He is the son of former University of Louisville and National Basketball Association (NBA) player Milt Wagner [1] and left the NBA early into his career because of debilitating health problems. Tools and Resources Used by Real General Managers. His undying dedication to his players paid off. I love the game today, he said. Noah, who went from the Lawrenceville School to a two-time national champion at Florida, is a two-time NBA All-Star who was named the league's defensive player of the year in 2014. 91; 247Sports Composite . Get as Excel Workbook. D.J. Why DJ Wagner, college basketball's No. 1 recruit in high school class In these cases, the average was taken. "I take a lot of pride in playing for Camden," he says. The Franklin native, who went onto become one of the greatest players in Rutgers basketball history, played in 507 NBA games and scored 7,206 points. The house would be packed with hundreds of onlookers to see Bogues, Williams, Wingate, and Lewis go at it. He also has outstanding footwork, speed and balance. Wagner was drafted in the second round of the 1986 NBA Draft. He played one season at the University of Memphis and was the No. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 4/4/2023), Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/26/2023). The goal was to build endurance, strength, and of course, character. On January 31, 2000 he scored 80 points (24 of which in the fourth quarter) in a 12266 win against Pennsauken Tech. NBA writer + video department at ClutchPoints | Follow me on Twitter @CalFongNBA. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Monday, May 1, 4:39AM. First, some ground rules. Select the players you wish to trade from the rosters below. He grew up here or attended high school here. Same hype. But photos of him peer down from a line of banners strung from lampposts along the redeveloped waterfront, and white T-shirts bear his name in purple and gold letters. Each era has its uniqueness. "Above all he is a competitor. But the crowd that filled the Sky Lounge, now, celebrated him for his off-court character and who he had become as a person. Irving is a four-time All-Star who helped lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to an NBA title last summer, and two months later, Team USA to a gold medal in Rio. During their run, Reggie Williams grew to be one of the best high school players in the country, and USA Today named him the High School Player of the Year. Wagner, take the court, wearing his fathers old No. Subscribe to Stathead Basketball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Basketball Reference Database. Williams headed to Georgetown, Reggie Lewis went to play for Northeastern, and Muggsy attended Wake Forest. CAMDEN, N.J. -- On a sunny Saturday just before the start of the school year, hundreds of people flock to Wiggins Waterfront Park for a block party. [19], Wagner has been a resident of West Deptford Township, New Jersey.[20]. Doc declares Embiid 'doubtful' for Game 1 vs. Celtics Many recruiters were known to be corrupt, especially as drug dealers started to sponsor basketball teams in the area. Get the latest UK news sent straight to your inbox with our FREE email newsletter! Still, he won a championship with the Boston Celtics in 1981, and is credited for hitting the first 3-point shot in NBA history. . ClutchPoints was able to catch up briefly with Muggsy Bogues recently. grew up outside Camden in Gloucester County, many in the city always expected he would play for The High. 6. Camden High starts playoffs ranked in top 20 in U.S. WHYY 6 overall according to the industry average 247Sports Composite. Purdue can lose Zach Edey to 2023 NBA draft and reach 2024 Final Four Always ridiculed and looked over, he found that the sport could earn him the currency of the land: respect. He still has a teenager's slim build, and what sets him apart is not necessarily his size or athleticism, recruiters say, but his savvy understanding of how to set the pace of a game. You cant let anyone dictate what you can do or who you should be, Bogues asserted. Wagner (left), his grandfather Milt Wagner (center) and his father Dajuan after Camden's 72-52 win over Gratz on Friday. He averaged 20.7 points a game for the 2008-09 season with the Knicks, the best of his career on a bad New York team. [12], Wagner is the son of Dajuan Wagner and Syreeta Brittingham. Before he inherited his winningest teams, Wade would walk over to watch the kids in the area play. Josh Friedman has produced award-winning South Jersey