Trigonis Tidbits:

Kendrid is The West Coast’s Best Kept Secret

(October 1, 2006)

 

It is not often that big-time players go unnoticed, but history has shown (e.g. Dorrell Wright/Miami Heat) that a special player can go under the radar from time to time only to surface in an impressive way at the conclusion of his HS career.  And that phenomenon may be happening again as 6’4” senior guard Dana Kendrid (Spring Valley/Las Vegas NV) could very well be the best kept secret on the West Coast.  Although I have been aware of Kendrid for sometime (he attended Clark HS in Las Vegas for his first three school years), Dana’s progress and development since last March has been nothing short of spectacular!  Adding to the mystique of this super-athletic scorer and defender was the fact that Kendrid missed the July period with a broken wrist and thus was invisible to college coaches and scouts this summer.  A healthy Kendrid attended the Las Vegas session of the Fullcourt Press Lead Guard Camp in August and impressed me with not just his unbelievable athleticism (including the ability to finish above the rim in traffic) but with outstanding pressure defense, excellent passing, court vision and decision-making as well as a very solid handle which allows him to beat defenders off the dribble with regularity.  Toss in a dependable jump shot and think part Dwyane Wade – part Latrell Sprewell to get an idea on the type of player I am talking about.  At that time in August, I knew I was looking at a potential Top 150-200 player in the Class of 2007, but after seeing him again (this time in a slightly more organized game setting) at the Fullcourt Press Las Vegas Fall Showcase last Tuesday at Bishop Gorman HS I was forced to revise my impression of Kendrid as somebody who is now a legitimate Top 100 prospect (with potential to rise higher) as he completely stole the show and was “hands-down” the most outstanding player in a Las Vegas senior game that included several other very good Sin City players including 6’7” Billy White (Green Valley/Henderson NV), 5’11” Heiden Ratner (Silverado/Las Vegas NV), 6’2” Donte Poole (Mojave/Las Vegas NV), 6’4” Jason West (Desert Pines/Las Vegas NV) and 6’1” Michael Lloyd (Palo Verde/Las Vegas NV).  Kendrid’s upside is as bright as the Vegas strip at night and he is also now working with NBA Skill instructor Joe Abunassar (who trains the likes of Kevin Garnett, Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince, Baron Davis, All Harrington and Sebastian Telfair every summer at the Tarkanian Basketball Academy location in Las Vegas as well as the Home Depot Center’s ADT Center in Carson CA).  Abunassar is also very high on Kendrid and believes he has pro potential.  I will be publishing a detailed grade-by-grade/game-by-game re-cap of the Las Vegas event on this Fullcourt Press website very shortly which will highlight Kendrid’s excellent performance as well as nice efforts from several other Las Vegas prospects…………..Speaking of Billy White, the athletic southpaw recently visited San Diego State.   Steve Fisher and the Aztec staff have done a very nice job recruiting this nationally underrated combo-forward (a Top 20 selection at last June’s Pangos All-American Camp) and may be the team to beat for White.  Helping the Aztec cause is the fact that Las Vegas native and current San Diego State forward 6’7” Lorenzo Wade (a Louisville transfer) is a good friend of White……………. Super-athletic swingman 6’5” soph Gerard Anderson (Saddleback JC/Mission Viejo CA) committed to Cal State Fullerton recently after visiting the Titan campus.  Anderson (a Carson CA native) is a high-major athletic wing with a big-time body that has substantially improved his overall skill set.  Credit CSUF assistant Jason Levy with “stealing” one early and continuing to improve Fullerton’s talent level………….6’4” junior Elston Turner (Roseville/Roseville CA) has made an early commitment to Washington – proving that when it rains, it pours in Seattle for Lorenzo Romar.  Turner’s commitment comes on the heels of 6’6” senior Justin Holiday’s (Campbell Hall/North Hollywood CA) recent verbal to UW.  Turner (the son of former NBA player and Sacramento Kings assistant coach Elston Sr.) is a versatile guard with size that can score as well as set up teammates and is an excellent pick-up for the Huskies as he projects to be a potential Top 100 prospect in the Class of 2008………...6’9” senior forward Garrett Green (Taft/Woodland Hills CA) has committed to LSU after visiting the campus a week earlier.  Green (an athletic big man with nice face-up ability) picked the Tigers over interest from Arizona State, Oregon, USC, New Mexico State and Texas A&M……………...6’7” senior sharpshooter Trent Anderson (Ironwood Ridge/Tucson AZ) is considering several schools including Portland, Montana, Northern Arizona, Columbia, Yale, UC-Irvine, Long Beach State and UC-Santa Barbara.  Anderson (a very good student) shoots the rock as well as anybody his size in the West and he is also intriguing to several Pac-10 schools ………. Although high-flying 6’6” junior swingman DeMar DeRozan (Compton/Compton CA) gets more ink, DeMar’s 6’10” junior Tarbabe teammate Edgar Garibay is also a top-notch prospect in his own right.  Long, agile and armed with an accurate perimeter shot that extends out to the 3-point line, Garibay is rapidly becoming the object of high-major attention.  Schools that have ventured out onto Compton’s Alondra Blvd. to peek at Edgar (a good student – 3.2 GPA) include Cal, LSU, Stanford, Washington, Florida State, Oregon, Arizona, USC, Marquette, Kansas, Iowa, New Mexico State, Colorado State and Loyola Marymount………………...6’5” senior combo-guard Julyan Stone (Dos Pueblos/Goleta CA) has been resting this fall after undergoing surgery on his knee immediately after the July period ended.  Although not 100% this past summer, Stone played well enough and showed flashes of his enormous potential as a top-rate lead guard to warrant attention from the likes of Western Kentucky, Portland, Santa Clara (has visited), Pepperdine, Hartford (will visit), Loyola Marymount, St. Mary’s and UC-Santa Barbara…………Rapidly improving 6’9 senior center Malcolm Campbell (Fairfax/Los Angeles CA) also is benefiting from a solid summer (made the Top 20 all-star game at the Fullcourt Press All-West Camp) and is drawing interest from Portland, Columbia, Ohio and Wyoming to name a few.  Campbell (the nephew of former UCLA center and NBA player Brad Wright) is a wide-body with a developing soft touch around the basket and will continue to get better with experience (rarely played last year as a junior and his senior campaign will be the first time he will start and get meaningful minutes) .…………Former Cheyenne (Las Vegas NV) center 6’10” Melvyn Oliver has relocated to an east coast prep school – (Living Faith/Cherry Hill NJ) where he has been re-classified to the Class of 2008.  Oliver is a Stanley Roberts-type big man who with improved conditioning and weight loss could be an intriguing college prospect……….St. Mary’s (Phoenix AZ) got a huge boost for its front line recently when Serbian import 7’0” junior center Uros Lukovic checked in for the school year.  Lukovic’s father (Ljubisav) is an international scout for the Phoenix Suns.