The next Lebron?

There are a thousand "next LeBrons" out there, and we're all so eager to follow that hype machine known as ESPN that we've now stooped to writing about them in a how-great-can-he-be light (a full-on story in the Inquirer? Really?)

Then again, I suppose we should write about them now since in the next few years 394 of the "next LeBrons" will lose interest in hoops, 237 will decide they'd rather have a car at 16 and quit sports to go to work part time, 160 will decide they like football or baseball more, 129 will be ineligible because they don't have the discipline to maintain a 2.0 GPA, 43 will drop out of high school, 22 will get a girl pregnant, 14 will join the marching band and one will graduate early and head to Harvard.

I'm surprised this story didn't include a college coach offering the kid a scholarship or someone claiming he's good enough to play in the NBA right now.

On top of all that, there were a few points in the story that made me cringe, notably the reference to prep schools in the area "recruiting" the kid. Maybe recruiting is legal in Philly, I don't know. I'm on the West Coast. But if I'm editing this story, I damn well have the reporter confirm it to my approval.

Sports coverage is walking dangerously closer to that God-forbidden supermarket tabloid line.

Good grief.

 

bpoindexter?

Seriously?

 

This story offered me little. Way too young to start declaring him the next LeBron or anyone else in college or the NBA. Too much hype way too soon. And why LeBron anyway? How about telling me about the next Tim Duncan, someone with some common sense and philanthropic spirit, not to mention the NBA titles.

I think I'd actually be upset if someone said my kid was going to be the next LeBron - a greedy, selfish, spoiled, somewhat ignorant person who is still coddled by his posse in my opinion.

 

Does the next Lebron win a championship before the first Lebron?

 

Indeed, good grief. That about sums it up.

As far as the recruiting goes, if it's private schools, that's neither surprising or out of line. In my area the private schools definitely recruit middle school kids and they're allowed to because they're not governed by the state athletic association. More and more you see football and basketball parents trying to get their kids seen by coaches from the private schools. The whole concept is just distasteful.

The other thing that bugs me is that there's been this rise of "national" events in football. It just to be just basketball, but now there are multiple youth football organizations that stage national playoffs. And in the last couple weeks I've gotten releases about middle school kids playing in national all-star games, which are all wrapped up in recruiting. Everything is a combine or a showcase or an exposure event, and obviously these organizations are getting parents to spend money to send kids, fueled by the fantasy that they're going to eventually get scholarships and end up in the pros.

I find it lamentable that this is where youth sports have gone. It's been turned into a business and it disgusts me. And I wonder how many kids are actually, really, honestly enjoying themselves or whether the weight of expectations has drained all the fun. Call me cynical. I'll own up to that. But I really hate this stuff.

 

Well, if we're comparing teen prodigies, Duncan never was one, we'd never heard of him until college. Which might be why Duncan has more level-headed common sense than the Lebrons, he didn't start getting the god treatment until he was an adult so he actually has a clue what it's like to be a normal person.

 

Yeah, he's drafting off your heat. Roll Tide

 

There is a kid in Seattle, Tony Wroten, who is a helluva player.

Had he not fucked up his knee playing football he would have been the number one player in the country.

 

Just a lame story. I find this kind of thing deeply disturbing.

Unfair to declare this poor middle school kid "the next" anything, and his coach should show a little restraint

Too much pressure to place on a 13-year-old kid.

He could end up being a decent HS player and feel like a failure because he's not living up to the hype his own coach put on him

And jesus, there are really recruiting services that rank 6th-grade kids? really?

Drip? Have you seen him actually play? You're really going to compare him to Moses Malone? At 13 years old?

Odds are miniscule any of us will ever hear about this kid again.

And "bodie_broadus" ... what the hell does some kid in seattle have to do with this story?

 

And here I thought this was going to be a thread about some woman claiming to have given birth to Lebron offspring.

 

As someone who saw Moses play at Petersburg High, and I believe Moddy will back me on this, Malone was a beast. This kid is no Moses. He's a good player with impressive skills. I'll leave it at that.
Comparing anyone as a young Moses Malone is a really tough sell. Moses Malone was simply phenomenal.

 

Next LeBron?

Oh, Gawd, please no. That's all we need someday is an hourlong ESPN special on a 17 year old taking his talents to Chapel Hill. Interviewed by his best friend from his school's student newspaper.

The NBA needs to implode and start over.