sports coverage for the Courier Post and The Daily Journal for more than a decade. Harris was joking, of course. Muggsy Bogues was a legend in Charlotte Hornets franchise history, and the engine of the greatest high school basketball team to ever play the game. But most of Camden's factories shut down long ago, choking off key routes to working-class prosperity and helping to trigger an exodus. "This is your shot," he says in a video campaign. The duo played a lot in rec leagues, and their main competition was the team from the Cecil projects. Since retiring in 2001, Muggsy has coached in the WNBA, coached high school basketball, and been a team ambassador for the Charlotte Hornets. He is the son of former University of Louisville and National Basketball Association (NBA) player Milt Wagner[1] and left the NBA early into his career because of debilitating health problems. The Plainfield native was a college superstar, leading Duke to a NCAA championship (2001) and winning the Naismith Player of the Year Award (2002). They even crowded him for autographs afterwards. The city threw a victory parade for the Panthers, as well as three other city teams that won championships in other sports. His best season came in 2008-09, when he averaged 16.2 points and 6.7 rebounds a game for Milwaukee. Get table as CSV (for Excel) Get Link to Table. Wagner scored 15 points in his debut for the Panthers. We present them here for purely educational purposes. With a pastor and their family and friends present, there at the top of a high-rise apartment building, Bogues and his ex-wife, Kim, renewed their vows and were married again on January 9, 2015 some 30 years after they had first met and started dating. High School Basketball Players Who Had 100-Point Games Tony Adame Scoring 100 points in a basketball game is an amazing feat for any player. Brunson, a nine-year NBA veteran who served as an assistant with the Denver Nuggets, Chicago Bulls, Charlotte Bobcats and Minnesota Timberwolves before joining the Panthers, is the reigning South Jersey Coach of the Year. He's played eight seasons in the NBA. SPECIAL THANKS to Dave D'Alessandro, the longtime NBAwriter at The Star-Ledger, who is without a doubt New Jersey's finest all-time basketballwriter. When Dajuan started helping the Panthers, D.J. His time on the Hornets is still well-remembered, with Bogues holding the franchise records for career assists and steals as of 2021. He wants to be a head college basketball coach. Theyd have to toss aside former rivalries and childhood differences. Send along your thoughts. "Kentucky-bound DJ Wagnercontinued his outstanding spring with two strong days of practice at Iverson Classic," wrote ESPN's Jonathan Givony on Twitter. Dunbar won the Baltimore City Schools championship and went on to win the state title finishing the year a pristine 29-0. He finished with 999 career assists. A former NFL player, Wade implemented a military-like approach to his practices. You can also contact him at 856-486-2431. Dajuan Marquett "D. J." Wagner Jr. (born May 4, 2005) is an American basketball player who attends Camden High School in Camden, New Jersey. He kept his composure and did what he had to do.. Who did we miss entirely? AAU Team: NJ Scholars. Ford, who played at Holy Family Spirit High in Absecon, is better known as a head coach than as a player. Even Camden star Billy Thompson was laughing along. But photos of . The 6-10 rebounding specialist played in 681 games with the red-white-and-blue ball, fourth-most among players who never appeared in the NBA. The man who had the unenviable task of replacing Bill Russell on the Boston Celtics eventually became a fan favorite in the city. The 2016 Rookie of the Year has started all of the 164 games in his career so far, and last season averaged 25.1 points and 12.3 rebounds for the Timberwolves. If Edey returns in 2023-24, after announcing he'll enter the 2023 NBA draft but retain his eligibility, Purdue will be the . Wagner has committed to the University of Kentucky, joining Big Blue Nation for the 2023-24 season. Dajuan Wagner Jr. - Wikipedia Wagner scored 15 points, making a pair of three-pointers, as Camden beat a Gratz team that entered play with an 8-0 record. Do you have a blog? Galis, a Union City native, had a brilliant career in Europe. Wright was arguably the greatest athlete Newark has ever produced. He became the second youngest player to enter a game in NBA history when he first stepped on the court in 1975, but skipping college out of Dwight Morrow