One of the top bigs of the class of 2010 writes from Akron, OH.
Dwight Powell, a rising senior at the IMG Basketball Academy, is one of the top recruits in the country. He plays AAU with Grassroots Canada. Schools in the ACC, PAC-10 and SEC have expressed interest such as Vanderbilt, California, UCLA, Stanford, Virginia and even Harvard. The 6-9, 220-pound forward is spending a few days this summer participating in basketball camps, including the NBPA Top 100, Harvard Camp, Amar’e Stoudemire Skills Academy and LeBron James Skills Academy. Powell, also a 4.0 student, will give SLAM a first-hand account of the camps throughout the summer.—Franklyn Calle
Today was one of those days where we all just kept going and going and going. With three workouts, a photo shoot, a presentation on the NBA, and the college scrimmages, we barely had a chance to catch our breath. It started out with workout one, which was focused on how to play as a team. We work a lot on proper spacing and movement away from the ball, as well as how to use all five players properly in a pick-and-roll situation.
After lunch, we had a shorter workout, which was specifically designated for shooting. The end of that practice found us in a little bit of competition while working on transition offense and defense. At this point, my body was starting to complain to me a bit, but surprisingly, I wasn’t too sore.
Once we got back to the hotel, we changed out of our practice gear and into the collared shirts that they gave us for our picture with LeBron. I was closer to the end of the line, but when I took my picture he still smiled. I was surprised that his jaw hadn’t cramped after more than 100 pictures but grateful that he gave the camera a “cheese.” From there, we went to dinner.
After refueling, we received a presentation from Mike Procopio – one of the nation’s best at creating scouting reports in the NBA and developing their game plans. He basically gave us the unsweetened version of what we have ahead of us.
We were shown all of the numbers. The amount of All-Americans who make it. How many players go Europe and don’t make it to the league. How many players made it through it all and are now big-time players in the NBA. The message that I took from his presentation was that rankings don’t mean anything. Just because you’re top-20 ranked, that doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed anything and vice versa. The common denominator amongst those who made it is drive, determination and a willingness to work.
We then departed for our last workout of the day. Although many were tired and soar, there were some great moments of teamwork and unselfishness. I was actually switched to another team moments before tip-off, so I got a chance to play with my Grassroots Canada teammate Myck Kabongo, which was good. They kept the games fairly short because they were just evaluation games, and they didn’t want games getting sloppy.
The final thing that we had today was the college scrimmage. While we were still playing, they showed up and started warming up to hit the floor as soon as we finished.
They were split into teams, and LeBron had his own team. In all the college player’s eyes, I could see a little fire burning, with all of them itching to show what they have against arguably the best player in the world. One player in particular definitely left their mark in Jordan Crawford of Xavier. On an inbounds play, The King was a step slow, and Crawford put a two-hand dunk on him.
I was shocked, but nothing will change my opinion of King James. Jordan Crawford on the other hand has some bounce!
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