Chi-Town Tip Off: 1st Ballot All Shift-Team Nominees
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Jared Ryg HEIGHT 5'11" POS PG CLASS 2024 Jared Ryg School: Hersey Club: Ignite 17U Navy Jared Ryg is a point guard who stood out to me this weekend with his ability to handle the ball and how he moves…
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Continue ReadingJared Ryg
Jared Ryg
Jared Ryg is a point guard who stood out to me this weekend with his ability to handle the ball and how he moves his body while doing so. Ryg is a 5’11 point guard who is a nice talent on the floor. He has the ability to handle, get past his defender on a consistent basis, spread the floor with his scoring ability, and distribute at a high rate to the teammates around him. When it comes to his offensive game it really all starts with his dribble. His handling is elite. He has a killer crossover that always has his defender moving his feet from side-to-side at a high rate of speed. This dribble leads to extremely open looks inside the paint and around the rim. His overall game is impressive along with the teams he plays on, but he still does a good job of standing out in each contest above most.
In the end Chapman Basketball Academy 2026 South fell short in the contest I had the chance of watching but that didn’t stop several of their players from showing that they have some real skill, one of those players being Tyler Michalski. Michalski is a smaller guard who is the definition of shifty. He moves well side to side while understanding when to change speeds depending on the situation and the move he is attempting to pull off. He really does have the rock on a string and that’s very obvious to anyone who watches him for just a couple of possessions. This weekend he didn’t have any problem creating for himself or others against bigger guards and actually got pretty open looks on the regular because of his dribbling ability. Looking toward the future if he can tighten the screws offensively a little bit, he is going to have nothing to worry about over the next few seasons of high school ball because no one will be able to stay with him on defense.
Haiden Hardy
Haiden Hardy
Haiden Hardy put on a clinic on what it means to be shifty in the two games that I had a chance of popping in on this weekend. The 6’0 point guard displayed a great burst of speed down the court off of rebounds and really pushed the pace of the game whenever he was given the chance. While pushing the pace he is very good at finding open teammates and getting them the ball in transition. His dribbling ability opens up the floor tremendously for his Team Iowa 2024 Elite squad. With that being said I would add that his “shiftiness” is different from others I saw this weekend. He sells all of his moves with his body more-so than the ball. In most cases with shifty guards this is what happens but not many can do it off of a plethora of different moves, going either direction, for entire games. If I was making a First Team All Tournament – Shift Team then Hardy would be on that list, no doubt.
Lebron Massey plays one year up for his age and starts for his B&B Elite 2025 team. This is something that most wouldn’t believe as Massey’s game is extremely well-rounded at the point guard position for his age. He does everything fundamentally well and showed off this weekend that he is more versatile than most. He has the ability to play the 1-3 on the floor at the moment but really shines at the 1 or 2 position. He does a good job of controlling the pace of the overall game while letting things come to him. He has a solid handle that’s efficient. He gets past his defender on a regular basis off of only 3 or 4 dribbles. Something that just shows how shifty he is with the ball that he can get through most opponents with limited dribbles, leading to a finish by himself or an assist to an open teammate near the basket. As a prospect he has a fairly high ceiling in my book. He is going to grow some more and if he can keep expanding his game, watch out Illinois.
Highlights
Lukas Alvarez
Lukas Alvarez
There are a ton of underrated players all over, one of the best I saw this past few days was Lukas Alvarez of the Illinois Attack 2025 – 3 team. Alvarez displayed this weekend that he can control the game and decide if it’s going to be played with pace or be slowed down. He also showed that he has a high basketball IQ late in games when it matters the most, and that he can surely handle the ball for any group on the floor around him. When you add these abilities together you get a well-rounded point guard who is going to help you compete in a lot of games throughout your season. Alvarez does a good job of attacking his defenders hips off of the dribble and as soon as they cut him off or catch up, he will hit them with a shifty counter move, making them re-adjust consistently. It is really hard to stay in front of him and keep him in check with the ball in his hands. I’m going to catch this group again this summer a few more times. They run some great stuff as a program with some positive coaching to back them. Something that is really nice to see.