wcas #2 report--socal only

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Pump It Up: adidas-Double Pump #2,
SoCal Only Report--(July 17, 2001)

We're back......after taking a week off, we decided it was time to start typing some stuff up. . . . so here it is. We haven't even finished our evaluations from ABCD yet--we will-- and now we're in the middle of the new "dead" period, which seems pretty weird for July. Feels like we ought to be in Vegas, running around like crazy, sweating a lot and not getting any sleep. But the chance to instead relax, catch up on some sleep, catch up on work (real work) and sort out the recruiting process and where players are, is a welcome respite from the usual grind.....maybe this summer hiatus isn't such a bad thing after all. . . .Ordinarily we'd have to wait until after Vegas to post anything meaningful about the way players performed at the camps, so this is a great opportunity to get some mid-July perspective on who has played well and who to watch out for during the next 7 day "on" period which begins July 25 with the adidas Las Vegas Big Time.

But this report is about the adidas Double Pump West Coast All-Star Camp, #2 Session, so enough rambling.....We're only going to focus on the SoCal players for now. We'll have some more on the guys who stood out from outside the area in our next report (after we conclude the ABCD report), so be patient.

The most unusual thing about this year's version of the second session of Pump's West Coast All-Stars Camp was who was not present from SoCal.... Usually, there are just a ton of guys from Southern California; this year it seemed as though just about the entire camp was from out of State. Out of the total of about 370 players, only about 50 or so were from SoCal, which is remarkable. Players came from all over the country, but the great bulk were from other western States, such as Washington, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Oregon, Colorado, etc. We didn't see everyone, and likewise, we didn't even get a chance to really watch all of the guys from SoCal, but we saw more than a few. Here are the SoCal players we happened to watch who stood out from the rest. Most of these guys made one of the all-star games which were held the final day of the camp, and generally, the level of play, while perhaps not as high as in some prior years, was still really very good.

Antonio Lawrence (6'-5" Sr. G) San Joaquin Memorial--Since Antonio is now transferring to Fresno along with a couple of his EBO teammates (at least that's what we were told by them), we feel reasonably comfortable talking about him as though was a SoCal guy. But regardless of where he's from, he was clearly the most athletically talented player at the camp, easily the best athlete and probably the only pure pro prospect (in a few years in our view) among the entire group of players in attendance. And consistent with what we saw of his play at ABCD, he was under control for the most part, not showboating too much and distributing the ball and making solid, respectable plays, and even playing a little defense too. He had his share of wild lob passes and missed dunks when a layup would have sufficed, but he was clearly having some fun dominating the competition here. We don't have a current list of schools for Antonio, but we know about a dozen high-majors who are interested, even if he has managed to scare away a few with his talk about signing a NLI, then reneging and jumping to the NBA. He told USA Today that it's "50-50" that he'll sign with a college and then jump. We'll just wait and see.....Here's another interesting note on Antonio: If he transfers, it will be his fourth high school in three years, and his 14th different school in 14 years according to HoopScoop's Clark Francis' source, Donnie Wilkie, who is the tournament director for the City of Palms Classic Tournament in Florida.

Jasha Blunt (6'-4" Sr. G/F) Fairfax-- Jasha is a sort of slightly smaller version of Craig Smith but without Craig's explosiveness, at least from what we've seen of him this summer that's been the case. He runs the floor well, has good hands and can slash to the basket when he's motivated to do so. His shot from outside needs some work, but he's a very good rebounder and defender when he wants to be.

Fernando Sampson (6'-1" Sr. SG/PG) Fairfax--Ah, the age-old argument about whether Fernando is or is not a point guard. As we've written previously, most of where we've seen Fernando has been either with his Fairfax team, where he doesn't get to run the point or with Team Dada where Evan Burns pretty much ran the show however and whenever he wanted to, so at least in our view, Fernando has been playing the two or off-guard spot, and he's an excellent shooter, so with a little speedy point guard, it's probably the spot for him. But a lot of others see him as "projecting" as a point guard....we're still not sold on that yet, but he'll get his chance with the Double Pump team coached by Howard Avery in Vegas at the Big Time where he'll be teamed in the backcourt with Franklin Robinson (Keith Ellison, who played on that team in Fresno, is reportedly going to focus on football). Fernando can handle it, and can score.

