NBPA Top 100 Camp: Cali state champion duo shine
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Those who watched the games over the final four days of the recently completed NBPA Top 100 Camp got a pretty good idea as to why Sierra Canyon won the California State Open Division championship last March.
Point guard Scottie Pippen Jr. and forward Kenyon Martin Jr. held up quite well while going head up against some of the better players in the country at their respective positions.
The 6-foot-1 Pippen (who missed two games with injury) averaged 8.2 points and 2.2 assists in six games (in about 23 minutes of “running time” per game) for the Rockets, scoring 22 points over his final two games.
He’s one of the five-best at his position in the western class of 2019.
Martin is a bit of an “undersized” power forward at 6-5ish but few players in the camp has his explosiveness to the rim.
Martin averaged 8.4 point and 2.6 rebounds in 24 minutes of average time in seven games with the Heat.
And he rocked it in his final game during the first round of the Saturday playoffs, going for team-highs of 19 points, rebounds, an assist and steal in 29 minutes of the 81-73 loss to the Knicks.
Pippen and Martin are expected to team with fellow returnees Cassius Stanley (also from the Class of 2019; he turned down the chance for a second consecutive trip to the NBPA camp) and Terren Frank to make Chatsworth (in the San Fernando Valley) the pre-season favorite to win the 2019 State Open title.