Final Ranking of the Top Players at the NIKE All-American Camp
(Rankings are based primarily on camp performance)
by Clark Francis, G.J. King, Chris Johnson, Roy Schmidt, & Harv Schmidt

                    In sharp contrast to the adidas ABCD Camp, which featured its best camp ever this summer, the NIKE All-American was down.  As a matter of fact, this was the least talented superstar oriented camp we've been to dating back to 1983 when the AFBE (Athletes For Better Education) was held in Princeton, NJ.   So from an evaluation point of view, thank goodness George Raveling and the NIKE people did what they had to do to get 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL to return to camp.  And once he got there, Stoudemire, who was ranked #2 a year ago at NIKE by the HOOP SCOOP, simply picked up where he left off last summer, as he dominated the camp from start to finish.   Stoudemire does need to improve his outside shooting and develop some post moves.   But that didn't matter in this week, as Stoudemire used his incredible athleticism and explosive quickness to score seemingly at will against everybody, including 6'9 Shavlik Randolph from Raleigh (Broughton) NC, who was slowed by a nagging injury during the week and doesn't have the physical presence to match-up against a dominating player inside.  And that's what we like most about Stoudemire, who is the closest thing we've seen since Kevin Garnett.  Stoudemire has that burning desire necessary to become a great player and, as a result, we'd take him right now over 7'0 Tyson Chandler from Compton (Dominguez) CA, 6'11 Eddy Curry from South Holland (Thornwood) IL, and 6'11 Kwame Brown from Brunswick (Glynn Academy) GA, all of whom were taken in the top five in the NBA Draft a month ago.   Speaking of those three soft overhyped big men who are now (ready or not) professional athletes, we did the same thing to Randolph, 6'8 Sean May from Bloomington (North) IN, and 6'3 Bracy Wright from The Colony (H.S.) TX that we did to Chandler, Curry, and Brown a year ago when they stunk it up at camp.   We ranked them where they belong!  In other words, unlike a lot of competitors, our camp rankings are based on performance in camp and not your reputation.  
                    This becomes especially obvious when one looks at our list of top players in camp, which includes 6'5 Rashad Anderson from Lakeland (Kathleen) FL, 6'3 Chris Rodgers from Portland (Wilson) OR, 6'7 Greg Brunner from Charles City (H.S.) IA, and 6'9 Torin Francis from Marion (Tabor Academy) MA.   Not only did each of these guys elevate their game to another level, but they helped make this a better camp than we originally anticipated.  Anderson, who edged out 6'9 Sheldon Williams from Midwest City (H.S.) OK, who was penalized in our rankings for going home early, shot the lights out all week.  And on the last day he was magnificient, as he hit just about every shot he took.  As a result, we believe that Anderson is the best 3-point shooter in the senior class nationally, but he's also terrific at getting to the hole.  We're talking about a scoring machine and just like Stoudemire, Anderson seems to bring his "A" game every night.  Rodgers combined great athleticism with explosive speed and quickness to dominate the game every time we saw him play.  He also shot the ball extremely well and showed excellent handling and passing skills for a wing guard.  Brunner is the ultimate warrior!   He also was one of the best rebounders in camp.  However, he also has enough finesse, mobility, and skills to play away from the basket.  In other words, he's a lot more than just a good old-fashioned undersize blue collar guy inside.  Previously we always thought Francis was more like Curry, Brown, and Chandler, because he had great skills, but never played very hard.  However, the light must have clicked on, because he was a dominant force inside this week.  He also impressed us everybody with his ability to score in the post, block shots, and rule the boards. 
                    Francis also helped make the center position especially strong at the top, as is evident by the fact that three of the top 10 players - Stoudemire, Francis, and 6'10 Michael Thompson from New Lenox (Providence) IL -  in camp were centers.    There also was some of depth at this position, as 6'9 Alou Kane from Dyke (Blue Ridge School) VA, who provides an athletic physical presence inside, but who still needs to develop his offense skills, was ranked #16 in camp and 6'10 Julius Lamptey from Oklahoma City (Northeast) OK has improved dramatically since we saw him last summer.  We also liked the natural talent of Soph Brian Johnson from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, the incredible physical presence of 6'9 Jr Kenneth Harris from Hammond (Bishop Noll) IN, and the blue collar work ethic 6'9 Roy Enright from Omaha (Creighton) NE.  However, the center position can't compete with the power forward spot, which was the best position in camp.  We've already mentioned Williams and talked about Brunner, but 6'8 Jr Ndudi Ebi from Houston (Westbury Christian) TX and 6'7 Jr Kris Humphries from Minnetonka (Hopkins) MN were two of our favorite players in camp and 6'8 Yusef Baker from Orlando (Evans) FL, 6'9 Ousmane Konate from the Senegal, and 6'6 Marques Hayden from Oklahoma City (Putnan City) OK were all ranked among the top 25 players in camp, according to the HOOP SCOOP. In other words, seven of the top 25 players in camp were power forwards and doesn't even include 6'8 Admany Thiero from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, 6'8 Jr Corey Gibbs from Atlanta (Pace Academy) GA, and 6'9 Chris Ellis from Marietta (H.S.) GA, all of whom also helped themselves considerably as the week wore on.  No wonder Randolph isn't ranked any higher than #50 in camp and only #11 at his position! 
