most HYPED ever!!!

He was sponsored by Nike in the 8th grade. He was Lebron before Lebron. Some thought he was the best Player regardless of class when he was just in 10th Grade. He was truly a monster at one point, then he just fell off.

I agree on Felipe Lopez. I heard a LOT about him.

Sebastian Telfair was hyped too. He ws on the cover of sports illustrated the cover says sebastian could be a star in the nba. He ws also on the cover of slam magazine as a junior with lebron and the were supposed to be the best at their position when they enter the nba. Rick Pitino said when telfair comes to louisville he will instantly be the best point guard he has coached in the collegiate ranks. Not to mention Jay-z,Spike lee,and Derek Jeter were regulars at his games. He also had a documentary about him declaring for the draft he deserves to be in the top 5 to me as most hyped.

From someone who lived in Ohio, OJ Mayo was as hyped in the state as Lebron was.  When OJ moved to West Virginia he dropped off a bit, but I think he should have been on the list.  Heck I heard of Mayo as a 7th grader!  And I agree about the Telfair comment.  I mean, they made a movie about how hyped a recruit he was!

This year Andre Drummond is getting alot of hype and he’s only just enter his high school senior year

In my time definitely Felipe Lopez, but I also remember Jason Kidd being touted as better than Kenny Anderson…not at the same age…but at the same time!  Kidd was in the 10th grade and Anderson was in the NBA iirc.

No Lenny Cooke?

Solid list, Lebron at number one isn’t a surprise.  LMAO at the Jewish Jordan….

I always love getting to use this example but

Ivan Chiriaev

“The NBA wants Ivan Chiriaev. The NBA needs Ivan Chiriaev.”

With that infamous quote, the 7-foot-1, self-promoting Russian import playing at St. Thomas Aquinas in Ontario earned a spot in Canadian hoops lore.
While that was the most memorable Chiriaev quote, it wasn’t the only one:

– “I like Kevin Garnett a lot, but everybody is telling me I’m like Dirk Nowitzki, that we are similar. But I think I can be better than Nowitzki . . . I think that because I can play all five positions.”
– “If I’m not in the top-three, I’m going to college.” (This was in response to a question about choosing college over the pros.)
– “Point guard. Definitely point guard.” (In response to a question about which position he feels most comfortable at.)

Even his handlers got in on the madness:

– “They come out of the gym with looks of astonishment on their faces,” a ‘source close to Chiriaev’ said in one interview, talking about NBA and college scouts.

– Said another possibly insane ‘source’ in another interview: “Ivan Chiriaev is one of the most talented high school players I’ve ever seen . . . His combination of shooting, passing and dribbling skills are very rare for a player his size. He’s a player legitimately capable of playing all five positions with amazing agility and offensive skills. When you have a 7-foot-1 kid with this kind of athleticism and skill development, scouts’ biological reflexes start kicking in: pupils dilate, eyebrows raise, hearts flutter and jaws begin to drop. What really grabs you is his body control and ability to change directions. His quickness is alarming.”

Based on the hype, the numbers (26.8 points, 17.3 rebounds, 9.2 assists and 52 per cent shooting as a high school senior — all made up, as it would become known later; the coach conceded that the team didn’t keep official stats) and the flood of NBA scouts who flew to Canada weekly to see him, Chiriaev could have declined playing in any pre-draft camps or all-star games and he may have been taken in the 2004 NBA Draft.
With the benefit of hindsight, in fact, that would have been the best choice for him because when he played in the inaugural Adidas All-Canadian game in Mississauga, Ont., he truly showed what he had to offer the NBA. Yup, his, um, skills were on display for a nation-wide audience to see. In no particular order, Chiriaev:

– showed the ability to jump over a phone book (with a running start)

– was able to dribble the ball and chew gum at the same time

– displayed the ‘alarming quickness’ a source once talked about (and it truly was alarming the speed Chiriaev had; it was as if his Adidas were weighed down like a Russian mob’s bodybag)

– proved he could hit a lay-up (but not dunk, despite being in the 97th percentile for height)

– attempted to shoot three-pointers (scoring at roughly the same success rate as a straight guy at a GLAAD convention)

– actually seemed momentarily speechless when the crowd booed his not-so-well-deserved MVP award for his underwhelming 17 points.

The NBA scouts, more than a dozen of them, were climbing over each other to get out of the building by halftime and book the first flight out of town. In two hours, Chiriaev went from NBA lottery prospect to future member of MyGuide Amsterdam in the Dutch league.

The NBA sure might not need him, but the Dutch league? Well . . . it doesn’t really need him, either.

http://communities.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/blogs/ilovelamp/archive/2009/10/27/meet-13-year-old-canadian-basketball-star-andrew-wiggins-hopefully-he-s-not-the-next-ivan-chiriaev.aspx

If I’m not mistaken, Darius Miles was a pretty hyped up player as well coming out of HS.