CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – A camp already laden with quality center prospects in the Class of 2014 picked up another player Friday evening who fits neatly into that category.
Karl Towns, a 7-foot (give or take) senior-to-be from the Dominican Republic – by way of St. Joseph High in Metuchen, NJ — showed up after the other participants at the 20th NBA Players Association Top 100 Camp had already played three times.
Towns, who committed to the University of Kentucky last season and is expected to sign with the Wildcats in November, got into town with his parents and suited up for the Mavericks for the team’s 8:30 game on Court 1 in the John Paul Jones Arena.
Towns, who played for the World Select team that beat the U.S. in the Hoop Summit in April, scored 11 points and grab five rebounds Friday to help the Mavericks knock off the Heat, 93-86.
He doesn’t have much in the way of a back-to-the-basket game yet but, with excellent hands and a soft shooting touch, he converts off penetration passes and offensive rebounds and from the perimeter – he even knocked in a 3-pointer. Of course, he also bricked one from about 23-feet so it’s doubtful that John Calipari will want him becoming too enamored with that aspect of his offensive repertoire in Lexington come the 2014-15 season.
The addition of Towns for the Friday night game and for Saturday’s final day of action made an already strong squad that much formidable.
He’s got three of the better forwards in the camp (LeRon Black, Brekkott Chapman and Justin Jackson) as teammates, along two terrific shooting guards (James Blackmon Jr. and Caleb Martin) and one of the Class of 2014’s more touted point guards (Josh Perkins).
Black and Blackmon have been two of the most impressive jump shooters over the first three days of the camp while Chapman, Jackson and Martin have scored effectively in a variety of fashions while showing off a variety of other skills.
On the Heat side of things, point guard Chris Chioza showed off his handle, vision and ability to deliver the ball to teammates directly into position for layups or wide-open jumpers.
Dwayne Morgan remained one of the more aggressive driver/slashers on hand and 6-10 – and slender – Skal LeBissiere (from Haiti by way of Memphis) continued to show off his fluid scoring ability.
And – on the earlier mentioned subject of “quality center prospects”, 7-1ish Pascal Chukwu – who migrated from Nigeria a couple of years ago and attends Fairfield Prep in Westport, CT, continued to impact games as a shot blocker and rebounder.
On the same court during the second set of games Friday night, Southern California resident Jordan McLaughlin demonstrated succinctly while he is not only one of the better point guards out west but in the entire Class of 2014, as well, while leading the Thunder over the Spurs.
He had quality prospects to dish his passes to, including two of the top power forwards in the class and in the camp in Payton Dastrup and Abdul Malik Abu.
For the Spurs, forward Kelly Oubre – who is transferring to Bush High in Houston to Findlay Prep in Henderson, NV, for his senior season – continued to hunt left-hander jumpers, some of those of the “forced” variety.
But he also continued to knock in a number of them to justify the heavy diet of perimeter attempts while also putting an effective – and forceful penetration games on display as well.
And, during another 7:30 game Friday night, I turned my courtside vantage point around (toward Court 2) long enough to watch two of the top five prospects in the Class of 2015 – IMHO – show off why I believe that to be the case.
Six-eight Cheick Diallo (playing for the Celtics) is the most explosive and aggressive – at both ends of the floor – “power forward-type” in the camp.
He did his best to try to slow down Stephen Zimmerman (playing for the Bulls), who continued to show off why he is the most offensively skilled 6-10 or taller offensive player that I’ve seen anywhere among players with remaining high school eligibility.
Zimmerman, by way of Gorman High in Las Vegas, is the best post prospect (at least on the offensive side of the court) to come from the west since Kevin Love was a senior at Lake Oswego in Oregon during the 2006-7 season.
