Best state of Michigan high school basketball player all-time
- George Gervin
- Magic Johnson
- Chris Webber
- Emoni Bates
- Matt Steigenga
My opinion: If Bates continues his ttrajectory, he will become the best ever to play high school basketball in the state of Michigan. I personally would have to take George Gervin by a very small amount over Magic, who is second by a very small amount over Webber.. I was totally fucking kidding about Steigenga BTW.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:02 PM ^
Draymond Green
September 11th, 2019 at 4:34 PM ^
I'm a little older, but if you are just talking HS, Antoine Joubert, Dugan Fife, Eric Turner, and Derrick Coleman were beasts.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:39 PM ^
ET was the man back in the day...Flint Central HS.
September 11th, 2019 at 6:45 PM ^
The Michael Jordan of Flint. ET was the man. He still holds the record for most minutes played in a game at Michigan.
He still looks 25 too. Guy is in great shape.
September 11th, 2019 at 6:59 PM ^
The true Flint legend was Mark Harris. Unstoppable with nearly unlimited range.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:46 PM ^
oh, yeah. derrick coleman. absolutely.
September 11th, 2019 at 8:01 PM ^
I remember Antoine Joubert would score 20 and next week in the paper it would say he had 48 ...
Chris Webber was the best high school player in the states history
September 11th, 2019 at 9:36 PM ^
Nobody else remembers that.
September 11th, 2019 at 10:11 PM ^
That's my era. Also: Terry Mills! (and Roy Marble)
September 11th, 2019 at 5:01 PM ^
I watched all 3 of these guys play our high school.
Chris Webber
Rashad Phillips
Shane Battier
Battier was a killer in high school, averaged damn near 30 at country day his senior year and did everything. Rashad was more raw, but also incredible. In my opinion: 1) Shane 2) Webber 3)Yoda
September 11th, 2019 at 7:19 PM ^
Rashad Phillips' grandmother lived on the same street as my grandmother. She never could get my name right.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:03 PM ^
In my time? Webber. Saw him play his JR year. He was so much bigger/better than anyone. The hype for him started in JR High too.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:42 PM ^
which, anyone reading of a certain lesser age is like, well duh, but son, lemme tell you, people didn't talk about jr high ball players in our day. we had MORE IMPORTANT things to worry about, like "where is my afternoon newspaper dammit" and "by God I hope I didn't dial a FAX machine AGAIN" and such like.
Just the fact that there WAS hype speaks to how good he was.
September 11th, 2019 at 5:34 PM ^
When he was in seventh grade, Chris dunked on our eighth grade team six times in one game.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:04 PM ^
I hate sparty like any normal, rational person would, but Magic Johnson is the only correct answer to this question.
He won a National Championship playing alongside Mike Brkovich and Terry Donnelly. That would be comparable to Webber winning one with Jason Bossard and Rob Pelinka getting starters' minutes, no offense intended.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:19 PM ^
Absolutely have to agree with you on this one. Magic has few peers on any level, and makes everyone on his team better.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:46 PM ^
well, yeah, brkovich and terry donnelly, but let's not forget greg kelser and jay vincent. it wasn't a one-man team by any means.
our 1989 team started mike griffin, if i'm not mistaken, plus had kirk taylor playing at least 20 minutes a game...
September 11th, 2019 at 5:05 PM ^
Hold on, now. Kirk Taylor was pretty far down the bench. Demetrius Calip, JP Oosterbaan and Rob Pelinka appeared in more games than Kirk Taylor.
September 11th, 2019 at 5:18 PM ^
Calip bailed the team out big time in the first round.
September 11th, 2019 at 6:51 PM ^
He went horizontal and dunked on the 7-footer. Got called for a charge, but it gave me the feeling that this bunch was ready to ball.
September 13th, 2019 at 10:07 AM ^
that wasn't meant as a shot at anyone...mostly just pointing out that magic wasn't surrounded by chopped liver. calling out donnelly and brkovich but not vincent and kelser is a bit misleading.
September 11th, 2019 at 6:09 PM ^
Kelser was a solid Big 10 player. Magic made him better. Sophomore Jay Vincent was nowhere near as good as Senior Jay Vincent. Jud really put together a good team around Magic. He had the shooters in Donnelly and Brkovich, and he had rebounders in Jay, Kelser, and Bobo Charles who could get the ball to Magic so he could lead the break. The sum was definitely better than the pieces, or however that goes.
P.S. Webber didn't play on the '89 team. If you want to compare Rice to Magic, fine, but I don't recall Rice taking the world by storm until his senior year at UofM. He was a solid contributor all four years, but he didn't hit the ground running like Magic did.
September 11th, 2019 at 7:59 PM ^
Didn't the Pistons take Greg Kelser over Sidney Moncrief in the 1979 draft. That's how my fading memory recalls it. That will go down as one of the worst draft choices in franchise history.
September 13th, 2019 at 10:35 AM ^
kelser was way more than a solid big 10 player - i remember him as a 20/10 machine, and i'm about 99% sure he was an all-american. he also played in the nba for six years. was he drafted too high? sure, but i also remember reading the inside sports magazine 1979-80 nba preview, and they liked the pick a lot (i distinctly remember the phrase "gets off the floor like clark kent"). and vincent, while not to his junior / senior level, was still a starter and a very good player for the 79 team.
again, my overall point was that saying "magic, plus brkovich and donnelly" was...well, that's not how i remember that team - you're absolutely right that that team had a great mix of different player types. i'd forgotten bobo charles - that guy was terrifying.
