wc report no 1, second session

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Double Pump West Coast All Star Camp:
Second Session Player Report #1--(July 27, 1999)

Ok, so this is really, really late, but we've finally found the time to sit down at the computer, uninterrupted and undisturbed, and we're going to go back through all the rosters and give out some player evaluations. Not for every player who attended the West Coast All Stars camp during the second session, and not all in one report either, but we do intend to write about as many of those who stood out or who we feel are worthy of note as we can. This was a large camp, with more than 300 players, and we couldn't possibly have focused on more than half of them, or so it seemed at the time. While we saw everyone in attendance play at least once, we're really only comfortable writing about those guys we saw play several times.

This is the first installment of reports for this camp, and while there may be some references to games or tournaments (e.g., the Big Time) which took place after the camp, it's really intended just as an evaluation of what happened at the camp. Keep in mind though that over the past three weeks, a lot of what we've seen has tended to blend into a giant blur, as we've gone from two sessions of West Coast All Stars, to Rim Rattler, to WC All-Stars, to Vegas and then back to Dominguez and Long Beach. . . Anyway, here are some of our observations. This is Report No. 1:

Jason Morrissette (6'-5" Sr. SG/SF) Fairfax--Jason only played at WC one day and then ended up at Rim Rattler for most of the second session. We saw him bomb in about 27 points in the one game we watched, and there's no denying that if Jason played at both ends of the court, he could be a high major D-I player, but he's going to have to want it. We know that Jason is down on most of the writers on the internet, ourselves included (and at least one other local writer who he's really down on big time for telling Jason what he doesn't want to hear) because we keep telling him how much better he could be, but then we're just repeating a lot of what the college coaches tell us. Believe it or not, they know far more about what they're looking for in a player than we do, because they watch these guys for a living. How good can Jason be? How good does he want to be? First things first though, he's going to have to want to play defense. All the time. When he does, he could be huge.

Justin Patrick (6'-1" Sr. SG) Rancho Buena Vista-- a nice shooter from outside, good ability to penetrate, Justin has all the tools to be a nice college player, and he's also had the benefit of playing with and around some of the best from this year's class of graduating seniors, like Jason Bow, who tells us he will walk-on at UCLA, and Aaron Abrams who will be playing at Wyoming this coming fall. Justin has a good shot from out to about 17' with a good high release, and he's also a decent defender. Didn't blow up this summer, but played consistently well, and he's worth a look from a good program.

Cory Violette (6'-7" Sr. F) Bishop Kelly--Cory had a great camp and then played for his Boise team in Vegas where he impressed a lot of the college coaches. Cory told us that he's really intending to stay local, like Boise State, or Wyoming, and he really had a lot of the SoCal schools like UCSB and Northridge bummed out when they heard that. Cory is a huge guy, very strong, about 240 lbs, but he runs the floor like a guard. Some lucky Big Sky or Big West team will be very happy with this young man who will be a qualifier.

Carlos Arroyo (6'-6" Sr. F) Bell Jeff--Carlos had a decent WC All-Stars camp, nothing tremendous but a solid experience, and he impressed a lot of coaches who saw his ability to play very well against much bigger post men. Carlos is probably too small to play the four at a high D-I level, , and he's not a prolific enough shooter from outside or quick enough to play three at that level, but there's probably a spot for him on some low to mid D-I squad, and definitely at the D-II or D-III level. At the camp Carlos was posting up during the camp against guys like Sean Riley (6'-9" Sr. C) from Washington, Jair Veldhuis (6'-10" Sr. C) from Tamalpais in Marin, Dominique Daniels (6'-8" Sr. F/C) from Hogan and Dameon Bledsoe (6'-7" Sr. C) from Deer Valley, and he did a great job. He's got very well developed footwork for someone who didn't play much last year--Carlos was relegated to JV because his former school wouldn't sign off on his transfer to Bell-Jeff, so Eli Essa played him jv to avoid further controversy--, and he can score with a nice turn around shot from in close. A superior rebounder, Carlos' biggest concern will be whether he qualifies. Right now, he's got a 2.3 GPA and a 960 SAT so it looks like he's in, and low to mid D-I's should take a look at this tweener

RJ Barsh (6'-3" Jr. SG/SF) Puyallup-- A very promising junior, we really only got to see him in a couple of games at the camp, and completely lost track of him after that. RJ is a great shooter, with extremely long arms, a huge wingspan, and a great shot blocker. Look for him as a rising senior next year to be a big impact recruiting prospect.

