catch20two wrote:BlackOutBobcat wrote:I saw a few...granted they only have lists up since 2007 but among those were Griffin (18) and Harden (21) in 2007, and it's too early to call any of them superstars but Monroe (20, Thompson (52), and our own Kemba (14) were outside that top 10 ranking in 2008. I suppose it's a fair point though, there are definitely not that many that come from outside the top 10 but my point was that there were several top guys that underperformed as well. I certainly prefer Shabazz to McLemore, but I wouldn't be upset with either.
I said "superstar". Blake Griffin might be the closest to being considered as such but he's no superstar, just a all-star.
Note: Dwyane Wade might be the only exception of my statement over the past decade.
Well, like I said ESPN only has record of the top 100 classes since '07, and I didn't feel the need to try to track down anything prior to that. There are so few "superstars" anyway, let alone those that have cemented themselves since the high school class of '07 (plus it's subjective). I suppose though if Griffin and Harden aren't superstars than the only ones from that class would be Love (number 1), and Rose (5). If any of those 4 were in this draft I'd take them number 1, subjective superstar or not. Your point is that you'd rather have a guy who has been highly touted since high school, and that's fair; but my point is that just because a guy is a high recruit doesn't mean he
WILL be a superstar. We're not exactly saying things that are mutually exclusive if you think about it. But I'm bored so let's look at the numbers.
2007 class:
1. Kevin Love (Superstar, though I know some would argue)
2. Eric Gordon (Great, but injury-proned)
3. O.J. Mayo (Good, coming into his own lately)
4. Kyle Singler (One of these is not like the others...)
5. Derrick Rose (Superstar, but injury-prone)
Pretty solid top 5, Singler is having a decent rookie year too. With the way Mayo has played lately, and if Gordon can finally stay healthy, you have four guys that have the talent to at least be all-stars. So your logic is sound in that regard. Maybe I'm a cynic, but then I look at 6-10 (Nolan Smith, Austin Freeman, Michael Beasley, Patrick Patterson, and Nick Calathes) and shake my head at Jeff Teague sitting there at 67. He's no super-star, but it shows these lists aren't infallible. In fairness though this is a pretty strong class, I'd bump Singler and one of Gordon/Mayo for Griffin (18) and Harden (21) though.
2008 was a pretty meh year it seems (though it's cool I share a graduation year with Kemba and JT
)
1. Brandon Jennings
2. Samardo Samuels
3. Tyreke Evans
4. Jrue Holiday
5. "B.J." Mullens (lulz)
Yuck...let's hope this upcoming year is more like the 2007 class and not 2008 (hell they stopped at 99 players on this one). In hindsight taking a top 5 high school recruit probably wouldn't have been the best plan, but it's not like there was much else to brag about. Kemba (14), Greg Monroe (20), and Klay Thompson (53) all have claims to the top 5. Other than that...meh, and no superstars.
Too early to call any of the more recent guys superstars really, several with Potential (Wall, Cousins, Kyrie, Davis, etc.), but at this point the only "Superstars" to graduate since '07 are Love and Rose.
