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Which NCAA prospect impresses you the most so far? Scout #2: “With Dybantsa, Peterson, and Boozer, I don’t think you can go wrong with any of those guys. Boozer surprised me the most. I saw him last summer in an AAU tournament. He was awesome. Depending on a team’s need, if you needed someone like him, I could see him going one. I don’t think people would think you’re crazy. He’s pretty damn good. He’s better than what I thought he would be. He’s able to impose his will on the game. He’s super competitive. His shot is going to improve. He’s not very athletic. But he gets a lot of things done. He’s a good player. As a freshman, I thought his athleticism would be an issue. But he has proven that he knows how to win.”
James told a story about playing in an AAU tournament with Kendrick Perkins when he was 14 and how some players were sitting in the stands eating fast food. “They were eating McDonald’s,” James said, smiling, “and I was eating fruits.”
Ian Begley: Harlem native and Cavs forward Nae’Qwan Tomlin spent time with kids in Harlem before the Cavs played the Knicks on Christmas Day. It’s important for Tomlin to be involved with & mentor kids in his hometown of Harlem. Tomlin has made it to NBA despite never playing HS or AAU ball
Nick DePaula: Paolo Banchero debuted the Air Jordan 4028 tonight at MSG — in a PE colorway inspired by his childhood team in Seattle. “This color is a shout to the AAU club that I grew up playing with, Seattle Rotary,” he told me of his series of PEs.
But former 14-year NBA veteran guard Raymond Felton doesn't buy into the idea that nationality determines a player's professionalism or coachability. "I'm in the AAU space. I'm an AAU coach. Some of these kids are not coachable, but then it's a lot of these kids that are coachable. F**k that overseas shit, overseas is better, this and that. No, overseas ain't better," Felton stated on To The Baha podcast. "I'm sorry, f**k that, they not. As a whole, they're not," the 41-year-old added. "Are they getting better? Yes, of course. They making kids play pros at 14 years old. 14-year-old kids are still playing AAU over here, they ain't playing against grown men, you know what I'm saying."
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Months ago, Damian Lillard tipped Duft off to an under-recruited point guard from Oakland — sound familiar? — who Lillard thought would be a good fit for Weber State. ArDarius Grayson committed in March, and is scheduled to play his first game on Nov. 3. “I don’t know what Dame told them,” Grayson said, “but it worked.” None of the NBA players listed in this story are taking a salary from their schools, though Weber State is toying with the idea of paying Lillard a nominal fee. “We’ve talked with our administration about, what are the rules exactly?” Duft said. “Could he go on the road? If there’s a summer AAU tournament he wants to be at, can he go and wear a Weber State shirt? I can see him wanting to get into it. We might have to pay him something so he could officially be an employee. Maybe like, $1 annually?”
Beyond the obvious team and personal success, what is it about this environment that makes you want to stay here long term? Braun: “That has been my whole career. I have wanted to win in one spot. I played with the same AAU team for seven years. I never switched up my AAU team. I was with my same high school coach my whole career and never switched high schools. I was at Kansas. I thought about leaving Kansas, but I couldn’t do it. I just wanted to be in the same spot. You gain a relationship with those people and trust with those people. So that’s who I am as a person. We’ve won here [in 2023]. I know what it takes to win. I know what it takes to win with this group and with this organization. I became really close with a lot of the guys around here. So being a Nugget means a lot to me.
Did constantly adjusting to new coaches and teams take more of a mental or physical toll on you, compared to college? Shane Larkin: I mean, yeah. I think I played with the same AAU team. I played two years in college, so I wasn't accustomed to the constant change. I think being able to be comfortable and being able to be truly who you are, and your teammates understand who your coaches are, the training staff, the city, the organization, everything, it allows you to kind of grow and blossom into who you're going to be. I was never able to find that opportunity anywhere in the league or early on in my career. When I finally was able to find that, I think that's when you started seeing my kind of improvement and see what kind of player I could actually turn into. And I think a lot of people go through it. The quote-unquote journeyman is a saying in basketball. And it's difficult. It's not easy. And you see a lot of guys who, especially smaller backup point guards that kind of go through that. Ish Smith played for, I think, half the NBA. So it's just part of the game. It's part of the journey. And it wasn't something that I wanted to continue to do. So when I finally found a home and I felt like this is a place that I could grow and kind of be who I wanted to be and grow into the player that I thought I could become, it just felt really good to find that place. And like I said, once I found that place, it just felt like home, and I didn't want to go anywhere else.
