Tag Archives: Kevon Looney

Duke Basketball Recruiting Update

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BDN Photo - Reid Travis sits with Semi Ojeleye and Marshall Plumlee at a Duke football game during his visit.

The Duke Blue Devils Men's Basketball staff has been steady on the recruiting trail of late but they've now returned home, at least for the moment. Such is the busy nature of trying to nail down this coming years class, not to mention gaining an early edge on underclassmen.

There is still [private] no word on Kevon Looney and where he leans, but it's safe to say Duke is right there. The parents seemed sold on the opportunity in Durham but we all know it is eventually up to the kid himself. Looney will make his decision public on October 31st. If you are looking for a leak of where he is leaning, let it be know that his family has for now anyhow, shut down the media.

There has been a lot of paranoia involving Jahlil Okafor and his camp has more or less shut it down for media as well. No date has been officially set as of yet and I do not expect that to change for the next several days. Coach Kyzyzewski and Jeff Capel made a trip to see Okafor recently and by all accounts it was a fruitful visit. Duke is very much in the think of the race here and anybody who tells you differently just doesn't know what they're talking about. No word of late on the package deal and one way to shut down talk of that is to distance yourself from media.

Meanwhile, Tyus Jones is winding down the process and like others, his camp has grown quiet as well. Much of this is due to the family just wanting to sit back and take it all in and I have a feeling you will not hear a whole lot from his way anytime soon as well other than a diary he, along with Okafor, are committed to doing.

Duke has also visited Justise Winslow over the break and all indications are that they are right there. Winslow has yet to make a public date for a decision and the Duke staff continues to work on him for a visit in October.  BTW, Arizona is trying to tell him he can co exist with other prospects.

There are a lot of visits being tentatively set but not much is leaking in that it is very liquid in nature but Duke is obviously trying to get guys ready to visit during Countdown to Craziness. I will give you dates if they are released and we should know more as CTC comes around.

The word on Reid Travis is that he enjoyed his visit but his camp is really making sure of their pending decision per sources. Stanford is very much in this race and I'm sure Coach Dawkins is telling him he is their Tyus Jones. This is going to come down to what the kid wants in the way of basketball and education. If he wants to be the man, he will pick Stanford where that type of situation is available. I know what some are thinking, people could point to Dawkins having to win but the Stanford push always education first. Still, Duke offers a good opportunity for education as well and I like the Blue Devils chances here and they've told him how he would be used and such.

Duke is also still in the running for Myles Turner who is red-hot right now. His family seems to be trying to ground him a bit per rumors and Duke did pay him a recent visit and they seemingly feel they are a player for his services. If all goes according to plan, we'll hear from Turner soon.

The Blue Devils stopped in on Charles Matthews and Luke Kennard as well. Every team in the nation seems to be on Kennard but that is not stopping Coach K and company who feel they've made good early in roads. Coach K loves his game at the Nike Peach Jam and it appears he will remain at the very top of the Blue Devils wish list. Matthews has not been real serious yet nut that will change. Malik Newman is also getting attention and a visit and K seems to really like his exploits since playing for Team USA and I think they'll be in the thick of this race.

Another underclassmen Duke visited recently was Diamond Stone. Coach James, Coach K and Capel made the journey to see him around the same time as Turner. It was very much a getting to know you session and by all accounts there is major interest from both sides, meaning all went well.

There is excitement in the air with the season about to start and you can feel it from anyone related to Duke be it the staff or the players. I saw several of the players during the football game last week and all were in good spirits, especially Quinn Cook. We'll be adding to our update on the players which is in the archives soon and we'll be concentrating on hoops a lot more in the coming week.

If any member is reading this and is not on the message board, send me an e-mail at watzonebdp@gmail.com and once I check the list, I will okay you for said board. A lot of the quick hit information goes to the board before our updates. [/private]

The Consigliere: Tom Konchalski on Duke Recruits

Legendary Scout Tom Konchalski
Legendary Scout Tom Konchalski, Photo by Kevin Armstrong

Tom Konchalski is a 6'6" sexagenarian who can walk into a basketball gym from South Side of Chicago to Harlem and South Florida to Maine and be enthusiastically greeted by coaches at all levels, anxious players, and grateful parents. Modest, focused, loyal, industrious, pious, honest, and generous, Mr. Konchalski embodies all of the qualities that his heroes, Mother Theresa and C.S. Lewis, championed.

