REEBOK ABCD CAMP HITS HOME RUN WITH OUTSTANDING YOUNG PLAYERS/5TH YEAR PLAYERS
by Clark Francis, Editor & Publisher of the HOOP SCOOP

                    It was like going to the Final Four in a rebuilding year.  That's the best way to describe the level of expectations versus the level that Sonny Vaccaro and Chris Rivers were able to achieve this year at the Reebok ABCD Camp, as they had in camp an overabundance of the top 5th Year Players, including 6'8 Gerald Green fromn Houston (Gulf Shores) TX, 6'8 Shawne Williams from Laurinburg (Institute) NC, 6'8 Jonathan Kale from Barrington (St. Andrews) RI, 6'11 Andray Blatche from South Kent (Prep) CT, 6'7 Shane Clark from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA, 6'6 Brandon Rush from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, 6'10 Sylvester Seay from Winchendon (School) MA, 6'11 Shawn Taggart from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, and 6'0 Jovan Adams from Houston (Gulf Shores) TX, and an overwhelming number of outstanding underclassmen, like 6'9 Jr Derrick Caracter from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, 7'0 Jr Greg Oden from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN, 6'5 Soph O.J. May from Cincinnati (North College Hill) OH, 6'5 Soph Bill Walker from Cincinnati (North College Hill) OH, 6'5 Jr Daequan Cook from Cincinnati (Dunbar) OH, 6'8 Jr Damion James from Nacogdoches (H.S.) TX, 6'7 Soph Taylor King from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, 6'8 Jr Lance Thomas from Scotch Plains (H.S.) NJ, 6'6 Soph Eric Wallace from Winston-Salem (Glenn) NC, 6'8 Jr Curtis Kelly from New York (Rice) NY, 5'10 Jr Torey Jackson from Saginaw (Buena Vista) MI, 6'0 Jr Scott Reynolds from Herndon (H.S.) VA, 6'1 Soph Edwin Rios from Miami (Senior) FL, 6'6 Jr Robert Thomas from Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT, 6'10 Soph Keenan Ellis from Indianapolis (Cathedral) IN, 6'5 Soph Corey Stokes from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 5'11 Jr Eugene Harvey from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, 6'5 Soph Daniel Hackett from Bellflower (St. John Bosco) CA, 6'8 Soph Dallas Lauderdale from Solon (H.S.) OH, 6'8 Jr Dwayne Collins from Miami (Senior) FL, 6'8 Jr Jimmy Graham from Goldsboro (Charis Prep) NC, 6'8 Jr Matthew Shaw from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, 6'7 Frosh Olu Ashaolu from Stockbridge (Community Christian) GA, 6'5 Soph Alexander Legion from Birmingham (Detroit Country Day) MI, 6'5 Jr David Lighty from Cleveland (St. Joseph) OH, 6'6 Jr Marquis Johnson from Ft. Wayne (Snider) IN, 6'8 Jr Tracy Smith from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, 6'7 Jr Earl Clark from Rahway (H.S.) NJ, 6'6 Soph Marshall Moses from Aiken (H.S.) SC, 6'6 Jr William Crews from Hampton (Phoebus) VA, 6'8 Jr Taj Green from Encino (Stoneridge Prep) CA, 6'2 Jr Tyree Thompson from Compton (Centennial) CA, 6'6 Jr Chase Budinger from Encinitas (LaCosta Canyon) CA, 5'11 Soph Shelton Brown from Bowman (H.S.) SC, and 6'0 Jr Marcus Lawrence from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV.  In other words, exactly half of the top 88-ranked players in the camp by the HOOP SCOOP were either underclassmen or 5th Year Players (the exact breakdown is 35 underclassmen and nine 5th Year Players).  And the highlight of the week came when Caracter and Oden went head-to-head in the final game of the evening on Friday evening and watching the game was a real treat, because they both made big shots, made great passes, got their share of rebounds, and played with a higher level of intensity than they did the rest of the week.  But, in the end, Caracter came up the big winner, as he scored 19 points on 6-8 field goals and 2-2 3-pointers versus only six point and four rebounds for Oden.  However, in fairness to both players, Caracter didn't have quite the supporting caste that Oden, who had players on his team like 6'5 Jr Daequan Cook from Dayton (Dunbar) OH, 6'1 Jr Michael Conley from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN, and 6'7 Jr Taylor King from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, who scored 16 points and hit 4-7 3-pointers in the game between the Jazz and the Warriors, which featured Oden and Caracter.  So Caracter had to carry more of the load and, as a result, anybody who watched this game knows that Caracter has the talent and potential necessary to become one of the all time greats in the history of the game and is better than Oden at the offensive end.  But at the defensive end Oden, who finished tied for 5th in camp with 6.2 rpg and tied for 4th in camp in with 2.0 bpg, clearly gets the nod due to his incredible wing span, great timing, unbelieveable speed and quickness, and great shot blocking ability.
