As long as there have been high school rankings, there have been guys that have fallen through the cracks. Whether it is because they were late bloomers, poor evaluations or simply unknown in high school, there will always be those that defy the rankings. Look no further than this summer’s NBA free agency for proof.
In today’s Bossi’s Best, we take a look at five who have defied the rankings and scored big cash during 2017 NBA free agency.
What he just signed for: Five years, $201 million with the Warriors.
As a high schooler: The only time I ever saw Curry play as a high schooler was at the NBPA Top 100 camp on the campus of VCU the summer before his senior year. He could really shoot the ball, but he needed a lot of time to get his shot off and he was so far behind the curve physically that he had a pretty minimal impact on the camp. Remember, we are talking about a guy who was asked to walk on at Virginia Tech even though his father Del Curry was one of the greatest players in school history. File Curry under the tag of 'late-bloomer' and I can’t imagine anybody being honest who could have imagined he would become a multiple-time MVP and the owner of the richest contract in NBA history.
What he just signed for: Four years, $128 million with the Celtics.
As a high schooler: While Curry didn’t get that much national attention, Hayward was fairly well known. He was pretty visible on the summer circuit and I also remember seeing him play with his high school team. Hayward’s high school days were before my time with Rivals.com, but I remember thinking he was a borderline top 100 type because of his size and ability to shoot. I figured he would be a very nice pickup for Butler -- he was -- but never thought of him as a future NBA All-Star. However, with hindsight being 20/20, Hayward is a guy that I would put in the category of a pure miss by those of us who were evaluating him in high school. I'm not saying we should have seen a future pro, but he’s probably guy we should have had enough information on to rank.
What he just signed for: Three years, $57 million with the Kings.
As a high schooler: Hill is about as good an example of somebody who completely slipped through the cracks as there is. You would be hard-pressed to find anything written about him by any of the major scouting services as a high schooler and I know that I never saw him play. He wasn’t highly recruited regionally and ended up at IUPUI because he wanted to be close to home. Could a guy like him still be missed in today’s day and age? Yes. But it is getting harder and harder for a guy who eventually makes the NBA to go almost completely ignored as a high schooler, so he’s an extreme outlier.
What he just signed for: Four years, $46 million with the Bucks.
As a high schooler: Snell is another who I was only able to see a few times but, looking back and knowing what I know about the business now and what we look for in projecting guys, it’s hard to believe he was missed on by almost the entire industry. He had very good positional size, was a versatile defender, showed signs of being able to stretch defenses and was a plus athlete. I remember some Pac-12 teams sniffing around on him, but looking back, he is a guy that many of us whiffed on and he was clearly somebody that should have been ranked coming out of high school.
What he just signed for: Three years, $21 million with the Pistons.
As a high schooler: Of the guys on this list, Galloway was probably the most well known in high school. In fact, Galloway was ranked No. 98 nationally by Rivals.com when he committed to St. Joe’s in June of 2009. What caused him to drop out of the rankings, I don’t know (I began working at Rivals.com after final rankings for Galloway’s class were done), but I remember thinking he would be a very good player at St. Joe’s because he could play as either a one or a two. But I can’t say that I would have ranked him out of high school either. In Galloway, we have an example of a guy who was not only a bit underrated, but who figured out what he could do to fill a role at the next level and then worked his tail off. Being a versatile off-the-bench defender, a high-value locker room guy with character and the ability to knock down some open shots isn’t what kids dream of growing up, but Galloway has proven it can end up paying quite well.
