New England Junior Phenom Camp Player Notes
While much of the basketball world was focused on teams trying to make it to the Final Four, the Adidas Junior Phenom Camp was held recently at Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School. The event brought together talented young players primarily from Massachusetts and New York from middle school divisions up through the high school ranks. Here, we take a look at some of the high school players who caught our eyes.
Damola Abu (6’5″ Sr. Mattapan (MA) Marblehead HS) has a mature body and some quickness to go with a little range on his jumper. One knock is that his release on the jump shot looks a little questionable.
Jereme Bennet (5’11” So. Albany (NY) High) is a baby physically who showed some good ability when driving with the ball. He’s quick and will use that to drive into the lane, and he made a couple of shots in traffic along the way.
Chris Coleman (6’10” Fr. PF-C, Buffalo (NY) High) caught our eye instantly as the tallest player there, but he has more than height going for him. He’s also well-built and already has a mature body for his age, and he’s fundamentally sound. Although he doesn’t try to do too much, at times he seemed a bit non-aggressive offensively, where he can score inside and also made a few good passes out of the post.
Jose George (5’10” Jr. PG, Albany (NY) High) was an active player throughout the day. Although he struggled shooting early, he kept playing and showed his effectiveness elsewhere, with some heady play and a nice ability to hit cutters with his passes.
Scott Haneaf (6’0″ Jr. Troy (NY) Lansingburgh HS) fared well in some of the box-out drills early on. He didn’t make a big impact in game action we saw, but his effort wasn’t in question and he’s still maturing physically.
Willie Lyons (6’1″ Jr. PG-SG, Newton (MA) South HS) is a very improved guard fresh off a solid high school season. A plus athlete, he’s still maturing physically and isn’t done yet, and offensively is more of a scorer than a shooter with a jumper that’s almost a set shot. Also an excellent student, the interest he’s getting includes Patriot League and Ivy League schools.
Adam Marshall (6’8″ Jr. PF Byfield (MA) Governors Academy) has some good size in the frontcourt and a fairly mature body. He showed a little feel for playing help defense during the stations and also a touch from mid-range on his jumper.
At times, Malichi Mitchell (5’9″ Jr. PG, Albany (NY) High) was unstoppable with his ability to get to the basket. When he gets inside, he can finish even with contact despite not possessing great strength right now. He’ll have to improve his jumper and his penchant for occasionally driving into trouble and leaving himself nowhere to go, although he did make a few nice passes after driving.
Vick Munez (6’3″ Jr. Albany (NY) Colonie HS) did some work inside and has some athleticism. He didn’t light up the scoreboard, but got after it at both ends.
Barret Murphy (6’0″ Fr. SG, Marshfield (MA) High) caught our eye late in the day with his three-point shooting touch. There’s always a place at the next level for someone who can shoot it, and if he can keep working over the next three years, he should have a few college suitors.
Daniel Pittman (6’0″ Fr. SG, Hockessin (DE)) is a lanky athlete who showed a knack for driving to the basket. He finished often and looks like he could develop into a nice scorer.
Jeff Tagger (6’0″ Jr. PG, Brockton (MA) Catholic Memorial HS) is fresh off an excellent high school season, but didn’t play his best here. Although he will drive all day and can find teammates, this wasn’t his best showing as a passer and he struggled shooting. His relative struggles aside, there’s clearly some potential there and he’ll be worth keeping an eye on.
Andy Tate (5’7″ So. PG, Buffalo (NY) Burgand Vocational School) clearly got better as the day went along, as he was solid in game action in the latter part of the day. He showed a good touch finishing and knocked down a three-pointer, has a good body and was very active.
