The Stage Act I: Best Big Men

<p>ANAHEIM — The Stage Circuit’s first act of hosting club basketball events in Orange County featured a strong contingent of teams and prospects from the west coast and beyond. The three-day live period event took place at Open Gym Premier in Anaheim and The Draft Sports Complex in Corona with teams from California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Texas, Canada and North Carolina represented. In this piece we take a look at the best big men in the gym.</p> <p class="p1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1053246" first="Chase" last="Jackson"]</strong>, Las Vegas Knicks -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> One thing we love to see a big guy do is run the floor and compete on the boards on both ends and that’s exactly what Jackson did throughout this event. The 6-foot-9, class of 2023 center is still raw as far as his offensive skill-set goes, but he made up for that with his effort and energy and ability to catch and finish on rim-run opportunities.</span></p> <p class="p1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="994937" first="Cyprian" last="Hyde"]</strong>, Gamepoint - Hyde continues to be on the upswing with his development. The 6-foot-10 forward/center out of Vista high school has great touch and footwork around the basket to go along with his awareness and feel with his back to the basket. Hyde flashed a nice right-handed jump hook across the lane and showed his touch out to the three-point line on a couple of occasions.</p> <p class="p1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="994925" first="Dennis" last="Evans"]</strong>, Team Inland -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> Evans is an elite defensive center whose continues to make strides with his offensive package. At 7-feet-1 with tremendous length, the junior out of Hillcrest high school in Riverside is a high level rim protector with great timing and body control when blocking or contesting shots at the rim. Evans showed off his sure hands when catching and finishing lobs around the basket and stepped out onto the perimeter where he hit catch-and-shoot shots with consistency. </span></p> <p class="p1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="986967" first="Javares" last="Reid"]</strong>, West Coast Select -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> With St. Mary’s-bound forward [player_tooltip player_id="787643" first="Joshua" last="Jefferson"] on his way out of town soon, Liberty high school in Vegas could have its next skilled big man on the way in Reid. The 6-foot-8 big bodied sophomore reminds us a lot of Jefferson whose combination of hands, touch, footwork and size made him one of the toughest covers down low out west. Reid has those similar traits with his touch and footwork down low being what stood out the most about his game. The sophomore used his body well to create space in the painted are and finished through contact. Reid showed a lot of hustle on the offensive boards where he rebounded his own misses for second chance opportunities.</span></p> <p class="p1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="994931" first="Martin" last="Gumwel"]</strong>, Gamepoint -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> We mentioned Gumwel as one of our top "upside prospects" from this event which means he has to see double duty in the best big men category, as well. The 6-foot-11 center from Rancho Christian high school is what we call an elite athlete with a high motor to go along with it. Gumwel gets up and down the floor with ease, is quick off the floor when catching and finishing around the basket and looks to dunk everything in the painted area. Right now, the junior is most effective as a rim protector, rebounder and transition rim runner.</span></p> <p class="p1"><strong>Precious Idiaru</strong>, Team Keenan Allen -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> If a school is looking for a high energy, mobile and tough inside player, Precious Idiaru is a prospect with good basketball potential in his future. The 6-foot-10 forward/center plays hard every minute he’s on the floor, crashes the offensive and defensive boards, sprints the middle of the floor in transition and has impressive hands, touch and quickness off the floor.</span></p> <p class="p1"><strong>Promise Idiaru</strong>, Team Keenan Allen -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> Promise Idiaru is such an intriguing prospect because at 6-feet-10, the post-grad senior has ball skills to create off the bounce, can hit three-point shots both off the catch and off the dribble, and, like his twin brother mentioned above, plays his tail off no matter what the score or game situation looks like. Promise is a player with a skill set to play a stretch four or stretch five spot at the next level.</span></p>