My “all-adidas Nations” selections

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LONG BEACH, Ca. – Team Damian Lillard continued its dominance of the 2014 adidas Nations when it mattered most Monday night at Long Beach City College.

It trailed by five points after the first quarter to Team John Wall before overwhelming its opponent over the final 30 minutes of play to cruise, 106-78, in the nationally televised championship game.

Team Lillard, Coached by Ross Burns and Scott Garson, finished 5-0 over the four-day event (the first three days of which were played at the Next Level Sports Center in Garden Grove), never winning by margin of fewer than 14 points. Its average margin of victory was 29 points.

In the third-place game (also televised by ESPNU), Team Dwight Howard overcame a paltry shooting effort from the field – it was 12 of 67, for a stunning .179 percentage – to cash in on the free-throw line and prevail, 52-46, over Team Europe.

Team Howard was 26 of 39 from the free-throw line to Team Europe’s 4 of 7. Team Europe – made up entirely of players from Coach Rob Orellana’s Canarias Basketball Academy (located in the Canary Islands) – was whistled for 23 personal fouls with its U.S. counterpart being called for just seven.

Chase Jeter (Las Vegas Bishop Gorman) was easily Team Howard’s best player over the final three quarters while finishing with 14 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Afterward, during an announcement carried by ESPNU, Jeter – as long anticipated – announced he would sign with Duke in November.

Team Lillard got double-figure scoring from five players, led by the 19-point performance from reserve Mario Kegler (a 6-foot-6 junior-to-be who attended Callaway in Jackson, MS, for his first two years but is now enrolled at Jacksonville Country Day, in Arlington, FL).

Rawle Alkins, a 6-4 swingman from 2016 who attends Christ the King in New York City, led Team Wall with 19 points.

Team Wall Coaches Don MacLean and Joe Wootten came up short in their bid to win a four consecutive adidas Nations championship.

Here are my choices for an adidas Nations’ “All-Tournament” team – with selections being made strictly upon how the players performed when I watched them over the four days. These selections don’t necessarily reflect how I “rate” them as college prospects:

Most Outstanding Player

Thon Maker (7-0/Class of 2016/Martinsville, VA, Carlisle School/Team Lillard):

He edged teammate Dennis Smith, who could easily been the “co-MOP” choice but I didn’t cop out and go with that approach despite of how tough a decision it was to give the nod to Maker by the slightest of margins.

He scored 18 points (hitting all six of his shots from the field) with eight rebounds and – as was the case over the entire event – impacted his team’s five games in so many ways on both ends of the floor.

First Team

Thon Maker (MOP)

Dennis Smith (6-1/2016/Fayetteville, NC, Trinity Christian/Team Lillard):

Smith’s play over four days made for a compelling argument as to his candidacy for being tabbed the best point guard prospect in his class. He had 16 points (hitting two of his team’s three 3-point shots) with four assists and four steals in the finale, averaging 14.0, 4.8 and 3.0, respectively, over the four days.

Rawle Alkins (6-4/2016/New York City Christ the King/Team Wall):

He was easily his team’s most consistent player over four days while averaging 15.2 points per game. He got into the lane and finished through or around contact consistently. A dunk in transition with his left (off) hand was about the closest thing passing for a “highlight” for his team Monday night.

Chase Jeter (6-9/2016/Las Vegas Bishop Gorman/Team Howard):

Jeter, who missed a game Sunday night after suffering a cut on his forehead (caused by an inadvertent elbow via teammate Justin Simon that needed seven stitches to close), led all rebounders (9.2 average).

Tony Bradley Jr. (6-9/2016/Bartow, FL, Bartow/Team Lillard):

He’s one of the most underrated posts in his class (or at least he was until recently) and was especially outstanding over the final two days of the event. He averaged 12.0 points and 6.4 rebounds for a Team Lillard “second unit” that provided no drop-off from the starting five.

Second Team

Billy Preston (6-9/2017/Redondo Beach, CA, Redondo/Team Wall):

He had a forgettable finale (missing all five of his shots from the field while finishing just one of four from the free-throw line with five rebounds and four turnovers) but was mostly quite impressive over the first three days.

Erron Gordon (6-2/2016/Indianapolis North Central/Team Lillard):

The youngest sibling of New Orleans’ Pelicans’ guard Eric Gordon ended up as his team’s leading scoring (14.6 points per game) despite hitting just one 3 over five games.

Mouhamed Thiam (6-8/2015/Canary Islands Canarias Basketball Academy/Team Europe):

Thiam (who is from Dakar in Senegal) was one over several players from his squad that played consistently well over the event. He scored 16 points with 10 rebounds Monday night while hitting his team’s only two 3-pointers.

Jaylen Brown (6-6/2015/Marietta, GA, Wheeler/Team Howard):

Brown, who is expected to visit UCLA (believed to be one of his top college choices, along with Georgia, Kansas and Kentucky) on Tuesday, played better at other venues during the summer. But, despite missing 13 of 16 shots and committing five turnovers, showed plenty of glimpses of how good he can be Monday.

Bourama Sidibe (6-10/2016/Canary Islands Canarias Basketball Academy):

Bourama, from Bomako in Mali, averaged 8.7 points and an event’s second-best 9.0 rebounds over six games (his team finished 2-4). At times he dominated Team Howard inside Monday night.