Phenom’s Open Gym Tour
Durham Hurricanes Open Gym
By Rick Lewis
Phenom Hoop Report travelled to Durham, North Carolina for the annual open gym scrimmage. Over the years, the Durham Hurricanes is what “Grassroots” travel ball is all about. They are a local travel ball boys basketball organization. They focus on players in the Durham area and work and develop them from middle school to the high school level. Now, the fruits of their labor are starting to pay huge dividends for the organization. Last year, 6’2 Carter Collins earned and accepted a scholarship from Davidson College where he will play an important role as a freshman. This past season, 6’6 Trey Murphy verbally committed to Rice University. Next in line is 6’9 ’19 Josh Hall who will be playing for Oak Hill’s Red team. That being said, we got a glimpse at the future on other potential collegiate prospects.
Ready for the big stage
6’0 ’21 Cole Sinclair (Durham Academy) We have had countless opportunities to watch Sinclair over the years. He has participated in our Phenom camps and Phenom travel ball tournaments. He is a strong, physical, scoring point guard. At our NC Phenom 150 camp last October, we wrote the following. “Cole Sinclair is a high IQ guard that plays with phenomenal poise. He’s an incredibly polished player, especially for his age and there are few holes within his game.” After watching open gym on Sunday, it is evident that Sinclair has spent countless hours in the gym working on his perimeter shooting. While he was always a solid perimeter shooter, he did have a low release point. That has been corrected and he absolutely torched the nets hitting 7-9 three pointers. We were equally impressed with his ability to use his power/strength in attacking the rim and finishing with consistency. He is developing into an intriguing prospect and will be next in line of potential D1 prospects from the Durham Hurricane organization. The next step in his overall development is to become more vocal on the court and become more efficient with his dribble. That being said, look for big things on the horizon for Cole Sinclair in the 2021 North Carolina class.
Consistency is his calling Card
6’3 ’19 Noah Dinkins (Trinity of Durham) With Noah Dinkins, you know what you are getting every time he steps out on the court. He’s a hard working prospect that has excellent range, although his release point could be higher at times. He has good size and solid fundamentals. Dinkins plays equally hard on both ends of the court. He can score from all three levels on the court and plays with poise and pace.
Athletic and Explosive Guard
6’4 ’19 Bryant Randleman (Durham Academy) Randleman is a strong, athletic combo guard. He can easily play both guard positions. We were impressed with his length, quickness and ability to get to the rim. In addition, Randleman demonstrated good court and helped create scoring opportunities for his teammates. On the other side of the ball, Randleman could easily become a defensive specialist utilizing his length, quickness and athleticism.
Toughness is his calling Card
6’4 ’20 Drake Thompson (Hillside HS) Thompson is blessed with tremendous strength and power. He is a terrific rebounder for his size/position and does an excellent job of finishing around the rim. We were impressed with his effort and energy and his willingness to play on both sides of the court. Currently, he feels more comfortable scoring from the paint and will need to enhance his perimeter skills to maximize his long term potential. He’s a tough hard-nosed player and will give you maximum effort. In addition, we were extremely impressed with his positive body language and overall attitude on and off the court.
Strong family Genes
6’0 ’20 Marcus Boykins (Harrell’s Christian) Great basketball family, sister plays at Duke University and brother is all league at Barton College. The southpaw has excellent physical attributes. He has strength, explosiveness and overall athleticism. We were impressed with his ability to take his defender off the dribble and finish strong at the rim. More importantly, Boykins can become a high level defender. He has superb lateral quickness with quick twitch muscles that will allows him to excel on both ends of the court
Other impressions
6’2 ’20 Joshua “Lefty” Alston (Riverside) is a strong athletic southpaw guard. He is fearless in attacking the rim
5’6 ’22 Jayden Michael (Rolesville MS) is a crafty point guard with excellent vision. He has superb quickness and will create problems on both ends of the court.
5’7 ’22 Cameron Johnson (Leesville MS) is a strong guard with good court vision that is able to score from the perimeter
6’3 ’22 Jared Meltzer (Triangle Day School) is a strong rebounder for his age/grade. Ran the floor extremely well and finished strong on the interior.