Derrick Clark (6'-1" Sr. PG) Leuzinger-- We were surprised that Derrick, who plays (or played?--we've heard rumors that the Paladins/West Coast were perhaps no longer together, all very bad rumors because Eric Hardin is still very much running the show) point for the Paladins alongside Marcus Williams (who is not playing for the Paladins, but will be with the H-Squad) didn't impress the all-star committee, but he evidently didn't impress them. Hey, what do those jokers know about talent anyway.....We would have put him in one of the games, because he's a more than capable ballhandler and was one of the best pure point guards at the camp, making the easy pass and getting the ball where it was supposed to be rather than worrying about whether he was making the flashy or spectacular play. Derrick was capable though of slashing to the basket and had some good dribble penetration in the games we watched in addition to some nice open floor moves. Derrick understands the game better than most, and while he can just run up and down the floor, he's better than that and has a true point guard's sense for passing and pacing, when to draw the double team and when not to. Maybe it was just a matter of who he was teamed with here which didn't impress the judges, but when we watched him, he was excellent.

Lenny Collins (6'-4" Sr. F/G) Santa Margarita-- Lenny is a strong combo wing who played on Phil Bryant's and Aubrey McCreary's Iowa team, which is one of the "stacked" teams at the camp, and he played great. A lot of mid-majors are looking at him right now, and with a 4.1 GPA, what's not to like? He can run the floor, shoot the ball out to three point range, rebounds like a maniac and has a lot of upside with a strong frame. Will be at the adidas Big Time playing with the Double Pump All Stars team along with Fernando Sampson and Franklin Robinson.

David Gale (6'-1" Sr. PG) Buckley-- Coming off a solid trip to ABCD, David had two really excellent games on the last full day of the camp before the all-star games, matching up first against Modesto Christian's Richard Midgley (6'-3" Sr. PG) who will sign with Cal in November in the afternoon game, and then later that evening against his Pump N Run teammate C.J. Watson (6'-2" Sr. PG) from Bishop Gorman (C.J. is being heavily recruited by a number of west coast schools, including UCLA). The evening game against Watson's "Iowa" team also featured several other Pump N Run teammates, including Omar Wilkes, Brad Buckman (6'-9" Sr. F) from Austin Westlake in Texas, and with Gale teamed with David Padgett (6'-11" Jr. F) and Josh Davis (6'-5" Sr. F) among others, this was perhaps the best game of the camp (Michael Miller described it as the "best game of the summer at either camp"), and certainly it was the most well-attended by the college coaches. David hit for 4 threes, finished with 16 points, 4 assists and 2 steals in that game and played impressively. He's getting solid attention from several WCC and Pac-10 schools, a few in the Big Sky and Mountain West, and virtually every school in the Ivy League. He'll be playing in Las Vegas and at the Best of Summer with Pump N Run.

Brandon Rohe (6'-4" Sr. SG) Santa Margarita--Brandon was supposed to be on the same team as David Padgett and David Gale, but for some reason he was switched to another team as soon as he arrived from ABCD where he had a solid camp but got far too few touches, but it didn't affect his game as he had several high scoring games at the Pump Camp and easily managed to outperform most of his competition. Brandon has a strong, wide frame, is a capable defender, and when he gets his rythym going, is a dead-on outside shooter. On Saturday night, while "Iowa" and "Montana" were going at it on Court 2, Brandon was racking up 39 points of his own on the next court over. He's getting a lot of attention from virtually all of the WCC, a few Big West and several Pac-10's and Big 10 schools. His brother attends Cornell, so the Ivy League might also be a possibility as well. He'll be playing with Pump N Run in Vegas and at the Best of the Summer.

