Just a little morning reflection (via my friend Brian, who pointed this out to me recently):
At the 2003 McDonald’s All-American game, LeBron James was a man among boys. That much was clear.
He wasn’t the only one to emerge that night. Three current Celtics, Leon Powe, Kendrick Perkins and J.R. Giddens were teammates on the West squad.
“I think I did score the first four points of that game,” said Powe, a schoolboy star at Oakland Tech. “You can tell everybody that.”
Powe, who played AAU ball with Perk and LeBron, saw the tidal wave coming coming like everybody else.
“LeBron was amazing,” he said. “I think he scored 28-30 points.” 27 actually, in addition to 7 boards and 7 assists. His East squad won 122-107.
“He has such a big effect on the game,” Giddens said at the time. “He’s not only a scorer, but he’s a passer. … Some of the players that guard him have so much respect for him. It seems like they never played ‘D’ before because they’re, like, ‘Hey, that’s LeBron!’”
Sure the Boston trio wasn’t quite on the same level of King James, but who was? Powe and Perk may not have the pedigree of LeBron, but they did help the Celtics win a title. Try and remember that when James posterizes one of ‘em this season…
