NBA Players You Saw When They Were In High School

[T.G.]

Got off track on a conversation in the main forum and thought I'd bring the conversation here...

Does anyone here watch high school basketball?  I used to.  Stopped watching basketball all together a while back (but that's another story).

Who have you seen in high school that made it to the NBA?

I have a long list - but the one guy who stood out the most to me is Jason Kidd. I saw him when he was a sophomore in high school and he looked like a man among boys at that age.  His game was awesome.  I lived in San Jose at the time and went to see him in a tournament. 

I also saw Paul PIerce when he was at Inglewood.  He actually played the point.

My all-time favorite high school player was a kid named Sam Crawford out of Westchester.  Point guard who went on to play at New Mexcio State where he lead the NCAA in assists.  He about 5'9" or so, but he had great handles and was a ton of fun to watch. 

 

Who have you seen?

[Angel Oracle]

I saw former 1990s Bulls post player Scott Williams play in HS for Hacienda Heights Wilson HS in the mid 1980s.    Was a top 25 recruit nationally, went to UNC.     His late dad worked at the same Sears that I worked at in L.B. in the late 1970s, while going to LBSU. 

A famous person, but not for HS basketball, was Kevin Costner.   He came off the bench on occasion for Villa Park HS through the 1972-73 season, and was in the same league as my alma mater (Tustin HS) when I went there.    I still have the basketball program from a Tustin/Villa Park game in 1973, might be a good possession for a memorabilia oriented restaurant/bar?   

Edited September 25, 2020 by Angel Oracle

[Angel Oracle]

24 minutes ago, True Grich said:

Got off track on a conversation in the main forum and thought I'd bring the conversation here...

Does anyone here watch high school basketball?  I used to.  Stopped watching basketball all together a while back (but that's another story).

Who have you seen in high school that made it to the NBA?

I have a long list - but the one guy who stood out the most to me is Jason Kidd. I saw him when he was a sophomore in high school and he looked like a man among boys at that age.  His game was awesome.  I lived in San Jose at the time and went to see him in a tournament. 

I also saw Paul PIerce when he was at Inglewood.  He actually played the point.

My all-time favorite high school player was a kid named Sam Crawford out of Westchester.  Point guard who went on to play at New Mexcio State where he lead the NCAA in assists.  He about 5'9" or so, but he had great handles and was a ton of fun to watch. 

 

Who have you seen?

Crawford was fun to watch when NMSU played LBSU during the two seasons he was at NMSU, was also a really good 3 pt shooter.     Led the Aggies to the NCAAT's Sweet 16 in 1992.

A little known fact was that he actually lived out of his car for a time, before getting to NMSU.

Edited November 25, 2019 by Angel Oracle

[Tank]

one of my friends was the principal at inglewood high when paul pierce was a student there. when he came to town to play the lakers, my friend would occasionally get free tickets from him.

[PattyD22]

I saw Clipper play by play announcer Mike Smith play when he was playing at Los Altos HS in Hacienda Heights.  Just down the street from where Angel Oracle was watching Scott Williams at Wilson High.

I also saw Cecil Fielder play at Nogales High.  He was actually a damn good basketball player and could dunk in HS.  Then he started dunking doughnuts, and became a baseball player.

[Jeremiah]

I saw the O’Bannon brothers play when I was in HS as well. They were amazing.

[Lou]

Up until several years ago, I was a HS basketball junkie. I've seen so many great players, but quite possibly the best while in HS was Tracy Murray. That guy was unstoppable. 

I actually went to a game on Friday. 

[happybat4]

I played against Tyson Chandler his senior year, he was a freak. 

[Tank]

i played high school ball with a guy who got a tryout with the atlanta hawks. we were a small, private parochial school and this kid could just dominate us. we were the toughest competition he played against. he didn't get very far with the hawks.

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

On 1/27/2020 at 4:29 AM, happybat4 said:

I played against Tyson Chandler his senior year, he was a freak. 

When I was I was either a freshman or sophomore my HS played in the CIF finals at I want to say the pond.  They weren't playing Domiguez but Dominguez was playing there that day and Chandler who is the same age as me was on the team.  Everyone knew who he was and that he was likely headed to the NBA some day.

[Angel Oracle]

I did also see Mark Grace play for Tustin HS in the 1981 CIF 3A title game against CDM HS.   Of course, he decided to focus on baseball.   He chose wisely. 

[T.G.]

On 1/26/2020 at 8:26 PM, Lou said:

Up until several years ago, I was a HS basketball junkie. I've seen so many great players, but quite possibly the best while in HS was Tracy Murray. That guy was unstoppable. 

I actually went to a game on Friday. 

I was too...

I saw games at places like Manual Arts, Crenshaw, etc. I went wherever the best basketball players were back in the day. I saw Tracy Murray in an all-star high school game at UCI. He was amazing back then.

I was a regular at Long Beach State when they had these traveling all-star high school teams playing there. Saw guys like Isiah Rider, Adonis Jordan, Trevor Wilson, and tons of others.

[T.G.]

On 1/26/2020 at 12:37 PM, Jeremiah said:

I saw the O’Bannon brothers play when I was in HS as well. They were amazing.

I saw them too.  I remember going to a game and their gym was crawling with college coaches...

[Lou]

I played against Manual Arts in the Watts Summer games. 

[Angel Oracle]

On 2/17/2020 at 2:43 PM, True Grich said:

I was too...

I saw games at places like Manual Arts, Crenshaw, etc. I went wherever the best basketball players were back in the day. I saw Tracy Murray in an all-star high school game at UCI. He was amazing back then.

I was a regular at Long Beach State when they had these traveling all-star high school teams playing there. Saw guys like Isiah Rider, Adonis Jordan, Trevor Wilson, and tons of others.

I was at a HS summer league game at the LB Gold Mine in 1993, where incoming HS freshman sensation Schea Cotton was there.   His older brother James would start his freshman year at LBSU that autumn.   Schea committed to LBSU, but eventually went elsewhere.

Also saw Trevor Wilson in the 1984 HS summer league at Mater Dei.

Edited September 25, 2020 by Angel Oracle

[happybat4]

On 1/28/2020 at 3:18 PM, Catwhoshatinthehat said:

When I was I was either a freshman or sophomore my HS played in the CIF finals at I want to say the pond.  They weren't playing Domiguez but Dominguez was playing there that day and Chandler who is the same age as me was on the team.  Everyone knew who he was and that he was likely headed to the NBA some day.

Tayshon Prince played with Chandler at Dominguez too.

[Tank]

On 2/17/2020 at 2:45 PM, Lou said:

I played against Manual Arts in the Watts Summer games. 

My dad graduated from Manuel Arts a very, very long time ago. I think he was in the class of 1944. 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

Darryl Dawkins came to the University of Florida on a (no-chance) recruiting visit while I was there. He attended one of our games.

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

On 11/12/2021 at 8:55 PM, Tank said:

My dad graduated from Manuel Arts a very, very long time ago. I think he was in the class of 1944. 

Tank, how old are you? 70

[Tank]

54 minutes ago, The Ghost of Bob Starr said:

Tank, how old are you? 70

64

how about you?

 

Edited Sunday at 07:25 AM by Tank