Wednesday, July 13th, 2011 at 10:00 am  |  33 responses

Best NBA Pro Factories

What colleges produce the best pro players? You might be surprised.

20. LSU

Starting Lineup
Guard: Marcus Thornton, Sr.
Guard: Garrett Temple, Sr.
Forward: Glen Davis, Jr.
Forward: Tyrus Thomas, Fr.
Center: Anthony Randolph, Fr.

Average Years In College: 2.6

Other Active Players
Brandon Bass, Ronald Dupree, Chris Johnson

LSU has five very solid players in the NBA right now (including Bass, excluding Temple), but, unfortunately they wouldn’t function well together as a lineup, so Temple gets the start. Thornton is a shooting guard who somehow shoots too much even for that position, while Temple has already played for five different teams in his two-year career. Down low, they have loads of talent, but Davis would have all sorts of trouble guarding opposing small forwards and I don’t think the offense is good enough either.

19. Washington

Starting Lineup
Guard: Nate Robinson, Jr.
Guard: Brandon Roy, Sr.
Forward: Jon Brockman, Sr.
Forward: Quincy Pondexter, Sr.
Center: Spencer Hawes, Fr.

Average Years In College: 3.2

Other Active Players
Isaiah Thomas*

Frankly I’m surprised Washington’s team is this good. Roy has proved to be a top-notch scorer when healthy, while Nate Rob and Hawes have contributed as very solid role players over the past few years. Brockman and Pondexter aren’t exactly studs, but they actually both played in over 60 games this season, which is more than Roy or Robinson can say.

18. Ohio State

Starting Lineup
Guard: Mike Conley, Fr.
Guard: Evan Turner, Jr.
Forward: Michael Redd, Jr.
Forward: Daequan Cook, Fr.
Center: Greg Oden, Fr.

Average Years In College: 1.8

Other Active Players
Kosta Koufos, Byron Mullens, Jon Diebler*

Conley, Cook and Oden were all on the 2007 Ohio State team that lost to Florida in the Finals, but this team is still pretty bad. Obviously if Redd and Oden could stay on the floor they could work well as an undersized group, especially with Conley’s emergence as a really good guard and Turner’s upside, but this team, factoring in injuries, would be seriously ineffective.

17. Georgetown

Starting Lineup
Guard: Patrick Ewing Jr, Sr.
Forward: DaJuan Summers, Jr.
Forward: Jeff Green, Jr.
Forward: Greg Monroe, So.
Center: Roy Hibbert, Sr.

Average Years In College: 3.2

Other Active Players
None

I think it’s safe to say that this team would be scoring most of its points in the paint. Georgetown has produced three players with extremely high ceilings (especially Monroe), but Ewing Jr and Summers are the worst guard combo since… um… Regardless, I like the combination of Green, Monroe and Hibbert a lot, but there just isn’t enough offensive firepower here.

16. Michigan State

Starting Lineup
Guard: Shannon Brown, Jr.
Guard: Charlie Bell, Sr.
Forward: Morris Peterson, So.
Forward: Jason Richardson, So.
Forward: Zach Randolph, Fr.

Average Years In College: 2.4

Other Active Players
Maurice Ager

This team would be pretty strong offensively with Brown running the point, JRich on the wing and Z-Bo down low, but Bell and Mo Pete combined for just 36 total points this season… that could be an issue.

15. Kansas

Starting Lineup
Guard: Mario Chalmers, Jr.
Guard: Kirk Hinrich, Sr.
Forward: Paul Pierce, Jr.
Forward: Markieff Morris*, Jr.
Center: Marcus Morris*, Jr.

Average Years In College: 3.2

Other Active Players
Nick Collison, Drew Gooden, Xavier Henry, Sherron Collins, Cole Aldrich, Brandon Rush, Darnell Jackson, Darrell Arthur, Julian Wright, Josh Selby*

For all the success Kansas has had, this team is very mediocre. It could definitely be competitive with teams both on this list as well as some in the NBA, but it’s certainly a letdown for one of the NCAA’s perennial powerhouses.

