Who is the greatest to ever sport the #2?

 

Any other suggestions? Let us know why.

Jeter, of course.

Moses Malone was the first kid to go straight from High School into the pros. he did it in 1974 and was 19 I believe. He was an ABA all-star for the Utah Stars from the beginning. He later was a dominant big man for Philly and Houston going to 2 NBA finals and winning one of them.

 

He paved the trail for "hardship cases" in the NBA and people who chose to jump directly to NBA who had no need or desire to go to college.

I like Jeter. But of cource I am very young.

I chose Malone, but it was a toss up for either him or Jeter IMO.

I am by no means a Yankee fan, but to deny that Jeter is great player is absolutely insane. Granted, I'm very young and my knowledge of Malone is limited.

I voted for Jeter, but don't forget one of the best American born defenders of all time, former New York Ranger Brian Leetch.

I abhor the Yankees.

 

I voted for Jeter.

Jeter

Moses Malone

 

Brent Musberger, interviewing Moses following a huge game in the '83 NBA finals:

"Moses, great game. What was the key to your big night?"

 

Malone:

"I told coach, 'Gimme da ball, in da paint, I'll score.'"

I am going to say Derek Jeter because of his amazing playoff stats and such a great leader he is.

Moses Malone was the first kid to go straight from High School into the pros. he did it in 1974 and was 19 I believe. He was an ABA all-star for the Utah Stars from the beginning. He later was a dominant big man for Philly and Houston going to 2 NBA finals and winning one of them.

 

He paved the trail for "hardship cases" in the NBA and people who chose to jump directly to NBA who had no need or desire to go to college.

 

He was not the first to go to the NBA from high school.

He was not the first to go to the NBA from high school.

 

Darryl Dawkins?

Dawkins was the same year but I believe Bill Willoughby was the first player drafted from high school into the NBA.

This has nothing to do with the original topic of the thread but previous post made me wonder who in fact was the first high schooler drafted by the NBA.

 

Moses Malone was the first kid to go straight from High School into the pros. he did it in 1974 and was 19 I believe. He was an ABA all-star for the Utah Stars from the beginning. He later was a dominant big man for Philly and Houston going to 2 NBA finals and winning one of them.

 

He paved the trail for "hardship cases" in the NBA and people who chose to jump directly to NBA who had no need or desire to go to college.

 

Actually what Hatz stated is correct, Moses Malone was the first high schooler in the pros, however, he was a 1974 third round pick of the Utah Stars in the ABA. However Hatz is incorrect in stating that Malon paved the way for hardship cases, as that had already been accomplished by Spencer Haywood in 1968.

 

Darryl Dawkings was in fact the first high school to be drafted by the NBA. He was a first round pick of the Philladelphia 76ers in 1975. Bill Willoughby was not selected until the 2nd round of that year by the Atlanta Hawks.

 

I found that following text from a website HoopsHype. The story behind the drafting of Dawkins is quite bizarre. Obviously Rivals was not in existance.

 

ENTER THE HIGH SCHOOLER: MOSES FROM VIRGINIA AND CHOCOLATE THUNDER FROM LOVETRON

 

Once the Haywood case made the four-year rule passe, it was only a matter of time until players would be signed straight out of high school. In 1974, the ABA Utah Stars selected Moses Malone of Petersburg, Virginia in the third round of the draft. His high school team had won 50 straight games and two consecutive state championships, attracting the attention of more than 200 colleges – despite the fact that Malone's grade point average was not high enough to be eligible for an NCAA scholarship until he suddenly became an "A" student during his last semester. The miraculous grade increases and the tons of money being offered under the table led ACC Commissioner Bob James to call Malone's situation "the worst recruiting mess I've ever seen."

 

Even though Malone's body had not yet filled out and matured, he averaged 17.7 points per game and 12.9 rebounds per game in two ABA seasons, making the All-Star team as a rookie. After the NBA-ABA merger, Portland selected him in the ABA dispersal draft but traded him to the Braves for a first-round pick. He played briefly for the Braves before Houston acquired him for two first-round picks. Two years later, he won the first of his three regular season MVPs and the first of his six rebounding crowns en route to a Hall of Fame career.

 

Malone's success did not go unnoticed. The 76ers looked far and wide for a dominant big man as part of their rebuilding process after the disastrous 1972-73 season. Darryl Dawkins, a 6-10 senior center at Maynard Evans High School in Orlando, Florida, impressed Sixers' coach Gene Shue with his play in the 1975 state finals. Once the Sixers' brass decided to select Dawkins it became imperative to keep word of their young prospect from other teams. They convinced Dawkins to not play in postseason tournaments so scouts from other NBA organizations would not find out about him. The Sixers accomplished this by hiring Dawkins' high school coach to be Philadelphia's Florida scout, his first job being to "baby-sit" Dawkins and keep him hidden until the NBA draft. The plan worked and the 76ers made Dawkins the first high school player ever chosen in the first round of the NBA draft. He signed a $1.5 million, seven-year deal with the Sixers.

 

Dawkins enjoyed a long NBA career and played in the NBA Finals three times as a Sixer but he never made the All-Star team and, unlike Malone, did not become a dominant NBA center. He is best known for shattering two backboards and the creative nicknames he invented to describe himself (Chocolate Thunder, Master of Disaster, Sir Slam) and his spectacular dunks (Gorilla, Yo Mama, In Your Face Disgrace, Left Handed Spine Chiller Supreme, Hammer of Thor, etc.)

 

Borrowing lingo from Parliament Funkadelic, he spoke of his "interplanetary funkmanship" and claimed to be from the planet "Lovetron." His backboard-shattering dunk over the Kings' Bill Robinzine inspired this momentous sobriquet from Dawkins: "Chocolate Thunder Flying, Robinzine Crying, Teeth Shaking, Glass Breaking, Rump Roasting, Bun Toasting, Wham, Bam, Glass Breaker I Am Jam."

 

Ironically, the careers of the two trendsetting big men intersected when Malone replaced Dawkins as the Sixers' starting center in 1982-83 and led the team to the championship, winning the regular season and Finals' MVPs in the process.

 

Another player made the jump straight from high school to the NBA in 1975. Bill Willoughby, a second-round pick of the Hawks that year, played eight NBA seasons but never averaged even 10 points per game. It took 20 years until Kevin Garnett became the next player to make the leap directly to the NBA from high school, but the signings of Malone, Dawkins and Willoughby paved the way for this to happen and also made it seem less shocking when increasing numbers of players invoked the hardship rule to leave college for the pros after only one or two seasons.