The Hype And Pressure Of a Recruit: Who Is Going to Be the Next LeBron?

The life of an average high school student usually consists of doing essays at the last minute, getting a summer job at McDonald's to get some extra money, and worrying who they're going to take to prom.

It is also the time to when 14-18-year-olds everywhere decide on which college they're going to and what they're going to do with their life, it could be the most important decision a teenager has had to make his young life so far.

That's what an average student's life is that doesn't stand 6'10".

While Joe High School is stressing about SAT's and research projects, Michael Basketball is trying to find an agent and figuring out which college he should attend for one year. The next Michael Jordan or Hakeem Olajuwon is living the dream at 18 years old and prepared to make a sum of money that they won't even know what to do with.

They are loved, they are respected, and they are lucky to be born with an oversized pituitary gland. The NBA teams they watched growing up are now swooning over the chance to get the next young phenom and tanking seasons just to get a better chance at the teenager one year removed from high school.

Even though they are the most anticipated and watched teenagers in the world, two factors can make or break their entire NBA careers, as well as their life, in the next upcoming years.

The pressure and the hype.

Hype is a terrible factor to be associated with. It surrounds you ever since recruiters started showing up to your sixth grade middle school games when you were only able to shoot the ball from your chest by heaving it as hard as you can, but you were a foot taller than anyone else so it did not really matter.

It's been looming over your head while you're awake, while you sleep, and while you practice what you were made for.

Let's look at two hyped examples, shall we?

Take a look at young LeBron James, the No. 1 recruit from St. Vincent-St. Mary's High School out of Akron, Ohio. In his first year at the school, he was a starter for the Varsity as a freshman. He led his team with 21 points and six rebounds per game, and led his school to a 23-1 record.

His numbers improved year by year, and by his junior year (when he was only 16 years old), James was the most heavily hyped high school basketball player in the history of the NBA. 

He was being named to the All-USA First Team three out of his four years at school, winning MVP at the McDonald's All-American game and driving around in an $80,000 Hummer before he could even buy a pack of cigarettes.

He decided to forgo college, which was allowed at the time, and immediately enter the draft.

In fact, James was trying to declare for the draft after his junior year. No doubt about it that he would have been a top five or ten pick by an NBA team willing to center their team around a high school kid.

As expected, in the 2003 draft, he was taken number one by a down and out Cleveland Cavaliers team. The Cavs were looking for an answer to take them out of the obscurity they've been in for decades, and LeBron James was that answer.

Now that's pressure, but we'll get to that in a minute.

Sure enough, James did live up to his image; he has advanced to an NBA Finals and won an MVP in only six years in the league, and is already being discussed in arguments as the best basketball player in the world.

Let's get to our other example.

Sebastian Telfair faced some of the cases LeBron James did. A hyped high school student and ranked number six in his class. He was in the same class as stars right now such as Josh Smith, Al Jefferson and then-No. 1 ranked Dwight Howard.

He was ranked ahead of high school students such as LaMarcus Aldridge, Glen Davis, and Marvin Williams.

Telfair was just like James—he didn't want to waste his time going to college and getting a little more experience for the NBA level. He wanted out of Lincoln High School in New York as soon as possible so he could be the next great point guard and live up to the ranks of Hall of Famers such as Isiah Thomas or John Stockton.

He left high school as his team's leading scorer and had a full ride to the University of Louisville to play under one of the greatest NCAA coaches in Rick Pitino.

Like any smart young basketball player, he didn't go, and thought that the high school to NBA transition could work out for him.

Taken at the 13th pick five years ago, three teams, a handgun charge, and a suspended license later, Telfair has become one of the biggest disappointments in NBA history. He has not averaged more than 10 points in a season and was traded to his fourth team this offseason.

He currently makes $2.5 million to make a little impact on the team.

Those were two cases of each extreme—one being a case where it turned out right for the phenom, and the other being where the high school to NBA transition did not work out too well.

Hype builds above a high school kid, and it goes hand in hand with pressure.

The pressure a teenager has to face to become the next Michael Jordan or the next Tim Duncan is immense. The pressure that these teams are relying on an 18 year old to lead their franchise out of the basement and into the light of the day to see a postseason or championship run. The pressure that teams were losing on purpose to get a better chance at grabbing you.

All this pressure could lead to a downfall. That downfall could lead to the end of their basketball life.

Take for instance again the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James. When the Cavs got the first pick in the draft, they went 17-65 the previous season, and we know some of those games couldn't have all been lost because the team just didn't have the right chemistry.

James was picked with the highest hopes, and somehow, he managed to make the team into what they are today. He led them to an 18 game improvement his first year in the league, and then to their first playoff appearance two years after that. Year by year, James keeps living up to that image of a No. 1 pick that worked out perfectly.

This is making things a lot worse for high school kids getting recruited now.

They now have the pressure to live up to what LeBron James has done for the Cavs and do the same for their failing team. Expected one and done college students like John Wall are going to have to cause the complete turnaround of whoever has the No. 1 pick next year, and if he doesn't live up to that image, then he'll be considered the next bust.

I live next to No. 1 2010 prospect Brandon Knight, and have seen him practice a number of times at my local gym. He's got one of the best shooting touches I've ever seen and I've seen him make near 50 shots in a row from any part of the floor.

He is sure to be a top five pick in the 2011 draft, and will be expected to resurrect a team from the dead like every other top prospect is expected to do.

The question for Mr. Knight is can he deal with the hype surrounding him? Can he deal with the pressure weighing him down at every moment of his life?

High school students are trying to be the next LeBron James now and if a student thinks they can live up to that image.

Those are some serious size 18's to fill.