Seeing all these young guns reminds me of a SI article I saw way back in Middle School in '86 that listed the best player by each grade. Here's all I could find from the article but I vividly remember the pictures of almost all of these guys.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm12th Grade
Marcus Liberty, 6'8", Chicago. Consensus choice after summer camp play. "What can't he do?" says scout Tom Konchalski. Could be Chicago's best ever.
11th Grade
Alonzo Mourning, 6'10", Chesapeake, Va. "Best big man since Kareem," says Five-Star's Howard Garfinkel, who has seen them all.
10th Grade
Kenny Anderson, 6', Queens, N.Y. Averaged 16 points, 8 rebounds as frosh. As point man, compares favorably with Nate Archibald and Pearl Washington.
9th Grade
Damon Bailey, 6'2", Heltonville, Ind. Three-time national AAU MVP, losing only one AAU game in four years. Averaged 30 points per game in 8th grade.
8th Grade
Barnabas James, 6'4", Los Angeles. Had 31 ppg, 18 rpg last season. Great agility and quickness for a big man. Draws comparisons with a young John Williams.
7th Grade
Brian Crow, 5'10", Orem, Utah. Great prospect if he sticks with hoops. Set national age-group record in pentathlon; could be an Olympic decathlete.
6th Grade
Michael Irvin, 5'2", Chicago. He averaged 18 points, 10 assists, 6 steals per game in 5th grade. Very advanced ball handler, great moves, great smile.
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Mourning and Anderson are the only ones that stuck in the league, while Liberty and Bailey had very short stints.
I wish nothing but the best for these youngin's in this thread but man, the path to the L is a hard one.
There's been a lot of "can't miss" prospects from an early age that certainly didn't make it.