The Future - LeBron James

H.S. junior LeBron James (above) is creating a stir in basketball circles
about his ability to go to the NBA before he graduates high school

7/2/01
By Frank Rusnak
With the NBA Draft having just completed, David Stern was not found echoing the words: "And with their first pick in the NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls select high school junior..."

But is the day when that happens too far off in our future? Will players who haven't yet to graduate high school start declaring their names into the NBA Draft with as much frequency as high school graduating seniors now do?

It wasn't to long ago, with Kevin Garnett's declaration to the nation that he was entering the NBA out of Chicago Farragut High School. People's reactions to that were that it was ridiculous and he wouldn't ever make it in a league of men as a teenager.

However, going on to prove everyone wrong, Garnett became a league All-star in his second year and is now a stabling force in the league's move into the 21st Century. The league has grabbed onto Garnett and accepted him with open arms.

But there were always people who felt that Garnett was definitely the exception, rather than the norm. With Garnett not receiving the qualifying grades out of high school, he was a superstar that wouldn't have been able to play division one basketball and be called a "Diaper Dandy, baby!" by Dicky Vitale. Who would blame him for not wanting to take the slums of the junior college route: playing in near obscurity while matching up against opposing centers on a regular basis that were up to his chin.

The following year Kobe Bryant opened up just as many eyes as KG had the prior year. See, Kobe was different from Garnett, because while he had just as much talent as Garnett, he had even more skills in the classroom. A brilliant young man, well versed in several languages and obtaining---with ease---the necessary marks for a D1 scholarship, what reason would he have to declare for the NBA Draft out of Lower Merion High School in PA?

How about for the reason that he loved the game? It's a simple answer, but one that Bryant felt was a good enough reason. With his dad, Joe "Jelly Bean" Bryant having played in the NBA while Kobe was young, he watched and admired his dad and wanted to be in his place one day and didn't want to wait.

After all, if someone opts out of college to go to trade school, are they criticized for their move? How about someone going into the Army, Navy or continuing the family business? You never hear any criticism in the ears of those people. Yet countless articles are written and tens of thousands of words are expelled on how the few who declare for the NBA out of high school are wrong, setting a bad example or just plain stupid.

Then there is the issue of Major League Baseball and the extreme frequency that high schoolers are drafted in their league. It is taken as second nature when a team looking for a good bat or swelteringly hot heater selects a young high school graduate. But what if the MLB started to take players that hadn't even graduated high school? Would they finally be opening up viewer's eyes with their juvenile selections?

With the agents hanging onto his every word and laughing at his every wisecrack---funny or not---at the end of the evening the wannabe agents had to have their lips pried off of James' behind.

-On Akron, Ohio's LeBron James.

Jeremy Bonderman, an 18-year old pitcher from Pasco High School in Eastern Washington was selected with the 26th overall pick by the Oakland A's in the recent MLB Draft.

Bonderman is the unfortunate owner of a learning disability that has set him back with his work in the classroom and he didn't feel it necessary to go through his senior year of high school. So Bonderman dropped out of high school, but he did receive his GED (general education requirement), which was all the MLB was looking for before they made him one of their own.

Headed to the A's minor league system, Bonderman looks to get a signing bonus to the tune of around $1.5 million.

So, while the NBA is "grossly wrong" for having four players out of high school selected in the lottery, the MLB has one-upped hoops in the race for the greenest adolescents.

Is the NBA far behind with their young aspiring hoops stars in high school? Actually, the NBA could just as easily top what the MLB has done. Something to really be proud of, right?

Last summer at the prestigious Nike All-American high school camp there was a rising junior, Florida's Amare Stoudamire, who simply tore through the competition of the camp. After the camp, several news publications said they felt that with the way he dominated rising seniors that were likely headed to the NBA out of high school, he should consider entering himself into the draft. The time has passed and Stoudamire is set on being a high school senior next year.

Passed chance, but the people of Akron, OH are grooming a player that could possibly surpass all of his predecessors.

LeBron James, a 6'7" two-guard, is a cross between a young Scottie Pippen and Kobe Bryant. With a well-sculpted body, agility, ball-handling skills and a silky-smooth jump shot ranging all the way out to the 3-point arc, he is above high school competition. But the thing is, he has not one, but two more years of high school left.

Yes, that's right, James just recently completed his sophomore year of high school and was named a second team All-American in Slam Magazine. That second team spot puts him even with one lottery pick (Tyson Chandler) and a second round pick (Ousmane Cisse) and above another lottery selection who was third team (Sagana Diop).

But James isn't just all hype, he has the proven track record, as well. In his short career he has led his high school team to two state titles at St. Vincent-St. Mary's, where he has lost only a single game while in high school.

At the recent high school tournament at the University of Loyola, Chicago (Adidas Mac Irvin Tournament), where James' team participated in, there was a buzz throughout the tournament about this young thoroughbred.

With Chicago-native and Boston Celtic, Antoine Walker also in attendance checking out the action, he was all over James' jock, with a front row seat to each of his games. Constantly harassing the officials, telling them they should give him better calls because he could play in 'the league' right now, he was infatuated with the game of this teenager.

At this event there was a constant circus surrounding James wherever he went. When he wasn't playing, if he didn't have Antoine Walker telling him he was 'the next coming' in one ear, he had agents trying to get an early start on the young prodigy.

With the agents hanging onto his every word and laughing at his every wisecrack---funny or not---at the end of the evening the wannabe agents had to have their lips pried off of James' behind.

Scrolling on the Internet, every recruiting site on the web can be found expressing their views that James is not only ready to go to the NBA out of high school, but several have gone as far as to say that he could be a lottery pick, 'Right Now!'

With the increase of Internet coverage to high school events and the accessibility of these sites to the high school players, how can James not be aware of all that is happening? James is only human, and all of this hype must be contributing to an enlarged ego and that wood burning, that's James thinking of all the possibilities.

The lure of the money, attention of the agents, girls, jewelry, rides, among other luxuries, or stay in high school for a few more years and do what he has already done the first two years: dominate. With but a single loss and the two state championships, what else is there left for James to prove on the high school level?

Well, if James doesn't pull the trigger and leave after his junior year, surely there will be others that will have the abilities to ponder that decision. And there is bound to be a trailblazer that will say, 'yes'...eventually.