Roy Williams on Recruiting Kevin Garnett, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant
High School to Pro has been a heated discussion as of late. It seems as though analysts and fans alike are trying to make sense of the last two weeks with not only the NCAA making significant changes but also the NBA increasing their leverage for student-athletes.
UNC Basketball head coach, Roy Williams, seems to be hot on the media circuit since his recent appearance on ESPN's recent documentary following Michael Jordan and his last season with the Chicago Bulls, 'The Last Dance.' In the series, Williams highlights Jordan's time at Carolina and specifically discussing recruiting Jordan to UNC, but are there any other recruits on Williams' board that he decided to take a crack at? How about three future NBA Hall of Famers?
Speaking with Dan Patrick, Williams shed light in attempting to recruit Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, and Lebron James and whether the NBA rule will change for high school student-athletes,
"I think they will (changing the NBA rule). Kobe made the right decision. LeBron, Garnett, all those guys made the right decision. There's a lot of guys that made a bad decision and I've said it all along, there's no perfect rule for everybody." Williams said, "There's kids that think they're NBA players and all of a sudden, two years later they're of the game and have no education and are not really equipped to go out in the world. There's no perfect rule, but I think we'll eventually get back to that, yes."
Recruiting Kobe Bryant:
"Made one phone call to his father and had the conversation and I was at Kansas at that time and I felt like when I got off the phone call, I'm glad I had a chance to talk to his dad, but that young man is going to the NBA."
Recruiting Kevin Garnett:
"Never called him, but I saw him in high school and knew he was going to the NBA."
Recruiting LeBron James:
"No." Williams stated he didn't even call; he knew he was going pro.
The way James was already a star in high school, no way you even attempt to convince to go to college.
Of course, these recruits would've been Jayhawks except James, he didn't head into the NBA until 2003; the same year Williams took over the Carolina Basketball program. As much as one would like to imagine them in college, you can't beat being the number one draft pick (James), fifth (Garnett) and 13th (Bryant).
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