Response to the response of "Is Atlanta the best HS bball city in the Us?"
Monday, December 11, 2006
Update - 12.12.06 // more crossfire has occurred in the comments below. Also, this debate was linked to by the Jackson Community College coach in Michigan. I emailed him to chime in on the subject as he was a student assistant at Michigan State and coached HS ball in Brooklyn. He deferred because he didn't want to piss off any recruits.
...the debate rages on. I don't even really care what city has the best high school basketball, but I love the debate. These two guys love high school and college basketball as much as anyone in the world. No better place to host their opinions than Urban Eola.
- my original post on the subject // written by a guy from Atlanta -- obvious Atlanta bias
- first response to my post // written by a guy from Bethlehem, PA -- obvious Philly bias. His love for HS and small-school college basketball is so ridiculous that he once told me he would rather watch a University of Central Florida (who?) basketball game than the NBA's Orlando Magic.
- response to the response (below) // written by a guy from Athens, GA (but originally from Lower Merion Township, PA -- home of Kobe Bryant's high school). His love for high school basketball is so ridiculous that he used to scout high school basketball games (notepad and all) just for fun.
Here's the response to the the response (in it's original form):
Historically it's not even close - Philly's way better - ATL being this good is more of a recent thing - not to say that there hasn't been talent in ATL before, but nothing like the last 5 years
I actually did read some of that column [AJC article] while taking a shit at work, and I don't remember Kwame Brown being mentioned (and if he was, that's stupid, because he lived 300 miles away from ATL, so ATL definitely shouldn't be taking credit for him.
First of all - NYC is the best city historically - And not just because it has the highest population - They're the best historically for how seriously the sport is taken up there - sure it's largely because the hs football up there is atrocious (NJ has been pretty good at football, but not NYC, although it has been improving a little bit in the last 4 or 5 years).
Philly is definitely the best COLLEGE basketball town (big 5 plus Drexel)
Now, I do think it's quite lame that the guy's claiming Bethlehem as a b-ball powerhouse (Packer and Kendra? - are you kidding me - This guy must think that Kwame Brown is a bigger bust at basketball then Dan Kendra at basketball - Kendra had enough problems with football - what a stupid argument)
And the Gerry McNamara thing - not a good argument either - He's from Scranton, which isn't even that close to Philadelphia - and I can't think of ANYONE else at all who could ball from there.
I think ATL is insane at basketball (and really the whole state of GA - because I'd be willing to say that the best players from metro ATL and the best players from everywhere else in GA are almost about the same.
Still, historically, Philly is definitely better. But ATL recently takes the crown I think that historically (I have no imperical evidence, this is just what I think, that they rank like this:
NYC
Philly
Chicago
Baltimore
Detroit
D.C.
L.A.
Bay-Area
Memphis
ATL
posted by Michael Tavani @ 2:27 PM |
2 Comments:
-
At 9:33 PM,
said...
-
First of all, I agree, by far and away NYC has traditionally been the best
hs basketball city. Secondly, I talked about what I knew about in my
response, which is NE PA basketball. That is why I mentioned Packer and
Gerry. I wasnt saying that they somehow add to the Philly bball legacy.
Obviously they dont because they didn't play there. I was just pointing out
that all of NE PA has talent. Where did I say that Bethlehem was a
"powerhouse? I was trying to argue the fact that just because a city or
area isnt home to a #1 draft pick, they can still produce many very solid
players. Just because someone goes to Holy Cross to play basketball doesnt
mean they arent good does it?
I understand that Kendra didn't live up to his expectations...but please
look at Kwames numbers!!! He makes Adonal Foyle (Colgate...most dominating
college basketball I have ever seen..not so much in the NBA) look like
Kareem. I mean he is 6'11'' and has a career PPG of less than 8..are u
kidding me!!! He has absolutely no talent...the only reason he is in the
NBA is because he won the genetic lottery. Atleast Kendra is doing some
productive (Navy Seal).
This guy has a classic case of what I like to call "Insider". This guy
subscribes to ESPN insider, SI and probably ESPN the MAG, reads a few
articles and all of a sudden he is Digger Phelps and Rick Majerus rolled
into one..give me a break.
I mean this guy actually rated the best basketball cities 1-10!!!! The Bay
Area??? are u serious??? ...id love to see how he came up with this ranking
system...i understand that this is just what he thinks, but some thoughts
are better left not stating...
He scouted hs teams?? You have to be joking..how about joining a league or
trying out for a team..do something. But no matter what you do stop
ranking things when you have no idea what you are talking about...he
probably come up with and say with a straight face the top 10 cities for
field hockey players...im sure the Bay Area has some great talent -
At 2:18 PM,
said...
-
First of all, don't play the Navy Seal card with Dan Kendra - Obviously that is a good thing, but he was an absolute bust, in every way - AT FOOTBALL - If he was that bad at football, I can't imagine how inept he was at basketball.
First of all, I've never been on ESPN insider, or any of that stuff - and even if I had, who the hell cares.
As for Bay Area - Two players that come to me off the top of my head are...hmmmm...the two best point guards in the 90's (Jason Kidd and Gary Payton - Jason Kidd was only the National player of the year in every publication when he came out of high school)
As for Northeastern PA, I love it up there - very pretty country - the Poconos are gorgeous - the basketball talent is not - Southeastern PA I'll give you, but don't throw G-MAC at me.
As for trying out for a team - I played, (speaking of Jason Kidd) at the very high school at which he competed in the McDonalds All-American Slam Dunk Contest (Cedar Shoals High School, Athens, GA) - I'd be WAY more than happy to "try out" playing against you. In fact, I'll go up and play you in Northeastern PA, in the Poconos, on skis, on those ridiculous mountains yall try to pawn off as ski slopes
