The race really was almost too close to call when it came time for us to determine who the best player was at the John Lucas Future of the Game, which featured a plethora 5th and 6th Graders and was held over the weekend at the Tarkanian Center in Las Vegas, NV. However, in the final analysis, we gave the nod to 5'6 6th Grader Breylon Webb from Abington, PA over 5'4 6th Grader Micah Williams from Inglewood, CA, 5'8 6th Grader Milak Dorsey Myatt from Philadelphia, PA, 5'2 6th Grader Dennis Guam from France, 5'2 5th Grader Corihann Gallatin from Fremont, NE, and 4'8 5th Grader Bryce Brown from Oklahoma City, OK. And the big key for Webb is the fact that he is an extremely well-rounded player with a good combination of size, skills, and athleticism and the versatility necessary to play just about anywhere on the court. He also can both get to the rim and create his own shot, is active on the boards and is an excellent defender, and has good ball handling and passing skills for somebody his size. However, unlike so many young players in this day age, he also has a good understanding of the game, knows how to compete, and doesn't try dominate the ball and do too much..
In sharp contrast, Williams is one of the those guys who never saw a shot that he didn't like and, as a result, more often than not was like a black hole when he got the ball in the open court and used his explosiveness to blow past would be defenders, attack the basket, and finish off transition. He also is more than capable of knocking down the outside shot, but this was not good news for his teammates who more often than not were regulated to the duty of standing around and watching this guy put up the kind of numbers that easily made him the leading scorer in camp. On the other hand, this was arguably the least talented team in camp, his teammates seemed to accept their roles, and this team actually had solid chemistry and did much better than we expected. Myatt is not a tough customer, but he does get our vote for being the most natural gifted player in camp and he appeared to be equally adept when it cam time to play both inside and outside. He also has good size and athleticism, can both get to the basket and knock down the outside shot, gets more than his share rebounds, and is still only just beginning to scratch the surface in terms of reaching his upside and potential.
Guam is extremely quick with the ball, plays with a lot of energy, and has ball handling and passing skills necessary to get the nod as the best pure point guard in camp. But he also knows how to get to the rim, can score with either hand, has a soft touch on his outside shot, and is capable of putting up prolific numbers. Gallatin is another guy with good ball handling and passing skills, the ability to score in a variety of ways, and the versatility necessary to play either guard spot. He also has an excellent motor and a high basketball IQ and he played well enough to edge out Brown as the top 5th Grader in camp. However, pound-for-pound and inch-for-inch, Brown might have been the best player in camp. We're talking about somebody who has a great nose for the ball and is like a pit pull defensively. Offensively Brown has excellent ball handling and passing skills and his get out-and-go-like mentality and explosiveness in transition make him a tough match-up when he's finding the open man and finishing off transition. And, as an added bonus, Brown also gets the nod as the most improved player in camp, as he seemed to get better and better every time we saw him play during the course of the weekend.
We also thought 5'11 6th Grader Isaiah Cunningham from Tacoma, WA, 5'6 6th Grader Jordan Boggan-Cryer from Auburn, WA, 5'6 6th Grader Trenton Pane from Dallas, TX, and 5'10 6th Grader from Kellan Hampton from Hayward, CA all play well enough to be included among the top 10 players in camp. Cunningham runs the court extremely well, is capable of defending smaller guys out on the perimeter, and has the quickness necessary to score, rebound, and block shots in the post. Boggan-Cryer spends entirely too much time handling the ball out of the perimeter and we also have questions about his outside shooting. However, he very fluid, mobile, and aggressive around the basket, knows how to attack the rim, and is oozing with upside and potential Pane will need to learn to play harder, but his body control and athleticism allow him to thrive in an up tempo setting and he also appears to be very adept at pulling the trigger from behind the arc. Hampton is another whose defense is way head of his offense and he's not a very touch customer, But it's difficult not be intrigued with his size and athleticism, ability to get it done on the boards, and the fact that he has plenty of upside.
