2012 Nike Hoop Summit Review

        The World Select Team defeated Team USA's Junior Select team by a score of 84-75, but both teams had a solid showing of future NBA prospects, especially the world team in the win.

        There were a few US prospects who should see a nice boost in their positioning on our future 2013 Big Board, while others will see a slight fall based on the latest player measurements and performances from the 2012 Nike Hoop Summit. On the World Select side, there were a couple of standouts who will surely see the results of this game impact their 2012 and 2013 Draft potential. Here's a review of the top prospects:

You can find the entire box score here: http://www.usabasketball.com/photos/12_hsum_box_score.pdf

Junior Select Team USA

Kyle Anderson, the future UCLA Bruin, a silky smooth point forward, has the size of a power forward at 6'9", but the skill set of a point guard. With a 7'2" wingspan, Anderson uses his length well on both ends of the floor as a ball-handler and defending the ball. He finished the game with 12 points, a team-high 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals for the US squad.

Shabazz Muhammad is still undecided about his future playing career; scouts were not too pleased by his measurements- coming in at under 6'6" with shoes and 6'4 ½" in socks- not what they were looking for from the future NBA-small forward. However, his 6'11 ¼" wingspan certainly helps. Oh, that, and his Hoop Summit record of 35 points on 12-of-27 shooting and 9 rebound performance. His intensity and aggressiveness was the best of all the players.

Mitch McGary will play his basketball next season at Michigan for a potentially stocked team returning. He came in at a shade under 6'10" in shoes, but his 263 pounds seemed to weigh him down, clearly affecting his athleticism and conditioning; he played only 5 minutes in the game, picking up 3 fouls and scoring just one bucket.

Kaleb Tarczewski is still a work in progress, but it most definitely helps that the 19-year old measured in at 6'11 ¾", 240 pounds and impressive athleticism and agility for a player of his size. The downside is his length is below average with a 6'11" wingspan and he played just 8 minutes and failed to score or register a rebound.

Nerlens Noel was the most impressive frontcourt player for Team USA, but still has a ways to go if he wants to live up to his lofty potential that front offices expect from him. He measured in at 6'11" with an impressive 7'4" wingspan. He has tremendous athleticism and the rest of his game is slowly coming along for this soon-to-be 18-year old prospect. Noel had 5 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals and 4 blocked shots off the bench for the US.

World Select Team

The World team's two best players Evan Fournier (our top international prospect in the 2012 NBA Draft) and Dmitry Kulagin were unable to participate due to injury, which allowed a second-round sleeper, Dario Saric to shine.

Dario Saric, as mentioned above, shined with game-high 14 rebounds, 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting and 5 assists to lead his team to victory. The 6'10" Saric was a member of the World team that lost to Team USA a year ago, but still isn't eligible for the Draft for another year. In practices and the game he utilized his size well to score inside and out and showed impressive body control throughout.

Andrew Wiggins was the World team's second most impressive player despite just turning 17-years old in February, making him ineligible until the 2015 NBA Draft. At 6'7" with a 6'11" wingspan and a near 200-pound frame, Wiggins' has smooth athleticism with his skill level still playing catch-up; he had a team-high 20 points on 7-of-18 shooting and was the only player on either team to hit more than one 3-point attempt, going 2-of-6. He collected 7 rebounds, a steal and two blocks.

Anthony Bennett, another Canadian prospect along with Wiggins, plays for Findlay College Prep and has his choices of colleges to play for at the next level. He stands at 6'7" in shoes, making him a small forward prospect despite the fact that his game is more fitting for a power forward, but nonetheless, Bennett has a diverse and still developing skill set. He knocked down a couple of jumpers, including a 3-point ball, and collected 11 rebounds by way of his hulky strength and great energy.

Wang Zhelin, a 7-footer playing in China, was perhaps the game's biggest impact player and will see his stock get a giant boost from his performance. He measured in at 7-feet and 250 pounds and saved his best performance for last in the actual game. Zhelin used his size well inside, scoring 19 points on an effective 8-of-11 shooting mark with 4 offensive rebounds and 8 total. He did all of this in under 22 minutes as he suffered with 4 personal fouls.


By President - Corey Ruff - 4-8-12