North Carolina: Chris Paul
Without Michael Jordan in the picture, North Carolina becomes quite the battleground. Seven Hall of Famers were born in the Tarheel State, and our choice hasn't yet joined them, though he will as soon as he's met the five-year requirement for eligibility.
Chris Paul is known as the Point God for a reason. Though his hyper-competitiveness sometimes rubbed fans the wrong way, he embodied what it meant to play the 1. If his teams needed him to score, he could, particularly when he brushed past a screen and pulled up for one of his patented elbow jumpers. If he needed to distribute the ball, he could also do that without any concern of the turnovers piling up.
If you want to advocate for Sam Jones' bank-shots for the Boston Celtics, James Worthy's triple-double heroics for the Los Angeles Lakers, or Bob McAdoo's massive statistics in an earlier era, be our guest. We won't argue with you. Paul's offensive efficiency and archetypal play at the point just push him ahead in our book.
Honorable mentions: Sam Jones, Bob McAdoo, James Worthy
North Dakota: Doug McDermott
Doug McDermott knows how to get buckets. It's been true during a 12-year NBA career that has seen him average 15.8 points per 36 minutes on 46.8/41.0/80.6 shooting. It was true during his exemplary collegiate career at Creighton. And it was true during his prep days at Ames High School in Iowa, where he was a first-team All-State player.
But before McDermott began to establish himself in the national consciousness, he grew up in Grand Forks, North Dakota, because his father helped coach the University of North Dakota's men's basketball team. That's bad news for Tyler Johnson, Dalton Knecht, and the rest of the eight-man class from North Dakota because they all have some catching up to do.
Honorable mentions: Tyler Johnson, Dalton Knecht, Mark Landsberger
Ohio: LeBron James
Who did you think it was going to be?
Ohio has been a hotbed for elite basketball talent, producing Stephen Curry (notably born at the same hospital as LeBron James in Akron), John Havlicek, Jerry Lucas, Nate Thurmond, Neil Johnston, Bobby Jones, Alvin Robertson, and so many more notable names from the NBA archives. But there's only one LeBron.
We'd list out all of LeBron's accolades here, but I think the Internet has character restrictions that would need to be shattered to finish the job.
Honorable mentions: Stephen Curry, John Havlicek, Jerry Lucas
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