USA U17 Recap: Day One

Diamond Stone: Went on beast mode in the first half of the game scoring 18 points by the end of the 2nd quarter. Blocking shots, playing very aggressive in the post, backing down his defenders and looked like a man amongst boys in the 1st half. Last summer, Stone looked good for his age but looked questionable on how good he could be at the next level with him being overweight and how his lack of quickness could translate playing against older players. Stone looked a lot more in shape tonight and looked way more mobile than he did only one year ago, also has improved on defense with 4 blocks. Although he was nothing like the player he was in the first half only scoring 4 points in the second half of the game, Stone’s dedications to improvement have got him off to a good start in order of winning MVP of the tournament.

Malik Newman: The MVP of last year’s U16 America’s Tournament still looked pretty good, but is now playing a very different role than he did with last year’s team, now running the point. Since last year’s starting PG Seventh Woods suffered an injury, forcing him to miss this tournament, Coach Showalter has decided to move Malik to the point. Despite the fact that he had zero turnovers, he seemed to struggle with his new role. As Newman is undersized for a SG at 6’4 in shoes, it would be a good thing for him to able to play both guard positions, but for a big competition like this, he just doesn’t seem to be ready yet as most of his points come from plays that get him involved from the PG rather than him creating shots for himself while bringing up the ball.

 Jayson Tatum: The second youngest player on this team has a pretty bright future ahead of him, as far as potential goes. The crossover between Drake and Anthony Davis has a very good jump shot and scoring ability standing at 6’7. Now starting for Team USA, Tatum added 10 points for the Americans today. The 16 year old junior-to-be has a similar game to Bradley Beal, and is ironically from the same high school as well. Currently the #3 ranked junior is on pretty good track of being a one-and-done and a Top 5 pick, if the NBA age limit is not changed by 2017.

Josh Jackson:The SF from Detroit was a little off with his outside shot, going 0-3, but still had 9 points. Jackson’s back to back putback dunks gave him more momentum to stay in the game, ultimately helping Team USA to pull of this tough victory.

 Harry Giles: After getting tearing his ACL in only the second game of last year’s tournament, Giles ultimately had to miss the remainder of the tournament and his entire sophomore season of high school as well. As he did struggle a bit playing in his first Non-AAU game in a year, still played aggressively in the post on both offense and defense. Ended the game with 4 points, all from dunks. Despite his slow start to the tournament, still expect him to make an impact for Team USA for the remainder of this tournament.

Ivan Rabb: The one player on Team USA getting a DNP: Coach’s Decision, ironically happens to be the #1 ranked senior in the country. Despite the fact that it’s only what ESPN.com ranks him as, we don’t see that very often at all. After starting for most of last year’s tournament after Giles tore his ACL, Rabb was the one man out of the rotation of the five post players on this team. Still very shocked to have seen that happen. As it is a good thing that these coaches are not allowing reputation determine who makes this team or who gets more minutes, believed Rabb would have been at least better than Ellenson and Swanigan, who were both cut from last year’s team. As all five of the bigs on the team are very talented, Rabb being the odd man out just seems wrong and hope he earns himself more minutes once he gets in.

Terrance Ferguson: Still a very raw talent with a lot of potential, given from his natural athleticism. As Ferguson needs more improvement with his outside game, both of his baskets made came from dunks. Has explosiveness and scary athleticism, but is a long ways from being polished into an elite player at the next level.

 Henry Ellenson: Did not make last year’s squad, but has improved lots within this past year alone. Ellenson has skyrocketed up the rankings, going from being ranked in the 30’s all the way to #5. Got limited minutes with this team’s loaded frontcourt but did a good job at doing what he needed to do. Scored 6 points for the Americans, did a solid job at playing with his back to the basket and is also a very good passer in the post. Possibly has the talent to be a one and done after the end of his freshmen season of college.

Caleb Swanigan: Also did a solid job inside, while he was in the game. Lacking of elite athleticism, Swanigan proved that he is a great finisher around the basket. Not only lacks of being very athletic, but is also definitely more of a C than a PF and is undersized for an elite C at the next level standing at 6’8. But those weaknesses don’t really matter much at this level of competition, as he still got the job done, doing what he needed to do. Also went 4-4 at the free throw line.

 Devearl Ramsey: Still having a tough time understanding how he made the team over Dennis Smith, especially after the loss of Seventh Woods. Contributed the least most out of all players on last year’s team and was expecting him to be the first player who made last year’s team to get cut. Played about 10 minutes with 0 points, 0 assists and one rebound. Would think the only things better about Ramsey than Smith would be his on ball defense and maybe his outside shot, which isn’t needed much on this team full of shooters but barely makes any sense to me how this happened to make the team over a player who was drawing comparisons to Derrick Rose by this site at the Adidas Euro Camp.

 Tyus Battle: Got the least amount of minutes out of all players who did get to play, also didn’t get one assist like the other backup PG and did get a steal and a lucky three pointer, barely past half court as time expired in the 1st half. Despite the limited action I have seen from him, that’s two players that really make me scratch my head to see making it over Dennis Smith.

 VJ King: The swingman hailing from the same area and high school as LeBron James played explosively attacking the basket, with his role coming off of the bench. Like his aggressiveness for driving to the basket and has an alright outside shot knocking down one three pointer today. Still a raw prospect at 17 years old, but the fact that he is a year older than most other high school juniors gives him an advantage to how he may look towards others in his class.