Can King James help elevate high school hoops in Miami?
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LeBron James' impact on basketball in and around Miami may not be limited to the Heat.
Long known as a high school, college and professional football hotbed, King James' arrival could be the spark the area needs to help put hoops on equal footing.
"It's a battle I've been fighting," said Dr. Krop High School (Miami, Fla.) head basketball coach and lifelong Magic City resident Marcos Rodriguez. "People down here always enjoyed the game, but the education and attention wasn't there. This brings a whole new level of attention and it will trickle-down everywhere.
"I think it totally enhances the whole atmosphere. I think you will see tournaments and youth camps spring up. It will help attendance at high school games. Hopefully, more people will want to play basketball."
The hoops hysteria brought on by James' announcement Thursday is something Rodriguez couldn't have envisioned 40 years ago as a senior at Miami High School (Miami, Fla.).
In 1971, the University of Miami dropped its basketball program. Florida International, which made headlines last year by hiring Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas as its coach, didn't have a team. The Heat were still 17 years away from bringing the NBA to town.
Rodriguez's alma mater was about all the city had to get behind in the way of basketball. The Stingarees are Florida's winningest high school program with 18 state championships.
"We were behind the times a little bit," said Rodriguez, who owns a 579-91 career record with five state titles.
According to the Dr. Krop head coach, things started to change when Pat Riley arrived in 1995. Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade led the Heat to the NBA title in 2006, but even that accomplishment falls short of James' potential impact.
Dr. Krop point guard Angel Rodriguez will be one of Miami's top high school players next season.
Photo by Jim Redman
It's not as if the area will be starting from scratch in terms of developing talent. Rodriguez has built Dr. Krop into one of Florida's top programs and will feature Division I recruits in point guard
Angel Rodriguez (no relation) and 6-foot-9 rising juniors
Tyrone Haughton and
Dylan Karell next season.
Angel Rodriguez, who was born in Puerto Rico and arrived in the United States prior to his sophomore season, averaged over 20 points per game as a junior at Dr. Krop and has an offer from Elite Eight participant Kansas State.
Monsignor Pace (Miami, Fla.) has another young stud in 6-9 rising sophomore Malik Price-Martin. Nearby Coral Gables (Coral Gables, Fla.) forward Jonathan Holton is drawing plenty of Division I interest.
Neighboring Broward County has produced elite national guards in back-to-back years with University of Florida sophomore Kenny Boynton and incoming Kentucky freshman Brandon Knight.
"If you look at the number of football players that sign Division I coming out of South Florida, and even the baseball players, that tells you the athletes are here," Rodriguez said. "There are only a handful every year in basketball. Once we have more youth programs like they do for football, that will change."
Players at Dr. Krop are wasting no time hopping on the bandwagon, soliciting Rodriguez's advice on how to acquire a ticket.
By the looks of things, it could be tough. Ticket-seekers on the Miami Heat official site are greeted with the following message:
"We'd like to put you on our waiting list because over the past few days, we've sold the bulk of our seats from our available inventory."
Live or on television, Rodriguez will likely find a way to use Miami's stars as a teaching point.
"I think they (James and Wade) are two great role models and they know that just scoring doesn't make them a great player," Rodriguez said. "LeBron and Wade could score as many points as they want but instead they load up the stat sheet and get teammates involved. I think that is a great example."
