Elite Spring Hoops Showcase: 7 Standout Guards (Part 2)

Oakland, CA - This past weekend, April 11th and 12th, I attended the Elite Spring Hoops Showcase and Tournament held at various facilities in Oakland, Walnut Creek, Clayton Valley, Martinez, and other surrounding cities. I attended the Showcase portion of the event which was held at Open Gym Premier Oakland's four court facility. The Showcase division featured teams from the 3SSB Adidas Circuit, P32 New Balance, Adidas Gold Circuit, and EHA's new circuit, as well as other high level independent teams. I arrived at the gym for the second game on Day 1 and departed at 1:30 on Day 2, watching a total of 18 games over the two day span. This article is a Part 2 and takes a look at 7 standout guards from the Showcase Division, which is a 3-part series focused on the top guards. I will also look at standout wings, forwards, and centers in follow-up articles. In this article you will find the following information: players name, height, grad class, position, school, club team, how they performed, and their skill sets. The players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order, and we begin with [player_tooltip player_id='2952636' first='James' last='Kennedy'].   2029 [player_tooltip player_id='2952636' first='James' last='Kennedy'] 6'1|CG (Washington/Fremont) - NBBA Elite NorCal UA Rise 15s    The 6-foot-1 combo guard plays at a fast but controlled pace with the ball in his hands, moves well off the ball making v-cuts, back-cuts, and filling lanes in transition, and has a relentless motor on both ends of the floor. Kennedy has good footwork, lateral quickness to stay in front of his opponent, and active hands and instincts to deflect passes, poke the ball out, or jump passing lanes to get the ball out for easy buckets in the open court. Kennedy uses his speed to get by his initial defender in the half-court setting off the dribble, accelerate in transition to speed by the other team, and is a crafty scorer at the basket, with the reverse and up-and-under lay-ups. High impact player that made some key steals in his team's win over a talented Team Lillard 3SSB 15s to close out Day 1 of the Showcase.    2027 [player_tooltip player_id='3585887' first='Jaiden' last='Miller'] 5'11|PG (Liberty/Brentwood) - NBBA Elite NorCal UA Rise 17s    The 5-foot-11 point guard made the most of his showing on Day 2 of the Showcase, as he was not available for Saturday's games, and left his impression on the game and to the scouts in attendance. Miller has tight handles, keeps the dribble alive to probe the defense for openings to attack, uses the hesitation, crossover, spin-move, and wrap-around moves to get his defender off balance, has the wiggle to dice through the defense, the acceleration off the bounce to blow by his opponent, and is a creative scorer with great body control around the basket, using the reverse and up-and-under lay-ups to evade shot blockers in the paint. Miller uses his quick footwork, active hands, and lateral agility to stay in front of his man, gets into his opponent's dribbling space, and turns defense to offense routinely. Impressive control and poise with the ball given the pace and speed at which he plays, making him a tough guard for opposing teams.    2027 [player_tooltip player_id='2226788' first='Devyn' last='Ranola'] 6'0|CG (Dougherty Valley/San Ramon) - Infinite Black 17s    The 6-foot combo guard ended the Showcase for his team with a strong showing in a loss to a very talented Team Lillard 3SSB 16s squad, as he would do the heavy lifting scoring the ball from the perimeter for Infinite Black 17s. Ranola has smooth handles, the court vision to find open teammates off the drive and kick pass, the foot-speed and quick hands to deflect passes or poke the ball out, turning defense to offense, and keeps constant pressure on his defender, as he looks to get into the paint down the lane, or off the baseline. Ranola moves fluidly off the ball to get to his shot spots, squares his shoulders up, and is ready to catch and fire from the 3-point line, with accuracy. Ranola uses the low-crossover and double-cross to get his defender off balance, has a good burst off the dribble to get to the mid-range spots on the floor, and is highly effective with the jumper off the dribble. High IQ player that makes up part of a quality back-court for Infinite 17s.   2027 Ronbie Rhymes 6'1|PG (St. Patrick St. Vincent/Vallejo) - NBBA Elite NorCal UA Rise 17s    The 6-foot-1 lead guard had a strong showing this weekend and will look to keep that going on the UA Rise circuit. Rhymes has