Endangered Hoops

I know it’s been a minute, but I told y’all I would finish what I started. **pulls out notes and such from the weekend**

Kyrie Irving, 6’2 PG
St. Patrick’s High School
Duke

I was extremely impressed with Irving for his handle of the game. He has a tremendous feel for what his team needs. In the first half, Gilchrist was playing well and St. Pats was getting solid contributions across the board. Despite Joseph coming after him on seemingly every possession, Irving stayed within himself and did what his team needed him to do.

In the second half, Irving brought St. Pats back from a seven point deficit, repeatedly getting into the creases in the Findlay defense. He hit threes, floaters, 3-point plays. He looked like BY FAR the best player on the court for the final quarter and a half. Despite missing a free throw that would’ve tied the game, Irving ended with a game-high 30 points and showed the characteristics that have made him such a hot topic amongst high school basketball circles.

Irving is definitely the type of kid who can start from the beginning at Duke. Plus, he has skills that should make him the best Dukie lead guard since Jason Williams. His shot isn’t perfect, but he hit with great success against Findlay. He isn’t an explosive athlete, but he is shifty and knows how to switch gears.

Overall, he is he first Duke prospect in years that I am actually excited about.

Tobias Harris, 6’8 SF, PF
Half Hollow Hills West
Tennessee

Perhaps the best individual performance of the weekend belonged to Harris. As the main attraction on the Saturday afternoon, Harris displayed a knack to finish inside and outside. I called him the Devin Ebanks clone in my SLAMonline article. Harris is a kid who has the tools to not only be a dominant player at Tennessee, but also one day make the transition to the 3 at the NBA level.

He won’t wow you physically, but he is long enough to finish inside. His pull-up jump shot is already NCAA high-level caliber as he loves to size up his defender from the top of the key and stroke off of one or two dribbles. Offensively, I think he has a chance to average 15 as a freshman.

On the defensive end, he was spectacular as well. He had 16 rebounds and was a really deterrent around the rim. Despite the level of competition that wasn’t nearly as spectacular as Monday offered, Harris was much better than I expected.

Jared Sullinger, 6’9 PF
Northland
Ohio State

I’m going to have to tell y’all before I talk about this man: I don’t think I would ever praise a top rated high school big man who scored just 3 points in a game as highly-celebrated as this one was against Oak Hill. National TV, ESPN and Sullinger came out and dropped 3 points? Hopefully no one made box score assumptions in this one.

Oak Hill doubled and tripled the big man every time down, normally even before he touched the rock. Sullinger never lost his cool or forced anything. He didn’t score over the course of the whole first half, yet didn’t let that affect his defensive effort. He rebounds with ease because of his wide frame and huge hands.

At the end of the game, he made the game deciding block and sealed the win and a number one national ranking for Northland. He might not have the star potential of some other kids who have been rated number one as seniors, but he will definitely be a huge Big 10 presence next year.

As an NBA talent, I think he will turn into a solid role player in the mold of the Millsaps, Big Babys and Craig Smiths of the world. He’s not that great of an athlete and he is slightly undersized. But, he is team-first, works at both end and has a nice touch offensively.

I am interested to see where his career goes from here.

Here’s a wrap up of the 3 days from SLAM:
Saturday
Sunday
Monday

This past weekend, I covered arguably the nation’s best high school basketball tournament at Springfield College, home of the basketball Hall of Fame.

I got a chance to watch and catch up with some of the country’s best and in the next few days, I will post some of my evaluations of these cats. Will I create my own ranking system? Probably not, I try not to jump to conclusions after seeing someone play, especially if I’ve only seen them play once or twice. I will also post screenshots of my coverage of the tournament of SLAMonline.com.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYPTmwqTaXE&hl=en_US&fs=1&hd=1&border=1]

Thanks to hoopmixtape.com for the vid…

Austin Rivers, 6’3-6’4″ SG
Winter Park HS
Verbal to Florida, but wants Duke to recruit him

Definitely the most exciting player I saw all weekend, Rivers is the son of Boston Celtics’ coach Doc Rivers. Rated the best junior guard by most experts (and number 2 overall player behind Michael Gilchrist by some), Rivers has all the offensive tools someone needs. He’s explosive and has great quickness. His ballhandling and one-on-one moves are obviously a product of being around NBA talent as he knows what he wants to do and how to get there. Some guys can shoot and others get to the rim. Rivers can do both and has a very good mid range game with floaters.

