Bringing a little bit of the annual Paradise Jam to St. Croix, a couple of dozen boys and girls, age 8 to 18, ran drills and got technique tips from certified coaches at a free basketball clinic Friday at St. Croix Central High.
Nels Hawkinson, a coach certified by the International Basketball Federation, and fellow coach Fred Williams run the 20 or so young men and women in drills on stance, turning in place with traveling, shooting and other fundamentals.
"Keep that elbow in and use the other arm to protect yourself!" Hawkinson said, leading the kids, some as young as 8, in dribbling drills. "If you can dribble well, there is a place for you. Every team needs somebody that can handle the ball really well," he said.
While the young would-be ballers were mostly boys, quite a few young women came out for some tips and practice too.
"I brought my twin nieces, Anna and Marie, my daughter, Shardae (Magras), and a friend, David Ascension," said Raquel Meade. The girls seemed to be really enjoying it, Meade said.
Her 13-year-old daughter, who plays for the John H. Woodson Jr. High basketball team, came to last year's clinic too, Meade said.
The kids at the clinic also received T-shirts, backpacks, water bottles and other prizes, including one X-Box video game platform for one lucky athlete, thanks to the Department of Tourism, which helps sponsor the tournament.
Zavion Langrin, 8, won that video game: NBA2K13 with Jay-Z, for doing the best on one of the drills.
"It's a really nice game, said his mother, Rabia Hendricks. It was already on his Christmas gift list, and these games are expensive, so that was wonderful for him."
He's really a soccer guy, but this summer he's really taken a keen interest in basketball," she said. He really loves the game.
The tournament is on St. Thomas because it has the only suitable facility in the territory, but Paradise Jam is meant for the entire territory, so they come over to run clinics and work with kids on St. Croix, said Williams, a former college ballplayer and coach who works with Hawkinson on the Paradise Jam tournament.
"It's a fun time. No one will become an NBA star today, but kids can come out and have some fun and learn some skills with the drills," he said.
The U.S. Virgin Islands has been the home of the Paradise Jam event since its inception in 2000, offering mens and womens college basketball teams a chance for excellent early season competition in an exotic island setting. The Paradise Jam mens and womens tournaments take place Nov. 18-21 and Nov. 24-26 respectively at the University of the Virgin Islands Sports and Fitness Center on St. Thomas.
The Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation coordinated with the Paradise Jam organization and Department of Tourism to put on Monday's clinic.
Memphis men's basketball coach Penny Hardaway confirmed Wednesday during a media appearance at his basketball camp that he hired former NBA coach Sam Mitchell(202-F-63, college: Mercer) to fill out his assistant coaching staff. Mitchell's hiring had been expected for weeks, but the university's athletic department had yet to make an official announcement. He came to Memphis last month with the expectation of finalizing a deal to join Hardaway's staff. Mitchell, 54, does not have any pre... [read more]
Memphis men's basketball coach Penny Hardaway confirmed Wednesday during a media appearance at his basketball camp that he hired former NBA coach Sam Mitchell (202-F-63, college: Mercer) to fill out his assistant coaching staff.
Mitchell's hiring had been expected for weeks, but the university's athletic department had yet to make an official announcement. He came to Memphis last month with the expectation of finalizing a deal to join Hardaway's staff.
Mitchell, 54, does not have any previous college coaching experience, but he was named the NBA's Coach of the Year with the Toronto Raptors in 2007. He also was the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves (2015-16) in addition to several stints as an NBA assistant coach and a 13-year career playing in the NBA.
Hardaway made clear Wednesday that Mitchell's experience at the highest level of the sport made him an attractive candidate to join former NBA player Mike Miller and former Memphis teammate Tony Madlock on Hardaway's initial coaching staff.
'It's just the knowledge and the development that he and Mike bring to the table,' Hardaway said. 'With Tony's experience of being a college coach for 20-plus years, with that all together, then we feel really good about ourselves.'
Over the past two years, Mitchell became involved with grassroots basketball as part of the Adidas Gauntlet series. In recent months, he was the head coach of the Elite Basketball Organization's 17-and-under team. It featured top 2020 recruit Jalen Green, who has a scholarship offer from Memphis.
Mitchell also served as the head coach of the U.S. Virgin Islands national team.
Hardaway said the chemistry of the staff is already evident and indicated there is no hierarchy among his three assistants.
'It's working well because of our personalities,' Hardaway said. 'Our personalities, we're all like happy-go-lucky guys. We're working well together. There's no big 'I,' little 'you', or anything. We're all just combining our brains to make things work for the university and for the team.'
Seton Hall standout Desi Rodriguez(198-F-96) reportedly worked out for the San Antonio Spurs before the 2018 NBA Draft. The draft process will pick up steam with the NBA Finals wrapped up. It's less than two weeks away, and will include the San Antonio Spurs' selections at No. 18 in the first round and No. 49 in the second round. Before the draft arrives, teams work out players to evaluate them as potential selections. The Spurs have done this with a handful of prospects, and it seems a... [read more]
Seton Hall standout Desi Rodriguez (198-F-96) reportedly worked out for the San Antonio Spurs before the 2018 NBA Draft.
The draft process will pick up steam with the NBA Finals wrapped up. It's less than two weeks away, and will include the San Antonio Spurs' selections at No. 18 in the first round and No. 49 in the second round.
Before the draft arrives, teams work out players to evaluate them as potential selections. The Spurs have done this with a handful of prospects, and it seems another one already met with the team.
According to Adam Zagoria of SNY.TV and ZagsBlog.com, San Antonio workout Seton Hall's Desi Rodriguez, a four-year forward who's projected as a second round pick or to go undrafted. He will meet with the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, along with the Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Lakers later this month.
Rodriguez boasted some of the best numbers of his collegiate career in 2017-18, with 17.5 points per game, 4.8 rebounds and 2.0 steals on 49.8 percent shooting and 37.3 percent from 3-point range. He shot 47.4 percent in his time at Seton Hall.
At 6′ 6', Rodriguez has the size of a taller shooting guard or a slightly undersized small forward, which, in the modern-day NBA, might not be so short. That's especially with the 3-point shooting he displayed in school.
According to Zagoria, the Bronx, NY native is also 'an athletic wing who can score in transition and also defend multiple positions.' Versatility has become a staple of most of the NBA's top teams, so he could prove valuable to a team's bench as a wing defender.
Over the weekend, the Seton Hall Pirates offered a Class of 2019 prospect. That recruit is Texas native J'Wan Roberts. He announced that he received the offer from Kevin Willard and the Pirates on his Twitter account. Seton Hall is the fourth school to offer Roberts according to his Verbal Commits page. They are also the second program from the Big East to do so, as the St. John's Red Storm had offered him back in late April of this year. The Pirates join the Johnnies, Texas-Rio Grande V... [read more]
Over the weekend, the Seton Hall Pirates offered a Class of 2019 prospect. That recruit is Texas native J'Wan Roberts. He announced that he received the offer from Kevin Willard and the Pirates on his Twitter account.
Seton Hall is the fourth school to offer Roberts according to his Verbal Commits page. They are also the second program from the Big East to do so, as the St. John's Red Storm had offered him back in late April of this year. The Pirates join the Johnnies, Texas-Rio Grande Valley and Sam Houston State as the programs who are in on him.
Roberts is unranked via 247Sports Composite. However, 247Sports' standalone rankings list him as a three-star recruit. The 6-foot-6, 180-pound Roberts is 58th among all small forwards in the Class of 2019. The Kileen, Texas native and Shoemaker High School rising senior is currently ranked 17th in the Lone Star State.
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