And, when we dig a little deeper, we find also find that the following players are ranked in the 11-35 range based on their performance in camp: 5'5 6th Grader Andrew Bhesania from Phoenix, AZ, 5'2 6th Grader Christian Pedrotti from Brentwood, CA, 5'5 7th Grader Adam Chaffin from Phoenix, AZ, 4'11 5th Grader Elias Riley from Glendale, AZ, 5'5 6th Grader Jaden Spears from Sacramento, CA, 5'9 6th Grader Dominic Bolton from Laguna Hills, CA, 5'2 6th Grader Julian Plaza from Brentwood, CA, 4'11 6th Grader Josh King from Humble, TX, 5'2 5th Grader Brody Green from Santa Barbara, CA, 5'3 6th Grader Oneal Delancy from St. Petersburg, FL, 4'10 5th Grader Langston Adams from Port Arthur, TX, 4'8 6th Grader Cayden Munnilal from Richmond, TX, 5'0 6th Grader Landon Brownstein from Peoria, IL, 5'0 5th Grader Taurean Harris from Peoria, AZ, 4'8 4th Grader Michael Pierre from Gurnee, IL, 5'0 5th Grader Jacob Trenchfield from Pembroke Pines, FL, 4'10 6th Grader Eian Lowe from Houston, TX, 4'8 5th Grader DeVaughn Ware from O'Fallon, IL, 5'5 7th Grader Shyam Patel from Richmond, TX, 4'9 5th Grader Logan Haustveit from Meridian, ID, 5'5 6th Grader Julian Gibbs from Alameda, CA, 4'5 6th Grader Kaleb Hilliard from Gilbert, AZ, 5'4 6th Grader Rayan Fadika from Katy, TX, 5'2 5th Grader Kaydin Williams from Chicago, IL, and 5'0 6th Grader Joseph Song from Humble, TX.
THE HOOP SCOOP'S EXCLUSIVE RANKING OF THE TOP 35 PLAYERS AT JOHN LUCAS FUTURE OF THE GAME LAS VEGAS
1) 5'6 6th Grader Breylon Webb from Abington, PA
2) 5'4 6th Grader Micah Williams from Inglewood, CA
3) 5'8 6th Grader Milak Dorsey Myatt from Philadelphia, PA
4) 5'2 6th Grader Dennis Guam from France
5) 5'2 5th Grader Corihann Gallatin from Fremont, NE
6) 4'8 5th Grader Bryce Brown from Oklahoma City, OK
7) 5'11 6th Grader Isaiah Cunningham from Tacoma, WA
8) 5'6 6th Grader Jordan Boggan-Cryer from Auburn, WA
11) 5'6 6th Grader Trenton Pane from Dallas, TX
10) 5'10 6th Grader from Kellan Hampton from Hayward, CA
11) 5'5 6th Grader Andrew Bhesania from Phoenix, AZ
12) 5'2 6th Grader Christian Pedrotti from Brentwood, CA
13) 5'5 7th Grader Adam Chaffin from Phoenix, AZ
14) 4'11 5th Grader Elias Riley from Glendale, AZ
15) 5'5 6th Grader Jaden Spears from Sacramento, CA
16) 5'9 6th Grader Dominic Bolton from Laguna Hills, CA
17) 5'2 6th Grader Julian Plaza from Brentwood, CA
18) 4'11 6th Grader Josh King from Humble, TX
19) 5'2 5th Grader Brody Green from Santa Barbara, CA
20) 5'3 6th Grader Oneal Delancy from St. Petersburg, FL
21) 4'10 5th Grader Langston Adams from Port Arthur, TX
22) 4'8 6th Grader Cayden Munnilal from Richmond, TX
23) 5'0 6th Grader Landon Brownstein from Peoria, IL
24) 5'0 5th Grader Taurean Harris from Peoria, AZ
25) 4'8 4th Grader Michael Pierre from Gurnee, IL
26) 5'0 5th Grader Jacob Trenchfield from Pembroke Pines, FL
27) 4'10 6th Grader Eian Lowe from Houston, TX
28) 4'8 5th Grader DeVaughn Ware from O'Fallon, IL
29) 5'5 7th Grader Shyam Patel from Richmond, TX
30) 4'9 5th Grader Logan Haustveit from Meridian, ID
31) 5'5 6th Grader Julian Gibbs from Alameda, CA
32) 4'5 6th Grader Kaleb Hilliard from Gilbert, AZ
33) 5'4 6th Grader Rayan Fadika from Katy, TX
34) 5'2 5th Grader Kaydin Williams from Chicago, IL
35) 5'0 6th Grader Joseph Song from Hunble, TX