September 11th, 2019 at 6:16 PM ^
Don't be dissing Mike Griffin. That guy scored like 30+ points a game in high school. He realized he was on a team full of NBA talent and decided to sacrifice personal glory for the team. There just weren't enough basketballs for Griffin to be shooting too.
September 11th, 2019 at 6:56 PM ^
Didn't stop the students from yelling "SHOOOOOT" every time he touched the ball.
[yeah, this is a thread jack but we're talking about the '89 team, so let it ride.]
September 11th, 2019 at 8:22 PM ^
Kirk Taylor blew his knee out at some point in that season, IIRC. I believe he was on crutches when it was his turn to cut the net in Seattle.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:56 PM ^
He's talking HS
September 11th, 2019 at 6:14 PM ^
Magic's high school career was just a little before my time, so I looked up his stats. 28 ppg and 16 rpg as a senior, and he led Lansing Everett to a State Championship. Lansing freaking Everett. Not Eastern. Not Sexton, but Lansing Freaking Everett.
I remember Joubert averaging around 40ppg in high school, and me thinking he was going to be our Magic Johnson and then he got to Ann Arbor and sort of fizzled. That's why I think Magic must've been a better high school player, because his game translated to the college game better. It's not like Magic all of a sudden became "Magic" when he got to MSU. He was pretty special already when he was in high school.
September 11th, 2019 at 6:43 PM ^
Joubert was lazy. Out of shape loser.
September 13th, 2019 at 4:06 PM ^
i would absolutely love to see what joubert's shooting percentage was in high school...i think the first time i saw him was on the old pass cable network when detroit southwestern made the state finals. i knew from reading spad on preps and mick mccabe that he was going to michigan, and that he was a huge scorer, but that was about it.
didn't take me long to see how he did it - that guy was hoisting it anytime he got over the half-court line. think steph curry when he's feeling it, except in joubert's case he wasn't waiting to get into rhythm to do it. it was goin' up, and soon.
i just looked him up on cbb reference, and he was a better player at michigan than i remember. could score, was durable, got to the glass a little bit for a guard, and distributed that ball as a 2/3 swingman. he did just fine.
September 11th, 2019 at 6:30 PM ^
I have to agree with Magic. Saw him play in high school, 6'8" and did everything - brought the ball up the court as PG, scored over 30 points, and had double digit rebounds as well.
September 11th, 2019 at 9:00 PM ^
I can't even fathom how teams in the 70's handled a 6' 8" dude with an amazing handle and vision. I remember watching LeBron play in HS a couple of times and thinking it was unfair for him to be out there, and that was 30-ish years later.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:04 PM ^
Ty McGregor / Mio / Class of 1989 or Antoine Joubert / Detroit Southwestern / Class of 1983
Both had unlimited range and zero conscience about launching 30'+ jumpers
September 11th, 2019 at 4:06 PM ^
The Judge also didn't reap the benefits of a 3-point line.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:22 PM ^
Joubert is a very good option also. He was a dominant high school basketball player - a legend in his area.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:07 PM ^
Juice Beydoun.
"GIVE IT TO THE JUICE"
September 11th, 2019 at 4:08 PM ^
Webber. I'm from Ishpeming and we played DCD in the state finals in 1990 (I think). I was 10 years old and we drove downstate to watch the game. I remember a play near the end, with DCD up big, where it was a 2-on-0 with Webber trailing his point guard. Webber yells "board" and the PG tosses it off the backboard for a dunk. All we could do was applaud.
EDIT: It was 1989, not 1990.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:09 PM ^
don't forget about antoine joubert. there's also dan majerle, dane fife i guess, and this kid:
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/high-school/2019/02/25/dylan-jergens-record/2944229002/
edit: didn't see the joubert ref. earlier, cheers.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:14 PM ^
Foster Loyer
/s
September 11th, 2019 at 4:15 PM ^
Webber, but will probably end up being Bates
September 11th, 2019 at 4:17 PM ^
Thunder Dan
September 11th, 2019 at 4:20 PM ^
great call...majerle and i were in the same class, same conference, and he was playing a different game than anyone we ever faced.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:27 PM ^
One of the best nicknames ever.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:41 PM ^
I played against both Webber and Dan (Dan in summer league/camp stuff, he was older), and I'd say Webber in HS > Dan even when Dan was on the Olympic team. And Dan was amazing.
September 11th, 2019 at 4:18 PM ^
i'm sure this is going to sound really dumb, but i'ma throw mark macon on the list. he never quite made the leap (at temple, he was 'just' an all-american) but boy, what a high school player.
spencer haywood is also on the short list.
September 11th, 2019 at 5:05 PM ^
I was wondering how long it would take before anyone would mention Spencer Haywood, who was an absolute Michigan high school legend in the late 60's.
September 11th, 2019 at 8:48 PM ^
Haha I was just about to post Spencer Haywood myself... we really show our age with him.
He played in the old-media era before the HS hype machine got into gear, but FWIW he was retroactively named Mr. Basketball USA for 1967.
September 11th, 2019 at 10:21 PM ^
He’s certainly not #1 on this list, and his name may be verboten to some fans, but Robert “Tractor” Traylor deserves a mention on the all-time list.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:15 PM ^
Logged in to upvote Spencer Haywood.