Saturday “Dagger” Sheet: Frontcourt Superlatives From Dec 13-19

Keith Agran

December 26, 2020 @ 07:26 PM

The big guys slammed at bammed their way to a productive week. [player_tooltip player_id="938921" first="KJ" last="Doucet"], 6-5, SF, Senior, Chapel Hill There’s a dangerous streakiness to Doucet’s game where he can go on scoring runs that put opposing teams in trouble, he had a few of those against Lithia Springs on his way to 17 points and a hard-working day on the boards as well, quicker than he looks he’s got great feet in near the basket and is crafty shaking defenders of finding gaps to get a soft jumper or floater in the cup, he gets excellent help up front the uber-athletic 2022 riser [player_tooltip player_id="820313" first="Chi" last="Shannon"] as well as 6-7 senior Justin Hall, Doucet’s another of those ATL-metro forwards whose name you’ve heard but goes underappreciated for his night-in, night-out production. [player_tooltip player_id="949916" first="Tony" last="Carpio"], 6-8, PF, Junior, Providence Christian Like his more celebrated Storm teammates, Carpio has made huge leaps of late in his game, when I first saw him early last summer with the ATL All-Stars he was a bull, with a ton of obvious hard work both on his game and body he’s now harnessed that force into an offensive skill-set from 8 feet and in that is a handful to guard, already a very good athlete he’s now added polish, and with all of that he already was one of the best defenders in the ATL-Metro both at the rim and handling the opposition postman down near the block, a tireless worker he like his All-Stars teammate Thacker has firmly placed himself on next level radars. Avante Harper, 6-5, PF, Senior, Parkview Also seeing benefit from Miles Kelly’s departure is the stoutly built Harper, he’s a skilled 4-man near the basket (18 pts) with some range out to 15-feet as well, he possesses plenty of athletic ability to make for a versatile weapon at both ends proving to be an elite rebounding force against a pretty good Johns Creek frontline at the Lambert Holiday Classic, his quick kick-outs to PG [player_tooltip player_id="869607" first="Jason" last="Edwards"] fueled several runs which kept the Gladiators from getting any traction toward a comeback, a bit of a sleeper next-level player who can help a team looking for a grinder who can guard larger players and play physical every possession. Mohammed Mbye, 6-4, SF, Senior, Johns Creek Mbye might not be the smoothest moving athlete on the floor each night, but what he is is effective in finding ways to score and get to the line in the process, he’s got a nice handle and soft touch and ends up surprising you out in the open floor as he works well in a rim-running role, it’s an intriguing frontcourt bunch at JCHS with Mbye playing alongside inside-out man 2022 [player_tooltip player_id="870196" first="McRae" last="Ball"] and budding post stud 2023 [player_tooltip player_id="873089" first="Aidan" last="Temple"], but his combo of a willingness to drive it using the bounce together with instincts to score on the break make him an intriguing next-level D2 or D3 prospect. [player_tooltip player_id="747107" first="Shaqir" last="O’Neal"], 6-7, SF, Senior, Creekside Christian After a bit of a flow start against a particularly feisty and spry group from GAPPS power Cornerstone Prep, Shaq’s youngest son showed some of the offensive variety we’ve come to hear about, liked how in the 2nd half he got into the paint either off the bounce or the catch with some nice footwork in junctures and was able to convert some pretty finishes, he finds himself gravitating to the 3-point arc quite a bit and can definitely knock them down from there, would love to see him use his solid ballhandling to get it into some gaps more often and apply that soft shooting touch from 8-15 feet as well, can be an effective rim protector and with a slight boost in energy-output can be a big-time defender picking up for his teammates, still the versatility and natural gifts that he’s had on display for some time popped off the hardwood.