For the better part of five decades, the Queens, NY native has analyzed recruits, coached players, and advised coaches, parents, Athletic Directors, and players. A devout Catholic, Mr. Konchalski has prayed on the behalf of everyone from the '69 Mets to Coach Jack Curran, his high school gym teacher and future Basketball Hall of Fame inductee who passed away last month at the age of 82.

A consummate workaholic, Mr. Konchalski travels via public transportation and the generosity of his legions of friends to observe recruits on an almost daily basis with the ferocity of a hungry lion eying cheetahs. His omnipresent yellow legal pads and Bic Cristal pens have been the tools of choice to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of everyone from LeBron James as a freshman to seniors looking to catch on at a Division-III college. In a world of three-minute YouTube highlight videos misconstrued as scouting tapes and fly-by-night internet recruiting charlatans looking to broker players, Mr. Konchalski is refreshingly anachronistic.

Three days ago, a pair of his friends, Bernard King, who invited Mr. Konchalski to join him on his official trip to the University of Tennessee, and Rick Pitino, who worked closely with Mr. Konchalski as a counselor at the Five Star Basketball Camps, were announced as inductees to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Author John Feinstein '78 once wrote that Konchalski, the publisher and editor of the HSBI Report, was "the last honest man in the gym," but the statement doesn't quite convey all that he has done for this game and the people involved in it at all levels.

Recently, Mr. Konchalski, a friend and mentor, gave his assessment of the 2013 Duke commitments and some Blue Devil recruits.

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Duke Incoming Freshman Jabari Parker, Photo by Andrew Slater
Duke Incoming Freshman Jabari Parker, Photo by Andrew Slater

 Jabari Parker: Well, obviously he has a great combination of size, skills, athleticism, and savvy. To proclaim him the best player since LeBron as Sports Illustrated did last year is that it raises the one question about him that I have which is whether or not he can be an assassin. LeBron was an assassin. Kobe was an assassin. I think he was better as a junior than Kobe was. I saw Kobe a lot. Kobe was always an assassin. Obviously, he has great skill, size, and athleticism. He's productive and has a very mature understanding of the game. He's also got very good character and he's coachable.  He's thinking about staying two or three years. It would be a wonderful thing if he did. It would be a breath of fresh air. It would be a tremendous thing for college basketball if he did. I would say the closest player to him at Duke would be Grant Hill because they're forwards, they're both big forwards. Eventually, he's going to be a three-man. He's a hybrid forward right now. He's closer to being a three-men offensively than he is being a three-man defensively. He's just a forward right now, a hybrid forward, that's got to tighten his body.

I'll tell you what he did. Between his freshman and sophomore year, he really tightened his body. He lowered his percentage of body fat. He became much more athletic and much more explosive. He's got to continue to streamline his body, maybe see a nutritionist, and get on an exercise regimen. I guess the closest comparison would be Grant Hill although Grant Hill was a different physical type, but overall, Grant Hill is the closest comparison in terms of Duke players.

The one reservation I have about Jabari...here's a guy who has an obviously high basketball IQ. When he's in shape, he has good athletic ability. He had improved his athletic ability towards the end of his sophomore year and towards the beginning of his junior year and he has skill. The one reservation that I had was whether he had a killer's instinct.  I didn't know if he's an assassin. He's developed more of a disposition to take over games and to be assertive in the last year.  Now, that's something that I think runs contrary to his nature. He's got to overcome his off-the-court temperament. He's got to be bipolar or sort of a schizophrenic to be a good basketball player. You have to be a lot meaner on the court than you are off, but I think he's making strides in terms of his aggressiveness and assertiveness and willingness to take over games, not to defer to other teammates and whatever..to be the go-to guy..and that's what he's got to do because I think Kobe always had it and LeBron always had it, but, for the most part, it's something that you're born with..that kind of toughness and aggressiveness and wanting to really take over games. Crush the opponent and when they're down to sort of put your foot on the neck and that sort of thing. And I think he's made strides in that regard. I hope he gives serious thought when he goes there not to be an automatic one-and-done. Not that it may not happen, but he should have an open mind in that respect.