High in Englewood might not have been the best decision. Youre all good parents, I got the best parents. As recently as 1970, Camden was majority white, but the city is now 93% Black and Hispanic. Or write about sports? [2] He scored 3,462 points in high school (the most in New Jersey high school history, breaking former high school star John Somogyi's scoring record of 3,451 points; when Somogyi played there was no 3-point shot), and scored 25 points in the McDonald's All-American Game. Modify, Export & Share Table. The city has demolished hundreds of vacant homes, and new buildings, including Camden's first hotel in a half century and a training center for the Philadelphia 76ers, have risen along the waterfront. Brunson, who served as a substitute teacher at Camden High last year, fell in love working with high school students, something hed never done previously. But he was also, more importantly, a loyal friend, a proud father, and a loving husband. Sparrow, who starred at Eastside High in Paterson, had a productive 12-year career as a point guard in the NBA. It's evidence of a family legacy that he has both inherited and made his own. J." Putting a list together like this is an inexact science. It just kind of flows over.". When Lewis went No. Wagner is only a senior at Camden High School. With their dominance, they were unofficially crowned the best high school team of all time by many. It's still an imperfect list, but it's closer to the true ranking. This is tricky, because several great players such as Luol Deng only stayed in New Jersey briefly. The primary knock against Ayton is that he wants more. [2][4] In his junior year he was already considered one of the top players of his class. I can relate to these kids. Camden faces big test with powerhouse Montverde (Fla.) at Metro Classic With more eyes now looking to Baltimore, Coach Wade had put together a national schedule, and the Poets rolled to a perfect 31-0. He scored a season-high 32 points against Old Dominion on November 14, 2001 in his 2nd game with Memphis, and tied his season high on March 26, 2002 against Temple during the NIT semifinal. This was Carstarphen and Brown's junior year. He also won the event's 3-Point Contest, making 16 of 25 shots from beyond the arc on his homecourt at Camden on Thursday, becoming the second UK signee to win the event in the last three years, joining TyTy Washington, who won it in 2021. Camden High School, Camden (NJ) Basketball Players - RealGM Deng, a Sudanese who moved to New Jersey when he was 14 and enrolled at Blair Academy, is a two-time NBA All-Star entering his 14th season in the NBA. That is like all we got here: Camden High School basketball. Both played in McDonald's All-American games before going on to college and eventually the pros. Wagner (0:27), Hoops hotbed Camden is ready for No. And that meant so much to me. Wagner and Bronny James, two of the top players in the class of 2023, according to a Masslive.com report. He is also the answer to a trivia question: Who scored the first field goal in Miami Heat history? "To see everybody in those shirts walking around out here, that means a lot to me," he tells the audience. The city's population dwindled from 124,000 in 1950 to 72,000 in 2021, and one-third of its residents live in poverty. [1] During his time with the team, Camden took the group IV state championship in 1982. to drum up support. After all, Muggsy was playing alongside guys hed been playing with and against his whole life. That goes back the credit to his mom (Syreeta Brittingham) and dad, they raised him well. Wagner was a sensation from the start, helping to lead the Panthers to a 29-1 record in his freshman year. If anyone dropped a brick, everyone would have to start over. Hes a respectful kid. Camden officials have denied the allegations, saying the out-of-district enrollments were handled properly. "I wear Camden on my chest wherever I go. Thompson was considered the number one high school prospect in the land. Youve lived a long life in terms of, basketball wise, you did a lot, so why not help them? After college, Wingate, Williams, Lewis, and Bogues were all drafted and migrated to the NBA. Milt Wagner said the expectations that surround D.J. Noticing that players would start to falter defensively in the second half, he would have his players hold bricks while doing their workouts and sprints. But he averaged 18.7 points and 11.8rebounds a game, becoming one of the sport's most dominant big men before knee injuries destroyed his career.