Would T-mac be rated higher than Wiggins out of Highschool?

[toodles23]

I see Wiggins best case scenario as being the next Dominique Wilkins. Which is very good, but it's definitely not the next Kobe/T-Mac.

Don't be daft. Wiggins could be better than Jordan. Wiggins could be Odom. Wiggins could die. We have no idea. What you "see" should not be used in the same context as "definitely." Grip, you should grab.

Okay, so what's the point of even talking about Wiggins then, if we're not allowed to project anything? C'mon man.

Also, I never said Wiggins is definitely not Kobe/T-Mac, I said Dominique is definitely not Kobe/T-Mac. I wouldn't use a word that strong about an 18 year old prospect.

[kooldude]

Wiggins shot 60% from FT? Damn....

[Michael Lucky]

T-Mac was picked 9th and Kobe was 13th. Wiggins is (so far) the clear number 1 in a strong draft year, so no.

to be fair this was back when organizations weren't comfortable drafting HS players with the first five picks.

[inquisitive]

wiggins doesn't have a jumper at this point, so growing pains for the first few years in the league. he probably needs to bulk up a bit to go inside against nbaers. also, an interesting story about his father who wanted to play for dean smith back then. apparently, dean smith didn't think he was good enough....gotta wonder if dean had pursued mitchell, maybe today andrew would be a tarheel and not a jayhawk.

http://blogs.newsobserver.com/uncnow/mi ... dean-smith

[Apollo64]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3kO1FvnJeI[/youtube]

[wetsthebed]

T-Mac was picked 9th and Kobe was 13th. Wiggins is (so far) the clear number 1 in a strong draft year, so no.

to be fair this was back when organizations weren't comfortable drafting HS players with the first five picks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Garnett

[Doctor MJ]

T-Mac was picked 9th and Kobe was 13th. Wiggins is (so far) the clear number 1 in a strong draft year, so no.

Wow bad analysis,

a) They were declaring right after high school, not taking the hype into college and developing 1 more year

b) teams were very skeptical about HS players back then

c) Wiggins is also that hyped, because there is much more exposure of those young guys and footage for everyone as opposed to 15 years ago.


McGrady and Bryant were not that raw at that age, way more developed and I would say also more talented.

His pithy statement is oversimplistic sure, but:

a) College hype? C'mon, Wiggins would have gone #1 out of high school.

b) Skeptical back then? This is the big valid argument to make in general, but there's a limit. Wiggins is being touted as a once in a generation level prospect (whether that's actually reasonable or not). TMac was drafted 9th in a draft considered incredibly shallow. It's just not comparable.

c) More exposure now? Sure, but Garnett got drafted 5th two years before McGrady was elgigible. It was most certainly possible to get drafted higher back then.

If you want to make the case that scouting is so much more sophisticated now that people would have seen McGrady in a different way that's one thing, but no matter what you try to "adjust" for in era differences, Wiggins is a higher rated prospect than TMac was, and that's really all wets was trying to say.

[Hamilton]

Wiggins is gonna go #1 next year

[Hamilton]

Also would greg oden be more hyped than wiggins?

[RebelWithACause]

T-Mac was picked 9th and Kobe was 13th. Wiggins is (so far) the clear number 1 in a strong draft year, so no.

Wow bad analysis,

a) They were declaring right after high school, not taking the hype into college and developing 1 more year

b) teams were very skeptical about HS players back then

c) Wiggins is also that hyped, because there is much more exposure of those young guys and footage for everyone as opposed to 15 years ago.


McGrady and Bryant were not that raw at that age, way more developed and I would say also more talented.

His pithy statement is oversimplistic sure, but:

a) College hype? C'mon, Wiggins would have gone #1 out of high school.

b) Skeptical back then? This is the big valid argument to make in general, but there's a limit. Wiggins is being touted as a once in a generation level prospect (whether that's actually reasonable or not). TMac was drafted 9th in a draft considered incredibly shallow. It's just not comparable.

c) More exposure now? Sure, but Garnett got drafted 5th two years before McGrady was elgigible. It was most certainly possible to get drafted higher back then.

If you want to make the case that scouting is so much more sophisticated now that people would have seen McGrady in a different way that's one thing, but no matter what you try to "adjust" for in era differences, Wiggins is a higher rated prospect than TMac was, and that's really all wets was trying to say.

Well then he should have phrased it different

I don't think Wiggins is a better prospect than Kobe or Mac at the same point.

