Big Shots' Best: FL/VA Frontcourt Prospects

New readers: Use code Proia30     Our scouts traveled to Henrico, VA to attend a great event hosted by Big Shots and Paul Biancardi as a warm-up event, with competition across all three high school age groups (17u-15u) in addition to some good middle school bump. Our team covered a ton of ground watching local grassroots teams duke it out in front of national scouts and college coaches (non-D1) from across the country. Let's zoom in some of the best frontcourt prospects that I saw this weekend!    -Lonardo matched up with a physical backcourt and still played at a high level at both ends of the floor. Lonardo knocked offensive rebounds out of his opponent's hands to close out possessions, knocked down a back shoulder jumper from the high post, set up a well-timed back cut and finished with the extension layup, glided in transition with a euro step between two defenders in transition, and scored off a spin/drop step combo from the low post to hit a double clutch reverse layup just past the double team. Loved seeing him out-rebound better athletes by doing his work early with physical boxouts under the rim and used his pivot well to score in traffic amongst the trees. Nice combination of skill and motor, will be a great small college prospect.     11p 9r 2a   -I've liked the steady progression seen from Morton as a low block presence that is adding skill to compliment a much-improved physique. The lefty forward leverages a strong upper body to create space on duck-in's to finish with a rapidly-improving post hook. Loved his motor on the glass and his willingness to fight through contact to collect his own finishes, as the contact he plays through often isn't called due to his sheer strength. His communication on the back line of the defense calling out rotations and screens allows him to play the game for longer spurts of time because of the impact he makes beyond the box score. Morton finished with a near double-double by sinking all 4 of his attempts around the basket down the stretch and showed improved shooting touch on pick n pop reps from high post.     -Germielle serves as a raw albeit productive post presence for a good [program_tooltip program_id='2076326' first='Team' last='Breakdown'] Florida group that relies on the physical tone that he says. Throughout even the course of the weekend- you could see Germielle understand when to time his dives to the rim for a drop-off or lob finish and when he needed to space the floor for his guards. Most of his opportunities came within 5 feet of the rim and he set the tone early as a physical, 2-handed dunker that understands the value of his role on this group. Didn't see him for a second game that day to have more of a feel for his shooting capabilities-- but the touch inside the paint and around the rim looked consistent and the free throws usually were on-center. If he can add a bit more handle just to take forwards off the bounce from the wings or corners often enough, he can continue to ascend the rankings.     25p 7r 2a 4b (10/15 FG 2/2 3P)   -The full range of Touray's skillset was on display as a skilled W/F prospect that can do a little bit of everything for his team. Touray started things off with B2B wing 3s, chased a guard on a switch from the 3 point line to the rim to block the reverse layup, knocked down a pick n pop 18', scored on several runouts in transition, hit his opponent with a baseline spin then euro-stepped past the help to score with the finger roll at the rim, hit an AND1 leaner from the post off the window, kept the ball high on a spin move right hand floater off glass, faced up against a forward and swept through to drive right and hit the runner off glass, and even showed the play-making vision with a dime to the backdoor cutter from high post. His instincts defensively to stay down on shot fakes while blocking shots both at the rim and beyond the arc shows the range in his defensive versatility. One of the best lateral movers in the class at his position, always makes a defensive impact regardless of how the offense is flowing on that particular day. Well worth the price of admission.     -Valdez flashed some dynamic athleticism throughout the game as a physical wing prospect that can guard 2-5 pretty comfortably at the high school level. He started things off with a high pickup euro step in between two defenders to float a shot off glass in transition, sprinted hard to get ahead of the pack to collect a pass over the top and throw down a 1-handed punch in transition, scored on a putback layup through contact, drove two dribbles to the middle of the floor then fluidly spun to the rim to lay it up off the window, executed a rip-through baseline drive from the wing in transition to finish with the layup just past the defense, and displayed a motor that ran hot at both ends of the floor throughout the game.     -Loved the diversity in Datsenko's skillset as a wing that can fill up the stat sheet to impact the game. Datsenko started things off with a turnaround jumper from the elbow, knocked down a corner 3, jumped a passing lane to snag a steal and hit the layup, collected another steal and threw a beautiful diagonal pass in transition to a shooter in the opposite corner, flew into the frame to grab an O-board through the double team to hit the putback, and took 2 dribbles to the middle of the floor before he hit a spinning AND1 layup off the glass. Love how quickly he made his reads, getting into his move quickly or swinging opposite to keep the ball flowing for his team.     15p 6r 1s 1b vs MLE   -Loved his all-around impact in the championship game against MLE as a wing prospect with a ton of versatility. The lefty shooter knocked down an early 3 then used that gravity to start attacking the rim, showing the ability to both score in the paint or pass out of double teams. Garcia had a nice spin move between the double to create space to finish with the left off the window through the contact, took a hop step to land on two and hit the floater, double-clutched a layup alley oop finish, and threw down an emphatic 2-handed dunk off the BLOB set to put the nail in the coffin. Our scouts came away impressed with his willingness to do the dirty work defensively whether it was showing hard on ball screens to send guards to the sideline or rotating to contest shots at the rim.

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