                   Oden also was pretty good as the offensive end, as he hit an amazing 26-30 field goals during the week.  And making that statistic even more incredible is the fact that Oden only got 4.3 shots per game and 13 of those shot came off offensive rebounds.  So obviously we have to wonder why 6'1 Jr Michael Conley from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN, who is both Oden's AAU and high school teammate, didn't get him the ball and whether Indiana Pacers scout George Felton, who coached the Jazz in this camp, was allowed to do any coaching at all?   However, this was good enough to still get Oden ranked as one of the best players in camp.  As a matter of fact, Oden finished ranked #2 in camp, behind 6'4 Monta Ellis from Jackson (Lanier) MS, who was the camp's second leading scorer with 16.7 ppg and clearly was the best player in camp from start to finish, and tied with Caracter, 6'8 Gerald Green from Houston (Gulf Shores) TX, 6'5 Soph O.J. Mayo from Cincinnati (North College Hill) OH, and 6'5 Soph Bill Walker from Cincinnati (North College Hill) OH.  Yes, the race for second was really that close as Caracter, Green, Mayo, and Walker all had things you could point to and make a case for in terms of being ranked among the very best players in camp, but nobody really separated himself from the rest of the group.  Caracter won the big match-up against Oden, but he coasted most of the rest of the week and, as a result, is no place to be found among the statistical leaders in camp.  Odon was ranked among the top statistical leaders and he almost always changes the complexion of the game, but the fact that he clearly got outplayed by Caracter makes it tough for us to give Odon the nod.  Mayo was more consistent throughout the week than Walker, but Walker had what was arguably the best individual performace of the entire week when he scored 22 points versus the Nets in the afternoon session on the second to the last day of camp.   Walker and Mayo also combined for 41 points in the Underclassman All-Star Game and took home co-MVP honors for their team.  Green was the leading scorer for the week with 18.2 ppg, as well as the leading scorer with 27 points and the co-MVP for his team, along with 6'3 Jeremy Pargo from Chicago (Robeson) IL, in the Senior All-Star Game.  Speaking of Pargo being named the co-MVP in the Senior All-Star Game and 6'5 Danny Green from Manhasset (St. Mary's) NY being named the co-MVP for the week, along with Monta Ellis, this is a clear case of politics at its best.  Now that doesn't mean that Green, who finished ranked #9 in camp in scoring with 14.6 ppg, first in 3-point shooting, hitting 64.7% of his shots, and tied for 7th in steals with 1.4 spg, and Pargo, are good players, but ranking Green #20 and Pargo #25 in camp, which is where we have them ranked, is a little more like it.   But nothing could be worse than this year's Reebok ABCD Camp Senior All-Star Game and, as a result, we pretty much threw it out when ranking the top players camp.  However, there were a few things in the Senior All-Star Game of which we did take note, like the fact 6'2 Kyle McAlarney, who was the only player to fail to score in a game where 21 players scored in double digits and 345 total points were scored (the West beat the East 178-167), was overmatched athletically and, as a result, fits in much better when there is a system.  Thus, probably explains why McAlarney was one of the more widely debated players in camp, as he clearly is an excellent prospect and legitimate top 100 seniors nationally, but did not play well enough in camp, as is evident by the fact that he only 5.6 ppg and arguably was no better than the 6th best player on his team, behind 6'5 Danny Green from Manhasset (St. Mary's) NY, 6'5 Jr Robert Thomas from Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT, 6'9 John Garcia from Brentwood (H.S.) NY, 6'8 Jr Jimmy Graham from Goldsboro (Charis Prep) NC, and 6'5 Jr Corey Stokes from Newark (St. Benedict's) NJ, to be ranked among our top 50 players in camp based on performance.
