Was quite good, but ESPN posted way too many excerpts I read. Also, it oddly skips over whole classes of high school entrants. Darius Miles for example doesn't even get mentioned in the book IIRC. (Doubly odd since Abrams apparently was a former Clippers beat writer.)
I'd argue he was the first real HS "bust" in that his immaturity derailed his career because he refused to work on his game, focused on the money, etc. Leon Smith had mental issues and Bender had injury issues.
It also doesn't really hit on some of the last two class members like Kendrick Perkins, Shaun Livingston, Al Jefferson, Josh Smith, etc. who carved out successful careers, made All-Star teams, made incredible comebacks and altered their games, etc. It more or less stops at Kwame and the Baby Bulls while only briefly touching on Dwight. Other than the LeBron coverage obviously.
He seems to suggest that the Pacers-Pistons brawl was the catalyst for the age limit.
Would have been interesting to see the book at least grapple some with the one-and-done phenomenon that replaced it at arguably a larger level than HS draftees ever were. Also the roughly equivalent international explosion. It started at the same time and many of the players were not any older. Dirk would have been the same "class" as Rashard Lewis and Al Harrington had they gone to college.
Also, the new/feared trend of bypassing college for Europe/D-League like Brandon Jennings, Mudiay, etc. Jeremy Tyler skipping his junior year of high school.
But I'm being a bit harsh probably because it started off very well but the end of the book is really quite a let down. And also it made me think about all the detailed garbage I'd write that nobody would want to read.
One thing I didn't know was that Kobe was determined to come out well before KG did, and was actually upset he didn't get to be the first modern high schooler and KG had not only taken that away but also encouraged others like Jermaine O'Neal to come out the same year.
Both Tyson Chandler and Tracy McGrady were distrustful of the "movers and shakers" that latched onto them early and got them into camps and stuff but figured they would be easy to dispose of...and they did.
McGrady gave his original two agents/management/handlers/etc. (who had gotten him into the ACBD camps, private prep school, etc. when he was a nobody in late 1996) roughly $100,000 of his rookie contract and had ditched them well before he signed with Orlando.
Isiah Thomas considered drafting both KG and Kobe if he had the chance but was afraid all the garbage veterans he had picked up in the expansion draft would ruin them. Considering Alvin Robertson and Oliver Miller were both on the inaugural Raptors roster that was probably a good move.
Also, the teams were setting up all these programs and networks for overseeing the kids but they punted it to the league to handle after the age limit came in. As if one semester of college does much.