Sebastian Anderle (6'-11" Sr. F/C) Montclair Prep-- Very tall, very thin, and getting better all the time. When he first showed up at the Pump's two summers ago, he was enrolled at Culver City, and was really raw. He's still not the most skilled big man, but he's improved tremendously and is turning into a consistent rebounder. We had a chance to speak with Sebastian, and he assured us that his Montclair Prep teammates from Yugoslavia were returning to the school. He didn't mention any specific schools who were recruiting him at the moment, but the coaches from Santa Clara and several other west coast schools were watching his games pretty closely.

Kevin Stacey (6'-4" Sr. G) Mission Viejo-- Kevin didn't have any of his trademarked half-court buzzer-beaters, at least not that we saw, but he played well, and seems to be getting bigger and stronger each time we see him. We honestly have no idea who is currently recruiting him, but from his showing at the camp, we'd expect that interest in him will pick up some. Kevin has moved over from Rockfish and will be playing with the Double Pump All Star team, which is listed as David Pump's team, the one coached by Howard Avery from Chatsworth, which will be in Pool M at the Big Time playing in pool play against the New Orleans Jazz, Donyell Marshall Foundry and Oakland Slam N Jam I. And you just know, from looking at that level of competition, that a ton of coaches will be in the house watching.

Nick Debban (6'-4" Sr. F) Clovis West--One of the toughest players we've seen this summer, Nick just quietly goes out and gets it done. He's a vacuum cleaner on the boards, getting a lot of what many would call "garbage" points, cleaning up other people's misses, but that's one of the things that makes him so valuable to the Hustlin' Eagles. Nick loves to drive to the basket from the wing and he did a lot of that this past week, at least in the games we saw. Really a solid player, does a lot of the little things that make him one of our favorites.

Omar "Slick" Wilkes (6'-2" Jr. G) Loyola-- If Mark Mayemura can give kids like Solomon "Chili" Brown nicknames, so can we. Why "Slick"? Because "O" is just too simple (well, it is sort of elegant in its simplicity, but it's too simple) and "O" doesn't really say much, so Omar needs something better. And because Omar's dad already owns "Silk" that's a name that you just don't mess with.... While he could easily employ the same nickname which his dad used because they both share the same absolutely serenely smooth dribble, a seemingly effortless, easy grace on the floor, we still think Omar deserves his own nickname. And since he's got some of the slickest moves in and around the basket, whether it's a hanging reverse layup or a twisting dunk where he seems to suspend in mid-air, "Slick" about as good a description of his game as you'll find anywhere. Omar was coming off an excellent first showing at ABCD camp, where he was certainly among the top 10 rising juniors in the entire camp, and he was named to the underclass all-star game. Does his game have any flaws? Sure, but we can't think of many. . . . Yes, we know he understands the game, and yes, we know that he can shoot the ball, and we do have some disagreement with those who say that Omar is, at the moment, a point guard. He may project out as a point at the next level, but for now he's one of the best wing guards, much more effective in that capacity than anywhere else on the floor. His dad tells us that Omar's doctors have projected that he'll really take another growth spurt, perhaps getting as big as 6'-7" or taller, and since Omar's "little" 14 year old brother is about 6'-7" right now, we'd say he's going to have some real "upside." While it's still very early, Omar has told us many times that his two favorite schools are UCLA and North Carolina, but we're certain that Stanford, Arizona, Duke, Kentucky and other high majors will creep into the mix next year when his recruitment gets serious. Will be playing in Vegas and at the Best of Summer with the Pump N Run team.

Jermaine Johnson (6'-5" Jr. F) Hacienda Heights Wilson-- We had not previously seen Johnson prior to this camp, or if we had just didn't recall. He's reasonably quick, runs well and can defend. We thought he might have made the junior all-star game, but evidently the coaches picking the teams disagreed with our assessment. Jermaine has a good shot, can get to the basket and rebounds pretty effectively also. We have no idea where he's playing this summer, but he ought to be playing with a team somewhere.

