Fort Wayne Futures

Late in this most unusual grassroots season the next generation of mitten basketball is ready to introduce themselves. The final Gym Rats tourney of the summer in Fort Wayne provided an excellent stage for this introduction. 1. Durell Brooks 6-2 2024 Grand Rapids Catholic Central I would not venture to propose statewide rankings at such a young grade level. That being said if there are ten 2024’s better than this young man I would pay good money to see them. Simply electric and did it all playing up a grade level in the 2023 backet. Led his Bates Fundamentals team to the final were they dropped a close one to a good Grand Rapids Storm squad. Jack of all trades type right now whose position could best be described as “basketball player”. Explosive athlete who frequently snagged rebounds and went coast to coast for layups. Finished well through contact and had plenty of and 1’s. Aggressive and fearless on both ends all weekend. Was able to knock down jumpers when defenders sagged off him. Tends to over dribble and get into trouble sometimes. But let’s be honest it’s kind of like saying a jazz musician plays too much on a solo. It’s still pretty fun to watch and it works out more often than not. Usually like to stay away from nicknames but “Phat Phat” is a pretty cool moniker. Definitely a player you will want to catch on the come up. 2. Christian Rembert 6-7 2024 East Kentwood All you need to do is watch warm ups to know that this is a young player with limitless potential. Mobile and extremely long. Served up a buffet of dunks Saturday evening. First went with one hand in transition. Had the gym buzzing when he went to the two handed variety off of a steal. The one that had the coaches next to me talking isn’t going to make the mixtapes. A simple no dribble two handed flush from a dump off pass. Kept the ball high and did it with the ease that you don’t see from players at any age level let alone a player who has yet to enter high school. As you could imagine protected the rim well with multiple blocked shots. Increased strength and improved footwork should come with age and growth. Excited to see this young man develop as there is already so much to work with. 3. Merritt Alderink 6-6 2024 Zeeland West Teamed with number one on this list on the Bates Fundamentals squad. Accordingly had to filter his accomplishments with the reminder that he was playing up a grade level. Despite age was possibly the most refined and skilled post in his bracket. Already possesses a solid sturdy frame. Unlike most young big men he will not need to add much weight. Has a soft touch around the basket that he can extend out to the mid range. Also helps that he is left handed. Explosiveness and quicker footwork could propel him into elite recruit category. Was told he would be attending Zeeland West. That should set up a excellent front court face off in the battle for Zeeland as he will team with [player_tooltip player_id="611462" first="Carson" last="Gulker"] to go against the twin (literally) towers of Brandon and [player_tooltip player_id="927600" first="Nathan" last="Claerbaut"] at Zeeland East. 4. Jonas VanderWoude 6-3 2024 Grand Rapids Christian As this list shows, evaluating at this grade level usually means prospects with elite size or athleticism. It’s rare to see prospects with such solid all around games. That is this young player. Aggressive and fearless, penetrated hard off the bounce. Played with his grade level but didn’t miss a beat when he came up to play with one of the Storm’s short handed units in the 2023 bracket. I’m intrigued to see how he develops in what will be an excellent environment at Christian. Does he battle his way into what will be a very deep varsity rotation? Or does he continue to work on positional fit at the JV level? If he’s done growing (which I doubt) he could become a really good big point guard. If he keeps growing he could become a matchup nightmare at the 2-3 positions. 5. Joey Cabana 6-1 2024 Grass Lake Already what I would classify as a power guard, this young man had a good weekend playing with a new group. Long range shooting led what would have been a near miraculous comeback in a loss Saturday night. Stormed back in a big way on Sunday to lead to Team Michigan (REACH) to a Gold Bracket championship. Scored 21 points in the deciding game. Excellent penetrator who powerfully jumps up two feet once he reaches the basket. Like VanderWoude should be in a good program for development. Albeit at the Class C level. I have come across some good 2023 prospects from Grass Lake and the Warriors should be led by 2021 Brennen Bargesser who had a good summer playing with Voltage Elite. 6. Eli Hendricks 5-10 2024 Grand Ledge To the victors go the spoils. The Mid Michigan Wolves program cleaned up at the lower levels on the weekend. The 14U program went undefeated and took the Platinum Bracket championship behind this young point guard prospect. Excellent and composed ball handler whose first instinct is to pass which you like to see at this level. However when he needed to, he penetrated and scored with relative ease. Despite size went straight at the rim with authority and was not afraid of contact. Highly competitive and obviously well schooled defensively. Had multiple steals in the championship contest. Shortest prospect on this list but I wouldn’t call him small as he has sturdy frame for his age. Future looks bright for the Grand Ledge as 6-4 2023 Steven Hendricks (not sure on relation) played well for fellow championship program MWA Elite. This is in addition to 2023 big man [player_tooltip player_id="980067" first="Jack" last="Williams"]. That’s a lot of young talent at the 1,3, and 4 positions.