2021 Season Preview: Some of the Buffalo Area’s Best Forwards

<p>To continue prepping for the 2021 High School season, let’s take a look at some of the best forwards in the Buffalo area that you should keep your eye on.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Max Dowling | 6’6" SR | Canisius High School</strong></p> <p>Dowling is a talented inside-outside forward that would be most accurately categorized as a flexible stretch-four. Offensively, he’ll do most of his damage on the interior, but can step out use his funky, silky-smooth stroke to knock down spot-up jumpers. He has some solid, throw-back post spins in his bag of tricks that he will regularly go to when he's looking to score inside. These post moves, combined with his really nice touch on turn-around floaters, make him a lethal scorer close to the hoop. On defense, he makes the biggest impact inside getting blocks. He’s able to use his size and length to regularly send shots away and intimidate opposing attackers. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Joe Harrington | 6’4" JR | Lancaster High School</strong></p> <p>Harrington will be one of the most exciting bigs to watch this season, as he heads into just his Junior year. In contrast to Dowling, he has more of a new-school interior presence on offense. With less of a focus on slower, more traditional post moves and more of a focus on swift, instinctual moves to slice inside and score. To supplement this, he also has the ability to take a step back and hit threes and mid-rangers. An especially fun part of Harrington’s game is his passing ability. He’ll make excellent reads and pull out no-look and behind the back passes to cutters and open players around him. It won’t happen all that often, but when it does, it’ll get you out of your seat. Defensively, the name of his game aggression and instincts. He will come up with big blocks and steals due to his strength and tenacious nature on D. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1047868" first="Demarri" last="Jones"] | 6’4" SR | Jamestown High School</strong></p> <p>Jones is going into his Senior season as the reigning ECIC Player of the Year, listed as a power forward. Last year, he averaged 17.4 points and 10.5 rebounds a game, while shooting 58% from the field. To better explain what makes [player_tooltip player_id="1047868" first="Demarri" last="Jones"] so dominant against his high school competition, let me point out that he's most likely listed as a 4 for the same reason that Zion Williamson is listed as a 4: he has the size to be a big, but the skill and athleticism to be a wing. First, we should address an ability to dunk in traffic and transition that could make you do a spit-take. Alright, now that that’s out of the way, we can talk about the rest of his contributions on offense. He is regularly able to use his body to make space for himself inside, and he has the footwork and finishing ability to score consistently at the rim. To round out his scoring, he has a solid outside jumper and the touch to get floaters to fall from the mid-range. And if all of that wasn’t enough to worry about, he is more than capable of making good reads in drive-and-kick situations. Jones is tenacious on both the offensive and defensive boards and active on defense. But, the really fun part of his defensive game is that he has the athleticism and timing to convert some jaw-dropping chase-down blocks. </p>