Semi Ojeleye, Photo by Andrew Slater
Incoming Duke Freshman Semi Ojeleye, Photo by Andrew Slater

 Semi Ojeleye: Semi Ojeleye..his win or strength is his versatility. He can defend multiple positions. Now, I think he's going to be even more valuable to them on the defensive end of the court. He's an inside-outside player who I really liked. He plays a lot much more for result rather than effect. He's not a guy who goes out there to showcase his different skill sets. He'll step out and hit the three, he'll handle the ball, he'll play a little bit on the perimeter, and he can go inside and bang a little bit too and generate some points inside. He's really..I'll tell you what he does..he plays quick. I really think he's going to be a terrific Duke player because I think it's more likely that he's going to be a three or four year player. He'll really stay around and help them on the defensive end and he can guard the four-man, he can guard the three-man, even at times be able to guard a two. I really think he's a major recruit for them. I hadn't really paid attention to him at the Boo Williams, but you had mentioned him and I didn't really remember him, but when I saw him down at the Peach Jam, I really, really liked him.

Duke Recruit Jahlil Okafor, Photo by Andrew Slater
Duke Recruit Jahlil Okafor, Photo by Andrew Slater

 Matt Jones: Matt Jones has a very unorthodox shot. He's a bit streaky as a three-point shooter. He's long and lean, he's got to get a little bit stronger. He's a big guard who I think has growth potential as he gets stronger and shoots the ball. You know, he doesn't have good rotation on his shot. He has an awkward shot, but it puts the ball in the basket. For the most part, it's been effective for him. He's another guy who's going to be a three or four year player with them. Hopefully, Jabari will stay for more than one year and if you get a Jabari, you've got to take him, but you've got to build the program more around guys that are going to be there three or four years. You've got to have balance.

 Jahlil Okafor: Jahlil is a guy who has terrific skill for a big guy and another guy who is a very intelligent person like Jabari. And, you know, he's not an explosive athlete, you know he's not a bad athlete and he runs okay. Obviously, I think he can really streamline his body and, when he gets to college, people are going to get him into the weight room. He's going to do an awful lot of work. His percentage of body fat with drop dramatically, but he has terrific hands and really good skills for a post player. You know that he can step out, shoot the elbow jumper, he's a good passer, he can pass out of the post, and he's not quick-reacting to the ball, he's not quick moving laterally to the ball in the lane around the basket. That's what I think he's got to work on- his body and also his lateral movement. But just in terms of overall, he has a big strong frame, he has a superior basketball IQ for a big man. Usually big, young guys don't understand the game as well as he does. He's very intelligent and, you know, another nice guy who can be, you know, because of his size, he can be down the road, you know, I'm not saying he's more skilled than Jabari Parker, but because he's 6'10", 260 or 270 or whatever he is, I think he can be an even greater influence on the game than Jabari Parker. I would say he's about 6'10", they list him at 6'11". I think he's a legitimate 6'10" when I stand next to him. He's a major weapon both on the high-post and the low-box. He can be a major, major factor in college. On the defensive end, I don't think he's as much of a shot-blocker. He impacts the game through intelligent positioning.

