NBPA Top 100: Thursday Morning Recap

Day Two is underway at the NBPA Top 100 camp at John Paul Jones arena in Charlottesville, VA. With over three hours of action to kick off the morning session there were numerous standout performances and highlight real plays as he participant played around 24 minutes per game.

Impressive Performers:

Tyler Dorsey, 6’4” G, St. John Bosco (CA)

This past spring Tyler Dorsey de-committed from Arizona while also seeing his ranking plummet. Despite this, the athletic guard was impressive in his morning game showcasing his quick first step. In a close loss, Dorsey utilized a quick cross-over to pull up just outside the paint for a soft jump shot. He attacked the basket off the dribble and constantly put pressure on his defender, no matter the size. Not only was his quickness on display, but so was his hustle. It’s fair to say that Dorsey put out a maximum effort which resulted in an offensive rebound and easy put-back under the basket. Dorsey might have stumbled in the spring, but now with a chip on his shoulder he should be just fine going into July.

Edrice Adebayo, 6’8”, PF, Northside (NC)

In the EYBL, Adebayo was known for his rebounding prowess and second jump ability. Both of these were on display this morning, along with a more aggressive offensive outlook. Going against 7 foot Doral Moore, Adebayo looked for his shot throughout the game. While he was a force on the glass he also hit an eight foot jump shot and connected on several free throws. Feeling a little confident after, Adebayo stepped a bit outside his range and launched a 17 foot jump shot which didn’t connect. Minus this deep jumper, Adebayo was a force to be reckoned with down on the block with his newfound offensive mindset. He ended the game with 17 points and 10 rebounds on 7-10 shooting. 

Jalen Coleman, 6’4”, SG, La Lumiere (IN)

In this day and age most 6’4” scoring guards want to be known as point guards or combo guards. Jalen Coleman is refreshing as he knows he is a true shooting guard. In the EYBL, Coleman shot 50% from three connecting on 46-92 attempts. His textbook jump shot was on display today as he knocked in numerous outside shots. He started with a feathery 15 footer from the right corner and then started knocking in three’s from a variety of areas. Coleman is a pure scorer, but one that is more than just a standstill outside shooter. While his points came from outside the paint, Coleman has the athletic ability to get by his defender.

Cheick Diallo, 6’9”, PF, Our Savior (NY)

Underclassmen tend to struggle at the NBPA Top 100 camp, but last year Diallo took home the MVP despite several standout players in the class of 2014 in attendance. It didn’t take long for Diallo to make his mark in the first game of the morning. Blocking shots, sprinting the floor on both offense and defense, and finishing in the paint led to 18 points and eight rebounds. All of these skills make Diallo one of the most intimidating players in the country.

Other Notes:

·         Class of 2016 point guard Derryck Thornton dropped seven dimes in a two point loss and only committed one turnover. He also added 10 points and was the most impressive true point guard in the morning session. 

·         5’8” sparkplug Demontrae Jefferson is back in C-Ville and he was right back to his high scoring ways. The leading scorer in the Adidas Uprising scored throughout the game while frustrating his opponent, Bryant Crawford on the defensive end. Jefferson scored 23 points on 9-15 shooting. He is always the shortest player on the court, but can get by his defenders with ease and finish against much taller opponents with his ridiculous leaping ability.

·         Five-star Carlton Bragg has a tendency to float outside of the paint at times, but today he was fairly dominant down low. With long arms and a quick first jump, Bragg was able to finish in the post early and often.

·         Brevin Pritzl, the future Wisconsin Badger had the tough task of guarding Tyler Dorsey, but he was able to match Dorsey offensively in the second half. He started the third quarter with a steal and a pull-up three and then nailed another three off a set inbounds play.

·         Georgetown bound Noah Dickerson was a load to handle down low. He used his size to back down defenders in the paint which resulted in both right handed and left handed hook shots. He also operated extremely effectively in the pick and roll. He set good, strong screens that punished the smaller guards and also rolled to the basket for easy buckets. Dickerson finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds. 

·         YouTube sensation Seventh Woods was quiet offensively in the second half (besides a blow by) but put on a defensive clinic. He hounded the opposing point in the half-court set with his quick feet, fought around screens, and also kept the taller Malachi Richardson from getting to his sweet spot at the three point line. 