I don’t know if he is the best overall guard in high school, but I doubt there is anyone who is better offensively. He is the total package.

Still, in order to fully realize his potential, he has to become more of a PG and I don’t know if that will ever happen. He plays the 2 for Winter Park, not because he isn’t the best creator, but I get the feeling his teammates would hardly see the ball. He is a very aggressive scorer. In college, he will do work. But, he could become so much better at his size if he learned to run a team a little bit more.

Defensively, I didn’t notice much one way or the other. In high school, it is never fair to try to evaluate kids of this level on that end because it is too easy for them.

Here’s a highlight reel of him at the 2010 Hoophall, where he scored 21 become exiting at the start of the fourth with an ankle injury. He has 2 back-to-back unbelievable dunks- one a facial, the other a lob.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azK2F-qs5EA&hl=en_US&fs=1&hd=1&border=1]

Thanks to Crusader22Prd for the vid…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD01T8E4OwQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&hd=1&border=1]

Thanks to hoopmixtape.com for the video…

Cory Joseph, 6’2 SG/PG
Findlay Prep HS
undecided

The tournament’s MOP was incredible during the first half of the Findlay/St. Patrick’s battle. Matched up at times with Kyrie Irving, Joseph got to the bucket at will in the first half. At this point, Joseph definitely isn’t a PG. He reminds me a lot of Monta Ellis- not quite as explosive, but has the fearless attitude to get inside and has a wide range of shots once he gets there.

The kid competes at both ends and you can tell he is the type of person to bring it every night. Sometimes he attacks the game 1 on 5 and that hurts him because he seems to have some passing ability. But, a lot like Rivers, he is super aggressive. He isn’t the athlete Rivers is, but he is just as gifted once he is in the lane and plays with a swagger about him that allows him to rise to the challenge whenever he plays someone like Irving.

He finished with 23 points and 9 rebounds and even though the second half belonged to Irving, Joseph showed he will be an excellent scorer wherever he goes. Defensively, he will be up in your face and has the potential to be a very good defender. If he can gain some more confidence in his jumper and point guard skills, he will be a future pro.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk8neY4allE&hl=en_US&fs=1&hd=1&border=1]

Thanks to hoopmixtape.com for the video…

Michael Gilchrist, 6’7 SF
St. Patrick’s HS
undecided

The consensus top junior and possibly top high school player in the nation struggled at times with an ankle injury during the highly touted matchup against Findlay. Still, he showed a wide range of skills. I would compare him to a smaller Lamar Odom. He can pass, take people off the dribble, and finish inside. Athletically, he is just a good athlete, but is a very intelligent player. He has a nice range of crossovers and in-and-out moves from the wing and top of the key. More than a few times in the first half, St. Patrick’s ran isolations for him and he broke down the defense before finding an open teammate.

Yet, his jumper is pretty weak at this point with almost no arc at all. His first free throw barely grazed the front rim. I get the feeling once he faces defender with his size and foot speed, he will have trouble offensively. His entire game is 10 feet and in.

Gilchrist competes pretty hard, but did seem to let the ankle injury affect his attitude. He seemed to want to show everyone how hurt he was instead of concentrating on the game. In the second half, he was almost non-existent as Irving just took over.

There is the belief he isn’t finished growing yet and if he can get to be 6’10 or so, he will be a Chris Bosh type of player. If he doesn’t, I think he will become a decent NBA player.

That’s all for now. Check back later for updates on Kyrie Irving, Tobias Harris, Jared Sullinger, etc.

Here’s a story from a year ago I did on the two best big men in the 2009 class. Check out 2 future 1st-round picks…

Here’s the final part of that article. It’s from a few years ago on a dude named Preye Preboye from Springfield, MA.

John Wall is going to be a monster. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love his game.

The number one player in the nation still hasn’t choosen a school. In case you didn’t hear, there is a possibility he might find his way into the NBA draft. He could also go to Europe. As long as he isn’t eligible for school, those are really the only options he has.

Here is an article from DraftExpress that goes into further detail:

Draft Express: John Wall