Quickness is comprised of two components. It has a physical and an extra-physical component. The physical component is just how naturally quick you are. The extra-physical component is, first of all, mental preparation and correct technique. You could be quicker just by being mentally prepared and alert. And the other part using correct technique, but I think he's a guy, I think any big guy, ought to live with a jump rope. Both those guys, in particular, should live with jump ropes. They both have the kind of bodies where they can put on weight and where, if they're not careful, but I think both of them should live with it as their daily routine for both of those guys. They're both guys who are extremely intelligent and have very good skill and they both, I think, can be really dominating players at the college level if they stay around long enough and possibly dominating players at the level beyond that. I think at the college level, Okafor is a center. He's a center because he's a force. If a college coach can fill the middle of his lineup with a point guard, a leader, someone who's going to run the team and with a quality post-man like that, well, then that's the team. Everyone wants that one position down...Fives want to be fours, fours want to be threes, threes want to be twos, twos want to be ones, and ones probably want to coach the team. But if you look at even a great team, they're teams that have dominating big men and great guards. The wings fill in around those players, but that's what you need. You need someone that's going to run the team and organize the floor, hopefully contain the point guard at the other end of the court. Hopefully contain the ball at the other end of the court. Stop dribble penetration from their point guard and you need a big guy in the post. You need to be able to score easy baskets.  And even the thing is, even as 3 point arc-oriented as most teams are and as many college teams are, and how Duke has become increasingly, still, the more post-offense presence you have, forget about even on the defensive end, the more open 3's that show up. Most 3-point shots are shot off of inside-out action or relocation. Things like that. Just in terms of the half-court, the more you can draw the defense in, the more you can open up the spot-up outside shooters. In the past, Duke sometimes has become too reliant on that and not as much of an interior offensive presence. Both of those guys are going to be terrific players.

 Trey Lyles: Trey Lyles is a 6'9" kid with good skill, good body, and the guy who has a real good feel for the game. He has a high court

Duke Recruit Trey Lyles
Duke Recruit Trey Lyles

IQ. Usually that's a term that's more applied to perimeter players. When you talk about guards..especially point guards...in terms of high court IQ, but he plays for result rather than effect and he's very efficient. You know he can score. He doesn't need to have the ball on the floor in order to score, although he can put the ball on the floor some from the high post. But the main thing is that he's very efficient. He does an awful lot offensively without the dribble. And he's a guy who, you know, can score. Can score from the high post and down in the low box. When he went to Basketball Canada when they had their camp at the end of the summer and they had Steve Nash, who's the Jerry Colangelo of operations of Basketball Canada right now, they had all of their guys...Jamaal Magloire came in to work with the big guys and everyone was there and they had all very good young players. Tristan Thompson, Cory Joseph, Myck Kabongo, then they had Andrew Wiggins, and Tyler Ennis, and Trey Lyles. Trey Lyles, from what my brother told me, is as impressive as any player that they had in their program.  They are really, really high on him. When they played down in South America in FIBA Tournament, you know, he had a very good tournament. When he came back, people in Basketball Canada are as high on him as they are on Andrew Wiggins. He doesn't have quite the athleticism that Andrew Wiggins has, but what really, I think, makes him different is his understanding of the game and his efficiency for a big guy. Usually, big young guys aren't as..well, they don't have the feel for the game that he does and they don't play with the degree of efficiency with which he plays.

Duke Recruit Tyus Jones, Photo by Andrew Slater
Duke Recruit Tyus Jones, Photo by Andrew Slater

 

 

Tyus Jones: He's a point guard, combination guard, a high scorer. He can handle the ball, control the tempo, he plays at different

speeds. He's very good. He has a very good tempo to his game. He has a very good sense of ball security with his game.  He shoots the ball extremely well.

 

 

 

 

Kevon Looney: He has size. He was 6'7", 6'8" when I saw him in Chicago. He can play on the

Duke Recruit Kevon Looney, Photo by Andrew Slater
Duke Recruit Kevon Looney, Photo by Andrew Slater

perimeter and in the low-post, he can defend. He's probably a better low-post defender than he is a perimeter defender right now.  Well, certain players he can defend on the perimeter. He's got a nice stroke, he sees the floor well, he's a good passer. I really think he can be an elite level player. Now, I've only seen him once. I can't think of any more skilled power wing players in the class of 2014.  In terms of position, assuming he grows, I think he's more of a perimeter player..because I think at that size with his skill set, it makes him more valuable.

 

 

Duke Recruit Theo Pinson, Photo by Andrew Slater
Duke Recruit Theo Pinson, Photo by Andrew Slater

Theo Pinson: Pinson is a big kid with a lot of quickness. He's got good skill level, he can shoot the ball, he handles the ball well, he uses his great athleticism to defend multiple positions. I don't think he's a knock-down shooter, but he's pretty good.

