The NBA has seen a flood of highschoolers and foreigners (in this in this case, a foreign player is someone who has not played collegiately in the U.S.) in recent years. But only one has led his team to an NBA championship.
Beginning in 1991, Jordan, a three-year college player, and Olajuwan (3 years), led their teams to NBA championships through 1998. In 1999, the Spurs were led by two big men with 4 years each of college experience in Duncan and Robinson. Shaq (3 years in college) led the Lakers to titles over the next three seasons. Duncan also led his team to titles in '03, '05, and '07. Filling in the blanks, the Pistons won in '04 because of a team effort, including Billups (2 years), Rasheed Wallace (2 years) Ben Wallace (4 years) Hamilton (3 years), and Prince (4 years). Shaq and Wade (3 years) led the Heat in '06.
Only last season, did a highschooler lead his team to a championship. Kevin Garnett was surrounded by a plethora of talent however. Pierce (3 years), the Finals MVP, and Allen (3 years) contributed greatly. Before last year, Garnett had only gotten out of the first round of the playoffs once.
Kobe was the second banana on the Shaq-led Lakers teams and Parker won the Finals MVP in '07, but both were not the leaders of their team. Of late, foreigners and highscoolers have led their teams to losses in the Finals, Dirk in '06, LeBron in '07, and Kobe in '08. Both number one seeds are led by highschoolers this season.
While the last couple of years have seen an increase of relative success for highschoolers and foreigners, it still appears there is no substitute for playing a few years in college. If you want to win an NBA championship, that is.
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