Penny Sleeves Thoughts on Cards, eBay and Sports in general

Best MCDAA Class Ever?

One of the things that I have enjoyed about the recent 2009-10 Topps Basketball release is the insertion of autos from the McDonalds All American game.  These autos are on-card and in most cases this was the first card printed for these players.

Since Topps license for basketball is not going to be renewed, they've thrown everything into this product, including MCDAA autos from 2006, 2007 and 2008.  A few examples from 2007:

It got me thinking about the 2007 class of McDonald's All-Americans, several big names have already emerged from this class such as Derrick Rose and O.J. Mayo but one has to wonder, will this wind up being the best class ever?  It certainly seems like it has a shot.  Lets review the roster.

East Team:

1. Nick Calathes -- 2 years at Florida, drafted 45th in the 2009 draft, playing in Greece
2. Johnny Flynn -- 2 years at 'Cuse, drafted 6th in 2009 draft
3. Austin Freeman -- will be a JR. at Georgetown, avgd 11.4 pts/game last year
4. Donte Greene -- 1 and done at 'Cuse, 28th pick in 2008 NBA draft, played in NBA D League last year
5. J.J. Hickson -- 19th pick in 2008 draft, played sparingly for Cavs last year
6. Kosta Koufos -- 23rd pick in the 2008 draft, played sparingly
7. Gani Lawal -- averaged 15 pts and 9.5 rebounds for GT last season, first round pick when he declares
8. O.J. Mayo -- 4th pick in 2008 draft, averaged 18.5 pts per game last year for Grizzlies, 38% 3 pt shooting, perennial all-star type potential
9. Patrick Patterson -- averaged 18 pts and 9 rebs/game last year for Kentucky
10. Nolan Smith -- role player for Duke thus far, 8 pts/game last year
11. Corey Stokes -- 3 pt. specialist for Villanova, average 10 ppg last year
12. Chris Wright -- averaged 12.5 ppg for G'Town last year

West Team:

 

1. Cole Aldrich -- 15 ppg and 11 rpg for KU last year, could be a candidate for 2009-10 national player of the year, first round draft pick when he delcares.
2. James Anderson -- Averaged 18.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg and shot 41% from downtown as a sophmore at OSU last season, lottery pick potential?  Its possible.
3. Jerryd Bayless -- 11th pick in 2008 draft, has not seen much playing time yet
4. Michael Beasley -- 2nd pick in 2008 draft, good rookie season, off the court issues this offseason, star potential still exists
5. Eric Gordon -- 7th pick in 2008 draft, super-athlete, super-shooter, average 16.1 ppg in rookie season, shot 39% from 3-pt, perennial all-star type potential
6. Blake Griffin -- 1st pick in 2009 draft, 2008-09 college player of the year
7. James Harden -- 3rd pick in 2009 draft, averaged 20 ppg, 5.5 rpg and 4 apg for ASU last season
8. Taylor King -- transferred to Villanova,  sat out last year
9. Kevin Love -- 5th pick in 2008 draft, very solid rookie season, 11ppg and 9 rpg, will have a long solid career in NBA.
10. Jai Lucas -- transferred to Texas, sat out last year, will play this year
11. Derrick Rose -- #1 pick in 2008 draft after incredible Final Four run, 16.8 ppg, 6.3 apg in Rookie of the Year campaign
12. Kyle Singler -- averaged 16 pts and 8 rebounds per game last year at Duke, potential first round pick in the 2010 draft

To summarize quickly, in the 2008 draft, picks #'s 1,2,4,5,7,11, 19,23 and 28 played in this game.  In the 2009 draft picks #'s 1, 3, 6 and 45 played in this game.  Already a total of 13 NBA draft-picks 12 of them first round.

Additionally, Aldrich, Singler, Anderson, Patterson and Lawal also have NBA potential, Aldrich and Singler almost being sure first-rounders.  That would bring the total to potentially 19 out of 24 draft-picks and 14 out of 24 first-rounders, simply incredible.

Rose, Beasley, Mayo, Gordon, Griffin, Flynn, Harden and maybe a few others have NBA All-Star like potential, although it is still early.

Is this the best MCDAA class to date?