Nike Summer Showdown: 2028 Standout Players (Part 1)

Fresno, CA - This past weekend, Friday, May 29th through Sunday, May 31st, I attended the annual Clovis North Nike Summer Showdown, one of the top events to kick off the Summer high school portion of the calendar year. This event hosted some of the top teams from the Fresno/Clovis area, as well as squads from NorCal, which are formatted with Pool Play for the first two days, and bracket play on Sunday. This article takes a look at 6 standout rising juniors (class of 2028) prospects, which is Part 1 of a 3-part series looking at standout 2028s. That will be followed by a look at the top 2029 standouts from the event. In this article you will find the following information: players name, height, position, school, and their skill sets. The players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order, and we begin with Elijah Banuelos.   Elijah Banuelos (6'1 | PG) - Clovis East (CA)   The 6-foot-1 has dynamic handles, shifty moves to keep pressure on the defense, and can make plays for others or create his own offense. Banuelos keeps his dribble alive to survey the floor, uses the crossover, spin-move, hesitation, and between-cross to create space from his defender, can score the ball from 3-levels, with accuracy on the jumper from the mid-range to the 3-point line off the dribble, and a good burst to get into the paint with great footwork to evade shot-blockers with the pump-fake, up-and-under or reverse lay-ups, and the floater with touch. Banuelos moves fluidly off the ball, gets to his shot spots, is effective with the 3-ball off the catch, has good court vision and decision making to find open teammates cutting off the ball or off the drive a kick pass. Relentless energy, lock-up on-ball defender, and makes winning basketball plays. Expect his game to take some big leaps this Summer and into next season.    [player_tooltip player_id='3172969' first='Tristan' last='Beechler'] (6'4 | PG) - Lincoln (Stockton CA)   The 6-foot-4 lead guard has a strong, physical build, the skills and court awareness to create for others or get his own buckets, and is a great positional rebounder, who puts the ball in his hands to initiate the pace of play up the court. Beechler is a big guard that has elite handles, keeps the ball on a string to survey the defense, has great court vision and the precision to make pin-point passes in tight windows off the drive and kick pass, from the top of the key to players cutting off the ball, or up the court off the glass to find teammates ahead in the open court. Beechler has the moves to get by his initial defender, using the crossover, wrap-behind, the hesitation, and the spin-move to get his defender off balance, uses his size and body control to get into the paint and score through contact around the basket, with the Euro-step, reverse lay-up, or floater down the lane, and is effective with the mid-range pull-up jumper off the bounce. Beechler moves well off the ball, gets to his shot spots, is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch, finds openings around the basket to get open looks at the cup, and plays with good pace and feel for the game, making him a tough guard for opposing teams.    Hunter Bradford (6'6 | PF) - Clovis West (Fresno CA)   The 6-foot-6 power forward is active on the boards, protects the basket, runs the floor well in the open court, and can space the floor with the mid-post shot. Bradford is relentless crashing the boards, gets timely put-backs off the glass, limits opposing teams to single shot possessions, has the wingspan and timing to alter shots in the paint, as well as the agility to step out and alter perimeter shots, and makes good reads from the top of the key or from the low-block to teammates cutting off the ball in stride. Bradford has nice post-moves and footwork to create scoring opportunities with his back to the basket, using the spin-move to attack the basket, uses the drop-step to get his defender off balance, and has enough handle to attack from the mid-post with touch on shots around the basket, as well as the face-up mid-range jumper to pull his opponent away from the basket.    Ray Chatman (5'9 | SG) - Central East (Fresno CA)   The 5-foot-9 guard can light it up from the perimeter, as was evident in Day 3 at the NIke Summer Showdown against Bullard of Fresno. Chatman put on a shooting clinic from beyond the arc, connecting on at least 5 threes that I noted down. Chatman has shifty moves and handles, knows how to create enough space from his defender to score off the dribble, moves fluidly to get to the open spot off the ball, and is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch or the dribble. Chatman uses his volume scoring from beyond the arc to bet his defender off balance on the close out, where he is able to attack open lanes and score at the rim or with the floater.    Dasani Davis (6'3 | PG) - Central East (Fresno CA)   The 6-foot-3 lead guard has great wiggle with the ball in his hands, shifty moves to keep the defense guessing, and can make plays for his teammates or create his own scoring opportunities. Davis looked great this past weekend to kick off Summer ball and was the most improved player I saw at the Nike Summer Showdown from the regular season to now, showing true 3-level scoring ability and poise and control that allow him to get deep in his bag. Davis keeps the ball on a string, has dynamic handles, the moves to create space from his defender, using the wide-crossover, wrap-behind, the hesitation, the spin-move, and the toss-cross to get by his initial defender, weaves through the defense to find openings with good body control to take contact, is a creative scorer around the basket, with the Euro-step, reverse and up-and-under lay-ups, and the floater to score over height, and is accurate with the jumper, from the mid-range to the 3-point line off the bounce. Davis moves well off the ball to get open looks from beyond the arc off the catch, has active hands and great lateral footwork to stay in front of his opponents, gets into his dribbling space, and has the timing to jump passing lanes, deflect passes, or poke the ball out to get up the court. BIg junior season coming up, with lots of Summer ball left.    TJ Dixon (6'4 | WG) - Bullard (Fresno CA)   The 6-foot-4 wing/guard is a lengthy and athletic player that impacts both ends of the court, is a versatile defender, and is improving as a scorer. Dixon is a great positional rebounder, has the wingspan and instincts to be a high-level on-ball defender, jumping passing lanes, poking the ball out, or deflecting passes, turning defense to offense routinely, and has the wingspan and timing to close out and alter perimeter shots. Dixon has solid handles, uses the crossover and hesitation to get by his initial defender, has good touch on shots around the basket, and is effective with the pull-up mid-range jumper. Dixon excels in the open court, where he can lean on his athleticism and on-court speed to get buckets in the open court.

Fresno, CA - This past weekend, Friday, May 29th through Sunday, May 31st, I attended the annual Clovis North Nike Summer Showdown, one of the top events to kick off the Summer high school portion of the calendar year. This event hosted some of the top teams from the Fresno/Clovis area, as well as squads from NorCal, which are formatted with Pool Play for the first two days, and bracket play on Sunday. This article takes a look at 6 standout rising juniors (class of 2028) prospects, which is Part 1 of a 3-part series looking at standout 2028s. That will be followed by a look at the top 2029 standouts from the event. In this article you will find the following information: players name, height, position, school, and their skill sets. The players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order, and we begin with Elijah Banuelos.