Blaise Louh (6'-10" Sr. F) Montclair Prep--One of two of Montclair Prep's foreign players who were actually in attendance (the two Yugoslavian kids were supposed to be there also, but they weren't), Louh is on the thin side, but has some good upside in terms of his ability to run and jump. He is very raw in terms of skills and is a bit shy by nature, which has him at times constantly looking over his shoulder at the bench to see if the coaches approve of the way he's playing, and if there's one bit of advice we'd give him it would simply be to relax and get into the flow of the game. He's a pretty good rebounder, and we'd like to see him shoot the ball better and more often to get a feel for that aspect of his game.

Tyrese McDaniel (6'-3" Sr. G) Clovis West-- Tyrese was sort of subdued at this camp and as a result, he didn't seem to stand out as much as he does when he plays with his CW squad. A leaping wing player, he also has a pretty solid shot out to the arc, but is better going to the basket off the dribble than he is putting it up from the perimeter.

Jordan Farmer (5'-10" So. G) Birmingham-- This was our second opportunity to watch Jordan this summer, having seen him with his Birmingham team at one of the summer Palm Springs Tournaments. Jordan has a good handle, is quick, but will really need to hit the weights, since he's very slender and a bit undersized right now. Drives to the basket and is good at dribble penetration, and he obviously impressed enough people to make the frosh-soph all-star game. Has the potential to be really good if his game continues to improve.

Josh Zazulia (6'-3" Sr. SG) Palm Desert-- On his team at the camp, he was slotted as a wing, but on his high school team Josh likes to run the point, and he's got good enough ball-handling skills and the size to bring it. On his camp team, which was loaded with point guards, Josh stuck to the wing, slashing to the basket and shooting a very reliable jumper out to about 17'. He's very springy, has a quick step and is a solid rebounder. He has played the past few years with IEBP, and most likely he'll be with them when Keith Howard and Julius Patterson bring their teams to Las Vegas and the Best of Summer.

Franklin Robinson (6'-3" Sr. SG/PG) Chatsworth--Franklin will likely be one of the best prospects in Southern California next season, and he's already drawing a lot of interest from colleges. He runs the floor well, slashes to the basket and has a good enough handle to bring the ball up under pressure. He's not got a terrific outside shot, and he's told us that's the part of his game he wants to work on right now. Franklin made the Best of the Best all star game for both sessions of the camp

Maurice Shaw (6'-9" Jr. F) Fresno San Joaquin Memorial-- We hear that Maurice is transferring to San Joaquin Memorial (in fact we heard it from Maurice), and although he was listed as attending "Lincoln, WA" in the official roster, we had not heard that he ever left Fresno....maybe he did, but he tells us he's coming back for next season where he'll team up with Antonio Lawrence. In a camp which was starved for big guys besides David Padgett and Brad Buckman, Shaw was one of several other quality big men in attendance, and he played well enough to make the junior all star game. Has not yet played to his potential when we've seen him, but he's very talented and just needs a little push to take himself to where he has a chance to be successful.

Jon Todd (6'-8" Sr. F) Chaminade-- Jon continue to get better and better every time we see him. He will apparently not reach the towering height of his brother JJ who is 7'-1" and wears a size 20 shoe, but he's also a lot more mobile and agile than JJ was at this age. Jon has developed a really nice drop step and a little baby hook. He'll be playing with one of the Rockfish teams in Vegas and at the Best of Summer. Didn't make one of the all star games, a huge oversight in our opinion.

Tron Smith (6'-2" Jr. G) Canyon Springs HS--We can honestly say that Tron didn't really catch our eye during the games we watched, but he must have impressed a lot of other people, because he made the Best of the Best All Star games for each session of the West Coast All Star Camps. Guess we'll have to take a closer look.

