HS Basketball Prodigy What Could Have Beens | Page 3 | The Boneyard

HS Basketball Prodigy What Could Have Beens

Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
2,340
Reaction Score
6,479
Look no forward than Kolbe HS Bridgeports Walter Luckett. SI s national high school player of the year and an authentic nice guy and legend.

Saw him play many times when I was 6th gradish. Horrible shot form. That finally caught up with him as competition level increased. But the knee really ended it.

A much lesser version with the same flying elbow shot was U of Bport's Rick
DiCicco. A Stratford legend.
 
Last edited:

nwhoopfan

hopeless West Coast homer
Joined
Feb 16, 2017
Messages
28,781
Reaction Score
53,000
Robert Swift. :rolleyes: I don't know if straight to NBA guys count but I saw Kwame Brown mentioned earlier. Several of them were busts.

Felipe Lopez has been mentioned several times, his college teammate Zendon Hamilton was also fairly hyped and didn't do much as a pro.

How about Shabazz Muhammad? Really hyped, put up good numbers during his one season at UCLA but they somewhat underachieved. Really unremarkable pro career. What sticks out to me is he's probably the most selfish player I've ever seen. He was all about padding his stats, did not give a rip about helping his team be better. His defining moment in college (IMO) was pouting after his teammate hit a buzzer beating game winner because he didn't get to take the shot. The rest of his teammates were going crazy and celebrating on the floor, he just hung his head and walked back to the bench. It was against Washington I think. I very distinctly remember that moment.
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2011
Messages
4,278
Reaction Score
7,316
Ronnie Fields played with Garnett at Chicago Farragut. He was everything. Grades were a problem so no college like Garnett .Never made it in NBA. Lots of minor league teams.
 

Mazhude

"Bark, Bark!"
Joined
Oct 26, 2012
Messages
774
Reaction Score
3,323
I can't believe Earl Kelley hasn't come up yet. What might have been...
 

Mazhude

"Bark, Bark!"
Joined
Oct 26, 2012
Messages
774
Reaction Score
3,323
Or how about Graham from that Georgetown team, back in the day.
 
Joined
Sep 16, 2011
Messages
48,016
Reaction Score
161,504
Gaucho teammate of mine from back in the day. I remember practicing out at the Las Vegas Invitational and he was talking ish and shooting around the three line and making each shot with his left hand (his strong hand) and then he did the same thing with his off-hand. Incredible.

Despite the horrible rep, he was a great teammate. He was our Steph Curry and all you had to do was play off him for success.

Last thing, Garfinkel referred to him as a rising jr as the greatest ball player living. Prone to hyperbole, Lloyd could have been a great one and if you base his ability off the San Antonio stint, you would be in error, at that point he was a shell of himself athletically.
You were teammates with Lloyd Daniels? That guy is a legend.
 
Joined
Sep 16, 2011
Messages
48,016
Reaction Score
161,504
I screwed up my OP. I really wanted guys who were great in HS, had a wandering path to the league and then never caught on. Maybe they had a great game or two but it was clear they maxed out in HS.
Bobby Moore from New Haven, I think he was the #1 ranked freshman in the country in high school and considered right there with Baron Davis. He was insanely quick and at 5'8 was put together and could explode to the hoop. He still probably had the best in game dunk I've seen in person, it was in a high school all-star game.
 

Mazhude

"Bark, Bark!"
Joined
Oct 26, 2012
Messages
774
Reaction Score
3,323
Earl Kelly played four years of college basketball and was drafted in to the NBA. He was an all league player at UConn.
And did what with it... or was that not the point to the original post? EK was highest scoring HS player in the country in his senior year, and lasted exactly how long in the league?
 
Joined
Sep 18, 2011
Messages
406
Reaction Score
1,620
Based on the OPs qualifications - here's my starting five:

Telfair
Mayo
Lopez
Daniels
Kwame Brown

Only a few kids that get the hype early in their HS careers - today it's Emoni Bates, on FS1 right now.
 
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
35,135
Reaction Score
29,334
Not sure exactly what you're asking but Ben Wilson from Chicago was the #1 recruit in the country and was gunned down his senior year of high school. He's considered a legend in Chicago and ESPN made a great 30 for 30 about him called Benji.

Chicago has had a lot of tragic bball figures, Ronnie Fields played with Garnett in Chicago and people came to watch Fields, he had some terrible automobile accidents which robbed him of the NBA. We all know about Derrick Rose. Those are just a few of the Chicago guys who never had the careers they should have, so many others all over the country.
I was at Great Lakes for Navy boot camp in Feb-May 1970, and in the smoke room a basketball game was on. No sound, but about 80 smokers in a 30x40 room and I was lucky to see the tv. I thought I was watching a high level college game. Found out it was just an Illinois high school tournament game. Having been at UConn in December watching games, I was shocked at the level of expertise in that hs game.
About 3 years later, I saw the real deal... Wilbur Cross beating Trumbull at Yale for CT Class A championship. Cross was rated #1 in the country almost 2 straight years. They were impressive.
 
Joined
Aug 22, 2013
Messages
80
Reaction Score
144
Saw him play many times when I was 6th gradish. Horrible shot form. That finally caught up with him as competition level increased. But the knee really ended it.

A much lesser version with the same flying elbow shot was U of Bport's Rick
DiCicco. A Stratford legend.
Nah ,Im not buying that he shot over 50 % everywhere and DiCicco doesnt belong in the same sentence as national player of the year, played against Rick and Kevin Hickey almost daily no comparison
 

shizzle787

King Shizzle DCCLXXXVII of the Cesspool
Joined
Oct 19, 2015
Messages
11,859
Reaction Score
18,163
O.J. Mayo. Dude was a sensation in high school and had one good year at USC. I don’t think he ever did anything in the league though.
I remember that year. I think there were six huge one and done players then. Eric Gordon was one; I can't remember the others.
 
Joined
Sep 15, 2020
Messages
283
Reaction Score
1,218
You mentioned the Wilbur cross Trumbull game was 1974 The game was actually at the old New Haven Coliseum
Trumbull was an excellent team led by Dave Cox Very physically imposing team
Certainly a championship level team
The Wilbur cross team is considered the
Best hs team ever in ct and won98-65
To say the landscape of high school basketball has changedWould be quite an understatement
The majority of the best high school players move on to basketball Academy’s prep schools etc. and you can turn on your TV and see a high school team With eight or 10 Division I players
Trumbull had at least 3 scholarship level
Players and w cross had 3 very high level
Players and other scholarship players .All players from their town or city..Feel fortunate to have been able to see that game
 
Joined
Mar 4, 2014
Messages
16,561
Reaction Score
19,307
Andrew Bynum
If I were a kid like LeBron I'd go to college for one year, but not a blue-blood. Some program which hasn't won a championship but would have a chance that one year. I always associate NBA players with their college team.
 
Joined
Mar 4, 2014
Messages
16,561
Reaction Score
19,307
Ru-dy!

Rudy Johnson - I always pulled for him at UConn but he never seemed to reach his full potential. I'm not sure what he did after UConn.

Rudy Gay - Granted he had a very good couple of years at UConn but you gotta beat George Mason.

 

Online statistics

Members online
586
Guests online
3,553
Total visitors
4,139

Forum statistics

Threads
155,779
Messages
4,031,380
Members
9,864
Latest member
Sad Tiger


Top Bottom