Clovis West Nike Fall Shootout: Standout Lead Guards

Fresno, CA - This past Saturday, September 12th, I attended Day 1 of its annual two day event that wrapped up on Sunday, September 13th. The event featured teams from the Fresno/Clovis area, as well as Sacramento, Elk Grove, Selma, and Madera. I arrived for the start of games on day 1 and stayed until halftime of the final game of the day, as I had to get home. This article takes a look at 7 standout lead guards from the Shootout, with a blend from classes 2027 to 2030 (seniors to freshman), and will be followed by article that look at top guard/wing/slashers. In this article you will find the following information: the player's name, height, player position, current school they are attending, and the stats I kept from the event. We begin this article with a look at the rising prospect Dasani Davis.    The 6-foot-3 lead guard can score in volume playing on or off the ball, has the awareness to make plays to get others involved, and can light it up from beyond the arc to open up the floor. Davis has been really impressive throughout the Spring and Summer club portion of the basketball calendar, along with a great month of June with Central East, and he kept that high level of play on Day 1 at the Shootout, going for 15 points and 3 steals in a win against Clovis North. Davis took his game to another level in his team's second game of the day, as he would go off for 40 points, connecting on 7 threes, to go with 2 steals and 2 blocks in a win over Franklin of Elk Grove, showing his ability to be an elite scorer and score in volume with the 3-ball. Davis has elite handles, keeps the ball on a string to survey the floor, has a plethora of moves to create space from his defender, using the various crossover combos, hesitation, spin-move, fadeaway, and step-back to get his defender off balance, has good lift and accuracy on the jumper when he is hunting the mid-range shot, is a creative scorer at the basket, using the euro-step, spin-move, up-and-under, reverse, and floater to score among height in the paint, and moves fluidly off the ball, gets to his shot spots, and is nearly automatic with the 3-ball off the catch. Davis has good court vision to find open teammates off the drive and kick pass, up the court in transition, or cross court to open shooters, is a ball-hawk on defense, with active hands, quick feet, timing, and court awareness to deflect passes, jump passing lanes, poke the ball out, and alter perimeter shots on the closeout. Expect Davis and fellow back-court mate [player_tooltip player_id='2954272' first='Sier' last='Harbin'] to have a big year for the Bengals.      The 5-foot-10 point guard has court awareness, great ball skills, great on-court decision making, and can space the floor from beyond the arc. Green had a strong showing on Day 1 of the Clovis West Nike Fall Shootout, not with outlandish stats, but just his pace of play, control of the flow of the offense, and his ability to make the right reads to get others involved, but did have 7 points against Sheldon and 5 points in the first half against Franklin. Green has dynamic handles, keeps the ball on a string to probe the defense for openings to attack, has a variety of moves to get by his initial defender, using the crossover, wrap-behind, hesitation, spin-move, between-cross, and push-cross to get his defender on his heels, has a nice burst off the bounce to get paint touches, is a crafty scorer around the basket, using the euro-step, floater, and reverse lay-ups to score over height in the paint, and is effective with the jumper off the dribble from the mid-range to the 3-point line, as well as nice off ball movement to get open looks off the catch from beyond the arc. Green has great court vision, makes tight reads to open players off the drive and kick pass, to the diver out of the pick and roll action, or up the court in transition to score quickly to set up its signature pressure defense. Green allows the freshman phenom in Omar Muhammad to play off the ball and helps others get open for their shot opportunities.     The 5-foot-10 lead guard has shifty movement on the court, keeps his defender guessing, is a pesky perimeter defender, and can create his own shots when the team needs him to score instead of make plays. Griffin has great control of the pace of play, skill set to keep the defense on edge when he has the ball, and the wiggle and shiftiness to redirect the play to get teammates open for catch and score opportunities. Griffin has elite handles, keeps the dribble alive to find open players or holes in the defense, the court vision and decision making to find open teammates off the drive and kick pass, to his bigs out of the pick and roll action, cross court to open shooters, or up the court in transition to get ahead of the defense. Griffin has active hands on defense, quick lateral movement, and the timing to poke the ball out, deflect passes, or jump passing lanes to turn defense to offense, moves smoothly off the ball, finds his shot spots, and is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch.      