By Head Scout, Jeremy Orr
The Fullcourt Press Fall Showcase at St. Bernard High School in Playa Del Rey, California, featured players ranging from 2015 class all the way up to the 2011 class. There were a totally of eight games played for all of the classes to display their skills.
The first game of the event was the Top 20 8th grade game, which featured a pair of very talented young players that have the chance turn out to be a couple of the best players from California for their class. One of these players is 5’6” Latrelle Franklin, who combines his great quickness with his very advanced ball handling and passing abilities to be a terror for opposing 8th graders to have to guard. Franklin also displayed great ability to finish around the rim with his off hand, which is very surprising and refreshing to see from a player as young as him. But the top performer from the 8th grade game was Tyler Dorsey who finished with 30 points and at 6’4 he can do virtually everything on the basketball court, Tyler can handle, shoot, defend, rebound and etc… This is rare to see out of a 6’4 8th grader because Tyler was one of the taller players in the game but at the same time was easily the most talented player on the floor.
Next up was the Top 20 9th Grade game, which again featured some players that are going to be some of the best players in California for their age. Watching warm-ups you knew one player that should have an impact was 6’7” Devin Burleson from Price High who towered over his counterparts. Devin finished the game with 15 points but you could tell that he would need some work before he could dominate on the high school level. Devin did show that he is a big man that can run the floor and posses a nice shooting stroke making the future for him look very bright, also competing against Norvel Pelle and Skylar Spencer in practice should help his development down the line. The standout performer from this game and maybe from the whole showcase had to be 6’5” Stanley Johnson from Mater Dei High who finished the game with 30 point and had 20 points in the Top 20 Sophomore game as well. Stanley was the second tallest player on the court and the most talented like the aforementioned Tyler Dorsey in the 8th Grade game, Stanley was taking bigger defenders off the dribble (Burleson) and smaller defenders into the post. The variety of ways he showed he can score the ball and make big shots such as the game winning floater he made in overtime for 73-71 final, shows that Stanley is a tremendous talent and should have a great future if he continues to develop and grow. Check out this video of Stanley’s performance from this game. One of the other standout players from this game was Stanley’s teammate at Mater Dei 6’0” Kameron Murrell who is a solid ball handler that finish strong around the basket with very hard drives, Kameron also showed some shooting ability by knocked down a couple 3’s.
One of the top sophomore’s at this event was 6’3” Michael Garcia from St. Bernard High who in the Top 20 Sophomore game he finished with 17 points and showed a very smooth game. Michael knocked down jumpers with a very nice looking jump shot and also made good decisions when on the floor and didn’t force the action much. In the Top 40 Sophomore game 6’5” Leland King had a great performance with 38 points and 13 rebounds by abusing defenders down low but was unable to continue this high level of play in the Top 20 game.
Maybe the most anticipated game of this showcase had to be the Top 20 Junior game which featured some highly ranked national players. One of the players in particular that stood out was 6”2 Gabe York from Orange Lutheran who finished with what seemed to be an easy 22 points. Gabe displayed tremendous range on his jump shot and the great jumping ability he posses. Probably the highest ranked player at this event was 6’8” Grant Jerrett of La Verne Lutheran who didn’t have a particularly good game due to limited opportunity’s, but when he did get his opportunity he displayed the great amount of talent he posses to go along with his tremendous length. The player that Grant was matched up with most of the game was 6’8 Skylar Spencer from Price High, who has a very raw game at this stage of his career but is a tremendous athlete that runs the floor very well for a big man and can easily finished above the rim. Another nationally ranked player 6’2” Donovan Johnson from Palisades High had a good game finishing with 19 points by shooting the ball well and also having some creative finishes around the basket. 6’5” Ryan Wright from Palmdale High is another player that impressed during this game by showing his great athletic ability by blocking a couple shots and even a dunk attempt by York, Ryan also used his athleticism to get rebounds and score in transition.
The Top 20 Senior Game was missing some of the highly ranked anticipated participants but the game still featured a high level of play where it took overtime to determine a winner. At start the game 6’1” Bruce English of La Verne Lutheran was a attacking well and had a quick 6 points but didn’t do much later on in the game, which was an indication for things to come because no one player stood out during this game. 6’8” Ryan Anderson from Long Beach Poly High had a solid game with 12 points and 12 rebounds and showed the ability to score inside and out. Anderson’s high school teammate 6’3” Alex Carmon had a solid showing by finished well around the basket. One of the less heralded players in this game was 6’2” Davon Potts from Gahr High, Davon had a very solid game by hitting open shots and making good decisions through out the game. Another player who had a good game was 6’5” Sharif Watson from Rowland High who is a very long player and uses this length to affect the game on defensive end; Sharif finished the game with 9 blocks and 7 rebounds.