 

 

Duke Recruit, Photo by Andrew Slater
Duke Recruit, Photo by Andrew Slater

Justice Winslow:  He's a lefty from Houston Hoops. He's an intense competitor. He's versatile. His versatility is one of his greatest strengths. He's strong enough and athletic enough to post and score inside. He can rebound. I don't think he's much of a three-point threat right now, but he has a good mid-range game. He's a pretty good passer. He's a kid that's very strong, great body, and he really uses his strength to post-up in match-ups against others. He's really a very difficult matchup because of his versatility and his range. He's also very skilled with the ball. He can get to the basket. He's a very difficult matchup because of his strength, his quickness, and his ability to get the ball to the basket. He really plays hard. He's a very intense competitor.

 

 

 

Malachi Richardson, Photo by Andrew Slater
Malachi Richardson, Photo by Andrew Slater

Malachi Richardson: People talk about him being a second guard, but I don't really think that he quite is now. He can shoot the three and he's a very good three-point shooter, but he's, you know, a big wing who's probably more of a 3/2 than a 2/3 right now. He's a guy who has a great touch, who has a lot of athletic ability, and has a good body. You know he's grown an inch since his freshman year at Trenton Catholic Academy and he's got a lot of potential. If he wants to be a two guard, he's got to be a little better playing off of the dribble, a little better playing with the ball, and he's got to work awfully hard at guarding a two guard because, right now, his better defensive nature is as a three man. What he is right now is a skilled wing with good size and a lot of athleticism..and at an early age, in terms of only being a sophomore, so he has an awful lot of potential.

 

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6'3" Isaiah "Boogie" Briscoe, Photo by Andrew Slater

Isaiah Briscoe: Well, I mean, he played terrific against St. Anthony's and didn't play like a sophomore. He was very assertive, he was very aggressive, looking to take the ball to the basket, and really forced the issue. Here's a guy who has size, can shoot the ball, he has aggressiveness, he is not intimidated at all. The one thing here, I think, about him is that he's got to be very careful about his body. It's going to be very imperative for him to get on a good diet and to stay in as good a condition as he possibly can because he has the kind of body type where he can put weight on. He's a decent athlete, but he's not a great athlete. He's not a tapered athlete. He's not someone that when you look at him you think "athlete". When you look at him, you see someone who is a scorer and a guy who scores primarily on his aggressiveness, which is based on his temperament. He has a scorer's temperament. He doesn't defer to anyone. He's ready to play against the best teams in the country right now. He won't be intimidated. He won't back down.

He's about 6'3". I don't think he's really a lead guard. I think he's a combination guard right now, but he can handle the ball. You know what they try to do. They try to take anyone who can dribble the ball three times without kicking it into the seventh row, they try to call him a point guard or a lead guard. That's not it at all because, first of all, not only do you have skill with the ball, but it's more of an attitude. It's more of a temperament, it's more of a disposition to try to make other people better, and really, you know, a real good leader. A real point guard or a real lead guard is someone who thinks, he probably thinks pass before he thinks shot and I think that's not the case with Isaiah. You know, he's a guy who can handle the ball and will make plays for some other people, but his first instinct is to look to score himself. Almost by definition, there are more piano carriers than there are piano players, so I mean, anyone that can score like him, you don't want to take that away from them. You don't want to domesticate him too much and it's easier to find someone to set the table than to find someone that will put the ball in the basket. Coach Taylor is probably going to give him the opportunity to display with the ball in his hands next year, but I don't think there are many synthetic point guards or lead guards. I think it's more something that you're born with. Leadership and temperament are what makes a true point guard. [/private]

Duke offers Kevon Looney

Blue Devil Nation Premium has learned that Duke has offered a schlorship to Kevon Looney.  When you're a versatile and skilled 6'8", your highly respected five-time state title winning coach says that -- as a rising junior -- you're the best player he's ever coached, including NBA players Rodney Buford and Carl and Marcus Landry, college programs will take notice. When you add in a 3.6 cumulative GPA and the reputation of being a high character player, schools from around the country from Stanford to Duke will start to pay even closer attention. So it's no surprise that Kevon Looney, a player who fits such a description, has seen his recruitment and rankings take off over the past few months.

