Adidas Gauntlet Series: Guard play
Birmingham, Ala. – I paid attention to the guard play in Saturday’s action of the Adidas Boys Summer Championships, paying the most attention to the guards from the state of Tennessee, and there were some highs to go along with…
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Continue ReadingBirmingham, Ala. – I paid attention to the guard play in Saturday’s action of the Adidas Boys Summer Championships, paying the most attention to the guards from the state of Tennessee, and there were some highs to go along with the lows.
EAB Tennessee 17U and both Hoop City (16U and 17U) teams were led to battle by guards, mainly point guards.
I will follow up this story with one about the forwards at the conclusion of the Adidas Boys Summer Championships on Sunday.
Now, let’s take a dive into the guard play from two Tennessee AAU programs:
Keon Johnson, EAB Tennessee 17U: Johnson, a 6-foot-3 point guard, is a walking highlight reel. During Saturday’s action, Johnson was probably the most athletic guard on the floor. He slashes to the basket with ease, thanks to his ball handles. Johnson knows how to move without the basketball in his hands. Throughout Saturday, he found himself high up in the air for alley-oop passes from his teammates. Johnson’s downside is his jump shot. He needs some work there, but his athleticism is the reason he’s one of the most coveted guards in the 2020 class.
Chandler Jackson, Hoop City 16U: Jackson was a headache for defenders last season during his freshman season at Christian Brothers. During the summer, he grew an inch and now stands at 6-4. Jackson’s body frame makes it hard for defenders to stop him from slashing to the basket. His weakness up to now has been his jump shot. It wasn’t consistent, but Jackson showed some improvements on Saturday with his mid-range jump shot. That’s a plus for Jackson, but not for teams that will try to stop him.
Reese McMullen, Hoop City 16U: McMullen has turned into a reliable on-ball defender. In Hoop City’s final game Saturday against Pack Attack, McMullen got a steal at mid-court, which led to an easy layup. Before that, he knocked down a 3 from the corner. McMullen mentioned that he’s been in the gym working on his craft. His hard work has turned into positive results.
Deovaunta Williams, Hoop City 17U: Williams is still learning on the fly how to play the point guard position. At Raleigh-Egypt, the 6-1 guard mainly played at shooting guard. Since he’s heading to Tennessee Prep Academy this upcoming season, he will have to get comfortable running the offense. In Saturday night’s grind out win over Nola23, Williams made nice plays on both ends of the court. He was patient offensively and took advantage of the open lane when it was there. Williams was very active, aggressive and vocal on the defensive end. On the downside, Williams missed layups in transition, which made things interesting in the final five minutes of the game.
Honorable mentions
Jalen Bo Montgomery, Hoop City 17U: Montgomery’s jump shot has improved tremendously. He has been shooting the ball well all summer, but couldn’t get a lot of them to fall on Saturday. He made up for the missed shots by using his athleticism to get to the basket.
Jalen Page, EAB Tennessee 17U: The Blackman High School senior guard can easily control the tempo of the game. Page is at his best in transition, only if he doesn’t lose control of the basketball. Slashing to the basket is one of Page’s strengths. Slashing will have to work when his jump shot isn’t falling. It didn’t fall much on Saturday.