The Stage, Act 1: Second Five

<p>I spent much of the first spring live period in three years at Open Gym Premier’s facility in Anaheim for The Stage, Act 1, a collaboration between OGP and the Compton Magic. </p> <p>The event also served as the first session of the Adidas Gold series, with those games all happening in Anaheim. </p> <p>With a solid turnout of coaches and prospects, the event proved to be a good opportunity to evaluate prospects that might be hovering below major college radars. In this report, I’ll list my second 5 standouts overall. </p> <h2>The Stage, Act 1: Second Five </h2> <h3>Tru Washington, 2023 G, Arizona Firestorm Elite</h3> <p>It’s always tough to be the younger sibling of a star athlete, but Washington, the younger brother of Kentucky guard Ty Ty Washington, is a strong player in his own right. The 6-4 athletic slashing wing puts pressure on defense attacking the rim and finishing through contact. Washington, a lefty, also scored it effectively from midrange and the three off the bounce. </p> <p><a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2022/04/IMG_7728.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1427859" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2022/04/IMG_7728-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p> <h3>Alier Alier, 2024 WF, SF Rebels 16u</h3> <p>An explosive four man, the 6-8 Orangewood Academy prospect dominated the 16u division most of the weekend. He does a little bit of everything - he can hit corner threes with improving consistency, he’s a capable slasher and scorer off the drive, but his explosive leaping and rim running are his best attributes on both ends. </p> <h3>[player_tooltip player_id="970271" first="Makaih" last="Williams"], 2022 G, Cali Rebels 17u</h3> <p>Williams led his team to a 4-0 weekend, and dominated guard competition throughout. A 6-2 freak athlete with underrated scoring (shot it consistently from three, and got paint touches and played on balance) and ball skills, Williams, who is still 17, is weighing a prep year in the hopes of currying D1 interest. </p> <p><a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2022/04/IMG_7578.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1427860" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2022/04/IMG_7578-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p> <h3>[player_tooltip player_id="970270" first="Marqui" last="Worthy"], 2023 G, Team Veritas 17u</h3> <p>Worthy has been so dominant on the 17u level for so long I think we’re beginning to underappreciate what he does. The 6-3,  physically strapping combo guard is a downhill menace who gets into the paint pretty much when he wants to. He can score off of one or two feet when he gets there, and does a solid job of finding the open shooters on drive and kick. He also has solid touch from three off the catch. </p> <h3>[player_tooltip player_id="935898" first="Kaden" last="Ericksen"], 6-2 G, UBC Elite 17u</h3> <p>The [player_tooltip player_id="934472" first="Collin" last="Chandler"] lookalike has big game in his own right. A knockdown shooter and three level scorer, Ericksen - from Syracuse High in Utah - also did some good things out of pick and roll, locating shooters on the weak side and finding his big man in places where he could be effective. He was one of the more underrated playmakers on hand at any level. </p>