WashPost on Ralph Sampson

So that disproves my "not that many" statement? Because you watched? One person would definitely stay within the realm of "not that many."

I would be shocked beyond belief if those games drew higher than a 1.5 rating. Compare it to the millions upon millions of people who watched Ewing and Shaq dozens of times over their years and at a time that the NCAA tournament was far more popular than it is now.

 

I wonder if there will ever be another draft that produces four likely Hall-of-Famers in the first five picks.

There were whispers before that draft that Carmelo was more NBA ready than James. I don't think they were suggesting that Carmelo should go No. 1, but just that Anthony might have more of an immediate impact.

 

OK so we will be very generous and say that's 300,000 people who saw him live. And what they saw was him playing against other 16- to 18-year-olds. I'm sure he dominated.

How many people do you think saw Shaq, Ewing, Olajuwon or Duncan play live before they were drafted?

 

I was going to add that he would have been seen by fewer than the number of people who watched Shaq and Ewing in college, but didn't think that was necessary. That still doesn't mean that "not that many" people, outside of scouts, saw him. Unless you're using "not that many" as a purposefully vague term that can mean as many as millions of people.

 

Not that many as related to what would be required to create these "expectations." I think that's a plainly evident part of the discussion.

 

That SI cover made the outlandishly hyped expectation that as a high school junior LeBron James is . . . an NBA lottery pick.

Oooooooh, way out on a limb there.

That's hardly the "Next Jordan!!!!" level of hype many attribute to him.

 

Olajuwon and Ewing played in three Final Fours.

LeBron was far from unknown, but he wasn't the household name that Ewing or Olajuwon were... Granted, those days are mostly behind us. Was Duncan the last college senior to be taken No. 1 in the draft?

 

My list was not about the general public's expectations. People who knew basketball said LeBron James would change the sport. And he did. His hype is second only to Lew Alcindor's.

 

Kenyon Martin BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

 

Magic

Magic changed the way the guard position is played. And you could argue that Bird and Magic could each be on this list of most anticipated players.

 

Holy shit. I would have bet just about anything Martin had come out early.

 

I agree that I had Shaquille O'Neal too low. He probably should be second.