SANTA MONICA, Ca. – This is certain:
The Nike Basketball Academy is providing an up-close-and-personal look at a lot of likely 2015-16 preseason college All-Americans.
After Sunday’s second full day of workouts, drills and scrimmages, it remained apparent that it’s going to be difficult to find a better point guard on the college level than Kris Dunn, who will be a junior at Providence in the coming season.
Dunn – from the perspective of the camp coaches as well as the NBA scouts and general managers watching from court-side seating – was clearly the top individual standout on both Saturday and Sunday.
Dunn – a likely have been a first-round selection in last week’s NBA draft if he had bailed on college after his sophomore season – didn’t participate in Sunday night’s scrimmage and will not participate in drills, either, the rest of the way because of an already inflamed left elbow that was aggravated during a scrum for a loose ball Sunday afternoon.
And seniors-to-be in forward Kyle Wiltjer (Gonzaga) and George Niang (Iowa State) and guards Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia) and Buddy Hield (Oklahoma) have all demonstrated some All-American “chops” via both their effort, skill and production.
And it wouldn’t surprise me much at all of Damian Jones of Vanderbilt is a consensus choice as the best “center-type” by March. He, too, may have been a first-round choice last week if he had bypassed his junior season for the Commodores.
Among the 50-plus players with high school eligibility in the camp, juniors-to-be Wendall Carter (Atlanta Pace Academy) and Jarred Vanderbilt (Houston Victory Prep) – members of the USA 16-under team that won gold medals in Argentina earlier this month – also continued to be among the camp standouts.
Full disclaimer: I’m one of the individuals invited to help “evaluate” the athletes for Nike’s grassroots wing during the competition that concludes Monday night.
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