The 6-foot-3 lead guard is a physical and skilled player that can score from 3 levels, create scoring opportunities for teammates, and a high-level two-way player that can turn the tide of the game in an instant. Harbin had a huge first game in a win over Clovis North, going for a game-high 24 points, connecting on 3 threes, as well as 6 steals and 4 assists, and controlled the flow of the game from start to finish. Harbin followed his strong first game with a 17 point, 4 assist, and 3 steal showing in a win over Franklin, and showed he is one of the top seniors in the Section and is primed for a big senior season. Harbin has a strong handle on the ball, keeps the dribble alive to survey the floor, has a variety of moves to get his defender off balance, using the various crossover combos, hesitation, step-back, fadeaway, and spin-move to create space from his opponent, changes pace and direction with the ball to keep his defender guessing, is accurate with the jumper from the mid-range to the 3-point line off the bounce, and is a crafty scorer around the basket, using the euro-step, up-and-under, spin-move, and reverse lay-ups to score in tight windows around the basket. Harbin is an elite on-ball perimeter defender with active hands, timing, and lateral footspeed to stay in front of his opponent, poke the ball out, deflect entry passes, or jump passing lanes to generate steals and turn defense to offense.      The 6-foot-3 lead guard has dynamic ball skills, creative shot-maker that can score from 3-levels, the court awareness to make plays to get others involved, and is a high-level two-way player when he is locked in on the defensive end. Muhammad had a huge 2nd half on Day 1 in an overtime loss to Sheldon, scoring 11 of his team-high 14 points after the break, connecting on 3 threes and was instrumental in the Golden Eagles 20-point comeback that forced OT, and he was also electric on the defensive end, hounding perimeter players, using his long wingspan, active hands, timing, and quick reactions to poke the ball out, deflect entry passes, or jump passing lanes to get out and run the floor in transition. Muhammad keeps the ball on a string to survey the floor, has elite ball skills, a mixture of moves to create space from his defender off the bounce, using the various crossover combos, hesitation, spin-move, fadeaway, and step-back to get his defender off balance, has a nice burst off the dribble with great body control to absorb contact in the air or on the attack, is a crafty scorer around the basket, using the euro-step, reverse, up-and-under, and spin-moves to score in close proximity but evade shot blockers, and is accurate with the jumper off the bounce from the mid-range to the 3-point line. Muhammad is active on the boards, has the court vision to make tough reads in tight windows off the drive and kick pass, to his diver out of the pick and roll action, up the court in transition to teammates ahead of the defense, and cross court to open shooters when the defense over-rotates.     The 6-foot-5 guard has the ball skills to control the flow of the offense, moves to break down his defender, is lethal when he catches fire from beyond the arc, and is a versatile and underrated perimeter defender. Sabir would have a strong showing in his team's opening game of the Shootout, going for 12 points and 2 steals taking down Clovis North. Sabir followed that outing with a game-high 16 points, connecting on a pair of threes, to help lead his squad to an overtime win over Clovis West. Sabir, has impressive handles, keeps the dribble alive to see what the defense is showing, the moves to create space from his defender, using the crossover, hesitation, wrap-behind, push-cross, fadeaway, step-back, and between-cross to get his opponent off balance, gets great lift with his size to shoot over most perimeter defenders, with accuracy from the middy to the 3-ball off the bounce, and is a crafty scorer at the basket to evade shot blockers, using the euro-step, up-and-under, and reverse lay-ups to get his shots off. Sabir moves fluidly off the ball, gets to his shot spots, can score in volume with the 3-ball off the catch, can guard the 1 through 4 positions, with active hands and timing to deflect passes, jump passing lanes, and alter shots on the wing with length on the close out.     Veals is a lengthy and skilled lead guard that can create his own shot, make plays for others, and has good positional size to impact the boards and see over the defense to set up the offense. Veals had a great first game for Franklin in a tough loss to Central East, as he would finish with 14 points, connecting on a pair of threes, and showing that he is ready to make the jump this season, as one of the main pieces for the Wildcats in the post-Aiden Rollins era. Veals has quality handles, keeps the ball on a string to set up the offense, has the court vision to make quality reads off the drive and kick pass, cross court to open shooters, or up the court in transition, moves fluidly off the ball to get open looks, gets to his shot spots, and is efficient with the 3-ball off the catch. Veals has a variety of moves to create shots off the bounce, using the crossover, wrap-behind, between-cross, hesitation, and spin-move to get his defender off balance, is accurate with the mid-range jumper through contact in the air, and a crafty scorer around the basket, using his length and crafty movement to evade rim protectors in the paint.

Fresno, CA - This past Saturday, September 12th, I attended Day 1 of its annual two day event that wrapped up on Sunday, September 13th. The event featured teams from the Fresno/Clovis area, as well as Sacramento, Elk Grove, Selma, and Madera. I arrived for the start of games on day 1 and stayed until halftime of the final game of the day, as I had to get home. This article takes a look at 7 standout lead guards from the Shootout, with a blend from classes 2027 to 2030 (seniors to freshman), and will be followed by article that look at top guard/wing/slashers. In this article you will find the following information: the player's name, height, player position, current school they are attending, and the stats I kept from the event. We begin this article with a look at the rising prospect Dasani Davis.