Partially out of necessity, Looney was thrust into a starting role as a freshman for Coach Tom Diener, a thirty year veteran, and the Hamilton Wildcats of Milwaukee. He took like a fish to water, averaging a near double-double and earning second-team All-City honors. Despite being severely undermanned (the starting five played the vast majority of the minutes and included three freshmen), the Wildcats enjoyed a miraculous run to the state semifinals at the Kohl Center in Madison before losing narrowly to Memorial HS of Madison. This past season, as a sophomore, Kevon played more of a point-forward position for Coach Diener, and averaged over twenty points, nearly nine rebounds, and two assists. In the toughest conference in Wisconsin, Looney was named the Milwaukee City Conference Player of the Year. Kevon was also a unanimous First Team All-State selection by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association and a Sophomore All-American by MaxPreps.

Kevon Looney was one of the best players at the LeBron James Skills Academy, Photo Provided by Nike/Postion Sports

This camp season, Looney's unique skill set, versatility and rebounding on both ends of the court really helped him stand out, first at the Pangos All-American Camp in Long Beach, California. He followed that up by performing well at the NBA Top 100 Camp in Charlottesville, VA. In July, he was invited to compete at Nike's prestigious LeBron James Skills Academy, where he excelled as a long, face-up wing in his preferred small forward position alongside teammates Austin Nichols and Andrew Wiggins on the Duke camp team. On the AAU circuit, the Wisconsin native played for the Milwaukee Rebels, where he stood out at the Spiece Run N' Jam in Fort Wayne, the Kansas City Classic, the NY2LA Swish 'N Dish, and the Under Armour Summer Jam in Wisconsin. Most recently, he played for the Rebels at the FAB 48, where Duke special assistant coach Nate James watched him at courtside.

When the summer drew to a close, Kevon has been recognized as a consensus top ten caliber player in the class of 2014. I spoke with Kevon at multiple events and, off the court, he's got the same poise, directness, and maturity that belies his age and so impresses on the court.

 

 

 

How do you feel about your AAU season overall?

