The fourth stop on the Pangos Frosh/Soph fall tour is the All-East camp at the RiverWinds Center (West Deptford, N.J.) and the talent level has not disappointed. The event is filled with over potentially 50 future high major prospects among the campers, including the sons of two former NBA standouts. Expect the Cream of the Crop Games to be LOADED at this event.
RELATED: High Major Talent EVERYWHERE at Pangos East | Cole Anthony Shows Out at Pangos East |
The big cities on the Eastern Seaboard helped take the game of basketball to the next level in the 1950s and 1960s, as the city game exploded with great athletes and a fast-paced, exciting style of play born on blacktops. With so many large cities within a close distance of each other, the competition in the region bred great players and those cities continue to pump out top-flight prospects.
New York City was the king of basketball for many decades, but the talent has spread out to surrounding states, while the Philadelphia/Camden/Delaware region remains a hoops hotbed. With that in mind, it was no surprise the Pangos All-East Frosh/Soph Camp across the Delaware River from Philadelphia in West Deptford, N.J. is loaded with talent from places such as Philadelphia, New York City, the DMV region, Baltimore, North and South Jersey, upstate New York and Connecticut.
There are over 220 campers in attendance and quality depth at lead guard, on the wings and in the post. Camp director Dinos Trigonis and national scouts estimated there are potentially 50 high-major prospects in attendance, easily the highest numbers along the first four stops of the Pangos Frosh/Soph Camp fall tour across the country (Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, Jersey, with Orlando next weekend). Among those players, there was one who stood out above the rest -- 6-foot-2 sophomore (2019) power guard Cole Anthony of Archbishop Malloy (Queens, N.Y.).
Anthony played in the first game and quickly set the tone with his powerful, yet smooth, all-around game. Anthony, who made the 10-man Ballislife Freshman All-American team last season, is a scoring point guard who can beat teams at all three levels. He shoots the 3-point shot well, can take it off the dribble in either direction and is a capable passer. Anthony threw some quality passes on a few occasions when the defense was looking for him to attack. The only question remaining about his dominance at this event, is if he'll continue it all the way through, which has been a recurring issue with some of the top players throughout these camps.
Anthony is the son of former UNLV and NBA point guard Greg Anthony, who prepped at Rancho (Las Vegas, Nev.) and won a NCAA championship with the Rebels. Anthony wasn't the only son of a former NBA standout in attendance who stood out on the first day of the event.
The other was 6-foot-6 Jabri Abdur-Rahim of Seton Hall Prep (West Orange, N.J.), one of the most impressive of the freshmen (2020) in attendance. Abdur-Rahim's father, Shareef, was the 1996 Pac-10 Player of the Year as a freshman at CAL out of Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.) who went on to play 12 years in the NBA. Jabri Abdur-Rahim spent plenty of his childhood in California and was all set to attend high school in Georgia, before his father took a job with the NBA. The move was the East Region's gain, as he's expected to be one of the top first-year high school players in talent-laden New Jersey.
Jabri Abdur-Rahim is a skilled wing who can score in a variety of ways. He has deep range on his jumper and good vision in the open court. Abdur-Rahim also made an impression by closing out his second day one game strong, while many of the campers' play tailed off.
Another freshman wing in the mold of Abdur-Rahim in terms of a smooth game, with perhaps even a bit more explosiveness, was 6-foot-6 Che Evans of Dulaney (Baltimore, Md.). Evans wasn't able to play in last year's Pangos All-East event as a rising eighth-grader because of an injury, but quickly served notice of his vast scoring ability and oozing potential. Other explosive wings who caught our eye on day one included 6-foot-7 2019 prospect K-vonn Cramer of Mt. Pleasant (Wilmington, Del.) and 6-foot-7 2020 prospect Justin Lewis of Calvert Hall (Baltimore, Md.).
There is also quality big men in attendance, including 6-foot-9 2019 prospect Abdou Ndiaye of Masters School (Hobbs Ferry, N.Y.), 6-foot-8 2021 prospect Trey Patterson of Rutgers Prep (Somerset, N.J.), 6-foot-8 2020 prospect Mikeal Jones of Girard College (Philadelphia, Pa.), 6-foot-7 2019 prospect Donta Scott of Imhotep (Philadelphia, Pa.), 6-foot-9 2019 prospect Maxwell Lorca-Lloyd of Northfield Mt. Herman (Mass.), 6-foot-9 2019 prospect Malik Bailey of Life Center (Burlington, N.J.) and Irish import Aidan Igiehon, a 6-foot-9 2019 prospect at Lawrence Woodmere Academy (N.Y.).
Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of Ballislife.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores
