The SLAM Fresh 50 – 2009

I agree for the most part. Stephenson cries a lot but the kid can go off whenever he wants and get to the basket at will regardless of who’s in the middle. He’s a BEAST and will prove it when he tools on the rest of the country’s SG’s next year…hopefully not at St. Johns.

This is a really solid crop.

the Wear brothers have no business being in the top 50- they are two of the most overrated players in the country. I agree with a lot of this list, but personally feel Renardo is more skilled than Demarcus Cousins. Also in better shape than Cousins- Sidney lost 35 pounds this year and is in great shape. I’m not hating on the list, it’s well thought out. I’m glad to see Duncanville’s Shawn Williams in the mix. I’m glad that Dominic Cheek is where he is, he hasn’t played that well this season to my standards for a high profile guard. Glad to see Peyton Siva in the mix as well.

Sebastian B. O.- To be honest, this is one of the weakest senior classes that I can think of. The 2010 and 2011 classes will blow your mind.

Word on Sidney, good and bad. Would love to see “motivated and in shape” become permanent parts of his game.

and for people that don’t know Sidney, his father, or seen him play- doing that consistently is a big f***in deal. Sidney when he gets that I want to play attitude is miles ahead of everybody else. And he has been in that attitude all season. I think it’s finally clicking.

Theres a lot of great player on this list, but im gettin’ a lil tired of u guys getting hype over these players like Lance Stephenson. Yea hes good and a top 10 player but damn hes not #1. Not even close. It’s the same reason u guys were Starbury apologists until it became clear taht he wasnt a cancer to a team but full blown aids. Same reason u over hyped bassy, and on the cover of the last slam taht i saw in my mailbox u got A.I. ont he cover when hes cleary just another player in the leagure right now…come on now slam..lets step it up fam…great mag & site though

Squad, I think part of why his hype has been subdued is more about his attitude. In the past he has totally irked people with the way he carries himself. Sometimes in the past, he was just rude to some media people, AAU people, coaches and whatnot. I’m not saying its right, but some people decided not to hype his game after that. People were happier to hype bassy because he had that picture perfect image at the time, perfect white smile, turtle cute face, always spoke respectfully…His family handled his image like they KNEW he was going to the NBA from puberty, and since leaving the closely guarded family image game, he has slipped up multiple times. If you’ve ever been around Lance’s people, you don’t see the carefully guarded image. Lance is who he is. Good or bad. He is talented though.

and to clarify on Lance, I’m not hating the kid, he is one of the most talented guards in this class, and I think he can succeed where Bassy, and even Marbury have failed (not to call Marbury a failure, he’s a talented player.)

any freshman in the country *this year**

yeah justin, that’s sorta what i’m getting at — bassy’s squeaky clean image (a product of his brother’s NBA failure story, his family support, etc) may have led to a love affair with the media that ignored his game’s compatibility at the pro level, whereas lance has at times been written off because of so-called behavioral stuff, or what most of us call being a high school kid

And for the record, I think Jordan Hamilton will make a better pro than Derrick Favors. Aarron, seeing Renardo is even more amazing. Squad, I agree with you, that’s my opinion on how the media has handled this. And let’s be frank, he is being a high school kid, but the whole grabbing a girls tits in public at school without permission is a bit off color for any player- not his smartest move. He will do fine, he just needs to have a coach who can be like a father figure- strict, uncompromising. Because Lance has NBA talent, if he can get a few attitude issues underway, he will be fine. And nbk when we talk about this year’s freshman, we must remember that though there are no Rose/Gordon/Mayo players, there is more overall frosh talent when you go down the list, I also think there is more NBA talent overall in that class. Not more talent than Mayo or Rose, but overall when you go down the list, the 2008 freshman class will have more NBA rotation men and stars than the previous year.

John Wall is an extremely talented kid, don’t mistake my thoughts. I just don’t agree when the guy from rivals said “John Wall is more talented than Derrick Rose, and is faster without the ball.” That’s crap. John Wall will be one and done and be a fine pro, but will not be a top PG in the league. Rose CAN do that. I just think Wall is overhyped by about 50% of the media. I think A. Sam has struck a good blend of opinion here.

justin-get a life you have like 10 comments and this was only posted today haha.

For the rankings-Sidney has never played as good as he is playing right now. Last friday he avenged an early season loss to westchester by almost single handedly leading the offensive and defensive game and pushing his team hard to get the game won. Sidney for sure is the no. 1 player, but Joe Burton in the top 50? he’s good don’t get me wrong, but 31?? ahhh haha, It is good though to see someone have Stephonson at no. 1 instead of Wall when Stephenson is the obvious better player.

Matt, you are only hating because you can’t touch my swag. And don’t hate Matt, I’ve been peeping SLAM stuff during classes all day. STOP THE HATE! haha, just playin’. But do you think it’s funny that Roger Franklin is higher than Shawn Williams? Sh*t had me rollin.

also stupid nagging ankle/knee injuries at UT. never anything serious, but something always nagged at his legs

let’s just hope Wall doesn’t fall to corruption around him. (just ask people in the know about how shoddy Baylor has been in his recruitment, as well as KU, Duke AND UNC. This is the weirdest recruitment since Beasley (KSU hired an assistant coach close to beasley just to keep him in Manhattan when Huggins left.)

Cub, you will be raving about Junior Cad’ in the next year. I promise you.

nbk, Paulus started in the past game because he’s a better matchup for Miami, and I’d heard rumblings that Nolan Smith has a nagging injury at the moment. Paulus lost the starting spot because Nolan plays better defense than Greg and in an ACC with that many top guards, you need Nolan starting. But starting Paulus against Miami will give Greg a huge boost so the second line of DUKE will be that much better in March

I hope your right, I was watching Midnight Madness and they mentioned Paulus got his job back for good. Well for a while, if thats true that makes me stress out a little bit. But I hope what your saying is right

He has the job back for now because he’s just playing better than Nolan. At the end of the day though, when DUKE needs their best defender, Nolan will be in the game. The real issue is what lineup you use though. Duke can either go Paulus, Nolan Smith, Gerald Henderson, Kyle Singler, Lance Thomas. Orrr, they can go Smith, Henderson, Singler, Thomas, Zoubek….ORRRR, if they want shooters, they go Paulus, Scheyer, Henderson, Scheyer, Thomas. Henderson being used for backdoor cuts to open up the offense, and Thomas for midrange to make the defense a little hesitant on who they jump out on. Regardless, whichever lineup they use, they will have a problem with size. They can get to the final 4 this year IF they get the right matchups in the bracket.

Yeah I don’t like Duke for much more than a win or two in the tournament and a good game against UNC. I don’t think they can even make it out of the sweet 16 this year. But I am a duke hater so my opinion is probably a little biased

Yeah i just don’t have faith in them, especially with their reliance on Henderson to hit big shots, I just don’t see him as anything more then a very good role player in college. A bench guy in the L

Henderson is too small to guard players like Battier does. He has enough muscle but he is not long enough to guard 3′s and too offensively challenged to make an impact at the 2. But I have had the same opinion about him since his Sophomore year. He has a showed a few glimpses offensively but I just don’t see it

Budinger makes me want to puke