CREI: Bucket-Getters

I traveled to Kansas City this weekend to check out the Crossroads Elite Invitational event at the Home Field facility. The game had an interesting structure, with two full days of games followed by a final alignment that saw only the top 80 prospects to advance to the championship day as teams were re-assigned to compete in win-and-advance tournament style competition. With the blend of drill work in the fundamentals on day 1 and the competitive atmosphere spurred on by the top-80 concept, it was a really intriguing field to evaluate from within. Let's dive into some of the best scorers that I saw this week!      -Man oh man can Jackson create for himself at a high level in the halfcourt as a guard that proved quite adept at creating space for himself with his dribble. Jackson scored effectively off the bounce from all 3 levels, saw the floor well as a primary creator that required a good amount of defensive attention, and manipulated defenders in ball screens to either sit behind the pick and knock down a shot or take advantage of the lane to the rim to get an easy two. Loved the consistency of his form and balance on both sidestep or stepback 3s with a consistent rainbow lift on his jumper. Jackson also displayed the traits of a gamer, a prospect that raises his level of play in crunch time or when faced with double teams or other aggressive defensive formations.      -Ultra smooth southpaw point guard prospect that gets to his spots effectively in the halfcourt and is always a threat to score. Love the pace that he plays with coming off of ball screens, often using a hesi dribble right after the screen to freeze the helper and force the defense to commit before he delivered the correct read. Gillum doesn't need a ton of space to get off his shot and had success against a variety of different defenders both on the perimeter in the halfcourt and in transition. Gillum also showed an ability to manipulate the defense effectively with his eyes and possesses an ambidextrous handle that allows him to capitalize on live dribble reads to hit the roller, the shake, or skip opposite to his shooters.     -Pughsley had perhaps the most nuclear shooting performance of the weekend with seven 3s in the semifinal game (2 OTB, the rest OTC or off movement) to push his team to the championship game— where he immediately canned two 40' bombs from the logo in the 1H of the championship matchup. Pughsley proved to be a tough shot-taker and tough shot-maker that excelled at creating for himself off the bounce without a ball screen. Loved his speed in the open floor as a dynamic PG looking to constantly attack to create advantage situations for his team in transition.     -Williams turned in a productive weekend at CREI as a productive shot-making wing that got to his spots pretty efficiently in the halfcourt. Loved the way that a consistently-good midrange jumper off of one or two-dribble drives from the wing opened up opportunities for the rest of his game as his matchup or help defenders sold out to contest his jumper, leading to several open downhill drive or pump fake step through floaters. Williams also spaced the floor well for his team as a movement shooter that utilized pump fakes and side steps to create good looks at the rim from deep. Defensively I thought he took a step forward as a wing prospect that can guard most 1-3 opponents that he faced throughout the week while chipping in effectively in the paint on bigs to help out on box-outs or switches to give his team some lineup versatility.     -Loved the diversity of the scoring and impact that Stanfield had throughout the week as a 2-way wing. Stanfield showcased his trademark pullup midrange jumper throughout the week, getting to his spots effectively whether it was pulling up from the midpost or from 18' feet to bury a jumper. But this week he really showed his defensive versatility as a wing that can chest up with bigs or slide with guards on the perimeter, especially impacting the game with steals as a the low man or with timely rotations on the back line to come up with blocks that in turn ignited the fast break for his team. I also thought that he did a great job throughout the weekend of playing through his defender's chest—particularly in transition—to score effectively at the rim.

I traveled to Kansas City this weekend to check out the Crossroads Elite Invitational event at the Home Field facility. The game had an interesting structure, with two full days of games followed by a final alignment that saw only the top 80 prospects to advance to the championship day as teams were re-assigned to compete in win-and-advance tournament style competition. With the blend of drill work in the fundamentals on day 1 and the competitive atmosphere spurred on by the top-80 concept, it was a really intriguing field to evaluate from within. Let's dive into some of the best scorers that I saw this week!