However he gets more way more hype, this is true.
Part of it has to do with more exposure.
Part of it has to do with insane athleticism (hops especially) , people always are in awe with those guys
Part of it has to do that the league really is desperate for new wing superstars.

We can only guess how T-Mac and Kobe would be seen as prospects today, so we really don't know and can only guess.

Just a little reminder, Josh Selby would have probably been a lottery prospect if he would have been allowed to enter the draft after high school.
Just to show that hype does not equal quality of a prospect..

Wiggins is a very very exciting prospect for sure, but he has a lot more flaws than Mac or Bryant at the same age.
There is no denying that

[Flash Falcon X]

Let social networking exist back in the mid to late 90s like it does now and I bet Bryant and McGrady would be just as hyped, if not more hyped than Wiggins.

I agree. Tracy McGrady was drafted in 1998 when there was no such thing as Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, etc.

Yeah, they had some video sites, but not that many people are going to wait 2 hours for a 5 minute highlight reel to load which most likely would have crappy quality resolution.

If a young Tracy McGrady was in HS nowadays he'd be all over Youtube and internet forums like crazy. People would be like damn he's 6'9", has incredible length, can handle like a guard and play like a point guard at that height???

As for actual scouting and not just looking at internet hype, HS players have proven themselves since the 90s to have potential to be great. Look at KG, Kobe, T-Mac, LeBron, Dwight, etc; obviously there have been a bunch of HS busts, but there's still been a bunch of good players from HS.

[Illmatic21]

T-Mac was picked 9th and Kobe was 13th. Wiggins is (so far) the clear number 1 in a strong draft year, so no.

Wow bad analysis,

a) They were declaring right after high school, not taking the hype into college and developing 1 more year

b) teams were very skeptical about HS players back then

c) Wiggins is also that hyped, because there is much more exposure of those young guys and footage for everyone as opposed to 15 years ago.


McGrady and Bryant were not that raw at that age, way more developed and I would say also more talented.

His pithy statement is oversimplistic sure, but:

a) College hype? C'mon, Wiggins would have gone #1 out of high school.

b) Skeptical back then? This is the big valid argument to make in general, but there's a limit. Wiggins is being touted as a once in a generation level prospect (whether that's actually reasonable or not). TMac was drafted 9th in a draft considered incredibly shallow. It's just not comparable.

c) More exposure now? Sure, but Garnett got drafted 5th two years before McGrady was elgigible. It was most certainly possible to get drafted higher back then.

If you want to make the case that scouting is so much more sophisticated now that people would have seen McGrady in a different way that's one thing, but no matter what you try to "adjust" for in era differences, Wiggins is a higher rated prospect than TMac was, and that's really all wets was trying to say.

Wiggins would have gone #1 out of HS because last year was a weak draft. Anthony Bennett was the #1 pick.

If he was coming out with say Davis, Griffin, Rose/Beasley, Oden/Durant, Dwight/Okafor, or Lebron/Melo there would be a lot of discussion over who would go first.

[Hamilton]

a better hype would be oden vs wiggins out of HS

[moocow007]

TMac is a very good comparison to Wiggins though.

[ManualRam]

TMac is a very good comparison to Wiggins though.

not really. mcgrady was much more skilled. mcgrady had on the ball ability. he could play his team's point, handle like a guard and make plays like one too (didn't really do much when he was off of it, which was one of his main criticisms as a prospect). wiggins doesn't have the skill to play on the ball. he's more effective attacking off of passes where he only has to take 1 or 2 dribbles before putting a shot up. he isn't much of a playmaker either.

[brownbobcat]

T-Mac was picked 9th and Kobe was 13th. Wiggins is (so far) the clear number 1 in a strong draft year, so no.

to be fair this was back when organizations weren't comfortable drafting HS players with the first five picks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Garnett

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_NBA_draft

Garnett was the exception that proved the rule. Look at that list, zero college freshmen taken - ZERO.

[Hamilton]

yea kg changed the rule

[Frank Mulely]

I think Wiggins and T-Mac were roughly equivalent out of high school. but Kobe was clearly a better prospect, and I remember the hype. I was devastated when GSW passed him up for Todd freaking Fuller

Supposedly West saw Kobe work out, told him not to work out for anybody else, and told his staff that Kobe was going to be an all-time great.

[Hamilton]

imagine if he turns out be be another gerald green

[Run DLC]

I really don't get all the hype about Wiggins. Sure, he has great athleticism, but i honestly don't see anything else that stand out. He's a flat out scorer, but i honestly think that he won't even be better than Durant when it all been said and done.