Travis Smith (6'-3" Sr. PG) Santa Margarita--The first day we were at the camp, we were at dinner with Jerry DeBusk and several other members of the coaching staff at Santa Margarita, and we learned that Travis had given a verbal commitment to Brad Holland at USD. At the time we were told that Travis wanted to keep the commitment on the QT for a while, but since the guys over at PrepWestHoops have put it out there publicly, and it's been confirmed by Travis, what the heck....he's committed to USD, and this is a great pick up for the San Diego. Travis is a big, strong point guard, quick and an excellent passer, one of our favorite point guards in this year's senior class. He did what he does best, run the floor and bring it each time.

Reggie Butler (6'-7" Sr. F) Long Beach Poly--Reggie of course "invented" just about everything he does (that's a little inside joke), and he's an original. Long, super athletic, and remarkably quick, he dominated most of his games. An excellent wing player, he can post up or drive to the hole and stick it with remarkable authority.

Dwain Williams (5'-11" Fr. PG) Mater Dei?-- We've got the ? for his school designation because his father told us that "most likely" Dwain will be attending Mater Dei this fall. Dwain attended ABCD this summer, where he did remarkably well for an 8th grader, who will just be going into the 9th grade this fall. We're not at all surprised by the move to Mater Dei, but we do question how much this will help his real development since there are already quite a few guards at the school ahead of him on the depth chart, including Travonte Nelson who sat virtually the entire season after transferring from Fontana because Mater Dei had guys like Cedric Bozeman, Shaun Michel, Brian Baker and Ricky Porter ahead of him....but we digress. Dwain evidently didn't really impress anyone at the Pump Camp, at least not those guys on the all-star committee because he wasn't named to the frosh-soph game. When we saw him, he looked pretty tired, and given the number of games and the amount of travel involved in getting to and from ABCD and then to Dominguez Hills, that's not surprising. At this stage in his development, Dwain sort of reminds us of a young colt, with slightly wobbly legs, but when you watch him, you can see that he's going to be a thoroughbred someday. Even though he's young, he is absolutely fearless when it comes to getting to the glass and driving in traffic. He desperately needs to work on decision-making, but he had a respectable showing at ABCD, if not at the Pumps. He'll be with EBO's Jr. team in Vegas and then most likely up at the Elite 8x2 starting July 29.

Richard Chaney (6'-6" Sr. F) Verbum Dei--Richard impressed a lot of people with his drives to the basket. He didn't shoot the ball very well, but with his long arms and great hops, it hardly mattered. He made the Best of the Best All Star Game, and he will be moving to the Pump N Run Team for the adidas Las Vegas Big Time.

Mike Washington (5'-11" Sr. PG) Long Beach Poly--Ok, so Mike hardly played last year on his Long Beach Poly squad, and perhaps that's why the Jackrabbits failed to meet the lofty expectations that everyone had for them at the beginning of the season. Mike absolutely shot the lights out from three point range at this camp and with his quickness and excellent passing ability, he made the Best of the Best All Star Game at the end of the camp. Although he didn't overwhelm in that game, he still managed to hit a three and made some nice passes. If Coach Palmer wants to win, he'll find a spot in the rotation for Mike.

Evan Moore (6'-7" Jr. F) Brea Olinda--Evan was listed at the height shown, but honestly we don't remember him as being that big. But whatever height he is now, he's got a great frame, and has obviously been hitting the weights. Evan could be better than his big brother Ryan who just graduated and will be playing at UC Davis this fall. He's strong, shoots the ball well, and rebounds like a lunatic. Very athletic, and by the time he's a senior, we're willing to predict that he'll have a lot of D-I interest. Evan will reportedly be playing for the Double Pump All Star team in Vegas and at the Best of Summer.

