Coach’s Take: John Lamb (Wings/Bigs)

tonyroe, thines21 and I certainly provided our fair share of player evaluations this spring and summer, but we thought we'd give the guys who know the kids best a chance to be vocal: the coaches. 

John Lamb: Kingdom Hoops Program Director

2017 Jal Bijiek, Des Moines North, 6’7 SF

“What can’t I say about Jal, he’s extremely, extremely goal-oriented — he’s got some dreams that are huge and that young man does whatever it takes to get them. He sat out of high school basketball last year just so he could make sure he had good enough grades, and when colleges did come around he could be proud of what he had to tell them and continue to be on their radar. He worked out every single day last year when he was going to school to get his grades up, in the weight room and on the court. And I know that’s the reason he went from being off the radar, to on the radar — from never heard of, to heard of.”

2017 Quinton Curry, Valley, 6’5 F

“Quinton is an animal, he’s the hardest working young-man that I have been around in my six years at Kingdom Hoops. I had one teammate in college that worked as hard, and he’s in the NBA now. Q refuses to be stopped, everybody wants to talk about about a lot of his weaknesses, but that kid will work his butt off for you, and he’s doing everything he can to address those. When you're so physical and dominant at such a young age, it speaks to his competitive nature, that he’s just going to keep doing what works to win and to get his teammates involved, and to put himself in situations to succeed. He’s going to do some special things moving forward these next 24 months.”

2017 Charlie Crowley, Valley, 6’7 PF

“He’s probably has the best post-moves, and inside game, and footwork than of the bigs in our program — he works really hard on it. He’ll have the chance with Valley this year to take some pressure of Q, and with a point guard like Turner Scott he’s going to get a lot of easy buckets. He has great hands, soft-touch, 15-and-in he’s pretty automatic. Anytime he goes over his right shoulder — which really is unique for right-handed players — he tends to finish very, very well, which is really difficult for big guys to defend.”

2017, Doug Wilson, Hoover, 6’6 PF

“Douglas is probably the best teammate in that entire bunch. He won’t say anything, I don’t have to run plays for him. He creates energy, he brings energy, he’s a mismatch nightmare. He’s very difficult to keep of the glass and has very explosive athleticism. He’s almost unstoppable around the rim when he gets the ball above his chin. What he does for our team in just incredible, as a teammate and as a leader. He brings energy, he shot blocks, he’s always there to help on defense. He does it quietly, he does it with a blue-collar mentality, and he will be a dominant force for Courtney Henderson and Hoover this year.

2016, Keaton Van Soelen, Des Moines Christian, 6’6 SF

“He comes from a bloodline of basketball players, his dad almost made the Celtics back in the day. He’s just extremely, extremely bouncy, and really quick off the dribble, light on his feet, gets great lift on all of his jump shots, and he’s really bulked up. He’s just really hard to defend, especially if he’s playing the four, which is the greatest mismatch in college basketball, a skilled four and that’s what he is. With his great length and size I can see why Sam Houston State and some of these other schools are just super into him because he is going to be very difficult to guard at the next level.”

2016, Nate Lee, Hoover, 6’4 F

“Nate Lee is a very, very good basketball player. He had an amazing spring, he could score 20-30 against EYBL guys; Meanstreets, Mac Irvin, King James, some of the best teams in the country. His midrange game was great, he can shoot 3s, and get to basket, he has good length and can finish around the rim. He and Doug with Courtney Henderson leading that group is going to be super special. I’m looking forward to seeing some of these new guards that Courtney is developing right now, but Nate Lee will definitely be the high scorer on that team.”