The Stage Act I: Top Shooters

<p><span class="s1">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 top shooters we saw during the event.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1057025" first="Diego" last="Mulford"]</strong>, UBC Elite -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> While his shot looks kind of awkward from his form to how it comes off his hand, there’s no question Mulford’s most valuable asset is his three-point shooting. The 5-foot-9 point guard has deep range and the ultimate green light from his coaching staff, especially when he has his feet set and time and space to get his shot off from behind the arc. Mulford averaged just under four three-point makes per game for the event.</span></span></p> <p><strong>Gary Dotson</strong>, Team Keenan Allen - The 2023 guard is a sniper of a shooter and is especially consistent from the corners. Dotson does a nice job of moving without the ball to find open space in the defense and give his teammate a good target on drive-and-kick plays. Dotson is always shot ready prior to the pass and has a quick release with deep range.</p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>Jake Hall</strong>, California Select -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> Hall is one of the more smooth shooters in SoCal both off the catch and off the bounce, and, while many think of a modern shooter as just a three-point guy, Hall has a consistent pull-up jump shot off the bounce. The 6-foot-3, class of 2025 prospect out Carlsbad high school was the San Diego freshman of the year by a wide margin after leading the Lancers to a strong 2021-22 campaign.</span></span></p> <p><strong>Nate Padilla</strong>, Team Keenan Allen - If there was a guy who teams were concerned about having "in the gym" range, it was Padilla. The Vista Murrieta junior flashed deep range off the catch, highlighted by his first game of the event where he scored all 21 of his points from three-point range. Padilla led all age groups hitting 5.8 three’s per game.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1362753" first="Nathan" last="Mattera"]</strong>, Two One Elite - Mattera is one of the elite catch-and-shooters in all of Southern California. That, combined with his positional size and length at 6-feet-4, the junior shooting guard will have plenty of options to choose from at the Division II, Division III and NAIA levels come his senior season.</p>