Now that Team USA has won Olympic gold for the fifth consecutive time with a thrilling 98-87 over host France in Paris, we take a look at the background of each player from his high school days.
Nobody would have guessed back in high school Steph Curry would thrill the world by making four incredible 3-pointers in the final 2:43 of the Gold Medal game to close out the victory in dramatic fashion. Curry finished with 24 points and went 17-of-27 from 3-point range in Team USA’s final two victories.

The performance by Curry sealed his legacy as the best range shooter of all-time and as one of the game’s all-time greats. Nobody would have predicted a performance and career like the one Curry has had even from an all-time great high school player, but certainly not from the Golden State Warriors superstar.

Nobody.

Before the Gold Medal game, we talked about what could be done to help the developmental process of USA Basketball as it relates to choosing Olympians and branding future stars and now that USA has won gold, we take a look at where each of the 13 players started from. All 13 players (Kawhi Leonard was selected but unable play) were certainly not elite high school players or All-Americans and each has a unique path to professional and Olympic success.

Below is a break down of Team USA's roster by our first and lasting impressions of them during their time in high school. Behind each impression is an important lesson that we still apply and use when evaluating up-and-coming players today. We will apply these lessons in the years to come as well.

Bam Adebayo, High Point Christian Academy (High Point, N.C.) 2016
Always worked so hard every time we evaluated him and had a terrific senior campaign to finish No. 7 in the HOOP SCOOP’s final rankings for 2016. He is a great example of knowing your role and maximizing it to carve out a terrific career.

Devin Booker, Moss Point (Miss.) 2014
The son of a CBA player who was highly regarded in college (Missouri’s Melvin Booker), Devin got great insight from his father on how not to rely on athleticism and to be a complete player using both his mind and physical attributes. Booker had a McDonald’s All-American talent level, but what struck us was how under control and poised he was as a high school prospect. This from our Mississippi correspondent Lavel Johnson: “He had the look of a high major prospect after seeing him the first game of his tenth grade year. I had alot of people mad around here because I said he I felt he had a higher ceiling than Malik Newman."

Stephen Curry, Charlotte Christian (Charlotte, N.C.) 2006
We saw Curry at the 2005 NBPA Top 100 Camp and he was there as a "legacy pick” as the son of a former NBA player. He wasn’t an elite prospect and even his father’s alma mater (Virginia Tech where Dell Curry played) didn’t have a scholarship to give him coming out of high school. Would the Hokies have loved him as a preferred walk-on? Sure. But Davidson turned out to be a great fit, he got physically stronger and better and most importantly, he went where he got the opportunity to play right away. In this era of NIL, playing right away is even a bigger factor for incoming freshmen. Back that it was perhaps not as important, but Curry used the scholarship snub it as motivation and kept honing his craft to become an all-time great. Curry’s story goes to show that development never stops and proves the point how the stars of USA Basketball’s youth programs won’t necessarily be the stars on the big Olympic stage.

Anthony Davis, Perspectives Charter (Chicago) 2011
Similar to Steph Curry, Davis was an ultimate late bloomer, but his blossom occurred while he was still in high school and not after he accepted a scholarship offer. For Davis, a growth spurt of 7-8 inches over a two-year period fueled his rise at a small charter school in the Chicago Public League. Prior to spring 2010, few outside of Chicago knew who Davis was, but by the first session of Nike EYBL at Boo Williams Sports Complex in Virginia for Meanstreets, Davis' name was quickly spreading across the country. He went from national obscurity in March 2010 to "he's a Top 5 national prospect" at the Bill Hensley Memorial Run-n-Slam All-Star Classic in Indiana in early May and ended as the best long term prospect in the class. He is now part of the NBA’s Top 75 all-time player list.

Kevin Durant, Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.) 2006
One of the NBA’s all-time greatest scorers is a terrific example of hindsight. A great example of making bold statements after the fact. It was easy to say Portland royally screwed up by drafting Greg Oden before KD as the No. 1 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. In reality, in real time and without the benefit of hindsight, Oden was a terrific prospect. It was a close call to keep the big man as the No. 1 player in the national class of 2006, but the HOOP SCOOP’s Clark Francis pointed out then at the end of the 2006 cycle that Durant had a chance to be an all-time great because of his work ethic and desire to be great. We questioned that logic just a bit at that time; we knew Durant was going to be a fine player, but Francis ended up being right. Durant has the necessary size and athleticism, but it was his work ethic that put him over the top. You can’t always measure or define work ethic is what he take from Durant’s remarkable career.

