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July Live Period Week One Superlatives

jaylen brown brandon ingram

Jaylen Brown and Brandon Ingram remain two of eight uncommitted All-Americans (adidas)

jaylen brown brandon ingram

Jaylen Brown and Brandon Ingram remain two of eight uncommitted All-Americans (adidas)

The first July Live Period came to an end on Sunday. We have writers at each of the three major events during the week, with Scott Phillips covering adidas Unrivaled, Raphielle Johnson covering the LeBron Camp and Rob Dauster at Reebok Breakout and The Showdown. Here are our week one superlatives:

PLAYER OF THE WEEK:


  • Ben Simmons: “Simmons has the ability to take advantage of mismatches on the offensive end of the floor due to his versatile skill set. Defend him with a smaller, quicker player and he can go into the paint to score. Use a bigger, slower man and he can perform well out on the perimeter. And his defensive ability was solid as well throughout the week in Las Vegas."- Rapheille Johnson
  • Brandon Ingram: “The five-star prospect from North Carolina scored the ball in a number of ways and played with more confidence and physicality than in the past. He went right at the top small forward in the country, Jaylen Brown, and showed no fear.” - Scott Phillips
  • Dwayne Bacon: “There aren’t many players in the Class of 2015 that can get buckets the way that Dwayne Bacon can get buckets. The 6-foot-6, five-star wing capped off his week with a 43-point performance over a team that includes Arizona-commit Justin Simon.” - RD

PLAYER THAT LEFT US WANTING MORE:


  • Diamond Stone: “To be fair, this is not entirely Stone’s fault. He got sick during the first half of his first game at the camp. But for a guy that is ranked as the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2015 by some outlets, I was disappointed that he only dominated at Reebok Camp for roughly eight minutes.” - RD
  • Carlton Bragg: “When you see how talented Bragg is, you just want him to stop taking the terrible shots and silly plays that occasionally plague his game. When Bragg hits his first jumper it can be a good or bad thing because Bragg either gets hot or starts settling. He has some horrific misses for a top-15 player.” - SP
  • Stephen Zimmerman: “I’ll preface this by stating that it can be easy for big men who don’t get the ball as often as they’d like to get frustrated in camp setting, drifting out onto the perimeter as a result. But even with Zimmerman’s ability to step out onto the perimeter at times, it was almost as if he was negating one of his biggest advantages (his height) over other big men. Maybe he’ll bounce back playing with more familiar teammates when the Oakland Soldiers take part in the Peach Jam.” - RJ

BEST PROSPECT:


  • Chase Jeter: “No disrespect to Jaylen Brown --another fantastic prospect -- but Jeter continues to grow into a really good post prospect with a go-to move in his right hook. Jeter’s post defense and rebounding has started to improve throughout this year, as well.” - SP
  • Skal Labissiere: “Stone is probably the best prospect, per se, but I think Labissiere actually has a higher ceiling than Stone. The 6-foot-11 Haitian has huge hands, long arms, range to 19 feet and a soft touch on a righty jump hook. It’s a valuable skill to be able to dunk anything and everything around the rim. But I’ve yet to see him dominate comparable competition.” - RD
  • Ben Simmons: “Hard to pick anyone else for this spot, although there were other quality performers in Las Vegas. Ivan Rabb, Henry Ellenson, Jayson Tatum and 2017 guard Troy Brown all had their moments. But the pick here is Simmons.” - RJ

MOST UNDERRATED PROSPECT:


  • Horace Spencer: “I couldn’t love Horace Spencer’s game anymore than I do. He’s big, he’s athletic, he rebounds, he defends, he plays hard, he runs the floor, and he knocked down a couple jumpers this week. He’ll produce wherever he ends up.” - RD
  • Deng Adel: “When you consider Adel, now a Louisville commit, has been playing basketball in America for only a year, it becomes even more impressive to see the things he’s doing. He’s a high-motor, do-it-all wing with really good athleticism.” - SP
  • Aaron Falzon: “Listed as 6-foot-8, 214 at the camp, Falzon has the size of a player some programs would look to pigeonhole into the four spot. But his shooting ability from anywhere on the floor makes him a “mismatch” possibility at the college level. There was even talk at the camp of him being the best shooter in the class.” - RJ

SLEEPER OUTSIDE THE RIVALS TOP 150:


  • Grant Riller: “Loved what I saw from the 6-foot-2 guard from Orlando. He beat people off the dribble to the rim, hit a couple threes, split the defense on ball-screens and dunked all over one of the best athletes in the class of 2015, Chris Silva. Abilene Christian and Kennesaw State are his only offers right now.” - RD
  • Riley Welch: “A 2016 point guard from Colorado, Welch is the son of Brooklyn Nets assistant coach John Welch and was one of the adidas camp’s leaders in assists. With only interest from San Jose State and Denver, he’s being under-recruited and should have more teams calling soon.” - SP