Top 15 High School Basketball Players in Washington--5/23/09

Here are our latest High School basketball player power rankings since March. Like the previous rankings, these will not include departing seniors like Peyton Siva or Abdul Gaddy. With a lot of spring basketball played we have had a chance to evaluate a new crop of players. The grades listed for players on this list will reflect their grade for the 2009-10 season. 

As always, let us know your opinion on the list in the comments.

These are who we believe to be the top 15 players in the state regardless of class or position

1. Josh Smith (Sr.) Kentwood-PF/C--Has not improved much, but is still the dominant player we all know.  He is a little overweight at 280lbs, and he still has a lot of areas that need developing. Once he loses some weight he will be more effective in the post. Right now it seems as he is a little limited, he will not be able to just bully his shot into the basket at the D1 level.

2. Tony Wroten (Jr.) Garfield-PG-- It's been hard for me to know whether people consider Wroten a point guard or a shooting guard. Either way, it looks like his passing skills are beginning to become more impressive than his scoring ability. Scouts have all noted his willingness to dish the ball and find the open man. Wroten does get a little too flashy at times and would benefit from sticking to a fundamentally sound game. View a more complete profile of him here.

6. Cole Dickerson (Sr.) Federal Way-G/F--Although he plays around the rim a lot, he is undersized at 6-7. He is a Brandon Roy type of player, he'll do a lot of things well, but nothing spectacular. He is not super athletic, but succeeds by playing a fundamentally sound game. His shot is not consistent yet, hinting that he still has a long way to go. Dickerson has a lot of upside, it will be interesting to see how much he improves over the summer.

7. Christian Behrens (Jr.) Tahoma-F--An under-the-radar player, Behrens averaged 20.5ppg as a sophomore. We'll be hearing his name a lot more next season. He's 6-8 and apparently still growing. If he gets taller, he could start gaining some serious notice from colleges if he hasn't already.

8.  Joe Harris (Sr.) Chelan-SG--Plays for Friends of Hoop along with John Gage and Aaron Bright. Dropped over 40 points in a state tournament game last year. A 6-6 frame with point guard skills. Tall frame will get him some serious D-1 college consideration.

9. John Gage (Sr.) Vashon Island-PF--I have not heard of Gage until some of my friends that play basketball mentioned dreading to play his team in the Spring. He has great size at 6-10, and more importantly he can make his free-throws.


10. Jaamon Echols (Sr.) Rainier Beach-PG--There is a rumor going around that Echols got kicked off the Northwest Panthers (can't confirm it), but for whatever reason, Echols needs to be ready by next November to play for the Rainier Beach Vikings. He really came out of nowhere and has become an entertaining player to watch. He has a very small frame at 5-10 and 155lbs. He'll need to bulk up this summer to receive some scholarship offers.

11. Brett Kingma (Jr.) Jackson-SG--Jackson isn't your ideal place to play basketball, but Kingma has raised eyebrows in his performances for the Emerald City Pioneers. We saw Kingma play in early June and he looked good. He will need some help from his Jackson teammates if he wants a shot to play in the state tournament. I'd like to see him be more aggressive in penetrating to the hole.

13. Jerron Smith (Jr.) Decatur-G

14. Anrio Adams (So.) Franklin-G

15. Tanner Riley (Sr.) Mount Si-F