Simmons shines at Curry Select
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ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Two weeks ago, the NBA's reigning MVP Stephen Curry was winning a world championship with the Golden State Warriors. Monday, Curry hosted 20 of high school basketball's top perimeter players. The rising senior class is loaded with point guard talent and Kobi Simmons showed why he's up near the top of the list on the first full day of the Stephen Curry Select Camp.
Simmons shows confidence
One thing that has become apparent with the class of 2016 over the past few months is that it is heavy at the top with point guard talent. Currently ranked No. 12 overall in the Rivals150, 6-foot-5 floor general Kobi Simmons isn't shy when it comes to his feelings of where he stands.
"I think I'm one of the best guards in the group," Simmons said. "I have length and I'm able to run a team and score. I've got speed, quickness and all of that."
This isn't a case of a young player being overconfident. Simmons simply believes in what he can do. For good reason too, because he has proven time and time again that he's a versatile performer at the point guard spot.
A product of Alpharetta (Ga.) St. Francis, Simmons is a bit on the thin side, but he makes up for it with raw ability. He is tough to keep out of the lane, can find others for easy hoops, shoots pretty well from deep and has a level of burst to his game that few others have.
However, Simmons knows that he can improve and that's why he's taking camp serious.
"I'm just trying to get better and see what Stephen Curry does to prepare himself to play at the level he does," said Simmons. "He's showing us different things that we can do and take back home to work on our games and hopefully get to the same level that he is or better."
Simmons isn't exactly lacking for attention from college coaches. He holds offers from Arizona, North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, Kansas, Syracuse, Louisville, Missouri and more. He said that he isn't sure yet if he will need to take all five visits, but he hopes to cut down his list and set visits after July ends.
Because of his size and scoring ability, some coaches may be tempted to try and play him as a shooting or combo guard, but Simmons is very clear on where he wants to play in college.
"I want to play the one," said Simmons. "Playing the point guard is very important."
Jackson enjoys Duke visit
It isn't exactly like Frank Jackson was an unknown heading into the grassroots and camp season. Coming off a big-time junior season at Highland (Utah) Lone Peak, the 6-foot-3 point guard was pretty highly ranked by virtually every service.
Thanks to strong performances with his club team the Utah Prospects on the Adidas Circuit and a huge NBPA Top 100 Camp, Jackson has risen to five-star status and is currently ranked the No. 15 player in the class of 2016.
He continued his strong play on Monday and was a standout in nearly every drill that was thrown at him. Learn to shoot a scooping floater from 12 feet? No problem. Run over a guy for a loose ball during a scramble drill? Not a problem either. Jackson is clearly at camp to compete and he's doing so at a high level just like he has at every other spot so far this summer.
Already holding offers from Arizona, Stanford, BYU, Utah and UCLA, Jackson took a recent trip to Duke. While on his trip he earned a scholarship offer and had a very positive visit.
"It was awesome sitting down with Coach K and a couple of their assistants. I got a look around campus and Cameron Indoor and I really enjoyed it a lot.
"They are high on my radar, it's Duke. They are definitely up there."
While the visit was a good one, Jackson isn't quite ready to pull the trigger and has some more visits planned.
Jackson will take an official to Stanford when camp ends and he's already got a visit to Arizona set for August, while the local programs are working hard to keep him home.
Though he didn't completely rule out adding schools to his list, Jackson also made it clear that he's pretty happy with the schools recruiting him and that he's looking forward to using his visits to find the best spot to play his college ball.
Because there are only 20 high school players in attendance, it is easy to get a long look at everybody in camp. Unlike many other camps where games are the priority, most of the work is being done in drills designed to enhance guard play. We'll cover many more guys in depth over the next couple of days, but players like 2016's top point guard Dennis SmithClick Like Porter, class of 2017 Billy PrestonClick After battling some tendinitis during the morning session, 2017's No. 2 player Michael PorterClick News and notesHere to view this Link. looked terrific during the evening session. Each time he went up for a shot it looked like it would go in and he had zero trouble mastering the drills that were thrown his way. Monday was Porter's 17th birthday and the Columbia (Mo.) Father Tolton product was serenaded by his fellow campers and treated to a birthday cake. Porter tried to slow down some of the recruiting frenzy by releasing a somewhat cut down list of 17 earlier in June, but he said that it hasn't stopped anybody not on it from trying to reach out to him.Here to view this Link. looks like a giant around the rest of the campers. At 6-foot-9, he towers over most of the guards in attendance and isn't convincing anybody that he's a point guard. However, he looked really comfortable shooting step back jumpers and didn't show a lot of issues shooting the ball from the NBA three-point line. Whenever he wants to lock in and compete, he is impressive.Here to view this Link. and 2017's top point guard Trevon DuvalClick Like Porter, class of 2017 Billy PrestonClick After battling some tendinitis during the morning session, 2017's No. 2 player Michael PorterClick News and notesHere to view this Link. looked terrific during the evening session. Each time he went up for a shot it looked like it would go in and he had zero trouble mastering the drills that were thrown his way. Monday was Porter's 17th birthday and the Columbia (Mo.) Father Tolton product was serenaded by his fellow campers and treated to a birthday cake. Porter tried to slow down some of the recruiting frenzy by releasing a somewhat cut down list of 17 earlier in June, but he said that it hasn't stopped anybody not on it from trying to reach out to him.Here to view this Link. looks like a giant around the rest of the campers. At 6-foot-9, he towers over most of the guards in attendance and isn't convincing anybody that he's a point guard. However, he looked really comfortable shooting step back jumpers and didn't show a lot of issues shooting the ball from the NBA three-point line. Whenever he wants to lock in and compete, he is impressive.Here to view this Link. showed why they are so highly regarded as they seemed to breeze from one drill to another and made things look easy.
Click Here to view this Link.