Anthony Edwards, Holy Spirit Prep (Atlanta, Ga.) 2019
Ant Man has always been a great soundbite and a great prospect. It was evident right away within the first half of his first game at the 2018 Pangos All-American Camp that he was the best prospect there and had a chance to be a terrific NBA player. He eventually re-classed to the 2019 class and went on to be the first pick of the 2020 NBA Draft. Will he be the leader of the 2028 US Olympic team?

Joel Embiid, The Rock School (Gainesville, Fla.) 2013
The big man was discovered at the 2011 Basketball Without Borders (BWB) event in South Africa and was guided to attend Montverde Academy in Florida for the 2011-12 high school season. He didn’t play much meaningful minutes for the No. 9 team in the FAB 50 that lost in overtime to Findlay Prep in the Chipotle Nationals (then NHSI) title game. Embiid made the decision to leave Montverde and he blossomed into a second team All-American Elite team choice as a senior. Had Embiid been part of the American high school and grassroots system earlier, he might of earned even more honors and been ranked higher than No. 6 by ESPN and No. 13 by 247Sports.com. Who know what happens if he never attends the BWB event or leaves MVA to get more guaranteed playing time at The Rock School. Since Embiid developed into a NBA MVP, his story speaks to the global expansion of the game and how making a sound decision on what high school to attend is paramount.

Tyrese Haliburton, Oshkosh North (Oshkosh, Wis.) 2018
We first saw this combo guard at the 2015 Pangos All-Midwest Frosh/Soph Camp. He was a good prospect, but not considered one of the better performers at the event. The camp for rising ninth and tenth-graders was dominated by names such as Tyler Herro, Talen Horton-Tucker, Patrick McCaffery and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl. At the end of the day, Haliburton wasn’t chosen for either one of the camp’s All-Star Games. What is an oversight? Perhaps, but the lessons here is one camp setting is never the end-all to a final evaluation, players don’t have to be discouraged by how scouts feel in a camp setting if they are getting better and what players take from a camp. Haliburton later thanked camp director Dinos Trigonis for the motivation in not selecting him, as he used that motivation to keep betting better and now is a two-time NBA All-Star and Olympic Gold Medalist.

Jrue Holiday, Campbell Hall (North Hollywood, Calif.) 2008
He came from an athletic family, and looked like a future big timer right away in his high school career. What he did was get better every season and developed into the Gatorade National Player of the Year and a top three national recruit. What Holiday possessed was probably the best body control of any guard we have evaluated in the last 30 years. He fits his role perfectly on winning teams and may be a shoo-in for the NBA Hall of Fame one day.

LeBron James, St. Vincent-St Mary (Akron, Ohio) 2003
James has become exactly what we thought in real time; an all-time great. It was evident right from the beginning as he was a great youth player on the national AAU level and our national freshman of the year. James’ public image has take some slight dings in his time with the Lakers, but he’s been a terrific ambassador and a great role model for over 20 years.

Kawhi Leonard, ML King (Riverside, Calif.) 2009
He was a part-time starter as a sophomore at Canyon Springs (Moreno Valley, Calif.), but by halfway through his senior year it was clear he was the best player in California and a top 15 national prospect. It was too late to make him a McDonald’s All-American and too late from some of the big-time schools that wanted to get in on him late, as he stayed loyal to the San Diego State staff. Not making an early judgement on a prospect is the lesson here. Players do get better.

Jayson Tatum, Chaminade (St. Louis, Mo.) 2016
HOOP SCOOP ranked him No. 4 in the national class and he was third in the Mr. Basketball USA voting behind honoree Lonzo Ball and Josh Jackson. He was a steady prospect and we thought he would have been the wiser choice for the Lakers at No. 2 in the 2017 NBA Draft. Los Angeles went for the hometown star from UCLA and Celtics fans couldn’t be happier.

Derrick White, Legend (Parker, Col.) 2012
He was lightly recruited out of high school and was an honorable mention all-state choice. We don’t recall him off hand at any major grassroots events or being in consideration for any of our honors based teams. Not only was he not in consideration for any All-American honors, but he wasn’t even in the rather large pool of players considered. There are tons of players that aspire to play at the next level, but only one NAIA school (Johnson & Wales University in Denver) took a serious look at White and even then it was a non-scholarship institution. White got a break when its head coach, Jeff Culver, took a job at Colorado–Colorado Springs, a D2 program, and offered him a stipend to attend. The non-scholarship player got a shot and what Culver did know was White was likely to keep growing and fill out and that’s exactly what happened. White keep growing even as his high school career was finishing, and he became an immediate freshman D2 starter. He eventually became UCCS’s all-time leading scorer and transferred to Colorado for his final season of eligibility. White is another clear example of why accurately projecting where a player will end up down the line is so vital to the recruiting process and needing only one coach to believe in you and give you a shot is reality. White got that one shot and had that one coach and took full advantage.

Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of Ballislife.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores