Top-Notch Players of the Bay Area: Centers Edition

<span style="font-weight: 400;">As mentioned before, the Bay Area is full of gifted players. There are many players that should be recognized for their strength, and expertise in the game. Today I will be talking about centers in the Bay Area. I believe that centers are very important to a basketball team. They provide rebounding, rim-protection, scoring near the basket. Centers are also able to use their height to their advantage. Centers provide physicality to a team and provide great defense and offensive opportunities to a basketball team. </span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Below is a list of centers in the Bay Area that are very important to the dynamic of their basketball teams:</span> <b>Rachel Grier- 2023, 6’2”, Center, #11, Dublin High School(Dublin, CA)</b> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Rachel Grier has a lot to bring to the table. Grier is a great all-around basketball player, which a lot of height. She is definitely able to use her height to her best ability. Her height gives her a huge advantage on offense and defense. Rachel has the athleticism to score and retrieve rebounds for her team. Rachel averages 5.2 PPG, and has retrieved a total of 104 rebounds to date for the 2019-2020 season. Rachel really has lots of room for improvement, and she has an abundance amount of talent. If Rachel can improve her scoring game, she will be unstoppable. As mentioned before, she has her height and is able to score easily, she will be a really great player. </span> <b>Tovale Tupouata- 2021, 6’1”, Center and PF, #55, San Leandro High School(San Leandro, CA)</b> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Tovale Tupouata is a monster on the block. She is a very talented, and physical player. She has helped lead her team to an 8-0 record this past 2019-2020 season, and her remarkable ability to score on the block really assisted in her team’s success. Tovale’s amazing touch around the basket makes her able to score easily at any angle on the block. She is tough to beat and is always prepared to shoot when she has the ball. Tovale averages 7.3 PPG, and 6.9 RPG. Tovale is intangible, also very hard to defend and score on. I can’t wait to get a glimpse of Tovale during her senior season. She deserves a lot of recognition, and I know she is ready to take on her senior year with a lot of enthusiasm. I have no doubt that Tovale Tupouata will come out with a bang at the beginning of her senior season. </span> <b>Jael Butler- 2022, 6’1”, Center and PF, #35, Valley Christian High School (San Jose, CA)</b> <span style="font-weight: 400;">If you want to discuss athletic players, let us discuss Jael Butler. She is fast, agile, and a truly gifted basketball player. Butler is always looking for a rebound to either put back up on offense or start a fast break from the defensive end. Butler has a great awareness of her surroundings. She always finishes ever so smoothly when she is in a scoring position. Not only that, but she is also very intelligent with the ball. Jael averages 11.6 PPG, with a total of 313 points to date for the 2019-2020 season, and a 52% FG%. Butler is very active on the block, and with the ball as well. She has great dribbling skills and can dribble from coast to coast on a fast break. Butler can score effortlessly with contact and a defender in her face, and this alone shows her physicality. Jael is always on her toes on offense and defense and never seems to lose energy. Butler is an intense player that will only get better during the rest of her high school career, and I’m excited to see what she has to offer. </span> <b>[player_tooltip player_id="103366" first="Sharon" last="Nejad"]- 2022, 5’10”, Center, Menlo School(Atherton, CA)</b> <span style="font-weight: 400;">[player_tooltip player_id="103366" first="Sharon" last="Nejad"] is a beast and the captain of her high school team. Sharon has one of the best finishing abilities I have seen, I would rely on her all day on an inbound play. Nejad’s touch around the basket is phenomenal. She possesses terrific moves on the block and scoring for her is very straightforward. Her touch around the basket is phenomenal. Nejad has extraordinary moves on the block. Sharon averages 12.8 PPG and has scored 339 points to date for the 2019-2020 season. Her field goal percentage is 49%, and her free-throw percentage is 61%, which is quite outstanding. It is obvious she can tell she practices free throws on the side, I would trust her to shoot free throws if it were a close game. She always averages 10.1 RPG and is outstanding on the offensive and defensive end. She can be very intimidating on the court, her skills are impressive and hard to beat. One of the most talented players in the Bay Area, and I am excited to see what’s in store for her during the rest of her high school career. </span> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;