Ryan Bisio (5'-10" Sr. PG) St. Bernard--Ryan is a stocky, compact guard, sort of in the tradition of Brandon Granville, a decent shooter, and good dribble-drive penetrator. Unlike Brandon though, he attends the other St. Bernards, in Arcata, CA (i.e., up north) and he'll probably be better at the D-II or D-III level where he can be a starter and get some quality playing time along with a great education. But then who knows, maybe some D-I coach will see something that we missed. After all, that's what they get paid for. He's a very good defender, with good lateral quickness, and a lot will probably depend on how he performs during his senior season. He's a qualifier with a 3.2 GPA, so D-II's and III's should definitely check him out.

Jeremy Jones (6'-9" Sr. C) Medowdale-- Jeremy is a decent post player, with good footwork, nice positioning and he's relatively athletic, who will probably be a better low D-I or D-II player than he would at a mid-D-I school, and he'll certainly get more time immediately. At 210 lbs, he has good size and is a decent shot blocker as well. From Lynwood, Washington, he's got a 3.2 GPA, and perhaps we're all wet, but he didn't do a lot to impress us at this camp. But then again, when big guys get to touch the ball just on rebounds, and all the guards are driving and penetrating instead of making nice entry passes to the post, it's awfully hard to tell what you're really seeing when you watch the taller guys play at these camps. Bill Nance, who sees these guys from Washington regularly can certainly tell us if we're missing the boat on Jeremy. Jeremy was slated to play with the Hoopaholics I team coached by Price Johnson, so evidently he's a lot better than we saw at WC All-Stars. And we'll be the first to admit we didn't get to see him in Vegas.

Salim Stoudamire (6'-2" Jr. SG) Lake Oswego--No doubt about it, Salim, who is Damon's cousin, and used to live with Damon up in Portland, is one of the top rising juniors, and he was a star at the WC All Star camp upon returning from ABCD, where he also had an impressive showing. Salim is a deadly accurate shooter, and with him and Kyle Bailey (6'-2" Sr. PG) from Lathrop HS in Fairbanks, Alaska (not Texas as we earlier reported in our First Week report) on the same team, it made for a deadly combination. Salim is very quick, extremely athletic and he is already a big time prospect, a potential lottery pick, perhaps out of high school. Yes, he's that good.

Craig Weinstein (5'-10" So. G) Harvard-Westlake-- Young rising soph. Keith Howard of Inland and his coach at the camp, offered this assessment: "He needs to get a step quicker on offense at this level and move more without the ball. He's got a good handle and sees the floor very well." Craig started out the camp strong and had some good defensive performances, and with Salim Stoudamire on his team, suffice it to say he had a ton of assists. Good shooter from three point range, and a good on-ball defender, but with Kyle and Salim, there wasn't much chance he was going to see much of the ball in these games. Will develop nicely. Didn't play with a team at the Big Time or at the Best of Summer, but will be in Vegas at the Grand Finale this week with one of the ARC teams.

Amaury Fernandez (6'-9" Jr. PF) Artesia-- It's hard to really evaluate how Amaury played at WC All-Stars and to separate it from what we saw in Vegas. Suffice it to say, that he only played in two games after returning from ABCD, and was spectacular in each one. Alabama basketball coach, and former UCLA assistant Mark Gottfried thinks Amaury is the best basketball player in the junior class. Period. The best. And he may be right. Got hurt in Vegas, again separating his shoulder, but ended up playing when it counted at the Best of Summer in the finals.

Michael Jacobs (6'-3" Sr. G/F)--We wrote about Michael previously, at least we think we did. He would have wound up on one or another traveling team in Vegas based on his WC All-Star performance, which was truly amazing, except for the fact that he'd already graduated high school and attended classes at Dixie JC in the spring. He's the cousin of Pharoah Davis, and he attended Montclair HS where he only played one year of organized ball, but college coaches looking for a great shooter who can jump out of the gym should check this guy out. He's currently living in Vegas, and will probably attend Dixie in the fall, and if he does, he'll be a starter, no question about it. Other than Langston Grady (6'-4" Sr. SG) from San Antonio, Texas, this guy jumped higher than anyone else at the camp.

Jack Martinez (6'-8" Jr.PF) Artesia--Jack came back from ABCD pumped, in fact he was so pumped that he forgot where he was at times, and he definitely needs to take some time off. Had a sort of personal crisis with another member of his WC All Star Camp team, and he lost his temper, pretty visibly, which resulted in Jack getting some needed rest from the game. Admittedly one of the most talented players in the rising junior class, perhaps a better shot blocker than Amaury, his only concern should be to learn to get his emotions in check. Otherwise a major talent who will get recruited as highly as anyone in the class next year.

Guy Beahm (6'-7" Sr. F) Willow Glen HS, San Jose, CA-- Guy was one of those intriguing players who you really had to watch several times to appreciate. Plays a lot like Casey Cook, except not as highly recruited, at least he was a fairly well-kept secret. Great footwork, a true three man who can play the position at least at the mid-major D-I level, Guy has a great shot out to three point range, slashes to the basket, and defends. He played with the Pump N Run Black team in Vegas, but departed for home before the Best of Summer, so a lot of coaches really missed out on him. Opened more than a few eyes in Vegas, including the Stanford coaches and Denny Crum, who were at all the Pump N Run Black games, principally to scout the Craven twins, but who ended up asking "who is that guy. . . " With a 3.35 GPA, a lot more schools should be asking the same question.

Jarrah Bolden (6'-0" So. SG/SF) Horizon--Up and coming rising soph, he's got a good handle and a nice release on his shot. Jarrah also played for Anthony Williams' Alley Cats team in Vegas, and at the Best of Summer as well, and he played hard and competed. He's got plenty of time to show the college coaches what he can do. A good student, he'll be a highly recruitable player in a couple of years.

David Joiner (6'-6" Sr. SG/SF) Rialto-- Extremely active, thin shooter, who runs the floor, slashes to the basket. He'll need to put on some muscle and weight for the D-I level, but he's definitely capable of playing at that level. One of Inland's best players, he can hit the three, drive and penetrate or finish on the break. Long arms, good court vision and really smart, he's got a 3.3 average and has a qualifying test score. Reminds us a lot of Sherman Gay from Dominguez.

Joe See (6'-0" Jr. PG) De La Salle-- Mr. Three-Pointer really didn't shoot the ball too well at the camp in the games we saw, but we understand that he had a great showing in Vegas, lighting it up in several games. Joe can probably play at the D-I level, and we've seen him have games where he's hit 6 or 7 threes, including one game at the EBO tournament in Fresno this year where he hit 5 in a row and made 7 overall. He would be in a better recruiting position for the high D-I level if he were taller for a two, and it would be a shame to see him turn out like Brandon Loyd, because with his skills he deserves to get lots of playing time. Could be recruited by some of the smaller schools on the West Coast, but might go as high as mid-major. Oh, did we also say he can defend? Well, he's also got good speed and tremendous lateral quickness. Played for Oakland Slam N Jam, and coaches attending the EBO Elite Eight this week will still be able to get a look at him. One of our favorite players.

Stay tuned for more reports. . . Lots to follow. . .