GRBA National Championship: Standout 2021 Guards
Mission accomplished as far as catching up on Ohio’s 2021 class in July. This weekend more than any other, we evaluated plenty of the top rising sophomores, even if we were late to the party by a couple months.
In mid-to-late August, this class will also be the focus of the website, including our first class rankings.
Anyways, check out who really emerged onto our radar at Spiece.
Omar Abuhamdeh, 5’9” PG, TNBA South / North Royalton
Abuhamdeh’s experience as a starter for North Royalton this year was evident in Fort Wayne. He ran the team with a lot of maturity and unselfishness. Abuhamdeh kept the ball spinning around the court with passes to shooters and also advancing ahead to teammates running the floor. He plays with good pace off the dribble and has the strength to be effective in the lane. Good shooting mechanics with a quick release. Not a lot of holes in his game, but he does lack growth potential.
Darius Parham, 6’2” W, Hidden Gems Black / Bishop Ready
Parham has nice ball skills and playmaking ability but the question will be on what position he can defend. He takes a lot of defensive risks and has quickness that is more suited to guard forwards. His solid build will allow him to defend bigger guys as well. But as far as offense goes, Parham used the hesitation move very well this weekend and was able to get to the rim at will with those changes of speeds. He’s a nice passer but likes to thread the needle a bit too much, as Parham is a fan of the spectacular play. Really good jab series and feel in the pick and roll.
PJ Daniels, 6’0” PG, Hidden Gems Platinum / Bishop Hartley
The pass-first point guard shot too high of a percentage on Saturday morning, which is a good and a bad thing. What we mean is that Daniels was pretty much unstoppable when he decided to drive. He is a really skilled finisher inside with enough strength to take contact. However, he’s slightly hesitant to just attack a defender. Yet, he’s a really nice passer also! The kid will be very hard to stop if he gets a tad bit faster.
Jonah Waag, 6’2” G, TNBA East Black / VASJ
Waag was tremendous in a losing effort on Saturday afternoon. He scores it off the dribble at a pretty advanced level. He can shoot it off the bounce and is good at creating separation, especially with the help of a ball screen. Waag can attack the basket and is a crafty finisher, including floaters. Nice help-side defender who drew more than a couple charges throughout the weekend.
AJ Glover, 6’3” W, Nova (Douglas) / Africentric
Whenever we question an area of a player’s game and then they show improvements, it’s our responsibility to recognize the player’s development. Here’s what we wrote about Glover on July 15:
“Defensively, Glover has the physical tools but lacks off-ball awareness. He got caught staring at the ball-handler on several occasions while turning his back to his matchup.”
Well, on Saturday he was super engaged defensively. Not only was he in position off-ball, Glover was sitting down and moving his feet tremendously against his matchup. He is also already showing growth as an outside shooter.