What I liked: Dan McDonald from adidas Atlanta Classic

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MORE: Keon Johnson | Magic Memorial Day Sunday | Magic Memorial Day Saturday | Hampton EYBL Awards | EYBL: What I liked | Hampton EYBL Saturday | Hampton EYBL Friday

The adidas Atlanta Memorial Day Classic is taking place at the LakePoint Champions Center this weekend, and it brought out some of the top teams in the Southeast looking to earn a bid to the adidas Gauntlet Finals in New York City in July.

Here is what I liked most from the weekend …

I’ve been watching Anthony Edwards for about three years now, and he continues to grow as a prospect. He’s always been somebody we have ranked pretty highly because of his raw athletic body, his strong body frame and his ability to score. Over the past couple years, he’s truly rounded out his game to where he’s gone from more of a pure scorer to somebody who just makes the right basketball decision.

A lot of times that is taking matters into in his own hands and getting a bucket, but the five-star prospect has become a very gifted and willing passer lately. In college and beyond, I think he can develop into a full-time point guard. He’s quick off the bounce. He’s gone from being a great vertical athlete to somebody that can slide his feet laterally and defend the ball. He’s a terrific rebounding guard. I personally think he’s as good as any guard in the 2020 class.

His recruitment is exactly where you would think it would be reading my description above. Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech and many more are involved in his recruitment. What will be interesting to follow going forward is which class he decides to come out in. He initially started high school as a class of 2019 prospect, but transferred and re-classified to 2020 after his freshman year. If he has his academics in order by the end of the school year and wants to speed up his clock getting to the NBA, it’s possible he could be a nice late gift to one lucky school this time next year.

KD Johnson had a really good high school season here in Atlanta for Southwest Dekalb, and was playing well until recently for the Georgia Stars. He decided to make a change and play with Game Elite’s 16U team this weekend, and has been lights out. The 6-foot-1 combo guard is an electric athlete who can get by his defender any time he wants. He does at times get going too fast and out of control, but more times than not this weekend he’s been under enough control to make the right basketball play.

Defensively, his athleticism makes him a problem too. He’s a high level on-ball defender and scrappy enough to pick his defender off at any time. He’s also always on the lookout to pick off a pass to get a run out highlight dunk. He’s shot the ball well this weekend too. All that leads me to believe he’s somebody who probably needs to break into our next set of rankings. He mentioned Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, Ole Miss and UConn as schools he’s heard from already.

I really like how Team Thad came to Atlanta to handle business. So far, it hasn’t seen a team with anywhere near the level of talent it possesses, and it has done exactly what it should against those teams. For that reason, I didn’t spend a ton of time watching it.

In limited viewing time, Jaykwon Walton looked like a prospect who needs to receive a sizeable bump at next rankings update. He’s just a very athletic, long and smooth wing. He’s one of the better scorers in the Southeast in the 2019 class. Daniel Ramsey has been adding offers almost daily lately, most recently Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Ohio State, Texas A&M and Wake Forest, and it’s easy to see why. He’s improved his athleticism and has always been very skilled for a big man.

My first real viewing of Jamaine Mann back in March at the LakePoint Tip Off Classic was a good one, and enough for me to push strongly for him to be a four-star prospect in the 2020 class. I liked his combination of size, strength, athleticism and skill. At that time, my only complaint would have been I thought he could have been more aggressive, but part of that could have been because it was the first weekend of travel season with a new team.

This weekend, Mann has been really good. He’s been more aggressive, and when he sets out to get a bucket, he’s usually getting the shot he wants. He’s shown a nice blend of scoring from the perimeter as well as being able to use his big, strong body to score inside. He’s going to be a really highly recruited wing out of Georgia before long. Georgia, South Carolina and Xavier are the schools who have shown interest so far. He’s the younger brother of former Georgia star Charles Mann, and his family is very close with former Georgia and current Xavier assistant Jonas Hayes. Those would be two schools that should be in it until the end for Mann.

The rims at the LakePoint Champions Center will probably need to be tightened by the end of the holiday weekend when Jayln McCreary is done with them. Between catching lobs, getting run outs, or put backs, the 6-foot-7 forward has been dunking every time he possibly can. He’s not just an athlete though. He’s more than capable of putting the ball on the floor, and he’s connecting on floaters off the bounce this weekend.

McCreary recently told us College of Charleston and Murray State are the two schools coming at him the hardest that have offered. Georgia and Xavier have also been involved. The next few months will be really important for the Georgia native determining whether he’ll be a high-major target or if he’ll be playing at a really strong mid-major program. Either way, he’s a very intriguing prospect.