Tuesday “Transition”: Backcourt Gems Nov 30-Dec 5 Part 1

<p>We take a look at Part 1 of the guards that shined for the week of Nov 30 to Dec 5, as the schedule began to heat up:</p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><em><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1047095" first="Chase" last="Tucker"], 6-2, Senior, SG, Mt Pisgah Christian</strong></em></span></p> <p>Tucker was no stranger to me as an elite shooter with a serious hot hand at times as he displayed that often for HYPE this summer, despite opposing teams almost certainly knowing his tendencies he’s very adept at gliding to a spot at the arc and getting his quick and fluid release off, whether catching off the break or bending around a screen he’s among he top shooters in the ATL-metro, six first-half 3’s and 21 points in all were an early dagger to King’s Ridge in the Pats home win last Tuesday, with newly added strong pieces PG [player_tooltip player_id="1049036" first="MJ" last="Winter"] and SF [player_tooltip player_id="1047091" first="Kasheem" last="Grady"] to go with holdovers Tucker, [player_tooltip player_id="806742" first="JoJo" last="Peterson"] and [player_tooltip player_id="806777" first="Nate" last="Gordon"], this Mt Pisgah group is one to watch as they develop chemistry over the winter.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><em><strong>Issac Martin, 6-0, Sophomore, PG, Kings’ Ridge</strong></em></span></p> <p>The first time I saw Martin was last June when teams were emerging from lockdowns to begin summer workouts, and despite being on the 15U ATL T-Wolves club team he was seen ripping through a group of older ATL All-Stars club players, he has a terrific innate understanding of the game (no surprise being Head Coach Bob Martin’s son), be it spacing, vision, finding seams using the bounce, and combine all of that with a developing frame and plenty of confidence and you see the beginnings of a lead guard with upside, had all of his 13 points in the 4th quarter against Mt Pisgah after he and his compadres had a rough go offensively for 3 quarters.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><em><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1049937" first="Liam" last="Thomas"] (pictured above), 6-3, Junior, SG, King’s Ridge</strong></em></span></p> <p>In getting to see quite a bit of Thomas and his Mva Outlawz teammates this summer I was always drawn to his hustle and clever play when he was on the floor, now as a primary scoring option for the Tigers one can see his aggressive offensive nature and shooting ability that can often be disguised in summer ball with so many alphas present, like most these days he prefers to drive it the hole and play through contact, but is savvy enough to find his way to the arc and has the stroke to knock them down.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><em><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="806756" first="Isaac" last="Brito"], 6-4, Senior, G/F, Trinity Christian</strong></em></span></p> [caption id="attachment_1096673" align="alignleft" width="225"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/12/20201203_203440-rotated.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1096673 size-medium" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/12/20201203_203440-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a> Sami Pissis (0) and Issac Brito[/caption] <p>All summer long I was confounded a bit by Brito in his work with the ATL All-Stars, capable at times of looking like a D1 player with the body to go with it, other times less impactful and lost in the shuffle, well as we know with AAU ball really good players can easily be overshadowed with just one ball available, and for his final season Brito is putting on display the kind of versatility, leadership and athleticism that showed in spurts over the summer, playing a hybrid Guard-Forward-Center for the height-challenged Lions, Brito hit the glass, ran the break off the catch, orchestrated the offense, played with his back to the basket as well as drove the ball from the wing, Blessed Trinity came from behind at home to beat TCHS but there just wasn’t much he didn’t do for his team in trying to bring home the W, and his 15 points (as well as the final result) could have been different had both he and his teammates been a little more efficient from the FT-line. </p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><em><strong>Sami Pissis, 6-3, Senior, CG, Trinity Christian</strong></em></span></p> <p>Pissis is new to the Lions roster this season, and had a few notable performances this summer with HYPE, but what he lacks in experience here in GA he makes up for with a readily-apparent confidence and willingness to pull the rock from any spot on the floor, has an excellent handle utilized effectively for creating space for his free-flowing jumper as well as penetrating the lane, but also works well away from the ball and gravitates to spots he knows he likes, knocked down four 3s in the game with BT, makes for an intriguing complement to Brito and it’ll be interesting to see if these two can carry TCHS far this year. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p>