It was a productive weekend in Atlanta, GA at Wheeler HS as 57 players were able to showcase their talents in front of multiple pro coaches and agents. The talent pool was deep as over half the camp participants had D1 or professional playing experience.
After players went through a one hour practice session with their respective coach, they heard from event director James Blackburn about how to maximize their camp experience and what it takes to make it as a pro. Games started shortly thereafter as the 6 teams played in two pools to determine the playoffs, held on Sunday.
Team South Korea, coached by Tyler Gatlin and Team Israel, coached by Matt Jones, both went 2-0 in pool play and found their way matched up in the championship game. South Korea jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they brought home the championship with a score of 73-62 behind the play of MVP Jibreel Faulkner. Faulkner, a 6’8” forward, who played collegiality at Canisius and professionally in Europe and in the NBA G-League, was a monster all game. He is an incredible athlete and also showed the ability to knock down the 3. Guards Jordan Thomas, Shaun Scriven, and Johnnie Shuler made heavy contributions each game. Devan Porter- Wilson and Terence Lewis were consistent all weekend.
Team Israel was an incredibly deep team and were lead by 3 of the best PG’s in camp (Jacque Brown, Reggie Perkins, and Tim Jones) and bigs Tevis Robinson and Jack Hemphill.
Team Sweden won the only overtime game of the camp 77-75 by beating Team Norway to go 2-1 and secure 3rd place. Christopher Cromartie, Saiquan Jamison, and Umar Lawson played with high motors and their muscle and athleticism was tough to match.
The camp was a tremendous success as 5 different agencies were represented in addition to the coaching staff with experience in Europe, NBA G-League, Asia, and Latin America.
Las Vegas will be the next stop for camp which will be held on July 14-15, the same week as NBA Summer League. Registration is now open on our website. This will be a camp that you will not want to miss as we have 7 European head coaches already confirmed.