·         Thon Maker was fairly quiet in his game until the last few minutes. After making the block of the morning by volleyball spiking an opponents shot, Maker hit a five foot shot in the post and then finished with a strong two hand dunk. The versatile big man exerted more energy at the end of the game and his performance rapidly improved. Earlier in the game, Maker showed a propensity to force a foul on contested jump shots. 

Dunk of the Day:

On a fastbreak Gonzaga High point guard Bryant Crawford passed up an easy two points by bouncing the ball off the floor for a strong one handed finish by Carlton Bragg.

Bonus:

During the breaks at the NBPA camp, another showcase is going on right across the street at UVA’s UHall arena. Put on by ScoutsFocus, the camp features a fair amount of players in the 2016 and 2017 classes. One who stuck out early, was Curtis Jones a 6’3” shooting guard out of Paul VI High School in Virginia. Jones hit a three from the top of the key and finished a fast break with a monster tomahawk jam. With his size and ball-handling ability, Jones was the best player in his game.

Pitt Jam Fest - Day 2 (The Youngin's)

In the first full day of action in the live recruiting session, coaches had almost 14 hours to travel throughout the Pittsburgh area in search of their next recruit. With games going on all day, there were plenty of standouts and top notch performances.

Team of the Future: Karolina Diamonds 17U

On Day 1, the Karolina Diamonds squad lost their opening game and didn’t play again until early Saturday morning disappointing several high major coaches that anticipated a second game on Friday night. The Diamonds are one of the most entertaining teams to watch, and that’s even before you realize that their whole team consists of freshman playing against kids two years older.The big names on the team are the two guards in Junior Smith and Kwe Parker that are also high school teammates. 

Smith stands 6’1” with long arms and can handle the ball like a yo-yo. Parker stands 6’2” and showed off the best two foot jumping ability in the tournament. In the first half of their game against the NJ Celtics, the duo connected on a pair of alley-oops with Smith penetrating into the middle of the lane and lofting up a soft floater for Parker to finish with an authoritative two hand slam. In the second half, the duo missed two alley-oops; however the misses might have been more impressive than the makes considering the degree of difficulty (Parker almost hit his head on the side of the backboard on one). Smith finished with nine points on 4-6 shooting with four assists while Parker finished with 13 points on 6-10 shooting. Smith showed off his dribbling moves (making a defender fall at one point) to get into the lane for the aforementioned alley-oop pass or a soft floater. He also utilized a nice euro step to convert a difficult lay-up. Parker also showed off a nice ability to drive to the basket when not throwing down emphatic dunks and rebounded well for a guard. Both players did their damage inside the paint, but still have plenty of time to work on their outside shot. After opening Friday night with a loss, Karolina finished 2-1 with both wins coming in blowout fashion.

Point Guard of the Future: Seventh Woods

Seventh Woods gained recognition during his freshman year for averaging 19.3 points per game and is widely considered one of the top players in his class and a youtube sensation. Woods struggled to start the game against the New Jersey RoadRunners missing two outside shots, but showed a flash of his athleticism on a missed flying dunk down a crowded lane. Woods scored seven points in the second half before leaving with a slightly turned ankle. In the second half he showed off his top notch athleticism with a rim rattling dunk and a few insane blocks as players went driving down the lane for what appeared to be open lay-ups. Woods also added a few rebounds and assists for good measure. Overall, Woods has first class athleticism and a strong handle (especially considering his age), but will need to continue to hone his outside shot to actually become the top point guard in the class of 2016. fast break block before exiting with an ankle injury with 7 minutes to go. While Woods didn’t show off as a top player in his class, its obvious that he has the athleticism. 

 Despite the injury to Woods, his 16U Carolina Wolves team pulled out the victory thanks to 26 points from 6’5” wing Tevin Mack who was hitting three pointers in the first half and dominating in the pain throughout. While Mack helped his team to victory, it was actually his counterpart on the RoadRunners who was the more efficient player and leading scorer in the game. Myles Stephens, a 6’3” sophomore kept the RoadRunners competitive throughout as he scored in a variety of ways during the game. Stephens scored on drives down the lane, post-ups, put backs, foul shots, and also hit a three pointer in the first half. Stephens indicated that a host of Ivy League schools such as Yale, Princeton, and Penn are showing interest along with Bucknell and some Patriot league schools. 

