As the new school year approaches, we're rewinding things with Back to School Week! This week, we'll take a look back at the amateur years of some of the biggest stars to suit up for the Raptors or hail from Canada.
The 2002 high school class was filled with players that made a name for themselves in the NBA, including Jarrett Jack, Brandon Roy, J.J. Redick, Andre Iguodala and Deron Williams. It also featured the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire, Raymond Felton and Chris Bosh, though Bosh was surprisingly the lowest ranked player of that group at No. 13.
Looking back on it 16 years later, if you were to re-rank the high school class based on their professional careers, you can make a case for Bosh being the No. 1 prospect.
You could consider the top five players from the class to be Anthony, Bosh, Iguodala, Stoudemire and Williams — with apologies to Roy, who played only six seasons in the NBA. Of those five, Bosh has the least amount of seasons played with 13, though he has made 11 All-Star appearances, the most out of anyone in the group.
Flashback: Get to know @Raptors rookie, Chris Bosh pic.twitter.com/mPmK1xIUK3
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) September 5, 2016
Bosh is second in scoring with 17,189 career points, only behind Melo, who has 25,417 points and counting. Bosh leads the group in rebounds and is second in blocks behind Amar'e. Most importantly, his career 106 win shares is a group-high, and his 9.4 playoff win shares trails only Iguodala's 9.6.
When it comes to championships, his two rings are second to Iguodala as well, who has added three championships to his resume in the last four years.
Bosh's years as a primary scorer in Toronto often get overlooked. It is also easy to forget how fantastic he was playing third-fiddle to LeBron James and Dwyane Wade on the Miami Heat's two championship teams.
Sidelined with a heart condition since the 2015-16 season, Bosh is still battling to get back on the court. Whether he returns or not, he far exceeded his No. 13 rank and arguably surpassed all the ridiculous talent ahead of him as the best player in the 2002 high school class.