                    The player who helped himself the most at this camp has to be 6'8 Leo Criswell from Kansas City (Piper) KS, as is evident the fact that he was the #1-ranked player in camp after the first day and finished ranked #7 overall and #1 at the power forward position in our final rankings for the Reebok ABCD Camp.  And the big difference between his performance here and when we'd previously seen Criswell, who prior to the start of the camp was not ranked among our top 100 seniors nationally, was his lack level of intensity and effort.   In other words, previously we thought he was soft.    But here both his play and the statistics back us up, as we're talking about somebody who finished ranked #4 in camp with 15.5 ppg, tied for 5th in rebounding with 6.2 rpg, and tied for 3rd in steals with 1.8 spg.  We also were really impressed by the dramatic improvement that 6'8 Jonathan Kale from Barrington (St. Andrews) RI has made since we saw him last, but did not decide to rank him along the top 10 players in camp until we saw him get it done against the best players in camp in the Senior All-Star Game, as he finished with 15 points and five rebounds and hit 7-8 shots.  The best point guard in camp, as well as our choice for MVP for his team in the Senior All-Star Game over Gerald Green and Jeremy Pargo was 6'3 Bobby Frasor from Chicago (Brother Rice) IL, who finished with 14 points and nine assists in that game.  And making the story even more interesting is the fact that Frasor was listed as a 2-guard on the camp roster and started the week out playing that position.  However, Frasor was moved exclusively to the point guard spot in the second game and, as the week wore on, he proved that he would not take a back seat to the quicker and more athletic point guards in camp.  Another one of our favorite players in camp, as well as one of the guys who got the most out of his ability was 6'4 Nate Minnoy from Chicago (Hales Franciscan) IL, who, despite the fact that he's supposed to be an undersized power forward, beats you with his perimeter shooting, great moves to the basket, and ability to successfully challenge taller players inside.  Perhaps our least favorite player in camp was 6'6 Brandon Rush from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, despite the fact that scored 21 points and was named the MVP for his team in the Senior All-Star Game.  Sure, Rush has as much talent as any player in the nation, but, more often than not, he'll live off a spectacular play or a dunk for a quarter or a half.  As a matter of fact, I'm not sure I've ever seen a player this good who gets less out of more talent and, as a result, we think his #40 ranking in camp is more than justified.  One of the biggest sleepers to emerge during the week was 6'6 Charles Little from Cleveland (H.S.) TN, who does most of his damage inside, but does have the potential to develop into a wing forward down the road.   Prior to the start of the camp was ranked #11 in the senior class in Tennessee by the HOOP SCOOP, but he finished as the third leading scorer in camp with 16.0 ppg behind 6'8 Gerald Green from Houston (Gulf Shores) TX with 18.2 ppg, 6'4 Monta Ellis from Jackson (Lanier) MS with 16.7 ppg and ahead of 6'8 Leo Criswell from Kansas City (Piper) KS with 15.5 ppg, 6'6 Jr Robert Thomas from Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT, 6'4 Nate Minnoy from Chicago (Hales Franciscan) IL wih 15.2 ppg, 6'5 Danny Green from Manhasset (St. Mary's) NY with 14.8 ppg, 6'7 Dior Lowhorn from Berkley (H.S.) CA with 14.7 ppg, 6'8 Tasmin Mitchell from Denham Springs (H.S.) LA with 14.7 ppg, and 6'8 Davon Jefferson from Lynwood (H.S.) CA with 14.7 ppg.  The leading rebounder in camp was 6'9 Jr Johnnie Lett from Mobile (Rain) AL, but he did not make the list of top centers in camp, because he was embarrassingly no productive at the offensive end, as he averaged only 3.1 ppg.  Next among the top rebounders in camp were 6'9 Marquis Young from Chicago (Austin) IL with 6'7 rpg, 6'8 Lawrence Hill from Glendale (Deer Valley) AZ with 6'7 rpg, 7'0 Cameron Lewis from Exeter (Academy) NH with 6.3 rpg, 7'0 Jr Greg Oden from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN with 6'2 rpg, 6'7 Dior Lowhorn from Berkley (H.S.) CA with 6'2 rpg, 6'8 Shawne Williams from Laurinburg (Institute) NC with 6'2 rpg, 6'8 Leo Criswell from Kansas City (Piper) KS with 6'2 rpg, 6'8 Jeremiah Bryant from Chicago (Harlan) IL with 6'2 rpg, and 6'5 Chris Bethel from Bronx (St.Raymond's) NY with 6.2 rpg.

Final Ranking of the Top Players at the 2004 Reebok ABCD Camp
(Rankings are based primarily on camp performance)
by Clark Francis, Allen Rubin, Dave Schultz, Chris Johnson, Mike Giuliani, & Mark Komara

TOP PLAYERS AT THE REEBOK ABCD CAMP

TOP CENTERS AT THE REEBOK ABCD CAMP

TOP POWER FORWARDS AT THE REEBOK ABCD CAMP

TOP WING FORWARDS AT THE REEBOK ABCD CAMP

TOP SECOND GUARDS AT THE REEBOK ABCD CAMP

TOP POINT GUARDS AT THE REEBOK ABCD CAMP