Boston Kids See What They Can Become at Summer Clinic

ROXBURY, Mass. – For the second straight year, the Boston Athletes United For Change put together its The Dream is Real Clinic, held at Madison Park High School. BAUC is basically a coalition of influential people in the city that have come together to put this on for younger basketball players, as some high school players were among the participants but there was a large pre-high school presence.

While the organizers got a number of individual donations that helped, The Boston Foundation had a big hand in making it happen. A large philanthropic group in the city, it was instrumental from a financial standpoint, and Robert Lewis, Jr. addressed the athletes about giving back, a constant theme surrounding the event.

The event featured some who grew up playing basketball in the city and went on to college, as well as coaches in the area. It’s a way for those who grew up in the city to give back, in some cases while still in college. They ranged from former college players Tony Lee and Kenny Jackson to current players Kyle Casey (Harvard) and Shabazz Napier (Connecticut).

While the event featured plenty of instruction for the players, as well as games to play in, the biggest part of the day was teaching about intangibles and off-court matters. The young players heard three people speak about various aspects of life on and off the court, in addition to having much to draw from with those who ran the event.

The first speaker was Napier, who grew up in Mission Hill and is entering his freshman year at Connecticut. He talked about how he grew as a player from a relative unknown into a stud point guard, emphasizing his knowledge of the game. Indeed, Napier always had talent and at one point had shown he could knock down plenty of shots from deep, but he never reached the elite level until he started making teammates better and becoming a winning player. It was no accident that as he got better, he helped lead Lawrence Academy to a perfect season.

The second speaker was a powerful one for the young players. Tom Nelson, who most recently coached at Framingham State and just started the New England Ballas program a few months ago, is actually from Los Angeles but has been in the area for most of his life. Nelson’s background had nothing working to his advantage, from family issues to being in the crime-ridden South Central section of the city. As he told the young players, he could have gone in two directions, with one of them being to join the gangs. Instead, he fought his way out of it, but unlike many who have played basketball who survive and then thrive, he didn’t do it with basketball first. It was his academics that opened the door to Phillips Academy in Andover, a top-notch prep school clear across the country, and ultimately to Holy Cross.

Last, but not least, former Charlestown High and Robert Morris star Tony Lee spoke. He offered his perspective on going to a school that not many people know much about because it’s not in the Big East or ACC, as well as playing basketball professionally outside the confines of the NBA.

All three speakers helped people like Claude Pritchard and event director John Jackson drive home the message about education to the kids. Even a player with a good college career like Tony Lee didn’t make the NBA and almost certainly never will, and even those who make it need something to fall back on when their career is over. This gave the kids a real live look at life after basketball and a further message that basketball can’t be the only thing in their lives.

Young Players Impress at Boston Best 40

WESTON, Mass. – The Rivers School was host to the Boston Best 40, run by ESkillz Academy this weekend. Saturday saw sixth and seventh graders in attendance, while Sunday belonged to eighth and ninth graders. While several other basketball events in the area drew some of the talent, the turnout was good, and while not as many players were present as in last year’s event, that was fine with the organizers and a big reason they split it up into two days. The young players listened to some words of wisdom from a few speakers, participated in organized stretching activities and then went through drills before it was time for games in the afternoon.

Sunday’s action included a couple of tenth graders in addition to the younger players. There was a good deal of size there, a nice surprise in an event that is often dominated by guards. All in all, the effort the young players put forth was good at both ends of the floor.

The most impressive guard was Brian Mukasa. The incoming freshman at Sharon High School showed a nice feel for the game, a good motor and solid fundamentals. As his body develops, the lefty is going to be well worth watching as he also has great leadership qualities that will make him an excellent point guard down the road.

Steven Basden was the most impressive guard off the ball. A rising sophomore at Governors Academy, he showed a nice shooting touch all day and got some offensive boards using his good body that can still get better. Another who showed a shooting touch was Albert Lawrence, an incoming freshman at Codman Academy in Dorchester. A baby physically, Lawrence will need to be a little quicker on the draw but his shots were going down when he was left open. Victor Udoji was active and showed a good motor, and the rising sophomore at Boston College High School might not initially jump out at you but he was a factor on the court.