shifty handles, keeps his dribble alive to survey the defense, uses the crossover, between-cross, and the hesitation to get his defender on his hip, has a nice burst of speed off the dribble to get by his initial defender, and showed the strength to score through contact down the lane, as well as creativity on shots at the basket over height. Rhymes moves fluidly off the ball to get to the open spot, is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch, which he connected on several, as well as the ability to get the space needed to knock down the 3-pointer off the dribble. Rhymes plays with good pace and control with the ball in hand, accelerates to get up the court quickly, and uses the half-spin hezzy to get into the paint often.    2028 Cash Richie 6'|CG (Archbishop Mitty/San Francisco) - Team California 16s    The 6-foot combo guard showed he can impact the game with or without the ball in his hands to run the offense, and his ability to space the floor from beyond the arc was a key reason for his impact off the ball. Richie has good handles, the court vision to find open teammates off the drive and kick pass, as well as up the court to advance the ball in transition, and dropped some dimes to teammates in tight windows. Richie moves well off the ball to get open looks, is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch, and has the moves to create space from his defender, with the ability to score at the basket in close quarters.    2028 Kevin Lee Richardson 5'9|PG (Pittsburg High) - Just Breathe Elite 17s    The 5-foot-9 point guard showed he can create for others, as well as get his own buckets at the Showcase. Richardson has a strong handle on the ball, uses the crossover, hesitation, and toss-cross to get his defender off balance, shifty movement on the attack with change of pace and direction to find openings in the defense, with creativity on shots around the basket amongst height in the paint. Richardson is effective with the 3-ball off the bounce, which opens up lanes for him to attack, with the court vision to find open players off the drive and kick or out of the pick and roll action.     2027 [player_tooltip player_id='2212737' first='Rylan' last='Sevilla'] 6'1|PG (Dougherty Valley/San Ramon) - Infinite Black 17s    The 6-foot-1 point guard put on a shooting clinic on Day 1 of the Showcase, as he went unconscious from beyond the arc, netted at least 6 threes, and had a game high of 30+ points to help his team to a big win over NBBA Elite NorCal UA Rise 17s. Sevilla has elite handles, plays with good change of pace and direction to keep his defender guessing, has a variety of moves to create space from his opponents, using the low-crossover, hesitation, behind-cross, and toss-cross to keep his defender off balance and guessing, has the physical build to attack and score through contact at the basket, with the Euro-step and reverse lay-ups to get the ball away from shot blockers, and gets good lift with effectiveness on the pull-up mid-range jumper. But where Sevilla made his mark was from beyond the arc, showing the versatility to connect on the 3-ball off the bounce, with the traditional pull-up and step-back jumpers in his bag, as well as great off-ball movement to get to the open spot for the shot off the catch. Sevilla has good court vision to find open teammates off the drive and kick pass, as well as tenacious on-ball perimeter defense.

Oakland, CA - This past weekend, April 11th and 12th, I attended the Elite Spring Hoops Showcase and Tournament held at various facilities in Oakland, Walnut Creek, Clayton Valley, Martinez, and other surrounding cities. I attended the Showcase portion of the event which was held at Open Gym Premier Oakland's four court facility. The Showcase division featured teams from the 3SSB Adidas Circuit, P32 New Balance, Adidas Gold Circuit, and EHA's new circuit, as well as other high level independent teams. I arrived at the gym for the second game on Day 1 and departed at 1:30 on Day 2, watching a total of 18 games over the two day span. This article is a Part 2 and takes a look at 7 standout guards from the Showcase Division, which is a 3-part series focused on the top guards. I will also look at standout wings, forwards, and centers in follow-up articles. In this article you will find the following information: players name, height, grad class, position, school, club team, how they performed, and their skill sets. The players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order, and we begin with James Kennedy James Kennedy 6'0" | CG Washington | 2029 State CA-N .