Bryce Taylor (6'-3" So. G) Harvard-Westlake-- Bryce is young, not quite as young as Dwain Williams, but he is definitely a work in progress. If Omar Wilkes will be the star of the Mission League this season for Loyola, Bryce is the heir apparent. With great bloodlines like Omar, (Bryce's father, Brian Taylor, played for Pete Carrill at Princeton with Bill Bradley, then played in the old ABA and the NBA where he was affectionately known as "BT Express" for his prolific scoring and passing), Bryce showed several flashes of brilliance at the camp, making some nice reverse layups and twisting drives to the basket, and exhibiting great ball and body control. He looks like he'll definitely get bigger than his listed height, but even if he doesn't, he's going to be a solid player. We hear that Bryce will be playing with one of the ARC teams in Vegas, but have not confirmed that. Look for him to be with one of the Pump teams next year for sure.

There were a lot of other SoCal guys we just didn't get a chance to really watch closely. Some of them included:

Jovance Coleman (6'-3" Sr. G)--reportedly will transfer to San Joaquin Memorial also with his EBO teammates. Made the senior all-star game.

Jeramie Hopson (6'-2" Sr. G) El Segundo--made the senior all star game.

Derron Putnam (6'-3" Sr. G) Anaheim Canyon--made the senior all-star game too.

Greg Geier (6'-4" Sr. G/F) from Mira Costa--played on the stacked Iowa team which sort of diminished his playing time in a couple of big games, but he seems like a nice player who will do some good things for Glen Marx' squad. Made the "100% Game".

Jeremy Lake (6'-5" Sr. G/F) University--we honestly didn't see him play much, or if we did, just weren't paying attention. He made the 100% game.

Alex Nieto (6'-4" Sr. G/F) The Bishop's--ditto. 100% Game.

The No-Shows--

Ok, it's only fair to mention those guys we had hoped to see playing at the Pump Camp but who, for one reason or another, weren't there. Significant no-shows who were listed in the coaches' packet, but who weren't present were guys like Ronald Allen (6'-9" Sr. F) and Ryan Meilleur (6'-8" Sr. F), both from Artesia. They attended the first session of Pump and then switched to Fullcourt's camp. Wendell White (6'-5" Sr. G/F) was also listed on the rosters, but he was at the Nike Peach Jam instead with Miles Gonzales' team. Keith Ellison (6'-1" Sr. PG) from Redondo was either (a) pissed off that he didn't make the all-star game in the first session or (b) will reportedly focus on football instead during the remainder of the summer, or (c) was at Fullcourt's camp. We have no idea, but wherever he was, he wasn't in attendance. Likewise, Marcus Williams (6'-2" Jr. PG) was reportedly coming to Pump's after attending ABCD, but then at the last minute decided to play at Fullcourt instead much to the chagrin of the organizers. Keion Kindred (6'-4" Sr. PG) from Comptom Dominguez was listed in the rosters too, but following his great performances at ABCD where he played on the same team as Marcus Williams also was a no-show. DeAngelo Collins (6'-9" Sr. F) showed up for one day in street clothes, told everyone that he was hurt and didn't play at either camp, or so we've been told. DeAngelo came out to CSDUH to hang with Wesley Stokes and several other friends. Wesley was home for the summer from Missouri, and was working at both camps to get a little free gym time in and to visit with Quinn Snyder who was at the Pumps' to check it out. Darius Sanders (6'-5" Sr. F) from Compton Dominguez was also listed on the rosters, but we know he was at the Peach Jam and didn't see him at all at the Pump Camp, and likewise, we didn't see Doug Thomas (6'-9" Postgrad F) who graduated from Inglewood in June and who was listed in the coaches' packets as attending Winchendon Prep.

All in all, this was a pretty good camp for the Pumps, not the best they've ever had, but certainly not as down as we anticipated it might be. In fact, there was some truly excellent talent, a ton of coaches, not as many as might have been there had the Three Stripes Tournament not been running at the same time, but just about every Pac-10, WCC, WAC, Mountain West, and Big Sky coach was in attendance, as well as a few prominent midwest and east coast schools.

On to the Big Time.....