Arizona Basketball may lose recruits at Pangos All-American game
The Arizona basketball recruiting team may have to put in some extra hours, as NBA scouts will be present at the Pangos All-American game for the first time.
It finally happened! The NBA has taken the first step to recruit stars out of high school. A memo was to be published on Tuesday according to Adam Zagoria (ZagsBlog), but we could not find it. In any case, it was confirmed by Evan Daniels that NBA Scouts would indeed be attending the 16th annual Pangos All-American Camp this coming weekend. Daniels also stated that there would be “multiple” certified camps.
The Pangos All-American will be the first camp to include NBA Scouts who will be evaluating high school talent camp this weekend on June 1-3, 2018. Recruits taking part this year include Arizona Basketball offered hoopers like Sierra Canyons five-star guard Cassius Stanley who recently put Arizona in his top six. Also attending are Arizona-offered five-star shooting guard Josh Green and 6-foot-10 center, Charles Bassey who won the Pangos Most Outstanding Player award last year.
NBA Scouts will be allowed to “attend and observe” some of the top high school players from the upcoming 2019-2021 classes. But first, they will have to register. The Pangos Director Dinos Trigonis has been vocal throughout the FBI investigation reports, wanting to solve the AAU issues.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver apparently wants his teams to get a head start by allowing scouts to start looking at high school athletes but not changing the one-and-done rule until the 2020 NBA Draft. According to Jeff Zillgitt, USA Today Sports the rule won’t be replaced in 2019, “The issue needs to be collectively bargained and agreed on between the league and players’ union (NBPA). The league and union do not have to wait until the current CBA expires to negotiate a rule change.”
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Silver and NBPA executive director Michele Roberts appeared before the Condoleezza Rice lead NCAA commission. Rice believes athletes should be paid at least from their likeness, “We believe that students ought to be able to benefit from name, image, and likeness but you can’t decide a program until you know the legal parameters.” Her commission agreed on some of the following additional recommendations:
- The NBA should get rid of their “One-and-Done” rule.
- Allow high school players to consult with NCAA certify agents beginning in high school
- Allow undrafted, unsigned players to return to play in college.
- Develop a standard way for athletes to complete their degree after turning pro if they complete two years in good standing.
Because the rule is nearing its end, the entire landscape is changing when it comes to high school athletes, AAU teams, feeder leagues and scouting. The NBA has put aside $50 Million to support the Jr. NBA according to big-time East Coast Jr. NBA Program Director Keith Ivey.
The idea is to go global starting this year with a Jr. NBA international tournament this August 2018. Jr. NBA leagues are forming all over the world and especially in the USA. Ivey puts on one-day Jr. NBA Skills Camps for athletes to attend and keep coming to improve their skills with the opportunity to make it to one of his teams that will compete in Global Jr. NBA Tournaments (think Little League World Series for the NBA).
While the Jr. NBA/NBA proceeds to blow up their pre-college leagues, and there are other pro-am leagues forming across the country including Lavar Ball’s JBA, the JBL which is currently in the post-season and the Drew League which start next weekend and will include Arizona’s, Ira Lee.
Along with the Pangos Camp, the NBA certified the Signature All-Canadian Showcase which will be headlined by R.J. Barrett (Duke commit). Barrett is projected by ESPN to be the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA draft.
We interviewed both Stanley and Bassey at last years event and plan to make it to this year’s event:
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As we said, the landscape of college and NBA recruiting AAU and high school basketball players is already changing. The question is, which leagues and camps will survive and thrive as the future key camps for NBA scouts to attend? Trigonis has already established his camp as the premier camp, so count him in as a trailblazer to continue to support the athletes to make sure they get the best looks and opportunities.