Sin City Scouting Notebook: Jack’s 2018 Wings/Bigs Standouts
The end of the AAU season sees over 1,000 AAU teams travel to Las Vegas to compete in a dozen or so tournaments. It’s a great place to be for a hoops fan, college coach or scout, however there’s just so much going on across the city that it’s hard to see everything. I focused on the Adidas Gauntlet Finale, the Fab 48, Adidas Select Showcase and Bigfoot Hoops The Ei8ht. While I wasn’t able to see everything, I compiled a notebook of standouts from across the country, and here’s a look at some of the 2018 wing and big standouts from across the events.
Dave McCormack | 6’10” C | Team Loaded VA 17U
One of the most recruited bigs in the country, McCormack saw the likes of Duke, Kansas, UVA, UCLA, Maryland and dozens more coaches at each of their games. The biggest improvement he’s made is in his body, where he’s lost about 40 pounds of fat and looks like a lean, but still intimidating, post presence. He showed the ability to score with his back to the basket, an improved midrange jump shot and he was good on the glass on both ends of the floor. He was a big reason for Team Loaded VA’s run to the championship.
Kiyon Boyd | 6’5” WG | Team Loaded VA 17U
Boyd stepped up in a big way in the championship win for Loaded VA, including hitting the go-ahead layup in transition with less than twenty seconds left. A strong and smooth wing with three level scoring ability, he’s excellent both in transition and in isolation situations in the half court. He’s a good defender, he forced the stop that led to the breakaway layup as well, and he steps up in the biggest situations when his team needs it. He’s had an up-and-down summer, but he showed out well on the biggest stage.
Landers Nolley | 6’6” WG | Team Loaded NC 17U
He’s had a breakout July that has seen him pick up more than 10 high major offers since the live period began, and he showed why with multiple breakout games in Vegas. He averaged 21.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game in their five games before bowing out, and what was most impressive is that he shot 56.4% from three-point range with only one game, their first one in a loss to NE Playaz, where he shot under 50% from deep. He has great range, is money from deep off the catch and his size allows him to score in the paint and help on the glass as well. He had one of the most impressive individual performances on Thursday, where he scored 34 points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out five assists while making 8 three balls. He translates perfectly with his mix of size, range and athleticism to the highest level of college basketball.
Jalen Smith | 6’10” PF | Team Takeover 17U
Talk about stepping up big when his team needed it, Smith was huge for Takeover in the second half of The Ei8ght championship, doing it on national TV none the less. The Maryland commit came out on fire in the first eight minutes of the second half, helping his team to erase a three point halftime lead and allowing them to get revenge on the Oakland Soldiers, the team that beat them in the Peach Jam Finals. Smith was a factor in the middle, using his quickness to blow by slower bigs, his explosiveness to finish above the rim for energy plays and his soft touch to finish in the middle. He finished with 19 points, 13 of them coming in the second half.
Bryce Golden | 6’8” PF | Team Takeover 17U
While Smith was the guy in the second half, Golden’s play in the first half was a big reason that Takeover was able to keep it close with most of them playing decent, but not to their potential. The Pittsburgh commit showed his versatility, stepping out and hitting a couple of jumpers, including a three ball, and that opened the lane for Smith and the guards in the second half. He showed good leadership, brought energy on both ends of the floor and completely changed the game with his mix of skill and physicality. He finished with 13 points and six rebounds in their win.
Nate Laszewski | 6’9” PF | NE Playaz 17U
Not many guys picked up bigger offers than Laszewski, who’s stretch four ability really stuck out to a number of high major coaches. He has a pure stroke, and I mean as pure as they come, and he showed it time and time again. When I saw him in their showcase game on Wednesday against the NY Rens, he finished with 19 points, hitting four three-balls in the win. In the Adidas Summer Finale he was extremely consistent, averaging 16 points per game on 50% shooting from the floor and 43% from deep, scoring in double figures in six of their eight games. He picked up offers from UNC, Arizona, Indiana, Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Vanderbilt in July.
Chris Doherty | 6’7” PF | NE Playaz 17U
While Laszewski got the high major attention, Doherty performed the biggest on the big stage as he was the most dominant player in their close loss to Team Loaded VA in the Adidas Summer Finale championship. A little undersized for a traditional four man, Doherty is the scrappy and productive guy, and in that game he did so against one of the biggest front lines in the country on any circuit. He’s a really good athlete off the drop step, throwing a couple down off of pick-and-rolls, and he simply has a nose for the ball and is always in on the play on both ends of the floor. He knows exactly what he is, as he stayed in the paint and made his impact there only taking one three-pointer the entire tournament, and was just a gritty competitor that averaged 12.2 points and 6.9 rebounds while shooting 70% from the field.
Joseph Hauser | 6’8” PF | IA Barnstormers 17U
The Marquette commit was an eye raiser for me, because every time I watched them or looked at the stats he was filling it up. Not only was he filling it up, he was efficient and showed a ton of versatility doing so. At 6’8”, he’s very strong but also skilled, so he’s able to bang inside with bigs or pull them out or hit the trail three ball. He’s a dead eye shooter from all levels, as he shot 52% from the field, 53% from deep and 89% from the line throughout the tournament, averaging a team high 19.6 points per game on one of the most talented rosters on the Gauntlet with five or six guys being recruited by high major programs.
N’Kiel Nelson | 6’5” WF | Elite Prep 17U
This was my favorite discovery of the event. I obviously don’t know much about Washington basketball being a guy from Virginia, but I watched Elite Prep take on GAME Elite in a game that they were clearly outmatched in, but you couldn’t tell Nelson that. A 6’5” versatile wing, he showed crafty finishing ability in traffic, finishing multiple three-point plays the hard way, good vision and feel from the wing spot and went smack at a talented young GAME Elite 2019 roster that plays with a lot of swagger. It was his swagger that made him able to compete with them. He has a never back down attitude, and he wasn’t afraid to talk right back, but was also vocal in encouraging his teammates and keeping them involved. He’s a sleeper on the west coast that could do some damage at low or midmajor program moving forward.