"Trae's been one of my best friends ever since we were young. We played AAU together. We won a Peach Jam EYBL Championship together. And now, to see him doing what he's doing in the league is amazing." "We were talking about it at the end of our workout—it's just crazy to think, like..." "...he's the best player in the world at that size. Like, at that height and that weight, you know, he's the best in the world. And that's kind of crazy, you know? Who would have thought, when we were coming up, that he would be in the position he's in now?" "So, I'm proud of him. We're going to continue to get this good work in throughout the couple weeks that I'm out here." "But yeah, man—I'm proud of my boy."
Marc Spears: What doesn’t get talked about enough about the bubble was how amazing the basketball was there. It was truly basketball heaven. We basically were at an AAU tournament that included NBA players. It was absolutely incredible. There were three gyms next to each other, and games being played in two of them. I will never forget seeing Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals and then walking 15 yards to a gym to watch one of the craziest games ever in Game 7 between the underachieving Clippers and the Nuggets. Keep in mind that the media was able to sit close to the floor for games just like it was in the earlier part of my career.
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K.C. Johnson: All right, we're here with Matas. We're in Las Vegas Summer League, but I want to start with a look back. I have not asked you what your reaction was to making All-Rookie Second Team. Matas Buzelis: Oh yeah. Honestly, to have your name on something like that, to have the award, is always an honor. It shows the countless hours of working in the gym. Even looking back at playing AAU, sacrificing my childhood life to play basketball. All the memories come flying back — me and my mom driving an hour to go work out, staying there, working out hard three, four hours. It’s honestly a blessing. Hopefully I get more awards soon. K.C. Johnson: Any part of you mad you weren’t on First Team? Matas Buzelis: I'm always mad. I always think I could do better. I wanted that Rookie of the Year, but it's all in God's plan. Second Team All-Rookie is not bad either.
Gilgeous-Alexander was recently named the MVP, and Alexander-Walker is a key reserve for the Timberwolves. They have also been teammates in high school, AAU and on the Canadian national men’s basketball team. But it’s safe to say the brotherly love has taken a back seat during the Western Conference finals. “For both of us to be where we are is special, and to compete against each other is even more special,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “But I am trying to take his head off for sure, completely.” On the results he is hoping for, Nickeil Alexander-Walker said: “He gets MVP. I get a ticket to the Finals. To me, that works. If I can get a [championship] ring this year and he can get MVP, we’re all happy.”
LeBron James: I never averaged more than 30 points in high school. I think my highest average was 27, maybe 28. I know for sure. But it wasn’t about that. I could have averaged 50 a game if I wanted to—probably in my junior or senior year. But it was never about that. It was about: How can I maximize my teammates? How can I get the most out of them so we can all be successful? We came to win state championships, AAU tournaments, AAU nationals. And I felt that even in the pros—even at a different level—I couldn't give up the essence of what made me fall in love with the game and how I was taught to play it.
After just one season abroad, with Udoka having played for the UCAM Murcia club in the Spanish ACB League before returning to the States in the summer, he took a trip to the NBA’s Summer League in Las Vegas to support two players who came up through the Portland, Ore.-based AAU team, I-5 Elite, that he coached from 2006 to 2009. Yet while he was there because of Terrence Ross and Terrence Jones, both of whom had been drafted in the first round the month before, it was Popovich who was looking to make a special selection of his own. “Pop grabs me and pulls me up in the stands,” Udoka remembered. “We’re at the top of the stands, and we go sit away from everybody. Then he’s like, ‘Jacque (Vaughn, who was a Spurs assistant coach at the time) is getting the Orlando head job, and there’s a spot open. I want you to think seriously about it. “We’ll hit you in a few weeks. Just think about it, and (decide) if you want to keep playing, or you want to start coaching.”