Recruiting Report: Jaizec Lottie (2017)
Jaizec Lottie knew his time was coming. The 6-foot-1 senior point guard felt good bounce in his legs as he began play at the West Coast Elite Colorado All-Star Camp on Sunday. Several times he took off toward the rim…
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Continue ReadingJaizec Lottie knew his time was coming.
The 6-foot-1 senior point guard felt good bounce in his legs as he began play at the West Coast Elite Colorado All-Star Camp on Sunday. Several times he took off toward the rim and stopped just short of throwing it down.
When he got an outlet from big man Dawson Carper and saw open court in front of him, Lottie took off. There’d be no slowing down now. Lottie sprung off his left leg, cocked the ball back and finished with a thunderous slam over a posterized defender.
“Throughout the whole game I had my opportunities to dunk,” Lottie said. “When I go up, I don’t really think about getting a dunk. I just think about making the shot. When I got that one, I said, ‘I’m throwing this one down.’ I put my mind to it, and I surprised myself.”
The dunk drew roars from spectators inside the Manual High School gym, but a deeper look at the dunk shows the work that has gone behind it. Lottie, one of Colorado’s top three pure point guards, has always demonstrated athleticism during his career at Cherokee Trail.
But this was different. This was explosiveness born of the tireless work Lottie has spent in the gym working not only on his skill set, but also his body.
“I’ve been lifting, doing a lot of squats,” Lottie said. “My coach (Morgan Gregory), I told him this season I wanted to be able to windmill easily. I wanted to get by bounce up and my explosiveness up. If I get that up, it helps all my other tendencies I have in my game. So I’ve been doing squats and box jumps to get my vertical up, and it’s helped a lot.”
Lottie is a Division I level point guard who currently holds an offer from Air Force. He is the state’s best pure passer, dynamic with his ability to put the ball on the money to a teammate in transition or off a drive.
Lottie said Nevada and South Dakota are among the schools who have shown interest of late.
“The recruiting, it’s not rough but it’s not really picking up right now,” Lottie said. “At the end of day, I know the man upstairs has me. He’s going to take care of me. I just have to trust Him and trust the process.”
Our take: Lottie is going to be a low- to mid-major steal for whoever takes the chance on him. His passing ability is already at an elite level. He’s a good finisher and he’s made some real nice strides to his jump shot. His frame also suggests another inch or two of growth.
Add the explosiveness we witnessed on Sunday, and you’re talking about a complete package we’re really not seeing much in the state.