Originally Posted by
tommy
In 1996, three freshmen came out: a juco guy nobody's heard of, plus Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Stephon Marbury. Three high schoolers, including Kobe Bryant, came out.
In 1997, two freshmen and one high schooler (Tracy McGrady) came out.
In 1998, three freshmen (one at a juco) and four high schoolers came out.
In 1999, four freshmen (including Corey Maggette) and two high schoolers came out.
In 2000, three freshmen and two high schoolers came out.
In 2001, nine freshmen and six high schoolers (including 3 of the first four draft picks -- Kwame Brown, Tyson Chandler, and Eddie Curry) came out.
In 2002, six freshmen (four of whom you've never heard of) and four high schoolers (including Amare Stoudemire) came out.
In 2003, three freshmen came out: a guy named Jonathan Hargett, and two guys named Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh. Five high schoolers came out, including LeBron James.
In 2004, five freshmen (including, sigh, Luol Deng and Kris Humphries) and nine high schoolers (including Dwight Howard and Shaun Livingston) came out.
In 2005, three freshmen (including Marvin Williams) and eleven high schoolers came out.
At this point, the "one and done" rule came into effect. So then:
In 2006, two freshmen came out.
In 2007, nine freshmen, including Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, came out.
In 2008, 14 freshmen, led by Derrick Rose, came out.
In 2009, five freshmen came out.
In 2010, eleven freshmen, led by John Wall, came out.
And in 2011, Kyrie Irving (again, sigh) led a group of nine freshmen to come out.