Bossi's Takeaways: Team Loaded lives up to name on last day in Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- The summer of 2017 came to an unofficial end on Sunday. At the adidas Summer Championships, headlined by 2018's David McCormack and 2019 five-star Armando Bacot, Team Loaded VA lived up to their name, winning a title while a last run through the Las Vegas Classic gave a good look at a long-term stock.

In the 17U finals of the adidas Summer Championships, the aptly named Team Loaded VA held off a game New England Playaz squad 54-52 win the title.

Currently, Team Loaded VA has five players who rank in either the 2018 Rivals150 or 2019 Rivals125. An argument could be made that seven of them belong at this point.

The headliner in 2018 is rugged big man David McCormack who averaged 10 points and six rebounds per game in the Team Loaded title run. During the title game, it was Rivals150 combo guard Rasir Bolton -- who recently committed to Penn State and led Loaded in scoring at 12.3 points per game -- and former Rivals150 wing and easy high major target Kiyon Boyd who provided the offensive punch. Class of 2019 five-star big man Armando Bacot also showed off his skill while checking in with 12 points.

Four-star Jairus Hamilton was pretty quiet for most of the weekend while recent Princeton commitment Jaelin Llewellyn was steady.

All of that and I haven't even gotten to the guy who may be my favorite player to watch on the team, 2019 Rivals150 big man Oscar Tshebwe. It's been a while since I've seen anybody chase after rebounds the way the athletic and tough rising junior does.

This group needed to win a major title to cement themselves as one of 2017's elite grassroots team and it got the job done.

The New England Playaz fell just short in the finals against Team Loaded VA, but they more than earned the respect of anybody who watched them during the week. Including myself.

While the entire organization exhibited toughness, team play and tremendous effort, I was particularly taken by the effort and play of three-star power forward Chris Doherty.

For one, I didn't know very much about him before the last week and for two, the Playaz were limited in big man depth, meaning he had to play lots of minutes against some of the biggest, strongest and best players in the country. A rugged and tough guy, Doherty never backed down or gave an inch without fighting and as far as I'm concerned there isn't any team that couldn't use a guy like Doherty.

He already has offers from Florida Gulf Coast, Manhattan, Vermont, Central Connecticut State and Towson to name a few. But after the way he played, and what I heard the coaches watching him compete say about him, I'm betting Doherty has several more offers coming.

All summer long I'd been wanting to get a look at big man George Conditt of Team RWA out of the Chicago area. It took until his very last game on the very last day of the summer for our schedules to match up, but I was able to see him -- Corey Evans also saw him earlier in the day -- and I have to say I'm pretty intrigued.

I still need more time to study his game, but Conditt impressed with the way he moves around the floor. He looks to have a good skill level and I can't help but think he has the tools to be a high major contributor once he adds weight to what is currently a slightly built frame.

Illinois has offered and I saw head coach Brad Underwood watching. Arizona State, Colorado, New Mexico (head coach Paul Weir watched), VCU, Iowa State, Washington, Saint Louis and Houston are just a few of the many others who have jumped into the mix.

What stood out to me about Conditt the most, though, how much he cared about the game. A loss in the final game of the summer and in a championship game really stung the young big man. In a landscape where kids get over losses quickly because there's always another game to play, it's nice to see how much the game still matters to a kid like Conditt.

Class of 2019 five-star guard Tyrese Maxey ended the summer the exact same way he started it, handing out ice cold buckets.

I'm not sure there's a better pull-up jump shooter in high school basketball and his blend of power and skill continues to impress me. He went out with a bang for RM5 against Nike EYBL foe California Supreme and I'll be looking forward to checking in on him during the high school season.

Finally, I want to write briefly about two rising freshmen that caught my attention. Since I'm talking about kids who haven't even started high school, I wan to be careful here and not go over the top. That being said, combo forward Jonathan Kuminga of the New York Jayhawks 15U team and small forward William Jeffress of the Ohio Basketball Club appear to have bright futures.

Kuminga made jumpers, used ball fakes and slick dribbles to attack the rim for dunks along the baseline and showed tremendous energy, feel for the game and upside. A long and lanky wing, Jeffress impressed with his ability as a knockdown jump shooter from deep and his already solid frame and size.

We'll see what happens with their development, but I've got a feeling we'll be hearing a lot from these guys over the next few years.