Interesting Mix of Players Collectively Dominate adidas ABCD Camp

by Clark Francis, Editor & Publisher of the HOOP SCOOP

                    Dwight Howard, the 6'11 center from Atlanta (Southwest Atlanta Christian) GA, clearly established himself as the best player in the senior class nationally, 6'10 Joakim Noah from Lawrenceville (Prep) NJ established himself as one of the leading candidate to emerge as the sleeper of the summer, 6'6 Shaun Livingston from Peoria (Central) IL put to rest any doubt about who is the best point guard in the senior nationally, and 5'11 Jr Andre McGee from Canyon Spring (Moreno Valley) CA finally has gotten the respect that he deserves, but the thing that pushed the adidas ABCD Camp over the top in their head-to-head battle with the NIKE All-American Camp was the overhelming number of good 5th year players.  We're talking about two of the top 10 players in camp in Noah and 6'7 Dorell Wright from South Kent (Prep) CT, five of the top 25 players in camp in Noah, Wright, 6'6 Earl "J.R." Smith from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'7 Jared Dudley from South Kent (Prep) CT, 6'3 Robert McIver from New Haven (Hill House) CT, and 10 of the top 50 players in camp in Noah, Wright, Smith, Dudley, McIver, 6'6 Cheyenne Moore from South Kent (Prep) CT, 6'8 Richard Dorsey from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, 6'7 Richard Robey from Groton (Lawrence Academy) MA, 5'9 Kashif Payne from Northfield (Northfield-Mt. Herman) MA, and 6'5 Joe Posey from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA.  In other words, one out of five of the top 50 players in camp will be going into his 9th semester of high school.  Some will argue that these players should not be there, because they have an unfair advantage in terms of age and maturity.  However, the argument can also be made that these players are still recruitable at the Division I, plus the camp offered players like Noah and Wright an opportunity that they would not otherwise have had to play against the top players in the nation and, as a result, further enhance boht their reputation and confidence.   
                    Howard did not finish ranked among the top 10-ranked players in camp in any statistical category, except rebounding, where his 8.0 rpg ranked third.  But it doesn't matter because his game was clearly on another level.  Not only does he have tremendous low post moves, excellent rebounding skills, incredible athleticism, great hands, and the ability to see he open man and get it to him when he's double and triple teamed, but Howard also has the ability to step away from the basket and handle, pass, and shoot from out on the perimeter.  In other words, Howard picked up where he left off at the NBA Players Association Camp, where also was named the best player in camp by the HOOP SCOOP, and, as a result, most people in the business now believe he is a near lock to by-pass college and enter his name into the NBA Draft next spring.  Noah was not that highly regarded or well known outside of New York City prior to the adidas ABCD Camp, but the fact that he finished tied for #9 in scoring with 14.3 ppg, #1 in rebounding with 10.0 ppg, and #1 in shot blocking with 3.5 bgp illustrates just how clearly he dominated the camp.  He also got better with every game, as his confidence level continues to skyrocket.  Noah still needs to get a lot bigger and stronger and improve his outside shooting, but his upside is tremendous, his drive, determination, and competitiveness are refreshing, and his athleticism is incredible for somebody his size.  In other words, we think the sky is the limit, plus we think Noah is pretty good right now! 
                    On the first day of camp, McGee made it impossible to overlook him (one person on our staff still tried as he suggested that we rank McGee #6 or #7 among point guards), as he finished ranked #1 in scoring with 19.5 ppg, tied for #6 in assists with 4.0 apg, and tied for #9 in steals with 2.0 spg.  By the end of the second day this undersized point guard with jet-like speed and quickness, incredible court savvy and maturity beyond his years, and great ball handling and passing skills was ranked #2 in camp.  McGee also went be ranked #4 overall in camp at the end of the week by the HOOP SCOOP, as he finished ranked #5 in scoring with 15.4 ppg and #7 in steals with 1.4 spg, plus he now is the #1-ranked junior nationally by the HOOP SCOOP based primarily on his performance at this camp.  Also finishing ranked among the leaders in camp in both scoring with 14.3 ppg and rebounding with 6.4 rpg was 7'0 Robert Swift from Bakersfield (Highland) CA, which means that four of our top five ranked players in camp were also the four most dominant players from start to finish.   The fifth player ranked among our top five (Livingston) started off slow, as 6'0 Darius Washington from Orlando (Edgewater) FL clearly got the better of him on the first afternoon.  But we later threw this out when we learned the Livingston was playing hurt.  However, the big reason why Livingston moves ahead of both McGee and Swift on the final day was his incredible performance in the all-star game where he finished with 13 assists and made some of the best passes we've ever seen.  Sure, Livingston only scored six points in the game, but it was one of the defining moments of his career, as well as one of the all-time great performances in the history of the camp. 
