He ended years ago a career marked by health and personal problems. During that championship year, he started only one game in the regular season and didn’t play a minute in the playoffs. (Still in the NBA today, Chandler has been an All-Star, All-NBA and won Defensive Player of the Year.)Ĭurry got his with the Miami Heat. Chandler won a ring with the Dallas Mavericks, where he was a standout on defense. Unfortunately for Chicago, neither did it with the Bulls. Both went on to win an NBA title a decade into their careers. In 2001, the Chicago Bulls wound up with two high school lottery picks: Tyson Chandler at #2 and Eddy Curry at #4. (Adam Morrison and Michael Olowokandi once struck teams as pieces on which you could build a franchise.) Unless they’re already showing LeBron-level talent and poise, picking a high school kid is a leap of faith. Projecting future NBA stars is an inexact science. If Kwame was a bust, may we all be so busted. Brown’s own pain was minimized by over $63 million in salary during his career. Washington Wizards fans were heartbroken he never grew into a star. (Career points per game: 5.3.)Įven high schooler Kwame Brown-whose selection at #1 overall earned front office Michael Jordan no end of mockery-played in the NBA from 2001 all the way to 2013. LaRue Martin put up big numbers over three seasons playing for the Loyola Ramblers to earn the #1 overall selection in 1972. (His NBA career lasted all of three games.)īut college stars flop every bit as hard. He badly overestimated his appeal, missing the first round of the draft entirely and getting picked at #40 by the Pistons. In general, going from high school straight to the pros has worked out quite well for players. It’s even harder to argue Dwight hasn’t gotten his money’s worth in terms of actual money, with nearly $200 million in salary so far. (In 2009-10, Howard led the NBA in rebounds per game, blocks per game and field goal percentage.) But it’s hard to argue the Orlando Magic, his original franchise, didn’t get their money’s worth-he made five All-NBA 1 st Teams for them and won Defensive Player of the Year three straight times before moving on. He has played for five teams and never won a title. Take Dwight Howard, the #1 overall pick in 2004. Granted, some high school players haven’t fully lived up to the expectations placed on them. McGrady’s already in the Hall of Fame and the other three will soon join him there. And in 2003 along came arguably the greatest of all the high schoolers, King James. In 1995, Kevin Garnett declared himself eligible for the NBA Draft and became the fifth overall selection by the Timberwolves. Then a wave of high school kids hit the NBA and did just fine.
Players instead put in at least some time in college, with stars like Isiah Thomas (Detroit Pistons version, not the Laker model) turning pro after two years and Michael Jordan sticking around for three. Still, it was generally accepted that high school players didn’t have the size or maturity to handle the pros. Moses Malone then took advantage of the opening when he went straight from high school to the pros. Spencer Haywood successfully challenged the entry restriction, winning his case before the Supreme Court in 1971. (The NFL’s dangerous enough for those who are undeniably full-grown.)
With the size and speed of these athletes, this makes a lot of sense. The NFL states “players must have been out of high school for at least three years and must have used up their college eligibility before the start of the next college football season.” As a result, finding a rookie as young as 20 in the NFL is a rarity. (The Bambino’s equally legendary teammate Lou Gehrig enrolled at Columbia.) But in general, it’s recognized an athlete has finite time to compete-and, equally important, to earn-so they should devote themselves to their sport as soon as possible.Īmerican football and basketball are different. Jose Altuve/Bryce Harper, Sidney Crosby/Alexander Ovechkin, Lionel Messi/Cristiano Ronaldo, Gennady Golovkin/Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor/Cris Cyborg all embraced-out of choice or necessity-a life far from any campus. This continues to be the case among the elites in baseball, hockey, soccer and boxing (now combat sports in general). They may be the greatest ever at their respective sports. (Ali certainly thought so.)
What do Babe Ruth, Wayne Gretzky, Diego Maradona and Muhammad Ali have in common?