U18 National Team Selected
Words. HShoop
(Photo: Kemba Walker)
The 12 players that will represent the USA at the FIBA Americas Championship in Argentina beginning on July 14th have been selected. USA under 18 team officials invited a total of 25 players to compete for 18 roster spots in Washington D.C. and after several workouts under the watchful eye of Davidson Head Coach Bob McKillop, the final squad has been selected. One glaring omission from the team is Lance Stephenson of Lincoln HS (NY). Word out of Washington was that Stephenson had a bad first day at trials but eventually steadied the ship. Could it be that his “aggressive” on court demeanor has finally caught up to him? Since Stephenson wasn’t selected, he will now be able to participate in the upcoming July camps and AAU events. Players at these camps and events should beware, Stephenson might be a tad bit upset and ready to light defenders up. One player who impressed was UCLA freshman to be, Malcolm Lee. Lee showed his versatility, ability to play three positions and made it difficult for coaches to cut him.
• Dominic Cheek (St. Anthony H.S. / Jersey City, N.J.)
• JaMychal Green (St. Jude H.S. / Montgomery, Ala.)
• Matt Humphrey (Hales Franciscian H.S / Chicago, Ill.)
• Ryan Kelly (Ravenscroft H.S. / Raleigh, N.C.)
• Malcolm Lee (John W. North H.S. / Riverside, Calif.)
• Leslie McDonald (Briarcrest H.S./ Memphis, Tenn.)
• Mason Plumlee (Christ H.S. / Arden, N.C.)
• Travis Releford (Bishop Miege H.S. / Shawnee Mission, Kan.)
• Kemba Walker (Rice H.S. / New York, N.Y.)
• Maalik Wayns (Roman Catholic H.S. / Philadelphia, Pa.)
• David Wear (Mater Dei H.S. / Santa Ana, Calif.)
• Travis Wear (Mater Dei H.S. / Santa Ana, Calif)
wateva, hopefully this serves as a wake up call for the kid. now, the team looks solid. very good guards in lee, walker and wayns. the only questions i have is who will be the go to scorer and are those bigs tough enough to hold them down. besides green there aren’t any monsters in the post, all finesse big men.
how could they cut the best player in the nation. fools. let’s watch this squad bring home the bronze. lance could bring go over there with 4 guys from the local ymca and bring home the gold BABY!
THATS CRAZY!!!! LANCE IS A LITTLE TO HYPE SOMETIMES BUT HE IS STILL THE BEST PLAYER IN THE COUNTRY…THEY GONNA REGRET CUTTING(BORN READY) BROOKLYN ALL DAY!!!!
Most NY players get too much hype. How many are really doing anything significant in the pros. I could give you a laundry list of players that were supposed to be the best in the country from NY and most of them are sitting at home watching the NBA games like the rest of us.
Hold it, he ain’t done nothing yet. Let him humble before he’s great.
For what it’s worth. Lance needs to stay under the wing of his high school coach Tiny Morton. Tiny has a way of keeping his kids focused & humble. From the time his father started his own AAU team so that he can coach Lance it’s been down hill all summer. Is he better than half them kids on the roster? Of course. But is he a better teammate? Absolutely not!
Lance is the truth…. No matter how you look at it! These other kids are talented, in their own right, but Lance is a man-child, a BEAST!!! I bet all of you people downing the kid have never seen him play, don’t know him personally, never seen him PERIOD!!! The kid is a KID, no matter how mature his game is… I can’t believe how much hatin’ is being done on a KID! New York ballers always get a bad rap because we produce the BEST BALLERS in the world! If we didn’t produce the best ballers, then there wouldn’t be so much hatin’ going on regarding a KID! Lance you hold your head up and remember how the less talented, and mindless brood of judgmental idiots have berated you and applauded your hardships. I tell you this Lance, even if you never make it to the NBA and get a 500 million dollar contract, you still got a friend and a fan in me… BROOKLYN STAND UP!
Every ball player needs a yes man (Brooklyn’s Own) I guess he’s got one in you. Lance getting cut had nothing to do with skills. It was his “Attitude”
The HYPE is always about Lance Stephenson. I can’t ignore the fact that there were other players on the Railsplitters that led to the team’s success. One player in particular caught my eye, Justin Greene. He led the Railsplitters to the Federation State Title. He should have also won the MVP, yet and still they gave it to Lance Stephenson. Lance did not deserve that award. I truly believe that the Railsplitters would have still won the championship without Lance. Lincoln has the best players in the city and they know the true meaning of teamwork. Remember Michael Jordan didn’t win a championship until he learned the meaning of teamwork. Lance is a great player, one of the best, but he needs to learn discipline and how to be a team player.
You people crack me up!!! Especially all of you talent scouts… Too bad the only thing you are scouting is attitude… Incredible!!! I guess attitude counts to the people that can’t play worth sh$t… People need to stay in their lanes and play their positions… Some players are stars and some are role players… I guess Michael Jordan had the best attitude, Magic Johnson, Isaiah Thomas… etc… The list goes on, the best players have dominant attitudes… True, some good players may be more passive, but even Reggie Miller let it loose at times… You haters need to grow up and stop hatin’ on such a tremendous talent… That is whats wrong with sports too many losers in charge and worrying about the wrong tangibles… Tangibles that they may have possessed, like good attitudes, or humbleness… Contrarily the skills that pay the bills, they ignore or they discount it as not being more important than attitudes… I really hate to where the management of the game has gone… It’s truly ridiculous, worrying about everything else under the sun except putting the ball in the basket consistently… I guess I will have to thank the lame losers, who may love the game, for destroying basketball!!! I played in Gauchos, CYO, I grew up in CI (coney island), and Lance ain’t doing nothing wrong… He’s playin ball, he’s telling opponents and teammates, I’m gonna win PERIOD!!! I guess you lames here would rather him hold kiss and hug everybody prior to taking a shot, or grabbing a rebound… THE KID IS A BEAST and that is how he plays!!! Oh yeah Justin is on point too, but Lance is the MAN, make no mistake!!! LAMEZ…
I have been to every game that Lincoln played. Iv’e noticed a trend in the way each of the teammates play the game. The only time Lance gives an assist is when he gets double teamed and he can’t get them off. He yelled at his teammates even when he was the cause of a turnover. No doubt that he is a phenomenal player, but Padgett, Ellis, Greene and Staten, Flowers are all BEASTS. I’m not hating, I would like to see him grow as a person and a team player. Remember when Telfair gave the MVP award to his fellow teammate because he knew he didn’t deserve it? He gained a bigger fan base and RESPECT. Lance and everyone else knew that Justin Greene was the Beast in the Federation State Tournament. Were you there? I was.
I’m not from Brooklyn and all but that’s messed up that they cut lance stephenson just because of his first day impression was bad but don’t worry i gotta feeling lance still has a chance to represent the country when he gets to the next level but i’m feeeling the fact that they got Kemba walker on the squad BX all Day !!!