SLAM’s HS diarist hits the hardwood again.
After going down to a season ending knee injury early in his high school outro, Quincy Miller spent the majority of his final year of high school rooting on Westchester Country Day as they hoped to make their run to the state championship. You’d think not being selected to the McDonald’s All-American Game because of injury and being unable to compete in the Jordan Brand Classic may have been a major mental setback for a player so early in his development. Not for Quincy. It only made him hungrier.
Eager to show off the hard work that he put in on his game, the SLAM Magazine diarist for 2010 invited ourselves and BallisLife to The Rush in Jamestown, NC to catch a run with some of the top guys in the area. There weren’t any plays being ran, nobody was diving on the floor for loose balls, and there weren’t any refs calling ticky-tack fouls. It was old-fashioned pick up with some new school players. Here are some of the guys who did their thing:
Quincy Miller, 6-10, SF/PF, Baylor, Freshman
The first thing that immediately caught your eye about Quincy was how much stronger that he’s gotten. Looking every bit of 225 pounds now, he’s got the size to battle with the big boys down low in the Big 12. Naturally he didn’t have his usual bounce or explosiveness going to the rack (which could be expected on his first day back), but that didn’t stop Q from banging on someone bad in the video. In terms of his skills, it was clear that Miller had been putting in work on his post game and you could see by the added moves to his repertoire. His jumper was falling as usual and he looked like he tightened his handle up a bit. There’s still plenty of room for improvement for Q on the defensive end, but there’s no denying that he’s going to make a monster impact on what will be a downright scary Baylor team next season.
JT Terrell, 6-3, SG, Wake Forest, Sophomore
Though he had an up and down freshman season for a struggling Wake Forest squad, the future is looking hella bright for JT Terrell. He spent a lot of time working his game off of the bounce, which has the potential to be insane given his explosiveness and that the D has to play him honest for his jumper. There aren’t many guys in all of college basketball who can create their own shot as well, so expect BIG things out of the Charlotte native this season playing under ex-Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik at Wake.
Marshall Moses, 6-6, PF, Oklahoma State graduate
Moses didn’t get too much run in, as he twisted his ankle on a ridiculous dunk and called it a wrap. The former Oklahoma State high flyer was prepping his game for Europe and you could see that his post game had four years of college seasoning as opposed to the young pups that he was playing with. Moses will likely be heading across the pond to take his game to Europe since he doesn’t quite have the perimeter skills to make it in the League at this time.
Josh Newkirk, 6-2, PG, Word of God (NC), 2013
The electric point guard from John Wall’s alma mater made a few plays throughout the day that just made you go WOW. It’s not too often that you see a young point guard with that combination of size and athleticism who goes hard every time out, making him one of the more unique point guards in the sophomore class. Already leading Team United to the 16-U ‘ship at Gibbons, expect to hear more big things out of Newkirk as the summer goes on.
Aaron Scales, 6-9, C, High Point Christian (NC), 2012
Not really a guy who is well known by many, Scales has been in the gym every day and it’s shown with the amount of improvement that he’s made to both his body and his skill set. The big body showed off a feathery touch from the perimeter and showed flashes of being able to bang with the big boys down low. As long as Aaron keeps getting tougher and putting in hella hours in the gym like he has been this spring, he’s definitely a name that you’ll be hearing more about once the live period rolls around in July.
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