14. USC

Starting Lineup
Guard: OJ Mayo, Fr.
Guard: Nick Young, Jr.
Forward: DeMar DeRozan, Fr.
Forward: Taj Gibson, Jr.
Center: Nikola Vucevic*, Jr.

Average Years In College: 2.2

Other Active Players
Brian Scalabrine

I like this team a lot. Mayo, Young and DeRozan are all very good scorers on the rise, while Gibson showed some serious flashes during the Playoffs. As for Vucevic, I’m not totally sold, but it’s certainly comforting to know that even if he doesn’t pan out, Scalabrine’s can always come off the bench and bring some of his patented lockdown defense with him.

13. Marquette

Starting Lineup
Guard: Dwyane Wade, Jr.
Guard: Wesley Matthews, Sr.
Forward: Jimmy Butler*, Sr.
Forward: Steve Novak, Sr.
Forward: Lazar Hayward, Sr.

Average Years In College: 3.8

Other Active Players
None

Before you overreact to having this team ranked ahead of USC or Kansas, keep in mind that the Cavs’ starting lineup in Game 4 of the 2007 NBA Finals featured Daniel Gibson, Sasha Pavlovic, LeBron James, Drew Gooden and Zyndrunis Ilgauskas. Sure, Marquette might not have a 7-3 Russian dude with a nice jumper, but Novak (career 42 percent from three) will have to do. If LeBron made the Finals all by himself, I think Wade could win a few games playing alongside Matthews, a very capable scorer.

12. Georgia Tech

Starting Lineup
Guard: Iman Shumpert*, Jr.
Guard: Anthony Morrow, Sr.
Forward: Thaddeus Young, Fr.
Forward: Derrick Favors, Fr.
Center: Chris Bosh, Fr.

Average Time In College: 2

Other Active Players
Gani Lawai, Mario West, Will Bynum, Jarrett Jack

This was the hardest team to rank. Either Shumpert and Favors could reach their potential as a really good scorer and a great post player, respectively, or both of them could flop and this would just be a one-man show centering around Bosh. I like Morrow and Thaddeus as role players, but again, because Shumpert and Favors still have so much to prove, GT can’t be ranked any higher. I will say that of the teams listed, this most closely resembles an actual team. They’ve got all the necessary pieces—a point guard, a sharpshooter, a combo forward and two guys who can both score and defend in the post.

11. Florida

Starting Lineup
Guard: Jason Williams, So.
Guard: Mike Miller, Sr.
Forward: David Lee, Sr.
Forward: Al Horford, Jr.
Center: Joakim Noah, Jr.

Average Years In College: 3.2

Other Active Players
Chandler Parsons*, Marreese Speights, Corey Brewer, Matt Bonner, Udonis Haslem, Vernon Macklin*

Florida has a weird mesh of players to say the least. I don’t think there’s a better frontcourt on this list considering the Gators have three of the League’s best rebounders; however, their backcourt makes me envy Cavs fans who had the pleasure of watching Manny Harris and Alonzo Gee play together this year. If they had a point guard who averaged better than 2 points and 2 dimes per game (Williams’ ‘10-11 numbers), they’d likely be a top-five team here.

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

  • EmCee

    I’d almost take that HS lineup over any other 5 guys from any team mentioned!

  • PlanetAsia14

    I agree with EmCee. When you got Kobe and LeBron… It’s over.

  • Oli

    who wouldn’t?

  • Alex

    Kobe and Lebron would never touch the ball with Monta running the point. I’m only kidding, but on a serious note that could be best defensive team ever if you rolled the clock back a year or 2.

  • Rog23

    Why is grant hill sitting on the bench behind magette?

