There were two key developments on the high school basketball/recruiting front today…
First, Nike on Thursday announced its Elite Youth Basketball schedule for the summer. The top players will once again be invited to attend positional Skills Academy with Utah’s Deron Williams (point guards), Boston’s Paul Pierce (wings), Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant (wings) and Phoenix’s Amar’e Stoudemire (forwards/centers) held separately over June 24-30 in Chicago, IL.
That event will once again be followed by the LeBron James Academy at the University of Akron from July 5-7. All five Skills Academies will be closed to college coaches.
By then, LeBron could well be a New York Knick or a New Jersey Net or a Miami Heat…or a Cleveland Cavalier. The Lebron-a-thon begins July 1, so don’t be surprised to see Bron Bron working his cell phone hard at the camp.
After LeBron, the King City Classic will return to Cleveland State University’s Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio on July 8-9. The event is designed for the nation’s top 80 high school players to compete head-to-head in a national tournament. College coaches and scouts are allowed to attend.
Also, as first reported here, there will be no Reebok All-American Camp this July in Philly.
Second, ESPN announced that it will hold its second annual ESPN Rise National High School Invitational April 1-3 at Coppin State University in Baltimore. The event will feature eight top boys teams, and for the first time public schools from the state of Florida will be permitted. The Florida High School Athletic Association has 669 members.
In the past, the event featured only schools that were independent or not fully associated with their state athletic associations, such as Oak Hill Academy, St. Benedict’s Prep and defending champ Findlay Prep.