It’s gone pretty well. We played pretty well. 
You’ve had a bit of a breakout year.
I’m pretty happy with how I’ve played this spring and summer. (laughs) I’ve been working hard.
How do you account for it? Was it something you did either in the off-season or the high school season? Getting more physically developed?
Yeah, I think it’s a lot of working out and staying in the gym..just putting in the time. Just try to out-work people, working on things that people say I need to improve on.
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So it’s a work ethic thing for you?
Yeah. 
I would assume this is the case, but do you feel that your recruitment has picked up over the last few months?
Yeah, definitely. I’ve gotten a lot more suitors. 
Which ones? Who are some of your suitors?
I’ve got Michigan State, Kansas, Wake Forest, Stanford. All of them offered.
Oh, so you must be a good student.
Yeah, and Kentucky and North Carolina have shown interest as well. There are some others.
How far along are you in your recruitment?
Not very far along. I’m going to try to sit down and put a list together in the middle of August. I’d like to cut it down a little bit.
So if a school wants to get in with you, they’ve got to start pretty soon, would you say?
Probably, but I’m still open. 
What do you view as your strengths and weaknesses?
My weaknesses are I need to get stronger. I need to improve my athleticism and work on my handle. 
Do you view yourself as like a 3-4?
I really see myself as a pure 3. A 3. 
Will distance be a factor in your decision?
No, not really. 
What was it like to play with Andrew Wiggins and also Austin Nichols?
They’re both very good. I had never seen them before this summer or played with them. 
What would be your scouting report on both of them?
They’re both very athletic and they’re both real good.
Away from the court, what would you like the audience to know about you?
I’m a humble and smart kid. I have a good family and I’m fun to be around.
Although you‘re capable of doing both, do you consider yourself more of a face-up player or back-to-the-basket player? 
I like to face-up more. I mean, I’ll post if I have to, but it’s usually only because I have to. I like to face up against my opponent. 
You mentioned before that you’re a good student. Academically, you’ll be in good shape?
Yeah, my cumulative right now is about a 3.6. 
Well, that’s impressive. That’s better than two of these normal guys combined.
(laughs)
What do you know about Duke and have they called?
Oh, they’re a great program and actually, they have called. I can’t believe I forgot. 
And what did they say?
They said that they wanted to come see me play. 
Do you know which coach was communicating with you?
Nate James. 
And what did he say to you?
Just that he was looking forward to seeing me.
And what do you know about the program?
I know they’ve got a great program. I know they play in the ACC and I know that they have a great coach in Coach K. We saw them practice. 
What do you know about Coach K?
I know he’s one of the greatest college coaches. 
What is it like for you to play in front of college coaches? Is it helpful for you?
Well, I did it last year and I thought it was a bit stressful, but this year, it’s a lot more fun.  
Does it make you excited or nervous before a game? Can you telling anything different about yourself before a game?
I mean, like the first time it did, but now, I can’t say it really does. I get pretty excited every time. After you talk to them awhile, it helps. 
What’s the one thing that you hope college coaches walk away thinking about you?  “Oh, that kid’s a…?"
That I’m one of the best players out there, that I’m a good person, and stuff like that. 
I read in an article that your high school coach, Tom Diener, who had coached two other NBA players in high school, felt that you were the best player that he’s ever coached.
Well, that’s high praise. It’s great to hear stuff like that, but you know, you still have to keep heading to the gym and work hard. 
I was wondering what went through your head when you heard that.
I just didn’t pay attention to it.  I just tried to work hard. (laughs)
Do you have any visits planned?
I don’t have any plans, but I’ll probably take some visits later in August. 
Do you have a favorite at this point?
No, no favorites at this point. 
For you, what is the difference between AAU basketball and high school?
In AAU, there’s a higher level of competition than in my high school. We’re playing with better players in AAU. Everyone plays harder. We get to travel a lot more.
This year, in high school, will you be traveling a lot? Going to showcases or tournaments?
Oh, no, we pretty much stay in the same state. 
I was hoping that some people could see you play around the country. What are your goals for next season?
In high school, I’d like for us to be state champs.
Do you have a good shot?
We have a shot. We were only like two games away this year and when I was a freshman. The first year we got really close, so I’d really like to be state champs. I think eventually we will. 
Well, with you there, I’m sure you’ve got a great chance. Where do you feel comfortable shooting the ball?
I feel pretty much comfortable shooting anywhere middle and in.
Like 15 feet and in?
Yeah, I like to attack. I like to shoot pretty close in. I can shoot three’s a lot, but, you know, I guess I prefer to get a better shot.
Your handle seems to be something you worked a lot on. What has been the key and do you feel a noticeable improvement?
Oh, yeah, I work on my handle a lot. I mean, I don’t have to dribble a lot in AAU because I’ve got two good ball handlers, I just try to give it to them and go to my spot. Like bang bang. But yeah, I work on my handle a lot.
One of your strengths is defensive versatility. Which position do you feel comfortable defending?
I think I can pretty much defend anybody. (laughs) Well, I mean, 2 and up. 
Yeah, I think 2, 3, and 4. What would be some people who will be important whenever you do decide?
My parents, my parents are most of the influence. A couple of my AAU coaches. Mostly, my parents. 
Did your parents play basketball at all?
My dad played a little bit. 
In college?
I’m not sure, I think it was like NAIA school. I can’t even think of it.
Does he work with you a lot?
He worked with me when I was smaller, but not right now. 
Do you have a trainer?
Actually, I work out with my AAU coaches. I’ve been lifting a lot lately.
Yeah, it looks like that in the upper body. You’re looking a little stronger. What’s your current height and weight?
6’8“, 190.
And what would you like to be?
I’m trying to get to at least 205. 
One thing that comes up with you a lot is versatility. 
Yeah, I’m pretty versatile. I can play a lot of positions and I can score from a lot of positions. I would say I’m pretty versatile. 
Lastly, for an audience who has never seen you play before, how would you describe your game?
A versatile forward that can score and defend. 
That’s perfect. Thank you very much, Kevon.

Thanks a lot.

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