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Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
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Wednesday / December 4.
  • Steve Nash held his annual Nike Skills Academy for college and prep point guards last week at Kean University and I took the opportunity to ask the two-time NBA MVP his thoughts on new Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni and current point guard Stephon Marbury.

    “I think Mike’s going to be great for New York,” said Nash, who played for D’Antoni in Phoenix. “For the Knicks and the city, this is the center of basketball in many ways. It’s such a great basketball city and the struggles the Knicks have had have been painful for the fans. I think Mike’s going to be fantastic. They’re going to play a little bit different style than they’re used to here in New York. It’s probably been a few years since they got up and down the way he’ll want them to, but he’s such a talented and intelligent coach I think he can’t help but have a great impact on the team.”

    Several weeks after reports surfaced that Whie Plains senior shooting guard Sean Kilpatrick had committed to St. John’s, he is interested in Providence.

    Gerard Jones, the older brother of West Virginia commit Kevin Jones and an advisor to Kilpatrick, said Kilpatrick is interested in visiting Providence, although he cannot take an unofficial visit in JUly as per NCAA regulations.

    Kilpatrick is still trying to put his academic package together to see where he stands

    “The guidance counselor is trying to put everything together and see where he is,” Gerard said. “He got his test scores back, he did pretty well, so we’re trying to get everything over to the (NCAA) Clearinghouse and see where he is.”

    As Kevin Jones sat inside the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden for the NBA Draft last Thursday, it must have been hard for him to avoid imagining David Stern one day call his name.

    “I’m not thinking about that right now. I’m just thinking about college first,” said Jones, a 6-foot-8 forward out of Mount Vernon High School who left Sunday to begin his new career at West Virginia under head coach Bob Huggins. “And then if it works out that I’m lucky enough to be here, then so be it.”

    While much of the West Virginia team watched the draft on campus in Morgantown, Jones and his brother Gerard watched live and in person as West Virginia junior Joe Alexander was chosen at No. 8 by the Milwaukee Bucks. 

    The recent decision by former St. Raymond’s standout Omari Lawrence  to transfer to South Kent, a prep school in Connecticut, has culminated a mass exodus of talent from the New York Catholic League.

    Lawrence will join his former St. Ray’s teammate and fellow rising senior Kevin Parrom at South Kent. Ashton Pankey and Devon Collier left Archbishop Molloy and All Hallows, respectively, for Bob Hurley’s storied St. Anthony program in Jersey City. And there is much speculation that Bishop Loughlin star Doron Lamb may attend Oak Hill in Mouth of Wilson, Va.

    “New York’s New York,” said Gary Charles, head of the New York Panthers grassroots program and an advisor to Parrom and Lawrence. “They leave, somebody else steps up. That’s the great thing about New York.”

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