2021 Forward Standouts from GASO Round Rock (Part 2 of 3)
This is my detailed scouting report on the elite forwards from the Great American Shootout tournament in Round Rock and Austin on June 19-21, 2020. There was a lot of incredible talent all weekend and was a great showcase of…
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Continue ReadingThis is my detailed scouting report on the elite forwards from the Great American Shootout tournament in Round Rock and Austin on June 19-21, 2020. There was a lot of incredible talent all weekend and was a great showcase of the elite talent the state of Texas has to offer. Be on the lookout for the rest of my in-depth analysis from this tournament!
Gabriel Samudio- 6’3 McCollum High School, FAOT All Stars
Gabriel is a large forward who plays hard on the offensive and defensive boards. His frame and ability to seal off defenders allows him to get great rebounding numbers even against longer competition. After getting rebounds on the defensive end he always keeps his head up to find the best outlet pass to start a fast break opportunity. He also has the ability to play outside in on the offensives side of the court, showing great touch and control on his jump shot. Another aspect that stood out was his motor and relentless nature he plays the game with, constantly outworking other competition, and showed that energy all throughout the tournament.
Stephen Smith- 6’8 St. Thomas High School, Texas Takeover Thomson
Stephen is an incredibly large force down low who can operate out of the high post. He destroys opponents down low with good post moves and showed a good ability to finish with both hands. He is a strong finisher with the ball and is great at using his length to get into defenders and draw contact. He even has an outside in-game showing a confident jumper behind the arc to stretch the floor. I would like to see more of an ability to put the ball on the floor and hit a pull up jumper in the midrange because he will get his opponents to fly by him with simple head fakes after they look on their scouting report. He showed a soft touch on his outlet passes that he fired with ease down the court that hit his teammates in stride.
Brandon Love- 6’9 George Bush High School, Houston Defenders 17U
Brandon is a forward with fantastic footwork and faceup game and showed a true ability to dominate with his back to the basket. He showed great touch and got to a plethora of moves including highly skilled drop steps and up and under that resulted in easy baskets for himself. This upcoming year I would like him to work on the outside part of his game, as hit touch around the rim indicates that his jumper should not that be far off. If he is able to stretch the defense out and begin to take defenders off the bounce, he can use his size to bang and get to great positioning and be a true force on the offensive side of the ball.
Rob Wade- 6’4 McCallum High School, ATX Power
Rob is a great finisher at the rim, who used his size and long arms to finish over defenders. He has an elite use of the drop step and other strong post moves that allow him to throw down and finish with a soft touch around the rim. He is a great passer when he feels double teams come, and the focus of the defense switches to him. He routinely made the right read and felt where the defense was collapsing on him and kicked it to open shooters. He is great on the offensive boards, he got great positioning to box out defenders as well as an ability to finish easy tip-in opportunities created by his hard work.