I heard an interesting thing on my morning radio, which means I don't listen to Chicago sports radio. Someone sent in an email stating that Lebron's lack of "clutch" is because his high school team blew everyone out and he never played in college and he doesn't have the experience. I'd like to expand on that further.

Let's take the top 5 "high school to NBA" players.
Garnett
Kobe
Lebron
McGrady
Howard

Some may argue to replace McGrady with Stoudemire but that won't really change the point.

Garnett's troubles in Minnesota are well known, and it took him a long time to win a title, and that was on a pretty stacked team with others who could come through in the clutch.
Kobe is probably the biggest exception on the list, but one could argue that for his first title that he relied on Shaq to get him to the title. Also, Kobe did not win a finals MVP in any of those series.
Lebron quit in Cleveland and has disappeared whereas Wade has been the best player on the team in this series.
McGrady did nothing in the playoffs, though I do remember him once being grateful to finally have made the second round.
Howard probably has completely different reasons why he's not able to lead a team in the playoffs but he also fits in this category.

Don't take this as me saying that going to college is something all players should do but I think you get an interesting profile when you look at the high school to NBA players. The talent of that group is undeniable but all of them, outside of Kobe, have been labeled as not being able to perform when it matters the most and unable to lead a team to a title. Lebron may change that with two monster games though.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

For some reason, I feel like they were talking about this on B&B yesterday, too.

I concur with the theory...Kobe didn't really become a clutch player until later in his career.

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Moses Malone

Elton Brand #42 NBA

If Tyson Chandler and DeShawn Stevenson out-clutch LeBron and win the championship, does that disprove the theory?

This is probably why it was four, five, four instead of fo, fo, fo in '83

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

All I have is it makes for a less intelligent, less mature adult.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I know plenty of college grads who haven't helped your theory.

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

Ivan doesnt count

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Interesting analysis on a subject BoilerRick well. To that end, name the five college graduates that have similar skills to the players noted above. Did they come into the league with an innate ability to always play well when it matters most? Did they ever not play as well as the viewing public thought they should play on the biggest stages? How about those on the Bob Huggins college experience...4-5 years and no degree. How should they be categorized?

How do we categorize success for the players that only played 1, 2, or 3 years of college ball? The emailer should want a breakout for number of years played in college. For simplicity, should we remove players either injured in college or with redshirt years yet still in college? Should Alcindor (his name at the time) be treated differently because he only was allowed to play Soph through Senior years with the varsity?

today's beni pondering points. hmmmm

Sideswipe out of nowhere!

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Your mom went to college.

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