CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The 24th National Basketball Players’ Association Top 100 Camp reached its midpoint following the conclusion of the Thursday evening session of games in the University of Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena.
And, two days and 20 games into the event, there shouldn’t be much debate as to who the individual standout has been.
Six-foot-nine Simisola Shittu (Burlington in Ontario, Canada by way of Vermont Academy in Saxtons River, VT) was the NBPA Top 100 Most Outstanding player on Wednesday and it was much of the same based upon his two games with the “Warriors” squad Thursday.
During these first two days (and four games for him), Shittu – a standout during the spring Nike Elite Youth Basketball League with the CIA Bounce squad – has shown that he needs to be rated with Marvin Bagley III and Zion Williamson as one of the three most skilled, powerful and polished “power forward-types” in high school hoops.
Shittu continued to demonstrate all of those elements – and efficiency, as well – during his team’s games against the “Bucks” and “Spurs” Thursday while hitting 17 of 25 shots from the field while averaging 19.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists.
While Shittu was flexing his multitude of ways to dominant an opponent up front on Thursday, Jahvon Quinerly (Jersey City, NJ, Hudson Catholic) was doing the same in the backcourt for the Bucks.
Those who believe that Quinerly is as good as – or better than – any point guard prospect in the Class of 2018 got some compelling evidence for that suggestion during the Bucks’ games with the Rockets and Warriors Thursday.
Quinerly, while playing against quality point guards in the likes of Luther Muhammad and Jordan McCabe (the Rockets) and Prentiss Hubb and Cassius Stanley (the Warriors), averaged 16.5 points – hitting 14 of 26 shots from the field – to go with 4.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.0 steals.
He seemingly did just about anything he wanted Thursday, at a multitude of speeds, as a handler, passer and scorer.
Quinerly is scheduled to face a multitude of quality challengers on Friday, including 2019 standout Scotty Lewis (Celtics, 2:30 p.m. Court 3) and as another quality junior-to-be in Ashton Hagans (Knicks, 8 p.m., Court 1).
Another senior-to-be enjoying a couple of standout efforts on Thursday was 6-6 Nassir Little (Orlando, FL, Christian Prep) of the Knicks.
Little, who played for an adidas-sponsored team (coached by former coach and current ESPN commentator Seth Greenberg) in Italy last week, showed why he’s one of the better – if still a tad bit “underrated” – wings in the class while averaging 14.0 points (12 of 21 from the floor) and 6.5 rebounds.
A lot of quality jump shooters have been on display so far and 6-8 Cole Swider (Providence St. Andrew’s School), who turned some of Quinerly’s passes into buckets for the Bucks Thursday.
Swider, a standout for Leo Papile’s EYBL BABC (Boston Area Basketball Club) program, hit eight of 15 shots from the floor Thursday – six of 10 of those from behind the arc – while averaging 12.0 points.
That performance wasn’t an aberration – he was five of six on 3s on Wednesday.
No “big” – other than Shittu, that is – had a more productive Thursday than did the Celtics’ 6-8 Armando Bacot (Richmond, VA, Trinity Episcopal School).
Bacot, a member of the Boo Williams EYBL team, was 11 of 19 from the floor while averaging 12.0 points and 11.5 rebounds.
A Boo Williams teammate of Bacot (and of David McCormack of the Bucks), 6-5 Keldon Johnson, was terrific in his two games with the Spurs Thursday.
Johnson (Huntington Prep in West Virginia) averaged 18.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.0 steals.
One of Johnson’s teammates on the Spurs is also one of the most promising 7-footers in all of high school hoops.
Matthew Van Komen (Pleasant Grove in Utah), a member of the Class of 2019 who goes at least a couple of inches beyond 7-foot, hit seven of nine shots from the field while averaging 7.0 points and 7.0 rebounds while often matched against 6-10 and much more physically powerful Kofi Cockburn (Warriors) and Nazreon Reid (Knicks).
Another junior-to-be and teammate of Van Komen’s with the Exum Elite/Utah Prospects club program also has played well here in two days.
Six-nine Isaac Johnson (American Fork in Utah) had a team-high of 14 points to go with five rebounds as the Bulls beat the 76ers, 84-65.
Armando Bacot & David McCormack do not play for Boo williams they play for team loaded. Great article! Great!
But they don’t play for team loaded