With the start of the NBA season last week and the start of practice for our local prep teams set to kick-off over the next few weeks, I thought I would bust out with Burney's very own all-time Oakland County hoops squad.

 

OC Hoop Kings - All-Time Oakland County Boys Basketball Team

 

G Kalin Lucas (Orchard Lk. St. Mary's) - The Consummate OC floor leader due to the county proud in E. Lansing under coach Izzo and the Spartans

G B.J. Armstrong (Birmingham Brother Rice) - High scoring PG in the prep and college ranks (all-american at Iowa in the late-80's), valuable cog in the first half of the Chicago Bulls dynasty of the 1990's.

G The Fife Family - Dan/Dugan/Dane (Clarkston) - The Fife's are this area's athletic version of Camelot and the Kennedy family.

G Kevin Smith (Birmingham Brother Rice) - Participated in classic scoring dual with Magic Johnson in a 1977 state final

G Mike Chappell/Greg Grays (Southfield-Lathrup) - Chappell (Duke/MSU) and Grays (Penn St./UofD-Mercy) led the Chargers to an epic run all the way to a state final appearance in 1996. SL's overtime classic win over number one-ranked in the state Pershing and Mr. Basketball Winifred Walton (via a last second Chappell 10-footer) in a quarterfinal game is one of the all-time great contests in county history.

G Rashad Phillips (Ferndale) - The OC's own Allen Iverson. This little guy got the job done any which way both while running the point for coach Don Mcneal at Ferndale and Perry Watson at UofD-Mercy

 

F The Russell Family - Cazzie/Campy/Walker D (Pontiac Central) - Cazzie could very easily be the best player in OC history!

F Lester Abrahm - (Pontiac Northern) - Back-to-Back state titles for the Red and White at Northern, enough said!

F Bruce Flowers (Berkley) - This future Notre Dame Fighting Irishman was the definition of prep greatness in his day for the Bears in the 70's

F Tom Staton, Sr. (Ferndale) - One of the highest on-court IQ's of any player to ever play in the county.

 

C Chris Webber/Shane Battier (Birmingham Detroit Country Day) - If the best in the history of the OC isn;t Cazzie Russell, its Webber or Battier.

C Tim McCormick (Clarkston) - Long, tall, and polished, whether for his hometown Wolves in H.S. or the Maize and Blue in Ann Arbor in college.