Because... Why Not?
- Thread starter MWes11
- Start date
AD's story is probably the closest any basketball player will come to copying something straight out of a superhero comic book. Think about where he was at 16 years old. He was a skinny, awkward player, of average height, playing for a tiny little charter HS on a team that, in the context of Chicago HS hoops, was about equal to a good middle school team. Then, it's like the radioactive spider bit him or something, and barely over a year later (and really less than that- it took him about 5 months to go from total unknown to #1 player in his HS class) he becomes this freak athlete able to do superhuman things on the court. And the trajectory is still going up, to the point where people will argue whether you'd rather have him or LeBron.
There have been other late-bloomer stories in basketball history. Bill Russell barely got recruited to play in college- too skinny, too uncoordinated. Bill Walton was 6'2" entering his sophomore year of HS, then grew 7 inches in less than a year (and then 2-3 inches more after that). Hakeem Olajuwon was a really tall African soccer player at 16. David Robinson went from a 6'7" HS senior with barely any recruiting interest to a 7'1" monster in about 2 years. Tim Duncan was an oversized swimmer for most of his time in HS. Still don't think any of those were more dramatic than Anthony Davis.
There have been other late-bloomer stories in basketball history. Bill Russell barely got recruited to play in college- too skinny, too uncoordinated. Bill Walton was 6'2" entering his sophomore year of HS, then grew 7 inches in less than a year (and then 2-3 inches more after that). Hakeem Olajuwon was a really tall African soccer player at 16. David Robinson went from a 6'7" HS senior with barely any recruiting interest to a 7'1" monster in about 2 years. Tim Duncan was an oversized swimmer for most of his time in HS. Still don't think any of those were more dramatic than Anthony Davis.
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