Prospect Spotlight: Nathan Amanuel (2018)
With the rise of social media and extensive amount of high school basketball coverage there is in Southern California, there are few players who are true “sleeper” prospects.
Enter Cerritos High senior Nathan Amanuel.
The rangy 6-foot-3 swingman had a breakout performance at the Prep Hoops SoCal Top 250 Expo at Fountain Valley high school with his versatile game and shooting ability.
“The camp went well for me,” Amanuel said. “I love the feel of the scrimmages and how the coaches have helped us with our game. They let us know about a mistake we made on each rep. It’s been great. I have to show out more than anyone this year.”
Cerritos High swingman Nathan Amanuel had a breakout performance at the Prep Hoops SoCal Top 250 Expo.It wasn’t a surprise that Amanuel shot the ball well from 3-point range as he’s constantly working on that aspect of his game.
“My shooting is my biggest strength,” he said. “I work on it a lot. I put up shots every morning before school and at 24 hour fitness at night after practice.”
Amanuel also notes his defensive versatility as something that stands out about him among his peers.
“We don’t have much size on our team, so I guard bigs a lot,” he said. “I can switch on the pick-and-roll and hold my own against the bigs and I’m not afraid to take charges.”
One of the areas of improvement that Amanuel is focusing on this season is his off-the-bounce game, and the efficient attack drills he worked on at the camp fit into that perfectly.
“I’m trying to work on attacking the basket without too many dribbles,” he said. “I need to be able to drive without dancing with the ball.”
Amanuel is one of six returners who played significant roles for Cerritos last season, a team that lost in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2AA playoffs.
Amanuel said that the key for the Dons this season is staying focused for 32 minutes.
“We just have to stay locked in the whole game,” Amanuel said. “We can’t just play half a game. Our biggest problem right now is we don’t play hard the whole game. If we stay locked in defensively, we’ll beat all the teams in our league.”