A-Town Showdown: Saturday’s Best Lead Guards Part 2

Keith Agran

July 20, 2020 @ 10:25 PM

Second half of day: [player_tooltip player_id="714983" first="Tarence" last="Guinyard"] (Team Speights (FL) 17U) - One of the marquee performers on the one of the weekend’s marquee clubs was the impressive 6-1 Guinyard, an uber-athlete with all the point guard talents, explosiveness off the dribble and in the open floor, top-flight vision all the way out to the full court, an absolutely deadly eye from 3-land, and a flair for the spectacular with a pair of viral-ready dunks to get the crowd and his teammates off their feet, a legit big-time D-1 prospect. [player_tooltip player_id="754331" first="Brookes" last="Kahlert"] (Atlanta T-Wolves 17U, St Pius) - One of the weekends more entertaining junctures was watching the feisty 6-0 Kahlert, one of Atlanta’s true PG hidden gems, go at it with Guinyard bucket for bucket in the early stages of their matchup, jawing and pointing and having a ton of fun, we’ve come to know his passing brilliance already, but on Saturday Kahlert unleashed his deft shooting from deep and with his improved body you can see against a top talent like Guinyard how far he’s come and can go from here. His PG compadre [player_tooltip player_id="869626" first="Will" last="Kolker"] of Pope, playing at about 80% coming off a foot injury two weeks ago also didn’t show any back down against the highly regarded bunch from Florida, and once healthy will surely continue his rise in stature as well. [player_tooltip player_id="942593" first="Yorgio" last="Golesis"] (Utah Force 15U) - With the summer circuit shutdown currently in Utah, this spunky group came East and were led by the surprising Golesis, a flashy but heady point man with superb vision and understanding on the floor, he had a very fluid and natural-looking stroke from outside, and consistently surprised the athletic Team Forrest defenders with his blow-by ability in their matchup and was a clear standout on the weekend at his position in the 15U division. [player_tooltip player_id="820306" first="Noah" last="Melson"] (pictured above, Team Forrest 15U, Alexander) - Not to be outdone by Utah force’s Golesis was Melson, a long, rangy 1 who once he got into a rhythm showed his upside at the point, he found teammates in tight spots on several occasion and was a crafty and willing penetrator, love that he can step out to 3-land as well, a good-looking prospect for the Cougars with good size already at 6-3. [caption id="attachment_1019693" align="alignleft" width="225"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/07/20200718_171136-rotated.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1019693 size-medium" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/07/20200718_171136-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a> [player_tooltip player_id="598786" first="Cristian" last="Willis"][/caption] [player_tooltip player_id="598786" first="Cristian" last="Willis"] (Atlanta Nets 16U, Lithia Springs) - Willis got steadier and steadier as the tournament progressed, but he always catches me eye as I’ve seen him several times this summer, he has a great understanding and court sense, never seems in a rush and makes terrific decisions, he has the body and speed to get to the basket but also displays a nice shooting touch out to the arc, that court sense also makes him one of the best rebounding guards I’ve seen this summer at 6-1. Eli Elston (Auburn Raptors (AL) 17U) - Another of the weekend’s wow performers at point was Elston, listed at 6-1 he looks and plays bigger and longer, has a great frame for the next level, there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do on Saturday against a solid SBT team from here in GA, he was a defensive stud, got to the basket at will and had a nicely refined mid-range game which harkened back to the Dennis Johnson-days, a big-time prospect out of the state of Alabama.