LAS VEGAS — As Day II turned into Night II for the LeBron James Skills Academy Thursday, rosters were shrinking as the number of players on the sidelines with ice packs on ankles and wrists continued to grow exponentially.
Guards Isaiah Briscoe and Malik Newman (iced wrists), potent junior-to-be power forward Omari Spellman (iced right ankle) and multi-skilled 2015 forward Mickey Mitchell (not sure why) were spectators Saturday night.
But, with the deepest collection of upper-tier prospects in all classes to be found at any of the seemingly 30 or 40 camps going on right now across the country, finding 10 guys whose exploits are worth writing about isn’t going to be a chore.
So, here goes.
Ten sentences written for 10 players (that I didn’t right about after Wednesday’s first set of games):
*Ben Simmons (“Georgetown”/Montverde, FL, Academy): The on-court evidence that he is the No. 1 player in the Class of 2015 continued to accumulate, via the left hander’s ability to take himself pretty much anywhere on the court he wanted to go and do what he wants once he gets there.
*Prince Ali (Michigan State/Weston, FL, Sagemont): The 6-3 senior-to-be had “defenders” (be that as they may) sprinting – or staggering – while retreating and giving up big gulps of hardwood via his full-speed dribble-drives.
*Ted Kapita (Michigan State/Huntington, WV, Prep): This has been my first opportunity to watch the 6-8 forward of the Class of 2015 in action and for that I’d like to say “thank you very much, Nike Grass Roots folks” for inviting him to the party.
*Esa Ahmad (Florida/Shaker Heights, OH): He’s the most well-rounded (figuratively, and I’m not referring to his “figure”) forward at the camp and he has gotten so much done, subtly, that few have probably noticed.
*Stephen Thompson Jr. (Torrance, CA, Bishop Montgomery) and Rex Pflueger (Santa Ana, CA, Mater Dei), both of camp team Florida: With their respective sets of parents sitting alongside Court 4 Thursday night, these guards showed off the collections of skills that helped their respective Southern California high school programs win state championships in March.
*Miles Bridges: (Syracuse/Huntington, WV, Prep): Big and strong enough to do mucho damage as “power forward” but with more than handling, passing and scoring skills to be dubbed “wing or small forward”, the left hander has continued the impressive performances he stacked up in the EYBL in the spring.
*Brian Bowen (Saginaw, MI, Arthur Hill) and Troy Brown (Las Vegas Centennial), both of camp team Florida: DeAndre Ayton (San Diego Balboa City Prep) is easily the best “big” in the Class of 2017 but classmates and camp teammates rep 2017 pretty well, too.
*Nick Noskowiak (Duke/Sun Prairie, WI): The terrific 6-3 combo guard – who knocked in a bevy of deep jumpers Thursday – apparently was such a late addition to the camp roster that they forgot to put his name and uniform number (17) on the roster
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