[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

I hate myself for doing this, and yes this is an allusion to Meth vs. Chef off of Tical, but I found a link about someone named Raekwon (Yes, the Chef himself) Long who is 13 years old, 6’10 and projects to be along the lines of 7’5-7’6 (again, projections). This goes along with Jason Bennett (who was 6’10 as a completely awkward 6th grader, grew to I believe 7’3 and has fallen off the face of the earth after less than memorable stints at KSU, Detroit among others) and Major Wingate (6’9 in the 9th grade, SLAM called him the best 9th grader in the world in their issue that featured Sebastian Telfair as the best 8th grader and some other kid who I forget as the best 7th grader. Little did they know, LeBron James was cooking something up in Akron. Major is best known for getting kicked off of Tenessee. Sorry Major). I find these things are fun to follow, and while you do hope they just leave the poor kid alone, sometime the story has a happy ending. Unfortunately, the odds are not in anyones favor to become an NBA superstar, their are so few of them and their are so many rankings and projections by the time a person reaches the NBA it seems like they either have to live up to one or have been lucky enough to maintain some sort of anonymity up until college, where if they do well enough they have to live up to a draft ranking. Very difficult, but always fun to see the next big thing, and Raekwon is definitely long. All the best and hopefully he will have some freedom to be a kid and not have to be compared to Ralph Sampson through the rest of his middle and high school career.

http://www.maxpreps.com/news/138gdZXjEd-lugAcxJTdpg/is-6-foot-10-seventh-grader-the-next-ralph-sampson-.htm

[flybobbyflyParticipant]

having everyone on this site read about him and follow him wont really help your cause at all.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

But someone was bound to post it sometime. They already made the article. I truly believe that their might be another topic on this same kid in the next few days when mine falls down the board archives. That Isaiah Rider avatar is super off-putting by the way. Well done.

[JNixonParticipant]

Yeah it’s way too early to start making predictions about middle school players. Everyone will catch up physically to some extent, and the playing field will level out by their 12th grade years.

Oh, and Jason Bennett was the worst player I’ve ever seen at K-State lol. He was even worse than Luis Colon! Now that’s bad…….

[OrangeJuiceJonesParticipant]

I can’t believe Jason Bennett transferred to a D-2 school. 7’3 playing D-2?

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

This 7’8 kid named Jim Sturgess who plays NAIA. He was 5’6 at 14 though, so, one heck of a growth spurt. He is from England as well, so i am thinking basketball came a lot later in life. It is kind of crazy that no matter how tall you are, you need fairly incredible skill too play at the highest levels. Every NBA player really can ball, for real. The best of the best are just on another level as far as combined athleticism and skill set along with physical gifts.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/college+basketball+tallest+player+foot+from+England/2702747/story.html

[OrangeJuiceJonesParticipant]

Very true, mikeyvthedon. I remember seeing Joakim Noah drain jumper after jumper before a game, and my fantasies as an NBA spot-up shooter quickly vanished.

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