When I was 15 I went to the Boston Shootout and saw a kid my age, that resembled a man, dominating against guys that were 2-3 years older than him. And they were already headed to play at big time colleges. The Manchild’s name was Schea Cotton. That was the day I realized I had no future playing basketball. From that point on, I followed his career. I even had some of his pictures from Slam Magazine on my wall next to posters of Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Reggie Lewis. Schea Cotton was the best high school player in the country in 1995 and was destined for NBA greatness. But things didn't exactly go as planned and he never played a game in the NBA.
Ron Artest called him, “Lebron James before there ever was a Lebron James...” He once dunked on Kevin Garnett 3 times in an AAU game and finished the game with 38 points. KG was a senior. Schea was only a sophomore. If they only had YouTube or social media back then. Needless to say, a series of unfortunate events and outside influences derailed his NBA dreams. He did go on to play 10+ years overseas and he is currently doing a lot of work in the community in his hometown of Long Beach, CA. Mentoring, motivational speaking and player development consume him these days. He also has a documentary coming out called Manchild: The Schea Cotton Story.