July 17, 1994. Nine months after Michael Jordan announced his 1st exit from the game, Sports Illustrated (SI) introduced the world to a 6'5" 215 lbs, freshly 16-year-old kid with elite perimeter skills and a 42-inch vertical leap who spent the summer outplaying the future NBA stars in the historically talented Class of 1995. That kid was Schea Cotton, who everybody assumed was guaranteed to play in the NBA (maybe right out of high school) after reading that SI article. But something happened on Cotton’s path to NBA millions and the documentary, Manchild: The Schea Cotton Story, offers to explain how it began and what wrecked it using archived footage from Cotton’s high school basketball career as well as interviews with family, coaches, and former competitors. Is Manchild the next all-star caliber hoops documentary or is it a bust of Darko Milicic proportions? It doesn’t play at an elite level, but it still puts up decent numbers.
The strength of Manchild lies in the anecdotes used to convey the extent of Cotton’s prodigious talents and the people telling them. Stories such as the time he scored 30 points in by halftime vs. then number 1 high school player in the country Kevin Garnett and his dominance at the 1994 Nike All American Camp would be impressive to hear because of the accomplishments alone. The roster of basketball notables giving eye witness accounts of Cotton’s supremacy on the court takes those stories to another level and exemplifies just how special he was at a young age. Who are some of those notables? Former NBA All-stars Elton Brand, Metta World Peace, Paul Pierce, and Baron Davis, to name a few. NFL Hall of Famer Randy Moss, who credits his Cotton experience with pushing him to end his basketball career and focus on becoming one of the best football players ever, is also featured.
Similar to its subject, Manchild does have some issues that keep it from reaching its full potential. The most glaring problem is the halo it gives Cotton. While he never had any legal controversies or public clashes with teammates or coaches, the film does not acknowledge the points in Cotton’s career where he played a part in the demise of his NBA dreams. This flaw stands out particularly when the subject of Cotton’s decision to enter the 2000 NBA Draft, where he claims to have received feedback stating he would be a first-round selection despite not a single mock draft or prospect ranking reflecting that information.
Another weakness in Manchild is the almost complete neglecting of how Cotton moved forward after his fast track to the NBA derailed. Other than a few short clips of him putting kids through a workout and speaking to other high teams, the film does not cover who and where Cotton is now. His post-basketball journey is just as important as his time as a phenom if the goal is to how he survived the disappointing turns in his career and the 78 minutes run time left plenty of room to address it without harming the film. Treating that time as an afterthought is equivalent to leaving points at the free-throw line.
Manchild is not the best basketball documentary ever made, but it offers something for all levels of basketball fans. For basketball savants, it’s a trip down memory lane and with a little more detail than revealed during Cotton’s career. For novices or casual fans, it’s a solid introduction to one of the game’s most pre-Lebron James celebrated phenoms and cautionary tales about projections at the high school level. Manchild should have been a more compelling story because Cotton’s journey epitomizes how to move forward when Plan A doesn’t come to fruition. However, that flaw and the absence of accountability for its subject is not enough for you to bounce it off your must-see list.
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