PORTLAND – Andrew Wiggins led the World Select Team to an upside victory over its United States counterpart a year ago during the 15th Nike Hoop Summit in the Rose Garden.
Based on the way the squad has looked over the first two days of practice at the Trail Blazers’ practice facility, Wiggins and his teammates – none of which played with him on the World club a year ago – could be primed to make it two in a row Saturday night.
A case could be made that Wiggins, who is from Toronto but attended Huntington Prep in West Virginia for two years, is not only the top high school player in the Class of 2013 but also the top individual hoops talent in the world that is not already on an NBA payroll.
His play during the three practice sessions that I’ve watched (I will also watch another Wednesday morning before busting it back to SoCal Wednesday afternoon) has tended to make strong arguments in support of both of those points.
But he may have even more quality players around him this time around than he did when the World team – led by his 20-point effort – prevailed a year ago, 84-75.
The most impressive of those other 10 players have been point guard Dennis Schroder (Germany) and 6-foot-7 wing forward Sergey Karasev.
Along with Wiggins, Schroder (get ready for a whole lot of Rajon Rondo comparisons) and Karasev (perhaps the best pure jump shooter on the squad and also a dynamic passer) dominated the team’s scrimmage Tuesday evening in front of dozens of NBA decision makers and other talent evaluators.
U.S. point guards Andrew Harrison (a Kentucky signee), Kasey Hill (Florida bound) and Demetrius Jackson (scheduled to play for Notre Dame in 2013-14) will have their hands and Nikes moving at full speed trying to keep up with Schroder – at both ends of the floor.
The U.S. squad will also have to cope with the size and strength advantage its World counterpart will likely enjoy via centers Mouhammadou Jaiteh (France), Joel Embiid (Cameroon) and Karl Towns Jr. (Dominican Republican), listed at 6-11, 7-foot and 7-foot, respectively.
The U.S. doesn’t have a “center”, per se, on its roster – or at least any player who thinks he’ll be playing the position in college next season as a freshman.
The 19-year-old Jaiteh (listed at 249 pounds) is the most physically imposing of the trio while Towns (a member of the Class of 2014 who attends high school in Florida and is already committed to the University of Kentucky) is the most skilled scorer.
But Embiid, who reportedly has only been playing hoops on an “organized” level for a bit more than 18 months, is the most intriguing prospect of the three.
With maturation and skills development, he’ll be an All-American by his sophomore season at the University of Kansas – assuming, in this era, that he isn’t in the NBA by what would have been his sophomore season in Lawrence.
Six-five Dante Exum (Australia), 6-9 Livio Jean-Charles (France) and 6-5 Tomas Dimsa (Lithuania) each had a lot of impressive moments during the Tuesday morning and evening workouts.
Potential matchups between Exum and Aaron Harrison (Andrew’s also UK-bound twin) and Jean-Charles and University of Arizona-bound Aaron Gordon at forward will also be worth watching for Saturday night.
This is really interesting, You’re a very skilled blogger. I’ve joined your feed and look forward to seeking more of your
excellent post. Also, I’ve shared your web site in my social networks!
Aw, this was a very nice post. In thought I want
to put in writing like this additionally – taking time and actual effort to
make a very good article… however what can I say… I procrastinate
alot and by no means appear to get something done.
wonderful points altogether, you simply gained a brand
new reader. What would you recommend about your post that you made some days ago?
Any positive?
Realizing that there are a great number of explanations why women encounter this hair
malady sometimes begin focusing eliminate the obvious. To begin with,
you should be aware of the importance of your decision because it will influence the development of
your condition, as well as the way the body adapts to the change.
Plus on top of that, you will begin to feeling the its benefits
thirty minutes after you period very first
Slimple