Some campers impress while playing with LeBron

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LAS VEGAS – Day I of the LeBron James Skills Academy concluded with the camp’s namesake – and, if the mostly day-long buzz in the Cashman Center has some factual heft to it, the soon-to-be Cleveland Cavalier – running with the participants in portions of each of the first four games played Wednesday night.

I watched the players in their drills and “practices” earlier in the afternoon, then tried to focus on the first half of the game (between “Michigan State” and “Florida”) on Court I, then did the same thing for the second half of the game on Court II (“Syracuse” vs. “Connecticut”.

So I’m calling this wrap-up “10 for 10” because I’m going to focus on the 10 players I was most impressed by Wednesday and . . . because I started writing this at 10 o’clock on Wednesday night.
I’m nothing if not logical.

Court I:

1)      Isaiah Briscoe (Michigan State/Roselle, NJ, Catholic): The top point guard in the Class of 2015 looked exactly that in the first half, playing with poise and purpose while a lot of other guys played with panic while rudderless.

The dribble was never higher than his hip and it seemingly appeared as if the other nine players on the court were never out of the line of his sight. There were three or four terrific passes thrown in the half and he delivered all of them.

2)      DeAndre Ayton (Florida/San Diego Balboa City Prep): Dozens of NBA employees who, in large part, evaluate the NBA potential of players in exchange for paychecks, and three or four times as many college coaches, were getting their first look at this 6-foot-11, sophomore-to-be who came to Southern California by way of the Bahamas nearly two years ago.

After they watched him swat opponents’ shot attempts, snatch rebounds parallel with the top of the square and score as if he wasn’t being guarded I’d say they were duly impressed.

3)       Daniel Giddens (Michigan State/Marietta, GA, Wheeler) and

4)      Moustapha Diagne (Florida/Sparta, NJ, had a pretty nifty 1-on-1 match-up in the low post. Both refused to shy away from contact – and, in fact, appeared to cherish it.

Giddens (who is committed to Ohio State) looks a couple of inches taller (at about 6-foot-9 and change) and was more of shot-blocking threat while Diagne (who says he will sign with Syracuse in November) countered Giddens length advantage with decent pivot work which led to a couple of left-(off)-handed jump hooks and layups.

Court II:

5)      Jayson Tatum (Connecticut/St. Louis Chaminade): In case you may have forgotten that the 6-7 forward is considered – at worse – one of the three or four best prospects in the Class of 2016, Tatum did a nice job or reminding you of just that in the second half.

Two examples: He dribbled by a defender in the left corner and as another ran at him he rose up and swished a14 footer. Then he picked off a pass in the open court, beat a defender with a so-quick-you-missed-it-if-you-blinked crossover and then guided a left- (off) handed layup off the glass.

6)      Malachi Richardson (Syracuse/Trenton, NJ, Catholic): The 6-6 Richardson, who plans to sign with the “real” Syracuse in November, was rocking a pretty sweet fro-hawk of sorts and his play was just as nifty, at both ends of the floor.

7)      Omari Spellman (Connecticut/North Royalton, OH, MacDuffie): My initial observations while watching him walk onto the floor of Court II were “Uh, he’s more than a little pudgy” followed by a very rapid “Dang, he does a lot of things very well, doesn’t he?”

8)      Jalen Brunson (Connecticut/Lincolnshire, IL, Stevenson): Briscoe’s top challenger as the preeminent senior-to-be point guard hit a left-handed 3 from the left corner and also executed a sweet pick-and-roll with Spellman, who dunked the ball rapidly on the back end of the play.

9)      Mickey Mitchell (Connecticut/Plano, TX, West): With his future college head coach (Thad Matta of Ohio State) a very interested courtside observer, the 6-7 left hander showed off the variety – and quality – of ball-handling and passing skills that I saw from him during the second session of the EYBL in Dallas in the spring. He also hit a couple of deep jump shots, as well.

10)  Stephen Zimmerman (Connecticut/Las Vegas Bishop Gorman): The third consecutive left hander on this list was at his multiple-skilled best Wednesday night, from either side of the low post (scoring and passing), the perimeter (jump shots and more alert and on-target passing) and as a runner, shoot blocker and rebounder.