                    Originally we thought the strength of the camp was going to be the overabundance of good point guards and quality big men, but the 2-guard spot with 10 and the power forward spot with 11 accounted for more players ranked among our top 50 in camp than the center position with only nine.  The weakest position camp was the wing forward spot with only eight and the best position in camp was the point guard spot, which featured a dozen of the top 50 players in camp.  The point guard spot, which featured Livingston, McGee, 6'0 Sebastian Telfair from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'1 Josh Wright from Utica (Proctor) NY, 6'1 Darius Washington from Orlando (Edgewater) FL, and 6'5 Justin Cerosoli from Aurora (West Aurora) IL, also had some interesting head-to-head match-ups, as Wright got the best of Telfair, Washington got the best Livingston, and Telfair got the best of Washington.  Some of the biggest sleepers to emerge in camp were Noah, 6'10 Andray Blatche from Syracuse (Henninger) NY, who finished tied for #3 in both rebounding with 9.0 rpg and shot blocking with 2.5 bpg; 6'3 Jr Eric Devendorf from Bay City (Central) MI, who impressed us with his athleticism, toughness, and ability to shoot the lights, as is evident by the fact that he was tied with the 4th highest 3-point shooting percentage in camp; 6'7 Richard Roby from Groton (Lawrence Acadcemy) MA, who is a multi-dimensional athlete who has slipped through the cracks, because he went the prep school route; and 6'7 James Tchana from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY, who was one of the best rebounders in camp with 7.6 rpg.  The camp also had more than it's share of good players from California with McGee, Swift, 6'3 DeMarcus Nelson from Sacramento (Sheldon) CA, 6'5 Aaron Afflalo from Compton (Centennial) CA, and Dorell Wright, who plans to attend South Kent (Prep) CT this fall, but originally is from Lawndale (Leuzinger) CA, and New York, and New Jersey with Noah, Telfair, Wright, Earl Smith, and Blatche.  In other words, 10 of the top 14 players in camp were from these two areas. 
                    We also think it is important note that 6'9 Josh Smith from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, who was the #1-ranked player in camp by the HOOP SCOOP a year ago, was named the co-MVP in all-star game, along with Livingston, but he did not deserve to be ranked any higher than #13 in camp, because he had a miserable first day of camp and he is often inconsistent and, as a result, only plays when he feels like it.  Telfair also was a disappointment in terms of expectations, but he still averaged 4.8 apg and was ranked #7 overall in camp by the HOOP SCOOP.  The player whose stats were much better than where we have him ranked at #24 is 6'6 Jared Dudley from South Kent (Prep) CT, who finished ranked #4 in scoring with 15.6 ppg and #1 in steals with 2.3 spg.  However, undersized inside guys rarely get the respect they deserve.  The leading scorer in camp was Afflalo with 17.8 ppg.  The leading scorers in the Senior All-Star Game were 6'8 Marshall Brown from Austin (Lyndon B. Johnson) TX with 24 points and 6'8 Glenn Davis from Baton Rouge (University Lab) LA with 20 points and the leading rebounders in the Senior All-Star Game were Blatche with 10 boards and Howard and Swift with nine boards apiece.  The leading scorers in the Underclassmen All-Star Game were McGee and 6'6 Tasmin Mitchell from Denham Springs (H.S.) LA with 20 points apiece.  Mitchell also was the leading rebounder in the Underclassmen All-Star Game with 12 boards, plus he had four blocked shots. 
                    The three weaknesses of the camp were the underabundance of great underclassmen when compared to recent years, the deterioration of play on the final day, and the all-star games.  As a matter of fact, the Senior All-Star Game was so bad that we left after the third quarter so that we could get a head start on our final rankings in camp.  Unfortunately this is just part of the nature of the game today.   However, not playing and resting up for the all-star game on the final day of camp should not be an option.  Ironically, when I got back from the NIKE All-American Camp on the final day, I thought NIKE was a lot better until I realized that half of the best players in camp weren't playing.  To illustrate our point about the lack of top notch underclassmen at the adidas ABCD Camp this year, I have compared our rankings of the top underclassmen in camp for the last six years.  This year only one underclassmen was ranked among the top 10, only four underclassmen were ranked among the top 30, and only 10 underclassmen were ranked among the top 50 players in camp.  In contrast, a year ago three underclassmen was ranked among the top 10, 10 underclassmen were ranked among the top 30, and 18 underclassmen were ranked among the top 50 players in camp.  Two years ago four underclassmen was ranked among the top 10, seven underclassmen were ranked among the top 30, and 22 underclassmen were ranked among the top 50 players in camp.   Three years ago three underclassmen was ranked among the top 10, seven underclassmen were ranked among the top 30, and 15 underclassmen were ranked among the top 50 players in camp.   Four years ago three underclassmen was ranked among the top 10, eight underclassmen were ranked among the top 30, and 15 underclassmen were ranked among the top 50 players in camp.  Five years ago three underclassmen was ranked among the top 10, four underclassmen were ranked among the top 30, and 15 underclassmen were ranked among the top 50 players in camp.

Final Ranking of the Top Players at the adidas ABCD Camp
(July 8th, 9th, 10th & 11th)
(Rankings are based primarily on camp performance)
by Clark Francis, Chris Johnson, Allen Rubin, Larry Kihnley, Dale Mabrey, & Michael Giuliani

TOP PLAYERS AT THE ADIDAS ABCD CAMP

TOP CENTERS AT THE ADIDAS ABCD CAMP

TOP POWER FORWARDS AT THE ADIDAS ABCD CAMP

TOP WING FORWARDS AT THE ADIDAS ABCD CAMP

TOP SECOND GUARDS AT THE ADIDAS ABCD CAMP

TOP POINT GUARDS AT THE ADIDAS ABCD CAMP