Throwback Thursday: The rise and fall of O.J. Mayo
O.J. Mayo displayed much promise early in his career. In high school, scouts declared him to be the next big thing. Now, he’s suspended and out of the NBA. Let’s take a dive into the Grizzlies history vault, shall we?
Hype brings immense pressure. Want to talk about hype? Let’s talk O.J. Mayo. Back in 2005, Sports Illustrated wrote an article on him titled “The Next One” – comparing him to LeBron James. In high school, Slam Magazine had O.J. Mayo on the cover with headlines, “Who’s Next?” and “The Future is Now! OJ Mayo is realness.”
Now, that’s hype.
For quite some time, he showed that he was worth the hype. He also fell rather quickly. In this special “Throwback Thursday,” let’s take a look at the rise and fall of former phenom O.J. Mayo.
The Rise
The high-school circuit is where it all began. O.J. Mayo dominated, averaging 29.2 points and winning a state title in each of his three seasons at Huntington High.
In college, he played at USC (University of Southern California). Aside from a recruiting scandal, Mayo played quite well. He scored 20.7 points a game but averaged more turnovers (3.5) than assists (3.3).
Going into the draft, many scouts knew that he could score and shoot at an elite level, but he had poor decision-making and couldn’t attack the rim. Despite the negativity, the star factor was still there.
The Minnesota Timberwolves drafted O.J. Mayo in 2008, the same year Memphis selected Kevin Love. After the Grizzlies’ pick, I thought they were destined for constant mediocrity. Until, the teams swapped picks. For the first time, Memphis had a player whose hype screamed “superstar”. Though it came at the cost of fan-favorite Mike Miller, many experts applauded the Grizzlies front office. ESPN’s Chad Ford said this about the trade for Mayo:
"The trade to get Mayo wasn’t perfect for the Grizzlies. It cost them an excellent player in Mike Miller and a top prospect in Kevin Love, and it forced them to take back a contract that was actually worse than Brian Cardinal’s — the dreaded Marko Jaric contract. But the Grizzlies ended up with a player who has the potential to be better than Love, and they actually broke about even in the deal financially. … They now have to figure out a few more deals (they are overloaded at the guard position and undermanned in the frontcourt), but overall I think Wallace did well, coming away with the third-best player in the draft, one of the few guys this year with real All-Star potential."
The O.J. Mayo generated buzz and excitement in Memphis for the first time since their 2005-06 playoff run. O.J. Mayo delivered, at first.