CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – The media-types were in the standings and the games tipped off Thursday morning.
And a pretty nifty Day 2 it was for the 19th NBA Players Association Top 100 Camp at the University of Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena.
One of the first three games that got underway at 10:45 was played on Court 1, and featured two of the consensus Top 5 players in the national class of 2013.
And, naturally, most eyes in the building zeroed in on Andrew Harrison (Richmond, TX, Ft. Bend Travis) of the Lakers and Jabari Parker (Chicago Simeon) of the Heat.
While neither had a performance that figuratively cried out “Hey, I’m the best player in the country”, each did enough to show they each have supporters for that “tops” tag.
And I thought did a more of what he does best than did Parker.
Harrison, when checked by the 6-foot-8 Parker, did a reasonably good job of getting anywhere he wanted to with his dribble – especially with that that feint right, drive hard to his left move. Parker couldn’t slide his feet quickly enough to cut off the penetration.
Nigel Williams-Goss (Henderson, NV, Findlay Prep) did a much better job on-the ball against Harrison.
But even when he was kept out of the lane, he got the ball to teammates – usually in very good position to get clean looks at the bucket.
Parker missed his first three shots – all jumpers; he’s a “shot maker” not necessarily a “tremendous jump shooter” – but later nailed a 3-pointer over the top of a very good man-to-man defender, 6-4 Allerik Freeman (from Charlotte but soon to be a teammate of Williams-Goss’s at Findlay Prep).
He missed a short jumper but bounced off the floor quicker than anyone else and got his offensive rebound and scored.
He also scored a tough drive right going into a defender, and deflected the ball from Harrison, picked it up and, in one motion, flipped a two-handed outlet for a teammate to run down and layup ahead of the defense.
In his night game Parker scored 12 points (each player is on the floor for approximately 24 minutes of the 48-minute game that is contested in eight, six-minute segments), scoring eight points over three consecutive shot attempts – a 3 from the left wing off the dribble, a short drive and big dunk, and then a 3 from the right corner off the catch.
Parker is expected to play two games on Friday and then fly to Colorado Springs for the USA Basketball 18-Under Trials.
*Harrison wasn’t the only point guard-type who was outstanding on Thursday.
Five members of the Class of 2014, DeAngelo Russell (Louisville by way of Montverde Academy in Florida), Parker Jackson-Cartwright (L.A. Loyola), Ja’Quan Newton (Philadelphia Neumann-Goretti), Tadrick Jackson (Tifton, GA, Tifton County) and Emmanuel Mudiay (Arlington, TX, Grace Prep), were all quite impressive at times.
Among other senior-to-be PGs who were among the better performers Thursday were Solomon Poole (Jacksonsville, FL, Parker) and Stevie Clark (Oklahoma City Douglas).
Clark might also be as “pure” a jumper shooter as there is at the event.
*Two players from Connecticut schools, 6-9 Kyle Washington (Lakeville, MN, by way of Hotchkiss School) and 6-8 Kuran Iverson (Hartford Northwest Catholic).
The left-handed Washington threw in a lot of jump hooks, knocked in mid-range jumpers and was one of the more effective shot blockers.
Iverson had a couple of spectacular blocks in the morning but I thought he launched one, two or three too-many jump shots – near or beyond the arc – in the game.
But he started knocking in some of those attempts in the evening game when scored 13 points (but grabbed just one rebound).
*Two other big men who had a lot of impact on the proceedings Thursday were 7-5 Mamadou Ndiaye (Huntington Beach, CA, Brethren Christian) and 6-9 Dominic Woodson (Austin, TX; school to be determined).
Ndiaye scored 19 points and grabbed five rebounds in his morning game (which I didn’t watch).
According to those who were witnesses, Ndiaye had six dunks. As I’ve written, if he is allowed to catch the ball within a drop-step into the lane, it’s slam.
He had just five points in the game I watched in the evening, as the pace of the game got a bit too quick for him and his teammates didn’t do a good job of getting him the ball even if things did slow down enough for him to get into the low post and receive reasonable post feeds.
Woodson has about 265 pounds or so of muscle and knew how to put them to use in advantageous fashion Thursday, scoring 22 points and grabbing eight rebounds in his morning game and going for 12 and 10 in the evening game.
