The new age of debates is pitting the 2020 Montverde team led by Cade Cunningham with Scottie Barnes against the 2016 Chino Hill squad with Lamelo Ball and Onyeka Okongwu. But, before that happened there was a scary high school AAU team formed that might never be rivaled in terms of talent. Tim Thomas noted that back in the day, and maybe even today until the end of time, no one will be able to beat him, Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, and Rip Hamilton.
Those names might sound like a collection of players straight of an NBA 2k Blacktop team but all of them did come together at one point. If this felt like unreal information, don't sweat. Even Tim Thomas, could not believe how he was part of the greatest AAU team ever assembled, via All The Smoke.
“Oh yeah by far, listen, I was just trying to establish myself, right? I had no real thought that Rip (Hamilton) would come up from Philly to play with me, a guy from Florida in Vince Carter would come up to Jersey to play with me. A guy by the name of Kobe Bryant would come to Jersey to play with me,” Thomas declared.
Thomas was the number-one-ranked recruit coming out of Paterson Catholic High School. His savvy moves on the court just came naturally by that age which even got Kobe Bryant jealous. The Black Mamba would go on to tell Rip Hamilton that he placed Thomas on his ‘kill list.' Funnily enough, Thomas would be late in their title game against Maryland.
At that very moment, the legend of Bryant grew. With the best high school player in the nation not present, the future Los Angeles Lakers legend blazed up. He ended the game with 40 points. From that point on, Bryant usurped Thomas from the top ranking. He would also carry on to have one of the best resumes of all time.
Kobe Bryant and his AAU teammates
Thomas could not help but reminisce about how dominant this AAU team was. They battered down teams for breakfast. This core rose up to glory twice before heading either into college or the NBA Draft.
“We had a bunch of studs, right? You know there’s a clip but Kobe mentioned it, we were beating people by 50-60 points. We’re the reason now why when you go to some of these AAU events or some of these high school events and they’re playing in college gyms and stuff like that. We won back-to-back AAU National Championships, and we were playing at universities,” Thomas said.
Hamilton went on to become an NBA Champion and a three-time All-Star. Vince Carter had a lengthy career while amassing two-time All-NBA honors and getting eight NBA All-Star nods. Thomas joined the Villanova Wildcats before becoming a journeyman in the NBA. He played 13 seasons in the league while averaging 11.5 points and 4.1 rebounds on a nightly basis.
So, this might just settle it. While there may be arguments for that one AAU team with Trae Young, Jayson Tatum, and De'Aaron Fox, this team led by Bryant might just have them beaten.
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