                    The popular belief among scouts at the camp was that the point guard position was especially weak.  And when compared to the incredible guards at the adidas ABCD Camp, that's probably true.  However, 5'11 Dee Brown from New Lenox (Providence) IL, 6'3 Jarrett Jack from Worcester (Academy) MA, and 6'2 Marshall Strickland from Sykes (South Carroll) MD were all ranked among the top 15 in camp and 5'11 Mario Moore from Nashville (Antioch) TN also had an excellent week.  Sure, 6'2 Jeff Horner from Mason City (H.S.) IA needs to improve his shot selection, but if he is only the 5th best point guard in camp, it's not too bad.  There also were some excellent young point guards in camp, like 6'3 Jr Jeremy Ingram from Kinston (H.S.) NC, 6'2 JamesOn Curry from Mebane (Eastern Alamance) NC, 5'11 Marlon Smith from Briarwood (Archbishop Molloy) NY, and 6'0 Jr Tauren Minor from Houston (Booker T. Washington) TX.   The wing forward spot with Anderson, 6'7 Kennedy Winston from New Orleans (John F. Kennedy) LA, 6'4 Rashad McCants from New Hampton (Prep) NH, 6'6 Jr Brian Randle from Peoria (Notre Dame) IL, 6'7 Evan Burns from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, and 6'3 Jr Michael Bush from Louisville (Male) KY, 6'5 Matt Walsh from Ft. Washington (Germantown Academy) PA, 6'8 Jr Luol Deng from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ, 6'8 Wes Wilkinson from Grand Island (H.S.) NE, 6'8 Rashawn Freeman from Schenectady (H.S.) NY, 6'6 Devon Evertsen from Phoenix (Moon Valley) AZ, 6'5 Denham Brown from Toronto (Bathhurst Heights) ON, and 6'6 Kelenna Azubuike from Tulsa (Victory Christian) OK didn't have the overall depth of the power forward spot, but it did have the most players ranked among the top 50 in camp.   We understand that 6'4 J.J. Redick from Roanoke (Cave Spring) VA played poorly early in the week, but he just got better and better every time we saw him during the last two days of camp.  As a result, Redick is ranked #2 in camp at the 2-guard spot.  Also making this position better than we originally expected was 6'3 Logan White from Cleveland (University) OH, who impressed us with his outside shooting and athleticism.  However, the 2-guard spot and the point guard were still the two weakest positions in camp in terms of overall depth. 
                    And that brings us to the main reason (overall depth) why the NIKE All-American Camp was so down this year.  However, these things tend to change back and forth from year to year and our guess is that within a couple of years NIKE will once again have the better camp.  But our guess is that it won't happen next year, unless Raveling can convince a number of players to jump ship from adidas next year.  Not only was the adidas Camp loaded with outstanding underclassmen, but the NIKE Camp didn't have one underclassmen ranked among our top 10 players in camp and only four of the top 20 players in camp - Ndubi, Humphries, 6'3 Jr Dion Harris from Detroit (Redford) MI, and Randle - were underclassmen.  Digging a little deeper, 15 of our top 50 ranked players in camp are also underclassmen.  However, the real strength of their future appears to lie with the Class of 2004.  Curry Johnson, 6'8 Soph Kalen Grimes from Florissant (Hazelwood Central) MO, 6'10 Soph Tangara Mohamed from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, 6'7 Soph D.J. White from Tuscaloosa (Hillcrest) AL, 6'4 Soph Daniel Gibson from Houston (Jones) TX, all gained valuable experience at the NIKE Camp this year, but the player in that class who is just ozzing with potential is 6'11 Soph Roy Hibbert from Bethesda (Georgetown Prep) MD.  Hibbert is a big-time athlete with long arms and good mobility.  However, he's still like a deer learning to run and, as a result, wasn't ranked among our top 50 in camp.  Also falling into the potential category is Mohamed, but when he was matched up against Stoudemire he was embarrassing non-productive and the rest of the week he was primarily a shot blocker/defender.
                    As a result, Mohamed also falls into the disappointment category, because he didn't live up to his pre-camp hype.  If you will recall, we had Mohamed ranked #6 nationally in the rising sophomore class, because we'd been told he was the real deal right now.  We've already mentioned that Randolph, May, and Wright were major disappointments and anybody who tells you different is lying, didn't attend the camp, or doesn't know anything about evaluating talent.  However, that doesn't mean they aren't all excellent players.   Randolph just needs to get healthy, May needs to get into better shape, and Wright seems to need a more structured environment (i.e. he was the best player at the NIKE Memorial Day Classic in Bloomington, IN and the MVP at the NIKE Peach Jam in Augusta, GA).  But in other cases players simply got exposed.  A great example was 6'1 Johnny Gilchrist from Virginia Beach (Salem) VA.  Sure, Gilchrist is a great athlete, but he doesn't make good decisions, he can't shoot, and his attitude on the court is questionable.  Thus, explains why he was ranked no higher than #9 at his position.  We also didn't like 6'4 Aaron Hutchinson from Creedmore (Faith Christian) NC.  Here is another slasher/athlete who was overhyped early, but who lacks the skills necessary to make it at high Division I level.   And why are 6'1 Justin Gray and 6'2 Eric Wilkins, both from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, ranked so high?  Sure, they're both good players, but if they didn't attend Oak Hill Academy and play for our buddy Steve Smith, neither would be mentioned among anybody's top 100 nationally.  We also reinforced what we already thought about 6'10 Eric Williams from Wake Forest (Rolesville) NC.  He's a space-eater with potential, but he's not ready for prime time.  And were not sold on 7'0 Keith Butler from Winchendon (School) MA.  However, once he gets bigger, stronger, and more aggressive that could change, because he does have some skills and, like they say, you can't teach somebody to 7-feet.

Top Centers at the NIKE All-American Camp

Top Power Forwards at the NIKE All-American Camp

Top Wing Forwards at the NIKE All-American Camp

Top Second Guard at the NIKE All-American Camp

Top Point Guards at the NIKE All-American Camp