7/24/2000

From Clark Francis at www.hoopscooponline.com

Our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson also attended the final day of Five-Star Pitt III on Monday and 6'5 Soph Lebron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH was the talk of the camp. James was the first player in the history of Five-Star to play in two all-star games (the Developmental League all-star game and the NBA all-star game) on the same night. This occurred when 6'5 Devin Green from Akron (Buchtel) OH had to leave early to go to Orlando, FL for the National 17-Under AAU Tournament. James took Green's spot on the Jazz in the NBA and, as a result, played over half the league games, which qualified him for the all-star game.

In addition, James also continued to play in all the Developmental Games. As a result, he took home the following hardware: Top Scorer in the Developmental League (16.6 ppg), Most Outstanding Player in the Developmental League, and the Most Promising Prospect in the entire camp. The legandary Tom Konchalski, who has created the Developmental League for Five-Star years ago, told Johnson that James is the most talented and advanced prospect in that league since Duane Ferrell in 1981. And that includes players like Stephon Marbury, Rasheed Wallace, Felipe Lopez, Tim Thomas, et al. "In addition to his natural talent and skills, what separates James from all the rest is his ablitity to make his teammates better," says Johnson. And that's why James, who also was very impressive at the adidas Big-Time Tournament (26.0 ppg), will be ranked as the #1 ranked sophomore nationally by the HOOP SCOOP.

Apparently Ohio State and Cincinnati agree, because both the Buckeyes and the Bearcats have been following him around all summer.

Johnson thought the second best player in the Developmental League was 6'4 Soph Mike Sawyer-Jones from Braintree (Thayer) MA, who was named the MVP in the Orange-White Developmental All-Star Game. Others worth mentioning are 6'5 Soph Wendell White from Redando Beach (Redondo Union) CA, 6'6 Soph Ije Nwankoo from Birmingham (Detroit Country Day) MI, 6'7 Soph Craig Cashen from Cincinnati (St. Xavier) OH, 6'6 Soph Parnell Smith from Indianapolis (Pike) IN, 5'11 Soph Michael Word from Fairburn (Creekside) GA, and 5'5 Soph Andrew Lavender from Columbus (Brookhaven) OH, who was voted the top playmaker and playoff MVP in the Developmental League.

The MVP of the NBA Orange-White All-Star Classic was 6'5 Reggie Stovell from Lakeville (Hotchkiss School) CT. He scored 13 points and grabbed 16 rebounds for the victorious Orange Team, plus he was named the Best Rebounder in the NBA.

The Most Outstanding Player in the NBA was 6'2 Melvin Scott from Baltimore (Southern) MD, the Best Defender was 6'8 Guy Sarargba from the Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, the Most Improved and the Playoff MVP was 5'11 Cymere McLain from Worcester (Holy Name) MA.

Who is LeBron James, you ask? Have you been living in a cave,baby? The high-school phenom has received all kinds of publicity, and the freight train has run away. The express has been going full steam ahead, and we've been behind in catching on.

High-school phenom LeBron James already is the darling of the 2003 NBA draft. The following ESPN crew will be there: play-by-play man Dan Shulman (I hope he's not being paid by the word, because high-school games have eight-minute quarters and he has quite a group with him!), Bill Walton, Jay Bilas and yours truly. It's going to be Fun City as James' high school, St. Vincent-St. Mary, takes on Oak Hill Academy, which is among the premier high-school basketball programs in the nation year in and year out. I'm more curious than ever to see James play. In talk

ing to people and doing my research, the reviews on him are amazing. On a scale of 1-5, they have come in at 5+, starting with Howard Garfinkel of the Five-Star Basketball Camp. He said James is the only player in his camp to play in both the developmental league and the big league as a sophomore at the same time. He was a dominant performer in both, an amazing young talent.

I remember Garfinkel calling me at 10:30 one night screaming that James was the best he's seen on the high-school level. He said it was unreal, watching the young man go against Carmelo Anthony in a contest in New Jersey. Garfinkel said James was in a class by himself.

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