GARDEN GROVE, Ca. – The last of the major high school basketball “camps” of the summer of 2014 got underway Friday, for the third year in a row, at the Next Level Sports Complex.
Nine squads – four representing the United State and five more from international regions – are part of the adidas Nations that wraps up Monday night at Long Beach City College with third-place and championship games.
Also taking part are approximately 30 current college players who serve as “counselors”, practice with the high school players and also scrimmage in front of a large turnover of NBA scouts and decision makers (general managers and scouting directors).
Four high school games were played late Friday afternoon, with the contests broken into 10-minute quarters and played with a 30-second shot clock.
The U.S. teams are named in honor of the high-profile NBA players who endorse adidas products.
Winning Friday were 2015 (all players who will be seniors this season) U.S. Dwight Howard (84-61 over adidas Canada); 2016 (all underclassmen) U.S. Damien Lillard (81-52 over adidas Africa); adidas Asia Pacific (82-54 over adidas Latin America); and 2016 U.S. John Wall (74-62 over adidas Europe).
U.S. 2015 Derrick Rose had the bye Friday.
I staggered my viewing time in the 90-minute or so window of opportunity watching portions of the Dwight Howard-Canada and John Wall-Europe games, as well the two counselor scrimmages.
Forwards Jaylen Brown (Marietta, GA, Wheeler) and Chase Jeter (Las Vegas Bishop Gorman) were especially impressive for “Team Howard”, with Brown totaling a game-high 19 points with seven rebounds chipping in with 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
Scoring 13 points apiece for Team Canada were seniors-to-be Jalen Poyser (Henderson, NV, Findlay Prep) and Dillon Brooks (Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, NH).
Team Wall shot poorly (.362), collectively, from the field but hit 12 more free throws than Team Europe – the margin of the Team Wall victory.
Six-four junior-to-be Rawle Alkins (New York City Christ the King) was easily the best of the Team Wall players when I watched, scoring impressively in and around traffic on drives and in transition while scoring a team-high 15 points with five rebounds and two assists.
Forwards Mouhamed Thiam (from Senegal) and Serguy Prymiak (from the Ukraine) scored 18 and 16 points, respectively, for Team Europe with Thiam snatching nine rebounds.
College players that I thought particularly stood out when I watched their scrimmages included 6-foot-5 E.C. Matthews (who will be a sophomore at Rhode Island this season), 7-0 Frank Kaminsky (senior/Wisconsin), 6-8 Shawn Long (senior/Louisiana-Lafayette), 6-8 Austin Nichols (sophomore/Memphis), 6-7 Shavon Shields (senior/Nebraska) and 6-3 Bryce Alford (sophomore/UCLA).
Action will be held over morning (beginning at 10) and evening (starting at 6) sessions on Saturday, as will it be on Sunday.
How do you feel about Bryce Alford’s potential?
Many of the experts on UCLA internet recruiting sites say Bryce cannot play at a UCLA level.