LeBron James was a phenom even back during his high school days. So much so, in fact, Boston Celtics legends Danny Ainge and Paul Pierce can still vividly remember the first time seeing him play.
In a piece by Chad Finn of the Boston Globe, several members of the Celtics recalled seeing LeBron James for the first time, but was the comments by Ainge and Pierce that stood out most.
From Dangerous Danny first, but some context first. He's clearly discussing his evaluation of young players in total, not just LeBron:
I had seen LeBron play when he was in high school, so I knew he was sure to be special before I saw him in summer league. There was no doubt in my mind that he was going to be one of the best players that ever played when I saw him as a 17-year-old. So to see him in the summer was really just a reminder of that.
There have only been a few players where you can tell when they’re still a teenager that [they’ll be a superstar].
When I saw LeBron, he was one. When I saw Kobe [Bryant] at a draft workout while I was coaching the Suns and he was age 18, I knew. And when I saw Amar’e Stoudemire in a draft workout at 18 or 19, I knew then.
Not necessarily the best of all-time, but you can tell there’s something special there. You can tell they were going to be multiple-time All-Stars.
But you can’t always tell. I remember seeing Dwyane Wade in summer league [in Orlando] and thinking he’s not all that great. All of a sudden, he was unbelievable.
From Pierce:
Oh yeah, I went over. I wanted to see what all the hype was about and wanted to check our draft picks to see what we had coming.
When I played in my first All-Star Game in Philly [during the 2001-02 season] there was a lot of people saying, ‘This kid LeBron is so good, he could be in this All-Star Game right now.’ I was like, ‘What?’
Man, Antoine [Walker] was always talking about him, telling me could be better than all of us right then.
You should really read the entire piece, as it is extremely well done.
As an older person on these mean streets of the Internet, I can also recall all the insane hype surrounding LeBron while he was still in high school. While I can't remember the exact date or team he played against, I did get to see him play by way of a game broadcast on TV. He literally looked like a man playing among boys.
Even with that being said, rare is the player who actually lives up to, and then exceeds, the hype. There are far more high school cover stories turned iffy than there are guys like The King.
Follow Us
Subscribe