Top 50 Recruits of the Decade: Cunningham Fits With Simmons, Kyrie, Zion

Sometimes recruiting — not dissimilar to Chuba Hubbard’s rushing prowess — is difficult to properly contextualize. We talk about how guys were ranked a certain number in a certain class or their rating was .992828343 or whatever, and it all gets a little bit confusing as to what any of this actually means.

I think the best way to properly contextualize a player’s ranking coming out of high school is to put him in with other players who were rated similarly. So when we talk about Cade Cunningham, instead of saying he’s the No. 2 guy on the 247 composite rankings with a rating of .9996, let’s look at who’s around him. The type of talent we’re talking about here.

I pulled the top five of every recruiting class dating back to 2010 (the Dana Holgorsen era, for my football readers). Here they are ranked by rating first and then class second. Notes and thoughts at the bottom.

Class	Player	Rating	Choice
2020	Evan Mobley	1.0000	USC
2018	RJ Barrett	1.0000	Duke
2013	Andrew Wiggins	1.0000	Kansas
2019	James Wiseman	0.9999	Memphis
2017	Marvin Bagley	0.9999	Duke
2016	Josh Jackson	0.9999	Kansas
2012	Nerlens Noel	0.9999	Kentucky
2011	Anthony Davis	0.9999	Kentucky
2010	Harrison Barnes	0.9999	UNC
2017	Michael Porter Jr.	0.9998	Mizzou
2015	Ben Simmons	0.9998	LSU
2015	Skal Labissiere	0.9998	Kentucky
2012	Shabazz Muhammad	0.9997	UCLA
2020	Cade Cunningham	0.9996	Oklahoma State
2016	Harry Giles	0.9996	Duke
2013	Julius Randle	0.9996	Kentucky
2014	Jahlil Okafor	0.9995	Duke
2014	Emmanuel Mudiay	0.9995	Pro
2011	Austin Rivers	0.9995	Duke
2019	Anthony Edwards	0.9994	Georgia
2020	Jalen Green	0.9993	?
2019	Isaiah Stewart	0.9993	Washington
2018	Cam Reddish	0.9993	Duke
2017	Mo Bamba	0.9993	Texas
2020	Terrence Clarke	0.9992	Kentucky
2019	Cole Anthony	0.9992	UNC
2018	Nassir Little	0.9992	UNC
2017	Deandre Ayton	0.9992	Arizona
2015	Brandon Ingram	0.9992	Duke
2010	Kyrie Irving	0.9992	Duke
2013	Aaron Gordon	0.9990	Arizona
2012	Kyle Anderson	0.9990	UCLA
2012	Isaiah Austin	0.9990	Baylor
2011	Michael Kidd-Gilchrist	0.9990	Kentucky
2010	Josh Selby	0.9990	Kansas
2010	Jared Sullinger	0.9990	Ohio State
2018	Bol Bol	0.9989	Oregon
2015	Jaylen Brown	0.9989	Cal
2014	Stanley Johnson	0.9989	Arizona
2013	Jabari Parker	0.9989	Duke
2016	Lonzo Ball	0.9988	UCLA
2014	Cliff Alexander	0.9988	Kansas
2016	Jayson Tatum	0.9987	Duke
2013	Andrew Harrison	0.9987	Kentucky
2018	Zion Williamson	0.9986	Duke
2016	Markelle Fultz	0.9986	Washington
2014	Karl-Anthony Towns	0.9986	Kentucky
2012	Steven Adams	0.9985	Pitt
2011	Bradley Beal	0.9985	Florida
2019	RJ Hampton	0.9984	Pro
2020	Ziaire Williams	0.9984	?
2010	Brandon Knight	0.9983	Kentucky
2011	Quincy Miller	0.9982	Baylor
2017	Collin Sexton	0.9981	Alabama
2015	Cheick Diallo	0.9980	Kansas

• This list is LOL-worthy. Steven Adams, Bradley Beal, KAT, Zion and Jayson Tatum are all at the bottom of it. So when we talk about Cade, we’re talking about a guy who has — at least to this point in his career — surrounded himself with other guys who have gone on to become not just professional basketball players, but successful professional basketball players.

• How about Baylor getting Isaiah Austin and Quincy Miller in consecutive years? Here’s your count by school.

Duke: 11
Kentucky: 9
Kansas: 5
UCLA: 3
UNC: 3
Arizona: 3
Washington: 2
Baylor: 2
Pro: 2
Alabama, Cal, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Memphis, Mizzou, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Pitt, Texas, USC: 1

• The hit rate on this list is astonishing. It would take me hours to go through and count up all the NBA seasons or all-star appearances, but the percentages here are hilarious. Carson and I went through it a little last night on our pod. I would say a name and he would just say, “lottery pick, lottery pick, lottery pick, pro, lottery pick.” Actually, just going through this list off the top of my head, I think the only guys who didn’t play in the league are the 2018-2020 guys. I might be missing a guy or two, but man.

• Name guy. I’m a name guy. I realize it’s ridiculous, and it’s embarrassing to type on here, but names matter, and this list is full of great, elite names. Cade is near the top of that list. World-class name.

• This can obviously go poorly (Simmons, Ben), but the thing I keep going back to is how Boynton coached the pants off of multiple hall-of-famers with the facsimile of a good team he had in his first season. Last year was always going to be an outlier, but the chatter about, “Well Travis Ford recruited like this, but he couldn’t coach ’em … I’ll wait and see.” First, Travis Ford didn’t recruit like this. Second, Boynton has already coached ’em.

• Yes, the kool-aid tastes good, and yes I have had too much of it.