The best of 2017, summer and spring

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – Ready or not, here I go . . .

Here is the first of my three “All-Spring and Summer” teams, in which I list the players from the Classes of 2017, ’16 and ’15 the most impressed me during the “national” events I watched first-hand during the spring and summer.

These are not listings based strictly upon “potential” or how I project them as college and (in some cases) NBA players.

These choices are all about how they played, and how they contributed to their teams’ performances, in the spring and summer.

My choice for the top player from the class is DeAndre Ayton, who was especially terrific while competing against players two and three years older during the LeBron James Skills Academy in Las Vegas in July.

He got the nod over guard Ty-Shon Alexander (who paced Team Charlotte to the championship of the 17-U division of the Under Armour Invitational in Houston in May) and another guard, Trevon Duval, who was outstanding all spring and summer for the Nike-fronted New Jersey Playaz.

Here is the list of the events used in forming these choices, followed by my “All-2017” selections:

 

SPRING:

*Nike EYBL (Sacramento/April 25-27 and Dallas/May 10&11)

*Under Armour Invitational (Houston/May 16-18)

SUMMER:

*Pangos All-American Camp (Long Beach, CA/May 30-June 1)

*LeBron James Skills Academy (Las Vegas/July 9-12)

*Pangos Sweet 16 (Long Beach, CA/July 13)

*Asics Double Pump Best of Summer (Anaheim, CA/16-20)

*Battle at the Beach (Redondo Beach, CA/July 16-18)

*Fab 48 (Las Vegas/July 23-27)

*adidas Super 64 (Las Vegas/July 23-27)

*Bigfoot Classic (Las Vegas/July 23-27)

*adidas Nations (Garden Grove and Long Beach, CA/Aug. 1-4)

 

CLASS OF 2017

FIRST TEAM

C: DeAndre Ayton                 6-10     205      San Diego (Balboa City Prep)

PF: Ira Lee                             6-8       210      Chatsworth, CA (Sierra Canyon)

SF: Jarred Vanderbilt             6-8       185      Houston (Victory Prep)

SG: Trevon Duval                  6-2       165      Newark, NJ (St. Benedict’s)

PG: Ty-Shon Alexander         6-3       185      Concord, NC (Concord)

 

SECOND TEAM

C: Cody Riley                                    6-7       220      Chatsworth, CA (Sierra Canyon)

PF: Billy Preston                    6-8       205      Redondo Beach, CA (Redondo)

SF: Brian Bowen                    6-7       190      Saginaw, MI (Hill)

SG: Troy Brown                     6-5       175      Las Vegas (Centennial)

PG: Paul Scruggs                   6-3       190      Indianapolis (Southport)

 

THIRD TEAM

C: Zach Brown                       7-0       230      Miami Beach (Senior)

PF: Isaiah Jasey                      6-8       205      Killeen, TX (Ellison)

SF: Zach Gunn                       6-5       180      Fishers, IN (Hamilton Southeastern)

SG: Alex Barcello                  6-3       160      Tempe, AZ (Corona Del Sol)

PG: Remy Martin                   6-1       170      West Hills, CA (Chaminade)