OC Top 5 – All-Time Boys Prep Basketball Greats
1 Chris Webber (Birmingham Detroit Country Day) – Took DCD to three straight state titles as a prepster before going on to garner college hoop icon-status by headlining the immeasurably popular and culture-altering Fab Five at Michigan (leading the Maize & Blue to back-to-back NCAA championship games) and becoming the first overall pick in the 1993 NBA Draft. Very good pro career with a multitude of teams.....a rare 20-10-5 guy for most of his 15 year run in the league
2 Campy Russell (Pontiac Central) – The first in a long line of legendary Russell boys that starred for Pontiac Central and an eventual All-American forward at Michigan who went on to become a first round draft pick in the NBA (by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1974), a nine-year league vet and future NBA All-Star (1979)
3 Shane Battier (Birmingham Detroit Country Day) – Patrolled the paint with unbridled ferocity and dogged determination for the 'Jackets in the mid-to-late-1990s, leading the program to three straight state championships alas CWebb less than a decade earlier. When Battier hit college he expanded his game out onto the perimeter and kept his reputation for in-your-shorts 'D' resulting in an All-American career which concluded by being named National Player of The Year in 2001 and winning a National title with Coach K and the Duke Blue Devils. First round NBA Draft pick who has carved out an impressive niche for himself in the league the last decade as a better-than-average outside shooter, top defensive ace and ultimate "glue" guy
4 a B.J. Armstrong (Birmingham Brother Rice) – Dynamic and fiery floor general for the Warriors in the high school and then as an All-American at Iowa in college and playing alongside Michael Jordan on the three straight NBA World Champion Chicago Bulls teams of the early-1990s.
4 b Tim McCormick (Clarkston) – Best big man in the county's prep hoop landscape of the late-1970s leading the Wolves to an undefeated regular season and appearance in the final four during his senior campaign in 1979-1980. An all-conference selection at Michigan and drafted in the second round of the NBA Draft by the Seattle Supersonics in 1984, McCormick had a 10-year career in the NBA playing for a half-dozen teams and several Hall of Famers like Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Dr. J, Hakeem the Dream and Dominique Wilkins.
5 Bruce Flowers (Berkley) – Workhorse forward for the Bears in high school who dominated the county's post game in the early-1970s. Went on to have a solid collegiate career at Notre Dame and then a short stint in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavs
HM: Ray McCallum (DCD), Team Fife - Dan/Dugan/Dane (Clarkston), Lester Abram (Pontiac Northern)
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