With the NBA draft quickly approaching, all kinds of canned stories will be spun by agents, teams and the players themselves. Here is a glimpse into some of the potential lottery picks' high school days so you can see where they came from.
Davis goes from obscurity to stardom
Think about this timeline. In May 2010, Anthony Davis was not on a single national top 100 list, and if anyone says they had him on one, it's time for a polygraph. My first viewing of him was that month. Never in my life had I seen a guy play for the first time as a junior and thought he was the nation's best prospect. Walking out of the gym that day, I turned to a friend and said, "I think I just saw the best prospect in the nation." He told me not to get too excited. He was wrong. In three months, Davis leapt from obscurity in Chicago to offers from Kentucky, Syracuse and Ohio State. None of the head coaches who offered him saw him until going into July before his senior season.
In an era of highlight tapes and camera phones, it's silly to think the best play Davis made in high school was never captured on video. Each year at the McDonald's All-American Game, there's a closed-door scrimmage for family, committee members and NBA brass. While I can't re-enact the exact play, my best recollection is that he got an offensive rebound, went behind his back to avoid dribbling out of bounds and dunked in traffic with his left hand. It was a jaw-dropper. I had never seen a kid Davis' size finish a play like that. It might be the best play no one will ever see. Hopefully, one day a Zapruder-type film will pop up.