EYBL Las Vegas: 2029 Standout Wings

Las Vegas - Last week/weekend, Nike EYBL held its 4th Session at the Las Vegas Convention Center, which featured 20 hardwood courts and was the final stop before the illustrious Peach Jam this week in South Carolina. The event started on Wednesday, July 7th and ended Sunday, July 12th. I was in attendance from the 7th through the 9th to catch 3 days of action, and did my best to cover the 17u, 16u, and 15u divisions, so I may have not caught every player that stood out over the event. This article takes a look at 6 standout wings and slashers from the 2029 class (rising sophomores). This will be followed by a look at standout players by position per class.In this article you will find the following information: players name, height, position, school, club team, stats from the event, and a breakdown of their skill sets. The players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order, and we begin with Bear Acy.   [player_tooltip player_id='2854586' first='Austin' last=''] “Bear” Acy (6'5 | WG) - Chaminade/Drive Nation    Acy is a lengthy, athletic, and skilled wing/slasher that looks to punch it home when near the basket, is an emerging elite defender capable of defending the 1 through 4 positions at a superior level, and excels in the open court or when on the attack. Acy, a player I saw in late June at the annual California Scholastic Live event, had a sensational showing at Session 4, finishing with 14 points in a loss to [program_tooltip program_id='2371255' first='AB' last='Elite'], and averaged a stellar 23 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game over the 5 games in Vegas, and is establishing himself as one of the top rising sophomore prospects in the nation. Acy has a massive wingspan, good timing, and court awareness to block/alter shots in the paint, as well as the lateral agility to close out on perimeter shooters, has good foot-speed, active hands, and instincts to deflect entry passes, jump passing lanes, or poke the ball to get out and run in transition, and is relentless on the boards, limiting opponents to single shot possessions, and gets points off the put-back on missed shots. Offensively, Acy has solid handles, the moves to create off the bounce, using the hesitation, the crossover, the jab-step into the rip through, and the wrap-behind to get his defender off balance, has long strides to get by his initial defender and into the paint, has great body control through contact in the air on the mid-range jumper, using the up-and-under, the pump-fake into the step-through, or the fade-away shot to generate space from his defender with the length to shoot over most perimeter players, and is an assertive scorer around the basket, with quick leaping and bounce to go at the rim on a routine basis, as well as score with the reverse or up-and-under lay-ups. The sky really is the limit for his game and as he increases his accuracy from beyond the arc, he could be one of the top two-way wings in the country.   Nicholas Cannon (6'6 | WF) - The Academy at Smith/Team CP3   Cannon is a lengthy, skilled, and versatile wing/slasher that can score in volume from beyond the arc with range, is active on the boards, and has the moves to create off the wing once the defense over-pursues. Cannon and Team CP3 15s were the first team I watched arriving at Session 4 on opening day, and Cannon set the tone for me personally for the weekend with a monster game scoring the ball, finishing with 28 points, connecting on 7 threes, in a big win over NY Lightning, showcasing his elite shooting from deep. Cannon crashes the boards on both ends, limits opponents to single shot possessions, gets points off the put-back off the miss, has the wingspan, timing, and agility to block/alter shots in the paint, the foot-speed and length to alter perimeter shots, and the court awareness to jump passing lanes or deflect passes to generate turnovers to get out and run in the open court. Where Cannon asserted himself and had the greatest impact on the game was his sharp shooting from the 3-point line off the catch, displaying great off ball movement, gets to his shot spots to square his body up for the shot, and has the length and accuracy to connect on the 3-ball off the catch, as he displayed going 7 for 8 from distance. Cannon has the handles and the moves to create off the bounce when the defense over-pursues on the closeout, which is necessary with his sharp shooting from deep, using the pump-fake, the crossover or the hesitation to get by his initial defender, is accurate with the mid-range jumper off the dribble, using the traditional pull-up, as well as the spin-move and fade-away jumpers to create space from his defender, and is a crafty scorer around the basket to evade rim protectors. Intriguing long term prospect that can only go up from here with his efficiency from the perimeter.   E'Murion Jackson (6'4 | WG) - East Saint Louis Senior/Bradley Beal Elite   Jackson is a guard/slasher with superior athleticism, skill, and a physical style of play that keeps relentless pressure on opposing defenses, excels in the open court, and is a lock-up defender that turns defense to offense routinely. Jackson had a strong showing to kick off Session 4in a loss to the Oakland Soldiers, going for 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 steals to display his two-way skill set. Jackson has solid handles, keeps the dribble alive to attack openings in the defense, has the moves to create off the dribble, using the between-cross, crossover, hesitation, spin-move, and fadeaway to get space from his defender, is accurate with the middy off the bounce with body control in the air, has a great burst of speed off the dribble to get paint touches, where he is a crafty scorer around the basket with the floater, the up-and-under, and reverse lay-ups to score among height in the paint. Jackson has great lateral foot-speed to stay in front of his opponent, has active hands, good timing, and length to jump passing lanes, deflect passes, or poke the ball out to get out in transition, where he plays with speed and bounce to score in the open court.    [player_tooltip player_id='2767880' first='London' last='Jackson'] (6'7 | WF) - Harlan/[program_tooltip program_id='2371255' first='AB' last='Elite']   Jackson is an athletic, skilled, and physical wing/guard who keeps relentless pressure on the basket, has the versatility to defend the 1 through 4 positions at a high-level, and can light it up from deep off the bounce or the catch. Jackson had a strong showing at Session 4 in Vegas, and a great season overall on the EYBL Circuit to establish himself as one of the 2029s to keep an eye on the next three years, with a great showing against Drive Nation going for 20 points, coefficient on a pair of threes, 5 rounds, and 4 assists. Jackson makes his presence felt around the basket on the offensive end with put-backs off the miss, back-cuts to get open for the catch off the lob, and has great body control when attacking the basket, using the euro-step, up-and-under, and spin-move into the lay-up to evade height in the paint, and gets ahead of the defense in transition to get open for passes up the court and easy points. Jackson has the moves to create off the dribble, using the hesitation, spin-move, and crossover combos to get his defender off balance, has the strength to absorb and score through contact at the cup, moves fluidly off the ball to get to his shot spots, and is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch or the dribble to space the floor, connecting on the 3-ball at a high-clip to score in volume. The more Jackson develops his perimeter skill set and adds to his moves to create shots from the mid-range, he will be difficult to defend and is a major reason I was so impressed with his level of play.    Ty Kozlowski (6'6 | WF) - Corner Canyon/Utah Prospects    Kozlowski is a skilled, physical, and high IQ wing/slasher that makes his presence felt in the paint on both ends, can stretch the floor from beyond the arc, and makes plays to get others involved. Kozlowski had a monster game against Paul George Elite during Session 4, where he put up a great stat-line of 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals, showing he can put up points in volume and impact the game on the defensive end. Kozlowski makes his presence felt in the paint with relentless effort and positioning to control the boards, gets plenty of scoring opportunities off put-backs, tip-ins, or dunks off the miss, limits opponents to single shot possessions, has the handles to push the ball up the court, the court vision and precise passing to find open teammates up the court, off the drive and kick to the open shooters, and from the post area to teammates cutting off the ball, and has good timing and length to deflect passes or jump passing lanes to generate steals. Kozlowski moves well off the ball to find openings on the perimeter, gets to his shots spots, is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch, and is a creative scorer around the basket, using the euro-step, up-and-under, or absorb contact to finish among height in the post.    [player_tooltip player_id='3520104' first='Braylon' last='Sherwood'] (6'6 | WF) - Chaminade/Vegas Elite   Sherwood is a lengthy, athletic, and skilled wing/forward that has moves to score in the paint, as well as from the perimeter, and is a versatile two-way player that can spread the floor from beyond the arc. Sherwood, who I saw live for the first time at the annual California Scholastic Live event with Chaminade, and he brought that same high-level of play to Vegas for Session 4, going for 21 points in a win over ProSkills and is ready to have a strong sophomore campaign. Sherwood has solid handles, the moves to get his defender off balance, using the crossover, fade-away, hesitation, wrap-behind, and between-cross to create space from his defender, has great body control on the mid-range jumper off the bounce, and is a crafty scorer at the basket, using the euro-step, up-and-under, and reverse lay-ups to evade shot blockers, as well as the strength to absorb and finish through contact at the rim. Sherwood is active on the boards, looks to outlet and get up the court, and moves fluidly off the ball, gets to his shot spots, and is efficient with the 3-ball off the catch. The footwork, 3-level scoring, and the up-side all have him as a D1 prospect that should rise up the 2029 ranks on the West Coast.

Las Vegas - Last week/weekend, Nike EYBL held its 4th Session at the Las Vegas Convention Center, which featured 20 hardwood courts and was the final stop before the illustrious Peach Jam this week in South Carolina. The event started on Wednesday, July 7th and ended Sunday, July 12th. I was in attendance from the 7th through the 9th to catch 3 days of action, and did my best to cover the 17u, 16u, and 15u divisions, so I may have not caught every player that stood out over the event. This article takes a look at 6 standout wings and slashers from the 2029 class (rising sophomores). This will be followed by a look at standout players by position per class.In this article you will find the following information: players name, height, position, school, club team, stats from the event, and a breakdown of their skill sets. The players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order, and we begin with Bear Acy.