Four Takeaways: St. John Bosco Summer League
Bellflower, Ca. — Tuesday’s summer league hosted by St. John Bosco featured some of the top teams in Southern California, including the host Braves, Corona Centennial, Rolling Hills Prep, Santa Margarita and Long Beach Poly.
Here are five storylines from the afternoon and evening of games.
Four Takeaways
JT Tan and Brandon Clay give Rolling Hills Prep one of the most formidable post duo’s in SoCal
Most all who follow the Southern California hoops scene know that 6-foot-7 rising junior JT Tan is one of the most skilled big men in his class. Tan has soft touch with around the basket with either hand, advanced footwork with his back to the basket and has even dropped 10-15 pounds since the end of the high school season. Now enter Brandon Clay, a lesser-known, but soon to be established sophomore, who at 6-feet-6 and 235 pounds is surprisingly light on his feet and has a ton of potential as a low block scorer.
Rolling Hills Prep center Brandon Clay is another skilled big man on the Huskies roster.Lamaj Lewis poised to breakout for St. John Bosco next season
The 6-foot-2 sophomore logged big minutes at the junior varsity level during his freshman campaign, but if Tuesday is any glimpse into the future, Lamaj Lewis has immense potential as a wing scorer. He’s long, smooth and athletic with a high basketball IQ. Lewis makes the difficult play look effortless.
Santa Margarita’s Shengzhe Li will have multiple collegiate suitors
The Eagles offense ran through Shengzhe Li with star forwards Jake Kyman and Max Agbonkpolo in Charlottesville for the NBA Players Association camp and Big Li flaunted a vastly upgraded back-to-the-basket skill set. The physical 6-foot-9 center was drop stepping baseline and throwing it down with two hands and also showed off some finesse with a couple rolling hook shots across the lane.
Long Beach Poly guard Giordan Williams will rise above others ranked above him
The Jackrabbits have a trio of talented senior guards in Giordan Williams, Justin Rene and Malik Salahuddin, but the focus of this blurb is on the massive growth Williams has shown in his all around game. He was already a legitimate athlete, but has added some more quickness and bounce to his step, while also becoming a more consistent 3-point shooter. All of those traits, combined with his length and defensive intensity, have me believing that Williams will have a long post-high school playing career.