Several former Pistons make list of 35 all-time McDonald’s All-Americans

The annual McDonald’s All-America game is often a showcase for future NBA stars. To celebrate 35 years of the game, McDonald’s released a list of its 35 greatest All-Americans of all-time. Six former Pistons (a couple of them only Pistons for a moment) made the list. ESPN’s Ronnie Flores decided to rank them 1-35. Here were his thoughts on each of the former Pistons selected:

"9. Isiah Thomas, St. Joseph’s (Westchester, Ill.), 1979A two-time prep All-American, Thomas ventured more than an hour from his home every morning on Chicago’s West Side to play for legendary coach Gene Pingatore. Somewhat overshadowed by Chicago guard Raymond McCoy of Bloom Township as an underclassman, Thomas improved enough to make the 1979 Pan-American team (with Ralph Sampson) after averaging 20.9 points as a senior for Pingatore. He also was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team, which wasn’t able to compete in Moscow."

I wasn’t quite old enough to watch Thomas in his young years, but any time you catch highlights of him at Indiana or in his early Pistons career, they are insanely fun to watch. He’s one of the quickest guards who ever played.

"13. Danny Manning, Lawrence (Lawrence, Kan.), 1984Manning was national junior of the year in 1983 when he led Page (Greensboro, N.C.) to a 26-0 record and No. 2 national rating. When Kansas coach Larry Brown hired Manning’s dad, Ed, to his staff, Manning spent his senior season at Lawrence (Lawrence, Kan.) where he was a national player of the year candidate. Before leading the Jayhawks to the 1988 NCAA title, he was one of two preps to earn a tryout for the ’84 U.S. Olympic team along with guard Delray Brooks (Indiana)."

Manning was a Piston late in his career, playing 13 games for them in 2002-03.

"19. Jerry Stackhouse, Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.), 1993This North Carolina native was often compared to Michael Jordan as a prep and their careers had many similarities. Stackhouse, like Jordan, was a college All-American at North Carolina and was an all-state player as an underclassman. Jordan obviously had the stronger pro career, but Stack was the more highly regarded prep. He actually earned All-American honors his junior season at Kinston (Kinston, N.C.) before transferring to Oak Hill his senior season. He was the ringleader on arguably the finest Oak Hill team ever assembled, averaging 25.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4 assists for the 36-0 mythical national champions."

Stackhouse’s most memorable Pistons season came in 2000-01 when he chased a scoring title and ultimately finished second to Allen Iverson..

"24. Grant Hill, South Lakes (Reston, Va.), 1990The smooth wing wasn’t the most hyped player in his class (7-6 center Shawn Bradley of Utah was), nor was he the No. 1 prospect (that honor went to Ed O’Bannon of California), but there was no doubt Hill was an immense talent in high school. He joined a star-studded Duke team and proved to be the missing link the Blue Devils needed. Without Hill, UNLV beat Duke by 30 points in the 1990 NCAA title game but with the 6-foot-7 freshman in the lineup the next season, they upset an even better Rebels team in the national semifinals."

I was actually surprised to see Hill so low on the list, but I guess he didn’t become a legit star until later in his college career.

"31. Christian Laettner, The Nichols School (Buffalo, N.Y.), 1988If this list was solely based on college accomplishments, Laettner would rank near the top with NCAA greats such as Ralph Sampson and Danny Manning. The class of 1988 is considered one of the greatest, but truthfully, Laettner wasn’t a consensus top-10 player when he entered Duke. He was as brash as he was talented, and developed into a clutch player for the Blue Devils. He participated in four Final Fours, leading Duke to back-to-back NCAA titles in 1991 and ’92."

My favorite moment of Laettner’s Pistons career also involved Stackhouse. Great work, Jerry.

"35. Kenny Smith, Archbishop Malloy (Middle Village, N.Y.), 1983Smith wasn’t even the best of the four New York City prep All-American guards during the 1982-83 season, but he continued to develop at North Carolina. He was an All-American in 1987 and later helped the Houston Rockets win two NBA titles."

Smith was signed by Detroit after Houston released him and the Pistons lost Allan Houston to free agency. Smith was supposed to provide some 3-point shooting. He played nine games with the team, clashed with coach Doug Collins and was eventually released.