Expo Team 4 Evaluations

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>PICTURED: [player_tooltip player_id='1766453' first='Marcus' last='Butler Jr'].</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mid-September Bartlett High hosted the annual PrepHoops 250 Expo with wonderful talent. The following evaluations are exclusively focused on Team 4 players.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preston Hampton</strong> (Knox Central)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When slashing he struggled getting through the two pinching defenders. Needs to get more strength, so that he can keep moving toward the lane with speed and not get slowed by the arms. Decent mid-air agility. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1578688' first='Eli' last='Gramling']</strong> (Tipton-Rosemark)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eli's on-ball defense served his team well. <a href="https://balr.co/899cYEBXaDb">Best move</a>. Eli pulled off a nice spin-move in the linked highlight. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2198999' first='Tyler' last='Wilson'] </strong>(Collierville)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lefty. Hit a nice mid-range jumper in his opening game. Throughout the day's first game Wilson missed several three-pointers before burying his first. Tyler would do well to get more power in his legs. He looks capable of making a move to separate and yet he does not get the necessary push with his legs to get that separation. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tyler was secure with the basketball. He seemed to be comfortable playing in screen'n'roll action. Perhaps because he has a high school teammate in [player_tooltip player_id='1563160' first='Elijah' last='Lussier'] that is so effective screening and diving. He was nice with [player_tooltip player_id='1259393' first='Jayden' last='Jones'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Made one nice backdoor pass. Fed Jones with a perfect alley-oop off the backboard.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1477573' first='Maguire' last='Evans']</strong> (Cleveland)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Shot the basketball well. Maguire played point guard effectively. A high trap spoiled him when active defender [player_tooltip player_id='1575564' first='Kameron' last='Bowers'] deflected his pass. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Earlier Evans ran an effective screen'n'roll with [player_tooltip player_id='1259393' first='Jayden' last='Jones'] diving to the basket. Evans safely lobbed it over the desperately recovering defender. As a passer Evans was best when his teammates moved away from the basketball. Unfortunately, there was a bothersome amount of watching and standing on the weak side. Overall, this team was not very active moving unless the ball was within 5' of them. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Evans gave one sharp 30' outlet pass that hit his teammate right in stride.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Maguire is perfectly willing to dribble into a three-pointer in transition. His accuracy is better when the ball comes from a teammate in the halfcourt though. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1766453' first='Marcus' last='Butler Jr'].</strong> (Houston)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Good natural strength. Unselfish player. The best moment of Butler Jr.'s opening game was a smooth crossover going right. Smoothly he gained the half-step heading to the baseline short corner then <a href="https://balr.co/0eKiu67GaDb">dropping off a perfect pass</a> to the far block. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>He thinks of the team's form like a coach. During a showcase event often players are only focused on "getting theirs". Butler Jr. was not that type of player thankfully.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Butler Jr. could get lower into a defensive stance. He was fine defensively, but looked prone to being blown by if the dribbler would have noticed his upright posture during several possessions. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2206004' first='Keaton' last='Dickson'] </strong>(Lausanne)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Needs to play with more speed. The game was faster than he wanted to play on a couple of occasions. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1259393' first='Jayden' last='Jones']</strong> (Goodpasture)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Unequivocally the most advanced player at the event. Jayden dunked everything. Late in the day he hit a sprinkling of challenging three-point shots. And also dunked everything. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Consistent from the FT line. Played above the masses.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jones gambled a little on defense, largely late in the evening. His best defense came on defending jumpers and post players. Nobody scored over him in tight and most of the jump shots against him missed too. At the college level, depending on the conference, Jayden capably be able to defend 3 positions (SG, SF, PF).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A former State Champion, [player_tooltip player_id='1259393' first='Jayden' last='Jones'] (2025) will play Division I basketball in two years' time. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->