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Guards on display Saturday in L.V.

July 7, 2012 By Frank Burlison 1 Comment

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NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Saturday’s Day II of the LeBron James Skills Academy was made up of two more sessions of drills, with the 80 or so players broken up into groups of posts, wings and point guards.

After zeroing in on the posts on Friday, I parked my posterior on a folding chair facing the courts on which the point guards and wings got after it on Saturday morning and late afternoon, respectively.

First off, my thoughts on the PGs . . .

*As a collective, they seemed a lot more focused and attentive on the task at hand – getting better – than were some of the “bigs” I watched Friday night.

*The PGs were a lot more comfortable and efficient while shooting with their off hands.

*For the most part, all of the PGs looked to be good to very good jump shooters.

*The smallest player in the camp – junior-to-be Parker Jackson-Cartwright (Los Angeles Loyola), who is listed at 5-foot-9 ½ and is, in reality, probably a lot closer to 5-8 – also was one of the most impressive during Saturday’s drills.

I don’t think I saw him miss more than one jumper, or one open teammate. He could end the summer as the most significant challenger to Tyus Jones (Apple Valley in Minnesota) for the moniker “best junior PG in the country”.

*Kasey Hill (Montverde, FL, Academy) was the best of the PGs that I saw at the adidas VIP Exclusive Run in Las Vegas in April.

There wasn’t much flashy on his part Saturday but there was also nothing he did – or didn’t do – to make me leery of my opinion going into this event that he is one of the three top PG prospects in the Class of 2013, along with Anthony Barber (Hampton in Virginia; he’s also at the camp) and Andrew Harrison (Richmond, TX, Ft. Bend Travis; he isn’t at the camp).

*Stephen Clark (Oklahoma City Douglas), Duane Wilson (Milwaukee Dominican) and Nigel William-Goss (Henderson, NV, Findlay Prep) are top-flight PGs that I watched at the final week of the Nike EYBL (in Hayward, CA, on Memorial Weekend) as well as the NBA Players Association Top 100 Camp (in Charlottesville, VA, last month).

But Solomon Poole (Jacksonville, FL, Parker) and Billy Garrett (Chicago Morgan Park) have them topped. This is the fourth major event I’ve watched each compete at this spring and summer.

*Zach LaVine (Bothell, WA) – who committed to UCLA several weeks ago – was grouped with the PGs.

And he might actually be a PG, per se, some day. But, for now, he’s a “wing/shooting guard”, despite whatever you may hear otherwise.

At 6-3 plus, he looks like he’s headed for about 6-6 someday. He’s got all the vertical explosive, lateral quickness and shooting range needed for a prototypical “elite level-shooting guard”. But I just don’t see enough to make me think “yeah, he’s a PG” right now.

And, on to the “wings” . . .

*James Young (Troy, MI) and Kuran Iverson (West Hartford Northwest Catholic) came into the camp as – conservatively – two of the 10 best prospects in the Class of 2013.

Anyone still doubting that assertion wasn’t in one of the two Rancho High gymnasiums Saturday.

*High school hoops’ top-ranked 2014 member, Andrew Wiggins (Huntington, WV, Prep), was at his oh-so-smooth yet oh-so-just-as-explosive on Saturday, gliding by defenders off the dribbles and nailing jump shots in their faces.

*He best senior-to-be in Southern California, 6-4 Isaac Hamilton (Bellflower St. John Bosco), has been grouped with wings in the drills.

And he handled those drills very well on Saturday, knocking in mid- and deep-range jumpers and beating defenders off the dribble with ease.

But I think he would have been better served being group with the PGs, since that will be his primary (if not “ultimate”) position on the college and – not to be getting too far of ourselves for the time being – NBA levels.

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Frank Burlison

Frank Burlison is a well-regarded basketball writer who was inducted into the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame in 2005. His opinions on the potential of high school and college players are widely respected and sought by college coaches and NBA scouts, personnel directors and general managers from coast to coast. Oh, yes – he can offer plenty of thoughts on movies, television and pop music. Yes, he can rank those, too. Hint: He’s a big The Godfather, Larry Sanders, The Wire and The Beatles loyalist.

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I have been a fan of Frank Burlison’s skills as a talent evaluator for over twenty years. He stands out as one of the absolute best in the business.

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1977 National Player of the Year, 5x NBA All-Star

George Raveling

George Raveling

I’ve known Frank for at least 35 years and have the utmost respect for his writing as well as his understanding of, and insight into, basketball. His ability to evaluate basketball prospects is almost impeccable. Most coaches and scouts watch a player and can tell you how good he is NOW. What separates Frank from the others is that he can watch the same player and tell you how good he can be two or three years down the line.

George Raveling
3x Pac-10 Coach of the Year, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer
Director of International Basketball, Nike

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Winningest coach (892-81) in California boys’ basketball history during his 29 seasons at Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei

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