Top 5 High School Players with NBA Family Ties
Words. Casey Mack
(James McAdoo with Team USA)
Think about the greatest players in the game. Names like Jordan, Bird and Robertson come to mind. Most of these legends can be identified just by their last names, which rings bells in our basketball memories.
Many of today’s high school hoop stars have a familiar ring to their names. These players have the gift and curse of being connected to other greats of the game: It’s a gift that they know what it takes to be great, have inherited some talented DNA, and were often raised around the highest levels of basketball. However, they have big shoes and huge expectations to fill.
Take somebody like University of Central Florida guard Jeffrey Jordan. He was a good enough high school player to be named an All-American (by Jordan Brand), lead one of the most successful teams in the country, Loyola Academy (IL), and get some notable D-1 scholarship offers. Jeffrey decided to walk-on at Illinois, where he played three years before transferring to Central Florida. But because he hasn’t dropped 30 points per game and dominated like his famous father, Jeffrey has been viewed as something of a bust. The gift and the curse.
Here are the Top 5 current high schoolers that have NBA family ties:
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MARQUIS TEAGUE, Pike High School (IN), 2011
Marquis is the best pure point guard in high school basketball, but he is not the best PG in his own household. Big brother Jeff Teague, a second-year pro, is on the verge of winning the starting point guard job for the Eastern Conference contending Atlanta Hawks. Jeff was a star at Wake Forest, but his little bro is headed to Kentucky.
AUSTIN RIVERS, Winter Park (FL), 2011
Austin has had the best summer of any player in the country, part of the reason he holds the No. 1 spot in the HSH National Top 50 ranking. His game is so good that his pops, Boston Celtics coach and former NBA guard Doc Rivers, was seriously thinking of leaving his job just to watch Austin play his senior year.
JAMES McADOO, Norfolk Christian (VA), 2011
James is following in the footsteps of his uncle, former NBA and North Carolina great Bob McAdoo. A 6-8 forward, James is so good that rumors began to pop up this summer that he would graduate high school early and enroll at UNC this year to help the Tar Heels’ transfer- and NBA Draft-depleted front line. But James is staying in Norfolk to enjoy his senior year, which is bad news for everybody on his team’s schedule.
KURAN IVERSON, North Catholic (CT), 2013
Standing 6-8, Kuran doesn’t need a Napoleon complex like his cousin, Allen Iverson. However, the highlight-maker out of New England does have a knack for getting buckets and wowing the crowd like A.I.
L.J. ROSE, Second Baptist (TX), 2012
L.J. is one of he fastest-rising point guards in the land. At 6-4, he has great size for the position and instincts for the game. He can thank his father for those gifts. Lynden Rose was a co-captain on the Houston University “Phi Slamma Jamma” squad, and was picked in the 1982 NBA Draft by the Lakers.
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this might come out fucked up….from a “southern genetics experiment”, plantation-last-name American standpoint, I wonder how far apart genetically CJ Rose and Derrick Rose are…build a bigger (black person) experiments, as deplorable as they were, are interesting to follow….they are a sampling, along with George Mendel and others, the first genetic research our genus has ever researched
Are you drunk? Perhaps, brain dead.
@verbalmonster
that was fucked up.
WTF? who thinks like that man? Are you a Social Darwinist?
All I know is I look forward to the development and improvement in all 5 of the players above.
I’m a hug fan of Allen Iverson and how he’s matured over the years as a leader, a father, and an athlete. I hope Kuran Iverson learns a thing or two from the life and career of AI and goes even further.
Having said this, Austin Rivers is the man. He’s been studying the game of basketball watching his father as a pro and as a head Coach for years. Extremely high basketball IQ and something of a wunderkind. Props to Austin Rivers to play for a celebrated basketball program at Duke and work with the Coach Mike Krzyzewski and his coaching team.
@verbalmonster People even student-athletes are not interchangeable parts. Yes we all get genes inherited from biological parents but I believe genetic sampling and the genetic component to basketball talent is not as important as work ethic and passion.
Peace…
Sounds messed up but I think he has a point. I always wonder if it is so hard to become a professional athlete, and seems like a 1 out of 100,000 chance odds, how are so many related. Look at the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, MLS. Many of the players have relatives who are also in the league. Im sure its a mix of genetics, and social connections. Interesting way to look at things.