Prospect Spotlight: Josh Christopher (2020)
COLORADO SPRINGS – In the week or so before he arriving at the USA Basketball Junior National team “mini-camp”, Josh Christopher was repeatedly warned about the difficulty he was going to face adjusting to the much higher elevation he was playing to be playing in Saturday and Sunday.
After all, with a difference of about 6,000 feet – Colorado Springs is listed at 6,035 feet above sea level to that of 46 feet in Lakewood, CA (where Christopher is a sophomore at Mayfair High) – Christopher thought he might be panting while running on the USA Olympic Center courts this weekend.
As it turned out, Christopher was breathing just fine – literally and figuratively – Saturday night after the event’s second session of workouts and scrimmages.
“It (the effects of the change in altitude) wasn’t nearly as bad as I was told it would be,” Christopher after the second workout.
“I was a little nervous about it early (during the first workout Saturday morning) but I felt really good tonight.”
And that had as much to do with how he was playing with and against some of the very best the country has to offer in the classes of 2018, ’19 and ’20 as it did with how he was breathing.
The 6-foot-4 Christopher has a nice combination of strength, quickness and hoops skills, which is why he is already a major “beep” on the radar of the coaching staffs in the Pacific 12 Conference – and beyond.
And it’s why he held up quite well Saturday against so many athletes with comparable gifts.
“My goal in coming here was to go 100 percent at all times, knock in my jump shots and see how well I could compete against a lot of these guys I’ve heard about but had never seen or played against before.”
Christopher, one of just one of two players (with junior swingman Jaime Jaquez of Camarillo) from Southern California invited to this event, had played against many of the athletes here while competing over the spring and summer with the Nike-fronted California Supreme 16s squad.
There was one guy who stood out above all others or which I was getting his first up-close look at, however.
And, yes, the 6-foot-6, 250-poundish Zion Williamson (Spartanburg, SC) did make quite the impact on Christopher – as he did every other player, as well as assorted media members and other on-lookers in attendance with his collection of dunks, blocked shots and “how did he do that?” dribble moves in the open court.
“That guy,” Christopher said, shaking his head and smiling, “is a freak!”