  • mbex4jp2

    Hate to be picky but Ilgauskas is Lithuanian

  • Patrick

    Good read

  • http://redoftoothandclaw.ca/ niQ

    Yea was a good read. Probably will see a lot of material like this during the lockout =(

  • EJ

    Scalabrine got snubbed.

  • http://Yahoo! Chris Mullin’s Accent

    Would you rather have Amare or KG on the high school team at this point in their careers?

  • 23-DOOM-50

    Shaun Livingston: So nice you gotta list him twice lol

  • http://slamonline.com Ben Osborne

    Nice work Leo!

  • Pingback: Slam: Best NBA Factories - Arizona is #6

  • http://leobeingleo.com Leo Sepkowitz

    EmCee … I think even the High School team’s second unit (Williams, Jackson, Smith, Jefferson, Bynum) could be pretty competitive with any team on this list.

  • Klaustophobik

    Where is Amare??

  • http://leobeingleo.com Leo Sepkowitz

    Amar’e was accidentally left off.. Obviously he should be the starting power forward for the High School team and KG should be delegated to the bench.

  • Klaustophobik

    Yea I agree Leo… Honestly the highschool team would obviously destroy any of those college teams. Maybe you should rank the schools based on who is still playing but in their primes.

  • http://Yahoo! Chris Mullin’s Accent

    KG outperformed Amare in the Celtics-Knicks series. You could argue that his superior defense could make him more valuable, but a Dwight-Amare combo would be freakish. Dwight defending the paint would easily nullify any of Amare’s defensive flaws.
    My NBA’s Freak Athlete Starting Five:
    PG- Rose (Westbrook isn’t quite there)
    SG- Wade
    SF- Lebron
    PF- Blake (younger and even more explosive than Amare)
    C- Dwight

  • http://www.slamonline.com spit hot fiyah

    stephen jackson did not play collage ball?

  • http://www.twitter.com/JoshElam JE

    UConn looks better than Texas. I guess if age wasn’t a factor they’d be a no-brainer.

  • http://www.Slamonline.com Slick Ric

    timmy and paul = best team. uconn has beeter squad than texas. and memphis is nice with just Rose and Tyreke.

  • TheFinger

    what, no brandon jennings?

  • Armando

    Morris twins over Collison and Gooden at this point… I doubt they’re any better.. Scal and his lock down defense was definitely snubbed.

  • Max

    Since we have high school as an honorable mention. International:
    Tony Parker
    Manu Ginobili
    AK47
    Dirk
    Pau Gasol
    Also seems pretty solid to me

  • http://slamonline.com datkid

    how is westbrooke not as freakishly athletic as rose though?

  • Showtime

    second what he ^ said

  • Delano

    You forget among the active HS players Sebastian Telfair.

  • JoeBloe16

    KG over Amare?!?!?

    I think Amare’s a stud, but KG in his prime would smoke Amare on both ends of the floor.

  • JoeBloe16

    This article is a joke. It should specifically say which college produces the best pros all time. Of course the writer wouldn’t do that, because that would automatically default UNC and UCLA at the top and everyone else far behind.

    1. UNC
    2. UCLA
    3. Everyone else…

  • Real Wonder

    If You count Enes Kanter as a Kentucky guy, as you should since the NCAA counted him as a shcolarship player and against Kentuckys APR, then that rockets UK up to at least number 2 IMO.

    In a few years this will be an annual Kentucky love fest anyway.

  • Pingback: A Great Article Looking at the Best Pro Producing Schools

  • Pingback: Arizona Top 10 Pro Producing School

  • miltk

    you’d think a “well-studied” criteria like this would have almost indisputable results,,,but the fact that you’re adding rookie players who are only PROJECTED starters diminishes your whole article.

    on the opposite end of your scale, bonus players DO HELP. for instance let’s take ucla. you give them a nod for westbrook and holiday, yet by not giving points to STARTERS afflalo, davis, and collison you’ve compromised the whole point of the article. if a school has 50 starters in the nba, do 45 NOT COUNT???

Advertisement