|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
| |
|||
| Wednesday, February 7 |
|||
| Chandler the star at Nike camp By Mark Mayemura Special to ESPN.com | |||
|
Editor's note: Recruiting USA will be filing daily updates from the Nike and adidas/ABCD camps. Here is the first installment.
For the Recruiting USA evaluation trio of myself, Mark Berokoff and senior analyst David Benezra, the July open evaluation period for college coaches is an annual rite of summer, the opportunity to watch and evaluate a majority of the best high school players in the country.
And, as we have for the past three years, we started the month-long look at America's talent on July 5 at the Nike All-American Camp at Indiana University, Purdue University at Indianapolis, or, as we like to call it, "I-U-Pooh-EE" (IUPUI).
Although the college coaches are only allowed by NCAA rules to evaluate talent from Saturday, July 8 through the end of the month, the Nike Camp -- which began July 5, with evenings devoted to practices and scrimmages -- does provide a showcase for media and NBA scouts prior to Saturday.
This year's Nike Camp, on initial viewing, looks significantly stronger than any of the Nike camps in the previous three years, a period when the rival adidas/ABCD Camp, held concurrently at Fairleigh Dickinson University (Teaneck, N.J.), has had a marked advantage in terms of assembled talent. (We're spending three nights at Nike before traveling east, and catching the adidas ABCD Camp from July 8-10.)
Although most would assume that all of the campers are very secure regarding their worth to recruiters since both camps are invitation-only, this is far from the case.
Most of the players are very concerned with making a strong impression to get more schools interested in them. Many will have a great number of schools looking at them, but hope to get more of the elite schools interested. Another group of players have those "elite" programs recruiting them and are hoping to show those schools that they should be the top choice on the recruiting totem pole.
And, despite the invitation-only status, there are several seniors striving for recognition due to the narrow recruiting periods the NCAA has established. These seniors, who are either unknown, not necessarily highly thought of, or just underrated, are "gunslingers" hoping to make their reputation against the more hyped players.
Then there are the underclassmen (rising juniors and sophomores), who are like young pups in a large litter trying to get their mother's attention. If they can show their game here, it will jumpstart their recruiting.
And some are hoping to show their talent to the NBA scouts. One of these NBA hopefuls is Tyson Chandler (Dominguez H.S./Compton, Calif.), an athletically gifted 7-foot senior who will likely never play a minute of college basketball.
Chandler is a tremendous shot blocker, with a nice shooting touch. He isn't very effective yet with his back to the basket, lacking good footwork in the post. But he can turn and face the basket and shoot it, and he was working on his shooting range in California prior to the Nike camp. Chandler did hit a 3-pointer in the scrimmage -- and that won't be the last one he attempts here, either.
Chandler showed his ability to run the floor and can cover a lot of ground defensively. He has star quality and still has several schools -- including UCLA, Kentucky and Michigan -- as suitors despite the inevitability of his future destination: the NBA draft lottery in June 2001.
Seeing great matchups is what summer camps are all about and we were treated to a face-off between the most athletically gifted big man and the most physically determined big man in the high school ranks. While it didn't have the graphic theatrics of a Celebrity Deathmatch, it was pretty exciting to watch the enormously athletic Chandler go up against the challenge of Ousmane Cisse (St. Jude H.S./Montgomery, Ala.).
Despite reports to the contrary, Cisse is only about 6-8, tops. But this well-muscled native of Africa plays the game with a spirit that draws comparisons to recent NBA draftee Donnell Harvey. Simply put, Cisse is a shot-blocking, dunking fool who attacks the rim like it said something about his momma.
Offensively, he's a low-block specialist who likes to dropstep and pound his body relentlessly into the man guarding him, intent on making his defender give ground until he has pushed him under the rim. Finesse is not a word he would know should it appear on his SAT.
Cisse started the game against Chandler's team by picking up a loose ball about eight feet away from the basket and then exploded up, extended and flushed a dunk over a sprawled defender.
That dunk seemed to awaken Chandler and his shot-blocking senses. Every time Cisse touched the ball in the paint, Chandler was in the vicinity, challenging and altering Cisse's dunk-seeking radar. With the often-airborne Chandler proving to be quite the obstacle, Cisse was reduced to taking awkward shots, which he had trouble finishing. Still, Cisse was often there with second and third efforts, but Chandler's size, athleticism and skills were clearly the victor in this matchup.
| |
ALSO SEE Recruiting: Still Dajuan Recruiting: Adidas shows its depth Recruiting: A look into the future | |
|
|