Toledo Summer League: Stock-risers (June 26)
This week, Prep Hoops Ohio will be providing extensive coverage of a Toledo-based summer league from Monday-Thursday. The League Championship will be determined in a tournament on Wednesday and Thursday, while Monday and Tuesday are the last two days of the regular season, per se.
We also attended last Monday and Tuesday. So this week, naturally, we’re going into the gym with some expectation, or at least an idea of who’s who.
As always when basketball is being played, there are guys who are much better than the rest of the pack. We will recognize those prospects closer to Thursday or Friday, but we’re more focused on surprise performances in these first two days of recap.
While a few of the prospects mentioned in the Monday and Tuesday Stock-riser articles are known commodities to the Ohio recruiting landscape, we’re simply identifying guys who have considerably stepped it up from last week’s play.
Bryce Root (2018), 6’3” G/W, Fremont Ross
Root’s actually one of the players who we’ve come to expect exceptional play from. On this Fremont Ross team, Root is the offensive catalyst who can bail them out of sloppy possessions with his sneaky off-ball cuts. You can credit Root’s efficiency to his ability to catch the ball in spots he’s comfortable in. Particularly, Root is effective a couple feet above the block on the lane, from straight-away three, and beelining towards the basket from the wing. He not only goes to those spots, but he goes there at the exact time the defense loses sight of him.
Prep Hoops talked to Root after his first game, and he informed us that there is no college interest thus far. We can assure Division III and NAIA coaches that Root is someone worth evaluating.
Jabyris Heidelburg (2019), 5’7” PG, Fremont Ross
Against a Detroit Wayne Memorial group that has forced many ball-handlers into frenzies with their full-court pressure, Heidelburg took care of the ball. While it’s simple, it’s no small thing, especially given that he didn’t have much ball-handling help to rely on. Once Heidelburg secured the ball past half-court, he was able to sneak in some bounce passes for assists to his post players on the block.
Caleb Gibbons (2018), 5’11” G, Anthony Wayne
Gibbons, a transfer, played with great energy and confidence. He ran the floor well, making for some finishes at the basket in transition. Also, Gibbons is a nice shooter, whether that be spotting up from three or coming off motion from the baseline. He seemed to be the driving force for Anthony Wayne, but it is our understanding that Murphy is more of a baseball prospect than basketball.
Alex Ruhe (2018), 6’9” F/C, Anthony Wayne
Ruhe has shown glimpses of skill for a 6’9” guy in this summer league. When he catches the ball on the post, he can elude a defender with some grace. Also, Ruhe can shoot the ball from the three-point line at a pretty good rate. Yet, Ruhe often goes through the motions, which kills his effectiveness on the glass and as a defender. Ruhe is going against a lot of smaller forwards in this league, which makes it harder for him to find someone to box-out. Regardless, we’d like to see Ruhe capitalize on his size by dominating the paint in one of these games.
Christian Smith (2018), 6’5” W, Toledo Rogers
Although Smith hardly drew a moment’s worth of separation on his crossovers, it was enough for him to shoot mid-range pull-ups over his opponents. On these contested jumpers, Smith shot an astoundingly high percentage. Some of those shot opportunities also came on his mid-range post-up game, where he’s also a major threat to pass the ball to the opposite side or to a cutter. Actually, Smith’s ability to facilitate from around the elbow was most impressive.
Smith wasn’t great defending on-ball screens on Monday, which is likely because it’s June and Rogers is yet to determine their defensive principles.
Caleb Smith (2020), 6’4” W, Toledo Rogers
Physically, the younger of the two Smith brothers for Rogers resembles his older sibling Christian quite a bit. While Christian is more of finesse scoring type, Caleb looks to throw his body around to create space for shot attempts. The young prospect is actually very good at it, as he routinely navigated his way between his defender and the basket for open looks. The only trouble was that Smith was usually off-balance, therefore missing the shots. As he continues to become more familiar with his body, Smith will likely become a very solid prospect. Expect him to be a part of our first edition of 2020 Prospect Rankings come the end of July.
Derrick Verse (2018), 6’3” F, Toledo Rogers
While Verse clearly doesn’t possess the prototypical height at the forward position, he makes some of it up by being strong. His lower center gravity pushes opponents off the block for rebounds. Also, Verse brings his body directly into the chest of the defender, where he can finish with a right hook. When he goes up, he’s absolutely looking for contact.
Terence Williams (2018), 6’2” G, Detroit Wayne Memorial (MI)
During stints when teammate Rashad Williams was off the floor, Terence Williams excelled as Wayne Memorial’s primary ball-handler. Their half-court offense involves a lot of baseline cuts, which requires a patient, ball-secure point guard — Williams was able to selflessly wait for things to develop before spacing the floor with his shooting. We’d like to see him be more aggressive as a jump-shooter, as he’s hit it rather consistently from deep. Additionally, Williams puts pressure on his defender by coming downhill on dribble-drives.
Jonzell Norrills (2020), 5’10” PG, Toledo Central Catholic
Norrills, the All Ohio Gold 15U point guard, battled with Alek West, Gold’s 16U point guard, extremely hard in the final game of the night at Woodward. Norrills specializes in drawing contact as he spins towards the basket for layup attempts. He often gets in the lane with quick bursts of speed out of his hesitation move. On that hesitation gather, Norrills is also able to pull-up for a jumper with his feet squared to the rim.
Cameron Awls (2020), 6’0” G, Toledo Central Catholic
The sharpshooter Awls played within the offense on Monday night for Central, almost to a fault. We’d like to see him be slightly more assertive, although we appreciate his unselfishness. Awls uses his three-point shooting threat to set up his driving ability. He can ball-fake and then knife through the defense with just a few dribbles. Awls is especially crafty when working with a screen, where he gets his guy caught up in a blender, then takes a jump stop into a two-foot layup. He’s very fundamentally sound with the basketball and as a defender.
Luke Pawlak (2019), 5’9″ G, Sylvania Northview
Pawlak is another three-point specialist who uses the jumper to set up other parts of his game. Sticking with shooting, Pawlak positioned himself nicely on second chance opportunities, always finding a soft spot in the defense in case the Northview rebounder needed to kick it out. Once Pawlak catches, the ball comes quickly off his hands and it often drops in. He also can pump fake, then drive directly at the defense with the purpose of passing to an open teammate. Pawlak was the guy that his Northview teammates always found when he was open.