How did they lose? Illinois Celtics 16U

The Illinois Celtics look like a top team and feature some of the most impressive length on the AAU circuit with a trio of long armed starters that range from 6’4” to 6’7.” These three starters are Kristian Santos (6’5”), Joseph Toye (6’7”), and Aaron Jordan (6’4”). Santos is the shooter of the group who has a picture perfect jump shot, while Toye is the athletic slasher and Jordan does a bit of both. Despite these three wings along with power forward Myles Carter, the Celtics lost to the unheralded Fairfax Stars in an early Saturday matchup. This comes two weeks after the Celtics gave up a 20 point lead in a loss to the Wisconsin Playground Warriors in the Milwaukee Swish N Dish. 

The next Muggsy Bogues? Jason Jolly (Fairfax Stars)

While the Karolina Diamonds might have been the most entertaining team, 5’6” Jason Jolly might have been the most entertaining player. Despite his short stature, Jolly was the vocal leader of the Fairfax Stars as they upset the Illinois Celtics. Jolly hit a key three in the second half and terrorized the Celtic guards on defense with his quick feet. Once the Stars got the lead with a few minutes remaining, Jolly just played keep away dribbling around defenders with ease. 

The 6’7” Wing Crew:

Jared Nickens

Jared Nickens (6’7” Sports U) resembled Rashad Vaughn in both body type and shooting form. Nickens was knocking in deep jumpers against the Upward Stars from South Carolina on Saturday afternoon and continued his hot shooting in the Sweet 16 with a game winning three over Team Loaded in the quarterfinals. He also added in a one hand flush against Team Loaded that got a nice crowd reaction.

Donte Grantham (6’7” DC Assault) Grantham propelled DC Assault into the elite eight with clutch shooting against the Carolina Wolves. The tall, lanky native of West Virginia calmly drained three pointers from the wing and also was able to get into the lane for baskets. West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins made his first appearance at North Hills High to catch Grantham’s quarterfinal game. 

Devin Robinson (6’7” Richmond Squires) The Squires faced off against the talented Atlanta Xpress in another 17U Sweet 16 game. Despite the apparent talent mis-match between the two teams, Robinson was undaunted. He got the Squires off to a strong start with 10 first half points as he drained two three’s along with a mid-range jumper and lay-up. The Squires led by 3 at the half before running out of steam in the second half. Robinson still finished with 18 points and was not afraid to attack the 7 foot Xpress shot blocking machine in Trayvon Reed. Robinson entered the tournament as a fringe top-100 prospect, but after this weekend should see his stock start to rise. Several Big East schools and Virginia Tech were already interested, but expect many of the other schools in attendance to take note.

The Best Halftime Speech: Miller Jordan – ATL Xpress

As noted above, Robinson and the Richmond Squires came out aggressive against the Xpress and led 26-23 at the half. Not entirely pleased with his team’s effort, Jordan took the players over to the corner at the gym and began a loud tirade that echoed throughout. After a few minutes, Jordan finally stopped and the Xpress quickly increased their intensity as they outscored the Squires 38-19 in the second half.

The Busiest Coach: Mike Winiecki – Associate Head Coach of Clemson

The Karolina Diamonds tipped off at 10am in Ambridge High, a good 25 minutes away from North Hills High School. Despite the abundance of 2016 talent on this team, Winiecki was the only coach to show up as he sported a bright orange Clemson sweater. After the game ended he made sure to stand in front of the basket as Parker and Smith began a mini dunk off. After this game, Winiecki hopped in his car and drove 30 minutes south of the city to South Fayette High. Sure enough, the only coach in attendance to watch 2016 stud Seventh Woods was once again Winiecki in his bright orange sweater. With the Carolina Wolves being from South Carolina, plenty of people in the gym took notice. Once this game was over, Winiecki watched a few Ohio kids before making his way back to North Hills high to catch 2015 South Carolina sensation PJ Dozier. With all of the young talent in the Carolina’s, Clemson is trying to establish their mark early on.