Jordan Brand Classic: Day 1 Practice, Tyler Ennis, Andrew Wiggins and Jamal Murray On Deck
NEW YORK, NY–The list of Canucks at the 12th annual Jordan Brand Classic continues to grow. NPH attended day one of practice at Basketball City New York, where Andrew Wiggins and Tyler Ennis took the floor for the East Team under Coach Rob Fulford (Huntington Prep), Assistant Coach Sharrief Metoyer (Long Beach Poly H.S) and Assistant Coach Mark Taylor (St. Benedict’s). Ennis is coming off of a fabulous senior season with St. Benedict’s and is excited to start his college career at Syracuse, while Wiggins, still undecided, continues to destroy opponents on every platform.
Michael Carter-Williams declaring to enter the NBA draft this year opens up significant minutes for Ennis as another elite PG to suit up for the Orange. The long list of elite status PG’s on the come up for Canada makes decisions for the National program’s coaching staff very difficult when deciding between, Corey Joseph, Kevin Pangos, Myck Kabongo, Philip Scrubb, Justin Edwards, Nazareth Long and Tyler Ennis.
Having this many guys to choose from is a good problem to have, but it will only get more difficult as the years fly by and that list continues to grow.
A name you can expect to see on a National Team roster in the future is 2016 combo guard Jamal Murray who is also at the Jordan Brand Classic on the International Team wearing white jerseys. Murray is representing Kitchener, Ontario at 6’4, with IQ, play making ability and scoring versatility; he’s fun to watch and will be a standout on game day this Saturday.
One of Murray’s best attributes and a noted intangible trait is his likability on a team, teammates enjoy being around him and coaches enjoy teaching him because he’s open minded and takes in information like a sponge.
Many people were asking about the absence of Justin Jackson on day one; he is expected to be in New York checking in at today’s practice. His name has been circling around American media as a result of his performances last summer on the AAU circuit with YAAACE. Today scouts will get to see what the big deal is.
For the main attraction, Andrew Wiggins, let’s face it, there is no question left to ask Andrew Wiggins. Let’s just enjoy the show and wait for him to make his decision instead of swarming around him after every game and practice. He’s been criticized for giving one word answers and interviews with no energy; reason for that being, its the same thing in every interview. Therefore do not expect to hear anything interesting from Wiggins this weekend, unless he announces where he’s heading this September.
