By Nathan Nichols
High School Sports Guest Writer
Over the past decade the Seattle area has become a new hot spot for scouts and college coaches to discover unprecedented basketball talent. Names such as Nate Robinson, Brandon Roy, Martell Webster, Terrence Williams, and Spencer Hawes give testament to the caliber of basketball being played in the Emerald City. But who will carry on this legacy?
While watching many of the best high school basketball teams in Washington play at the Franklin Summer Slam and getting the chance to play a whole 2 minutes and 30 seconds against Bellevue I discovered who will fill the shoes of these household names who have put Seattle hoops on the map.
I’ll start with the Josh Smith, a 6 ‘9 center from Kentwood who is only going to be a junior next year. At 280 pounds, Smith is impossible for tall and lanky or undersized and stocky high school centers to handle. He can go up with the left or right hand and absorb contact while still being able to finish the shot. His mid range jumper is decent and the hack-a-Shaq strategy doesn’t even work against him because he can knock down free throws.
There was another unstoppable force, Tony Wroten, a sophomore who I didn’t believe could be half as good as all the hype people were giving him. However, between his multiple thirty point games and what seemed to be a massive group of disciples that traveled to watch him play, I truly began to understand why he was not only the future of Seattle basketball, but possibly the future of college hoops and beyond. He has the ability to do it all, defensively and offensively, and is nearly unstoppable when driving to the basket because he can throw it down over almost anyone. I still think that he will ultimately have to become more unselfish in order to make Garfield a legit contender for the 4A title next year though.
Another contender for that 4A title will be Bellarmine Prep, who has two stars in Avery Bradley and Abdul Gaddy. During the tournament I was able to see Bellarmine play Garfield and both Bradley and Gaddy lit it up. Even though Garfield won the game on a last second shot, Bradley and Gaddy proved why they’re two of the top players in the nation with an array of dunks, jumpers, and lay-ins worthy of being top ten plays on Sportscenter. Both can take defenders off the dribble and knock down deep jumpers with hands in their faces. Bradley and Gaddy will be seniors next year, and as the Seattle Times reported a few weeks ago they are considering going to college as package. Both these guys have bright futures and whatever program can land them will likely be putting up wins and tournament bids over the next couple years.
Talking about bright futures, another player I saw play was Peyton Siva . A senior at Franklin next year, Siva is a strong point guard who controls the tempo of the game. He can pass dimes and can knock down jumpers in defenders eyes. The only problem is that it seems like he shoots almost too much. When Franklin played Mt. Rainier they almost ended up losing but Siva didn’t play for a considerable part of the second half. However, I can’t really judge him just off one game because he ended up being the tournament MVP. Led by Siva, Franklin will definitely be one of the favorites to win the 3A title this coming year after moving down from 4A.
The five players I mentioned in this article are just a few of the best high schoolers in Washington. There are still many other great players that will make names for themselves next season. Most importantly, I realized that Seattle's basketball future is as bright as its ever been and the Franklin Summer Slam holds testament to that.
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