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Looking Back: The 2003 Recruiting Class

Lebron James #23 flies to the basket

Getty Images

Getty Images

Next week, the first session of July’s live recruiting period will begin, and high school hoopers around the country will take their talents to tournaments across the country, looking to impress coaches enough to earn a spot on a team at some level.

Those that are good enough will be playing for a scholarship. The best of the best will have a spot in all of the top 100 recruiting rankings on the line.

Over the course of this week, we will be looking back at the RSCI — a composite index for top 100 lists — to reinforce a point: recruiting rankings are not a guarantee. Top ten recruits flame out and unranked players make the NBA. The only thing that is a given is that hard work will be talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

Keep that in mind while tracking where a kid is ranked and who is recruiting him.

We’ll be looking at the Class of 1999-2008, the last 10 classes that have finished the five years they are allowed to use their four seasons of eligibility.
To read through the rest of our Looking Back posts, click here.

THE TOP 20

1. LeBron James: Duh.

2. Luol Deng: The Dengs are Sudanese basketball royalty, and Luol is the best of the bunch. After one season at Duke where he averaged 15.1 points and helped Duke to the Final Four, Deng was the seventh pick in the 2004 Draft. He’s spent his entire career in Chicago, making the all-star game each of the past two seasons.

3. Shannon Brown: Brown ended up enrolling at Michigan State, where he played for three seasons. After a junior year where he averaged 17.2 points, Brown entered the draft and went 25th to Cleveland. In the NBA, Brown bounced around for a couple of seasons before breaking out with the Lakers in the 2009 playoffs. He’s been a double-figure scorer with the Lakers and the Suns since then.

4. Ndudi Ebi: Ebi was one of the guys that ushered in the one-and-done era. He skipped college and went pro, getting picked 26th by Minnesota in the 2003 Draft. He played 19 games in two seasons, spent a year in the D-League and has been overseas ever since.

5. Kendrick Perkins: Perkins was supposed to be a package deal to Memphis with high school teammate Keena Young, but he went pro instead, getting picked 27th by the Grizzlies in 2003. Perkins has carved out a lucrative career as a paint enforcer without a postgame. He won a ring with Boston in 2008 and is now playing with Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City.

6. Chris Paul: Paul was an all-american at Wake Forest and has gone on to be one of the best point guards in the NBA.

7. Brian Butch: Butch redshirted his first season, but never quite developed into the player he was expected to be. He eventually would up averaging 12.4 points and 6.6 boards as a senior, but went undrafted. He’s been with the same D-League team since 2009.

7. David Padgett: Padgett spent his freshman season at Kansas before transferring to Louisville. With the Cardinals, Padgett never put up huge numbers, but he developed into arguably the Cardinals most important piece. He went undrafted and went into coaching after two years of pro ball. He’s currently on staff at IUPUI.

9. Leon Powe: Powe overcame a tough upbringing to make it to Cal, where he played two seasons, which sandwiched a year he took off because of a knee injury. Powe was the 49th pick in the 2006 Draft and had a successful start to his career in Boston, but blew out his knee again after the 2009 season. He’s been out of the league since 2011.

10. Kris Humphries: I could try to tell you Humphries was the 14th pick in the 2004 Draft after one season at Minnesota, and that he became a consistent double-double threat with the Nets the last could of years, but we all know that he’s the dude that Kanye stole Kim from.

11. Von Wafer: After two seasons at Florida State, Wafer has been an NBA journeyman since getting picked 39th in the 2005 Draft. He’s played for seven NBA teams and a trio of teams abroad.

12. Brandon Bass: Bass played two seasons at LSU before going pro, averaging 17.3 points and 9.1 boards as a sophomore. He was the 33rd pick in the 2005 Draft, and has carved out a career for himself as a hard-working, scrappy power forward. He’s played for Dallas, Orlando and, most recently, Boston.

13. Olu Famutimi: Famutimi played for two seasons at Arkansas before questionably entering the 2005 NBA Draft. He wasn’t picked, and has played in Turkey, France and Germany since.

14. J.R. Giddens: Giddens began his career at Kansas, but a stabbing incident forced a transfer to New Mexico after two seasons with the Jayhawks. He was eventually picked with the last pick in the first round of the 2008 NBA Draft, but lasted just two seasons in the NBA.

14. Linas Kleiza: The native of Lithuania played at Missouri and entered the draft after two seasons. He went 27th, and played well earlier in his career with Denver. After one season in Greece, he came back and has been with Toronto since then.

14. Travis Outlaw: Outlaw never went to college, but he’s managed to carve out a nice career for himself since being the 23rd pick in the 2003 Draft. He played with Portland until 2010, which included a couple of big seasons in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009. He’s played with the Clippers, Nets and Kings since then.

17. Mike Jones: Jones had a decent four-year career at Maryland. He never quite lived up to his potential, but he averaged 13.5 points as a senior. He never played in the NBA.

18. Charlie Villanueva: Villanueva played two seasons at UConn, which included a national title in 2004, before he went pro. He was the seventh pick in the 2005 Draft and had one really good season in Milwaukee that earned him a bigger contract with Detroit. He’s been in the league since, but hasn’t done much worth mentioning.

19. Trevor Ariza: Ariza played one season at UCLA before going pro. He was the 43rd pick, but has managed to put together a solid NBA career. His best season came in 2009-2010, when he averaged 14.9 points with Houston.

20. James Lang: Lang never went to college and was the 48th pick of the 2003 Draft. He played all of 11 games in the NBA, and bounced around the D-League and NBA training camp roster before suffering a stroke in 2009 that left him partially paralyzed.

OTHER NOTABLE PLAYERS


  • 25. Mustafa Shakur
  • 29. Chris Taft
  • 30. Jackie Butler
  • 32. Aaron Brooks
  • 39. Ronnie Brewer
  • 39. Gary Forbes
  • 41. Marcus Williams
  • 42. Terrence Roberts
  • 43. Chris Richard
  • 45. Will Sheridan
  • 52. Courtney Sims
  • 54. Cartier Martin
  • 64. Dorell Wright
  • 66. Paul Millsap
  • 79. PJ Tucker
  • 80. Renaldo Balkman
  • 95. Josh Boone
  • UR: Quincy Douby
  • UR: Nick Fazekas
  • UR: Aaron Gray
  • UR: Dominic McGuire
  • UR: Adam Morrison
  • UR: Joakim Noah
  • UR: Anthony Tolliver

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.