Patrick Benzan was back in action here, although clearly not 100 percent after spraining both ankles in July. The incoming freshman at Roxbury Latin had some good moments running the show as he knocked down a couple of jumpers and a nice runner over a taller player. Johnnie Spears, a rising sophomore at Georgetown High and the younger brother of St. Mark’s junior Jaymie, is a baby physically and plays a little like his brother.

The frontcourt had some nice players, led by Jeremy Miller, an incoming freshman at Milton High School. Probably the top prospect in the area in the Class of 2014 right now, Miller continues to look better every time out as he showed a mean streak inside and had moments of dominance, while also knocking down mid-range jumpers. It’s hard to believe that at one time his motor looked like a question mark, because that doesn’t appear to be the case now.

Aaron Falzon, who will join older brother Tevin for a year at Newton North, showed a nose for the ball and some solid skills. In many respects, he is a more athletic version of his brother as the skill package is not very different and he’s already close to his brother’s height.

Kyle Dokus wasn’t a big factor on the day, but he’s already about 6’5″ and wears a size 17 shoe as he enters high school at Parker Charger in Devens, Mass. this fall. Those specs hint that he’s likely not done growing yet.

All in all, there was some nice talent that will be worth keeping an eye on over the next few years.

Powerade Hardtop Challenge Has New Name But Same Ideas

ROXBURY, Mass. – The first weekend in August was a busy one in the world of basketball in the Boston area. Two grassroots events, a team camp and an individual camp dotted the landscape. Included in that was the ninth annual Powerade Hardtop Challenge, held at the Reggie Lewis Center and with a change in the name.

For the first eight years, the tournament was known in local circles as the Sprite Tournament, though it was officially called the Sprite Hardtop Challenge. Now it carries the Powerade name but has the same parent company behind it, and the vision behind it hasn’t changed as well.

The event has always been held in August. John Hall, a commercial operations manager at Coca-Cola and the primary person behind the event, said he thought about having it in mid-June, but having it just after July made the most sense. Normally at that time, there’s not as much basketball as at other times of the year, so it wouldn’t easily get buried amidst many other events and it also meant better teams and players could participate.

Hall said he gets sponsorship requests for the event, but almost always turns them down. Aided by Steve Drayton from DYC and Claude Pritchard from ESkillz Academy, he has a way he wants to do this en route to potentially making it a major August event not unlike IS8 in New York and the Sonny Hill Tournament that has been a staple of summer basketball in Philadelphia. In particular, the younger kids are part of his vision for this in getting opportunities they might not get.

“My goal was to make sure kids who don’t play against elite teams get the chance to do it,” Hall said.

There’s also a goal of keeping it in the community. That’s why the event has always been held at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury, and why Hall has delegated a good deal of the event’s operations management to people like Drayton and Pritchard that have numerous connections in the city.

The tournament featured four age divisions: 12-under, 14-under, 16-under and 18-under. Over 30 teams from the northeast region, mostly from New England, competed in the two-day event. Hall has kept it to being a Saturday and Sunday event for logistics simplicity, which allows out-of-town teams to come in on Friday night in most cases and then get time to see some of the city as the games on Saturday end before sunset.

The 12-under championship was won by MABC, as they pulled out a close win over Hartford 300. MABC also took home the 14-under championship in a barn-burner over the Boston Spartans. The 16-under was won by the Boston Tigers, who knocked off Team New York in the final behind the powerful guard tandem of Ramon Gibbons and Wayne Selden, both of whom are coming off a good month of July.

The 18-under championship game had some drama, as the game came right down to the end. Robinson Vilmont first hit a game-tying three-pointer with less than a minute to go, then hit the game-winner as time expired to give the New England Ballas a one-point win over the Brockton All-Stars. Vilmont carried the new program into the 17-under state AAU title game a few months ago, then had a nice run in July that saw his recruitment pick up, so his play here was just a continuation of what he’s done lately.

Next year will be the tenth annual event. Hall and his support staff were happy with the turnout of this one, and that surely has them ready to make next year’s better as it reaches a milestone.