high school game against Lancaster on the radio. 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. Best High School Boys Basketball Player in Every State 2022: West By Tony Adame on October 24, 2022 Twitter Stadium Talk's annual preseason list of the best high school boys basketball player in all 50 states is upon us, and we're trying something new and exciting this year by dividing the stories up into regions. Unfortunately, Gathers also had an abnormal heartbeat and it proved to be something even he couldnt overcome. I remember he dunked the ball so hard on a fast-break, the portable goal just collapsed to the ground. In this blog post, we are going to talk about the Best High School Basketball Player That Never Made It. After one year at USC Mayo joined the NBA where he wasnt the star that many expected but was still a serviceable role player. Charlie fouled Brunson from behind, pushing him into the brick wall, and he fractured his wrist. And, man, he was mean out there, almost menacing, grimacing and snarling as he imposed his will on you. He went for 24 points, six rebounds and three steals in a 69-39 win over Wood Memorial. Smith is the only prep-to-pro to ever be drafted by the Spurs as he was taken in the first round of the 1999 draft. 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. Caitlin Clark is a college basketball player who has been involved in the sport throughout her entire life. played in two separate stints for the Harlem Globetrotters, arguably the greatest California streetball legends of all time, drug kingpin and superstar basketball player, fair share of ESPNs 30 for 30 documentaries. Wagners hype reached epic proportions when he was billed as a bigger, stronger Allen Iverson right after the former Sixer won the 2001 MVP award. Top Basketball States. 1 prospect, was outplayed by an unknown player named LeBron James who would then supplant Cooke as the top player in the country. Those in the Columbus area who remember watching Weaver play in the '90s will tell you 100 variations of thissame legend. 4 in MaxPreps Top 25 rankings. 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. In fact, Oden was ranked as USA Today's top high school player since the 1982-83 season, which means he was ranked higher than the likes of Kevin Garnett and LeBron James. There was actually an HBO movie made about Manigault starring Don Cheadle entitledRebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault. Behind Bates, Ypsi Prep Academy begins the season ranked No. He was a two-time All-Star in the Israeli League and at the age of 26 he could still get one more opportunity in the NBA. In three seasons at Loyola Marymount, 6-foot-7 forward Hank Gathers averaged 28 points and 11.1 rebounds per game and was one of the most dominant forces in college basketball. Dominique Murphy, East Chicago Central: The 6-5 sophomore scored 34 points on 13-for-19 shooting with six rebounds and two steals in a 76-58 win over Andrean. Along with teammate Chris Monroe, Roger led Good Counsel to the WCAC tournament finals. McDonald's All-American. Fat chance. 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. On Caitlins current financial situation, nothing is known. Fans would always wonder, what if? In the history of the NBA draft, 45 players have been taken directly out of high school. That also is where the aforementioned indelible moment happened. Vinnie Iyer, "Before she starred at North Carolinaand was later drafted No. Here's a Butler that no NBA team wanted serving them. It is currently unknown who her companion is. Malone didn't need college; his last two years in high school, his team didn't lose a single game, taking back-to-back state titles in Virginia. The 'Punks'section of Slam Magazine and maybe ESPN's 'SSA'were the primary ways we caught wind of big-time hoopers elsewhere. 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. 1 overall pick and an NBA champion) At Benjamin Franklin High in New York City, shooting guard Manigault set a record by scoring 57 points in one game in the late 1950s. First with the Timberwolves, where he never quite had the supporting cast to go all the way, and then with the Celtics, where he teamed with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to bring the C's their 17th championship. She also won awards including Iowa Miss Basketball, Gatorade State Player of the Year, and the McDonalds All-American title. The San Antonio Spurs drafted him first overall in 1997. Jalen was good, but it was not quite as good as his dad playing with a bum wrist against Feehan, and posting 42 points." 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." Caitlin began playing basketball when she was a freshman in high school and quickly established herself as one of the top players at her school.