IE Summer Slam: Paint Producers

The rarest player in basketball is girls who can consistently produce in the paint not only scoring the basketball, but also impacting the game on the boards and defending in the post. Players with versatility and skills at, just under, or over six feet tall, that can move are the hardest to find and also the hardest to land for college coaches due to said rarity. These players fit that description perfectly and made statements with their play to close out the AAU season in Greensboro at Insider Exposure's Sumer Slam.    Elle had a very good tournament in Greensboro showing her ability to impact the game in a lot of ways. Her best scoring performance came against the Winston- Salem Stealers where she dominated the majority of the game with her play. Elle was the most aggressive I have ever seen in that game while still playing under control for Tennessee United. She put the ball in the basket in just about every way possible in the paint in that game. Johnson attacked the basket with a purpose and was rewarded for her efforts with 16 points. Elle has great hands and a soft touch around the rim and was able to elevate and finish over every defender at the tournament. It was also good to see her step out to the perimeter and take some jump shots, including a couple three point attempts. Her confidence seemed to be as high as I can remember it. She had multiple highlight blocks that she sent out of bounds with authority and was all dominant on the backboards. Without question, this was the best I have seen Elle play since I started watching her 2-3 years ago.     Paisley is a player who was instrumental in Heritage's state championship over Sandy Creek last year in the AAA state championship game. She has excellent size and has the ability to play with power using her strength, but also showed a lot of finesse and skill over the four days in Greensboro. She is a consistent and reliable finisher around the rim, especially with her dominant left hand. She drew multiple fouls and got to the line often where she shot the ball well. What I had not seen from her was the ability to defend on the perimeter when she got switched onto a guard. That was not the only surprise as Collins also sent several balls sailing out of bounds after she blocked opposing player's shots. Paisley showed good guards skills pushing the ball on the break and finding her open teammates. Her passing ability may have been the biggest revelation about her game from watching her play the last four days. She is one of the more underrated players in the state in her class, but they should change over the next two years. She currently holds a D2 offer from in-state Shorter University.     Baskerville was a huge reason why Delaney Rudd and his Phoenix squad were able to win another championship on the Insider Exposure circuit. Baskerville, who recently committed to Wake Forest, was very good in all phases of the game but her biggest impact came rebounding the basketball and blocking and altering shots on the defensive end. She is another "big" who has the power and strength to go with her height which helped her to finish through contact at the rim several times over the course of the weekend. Her strength is also evident when she receives the ball. Opposing guards dropping down in help to try and rip the ball out had no chance getting it out of her vice grip. I have seen her game consistently improve over the last two seasons and every aspect was on display in Greensboro. Physically, Jeanna is as impressive a player as I saw all weekend, with the exception of [player_tooltip player_id='1263834' first='Elle' last='Johnson']. Both kids look like division one players right now just walking around the coliseum.     Tree finished her last AAU season in impressive fashion in front of multiple college coaches who watched her [program_tooltip program_id='715943' first='Southeast' last='United'] team play. Wilson's biggest strength at her size is her ability to move and her high motor which allowed her to attack the offensive boards with great effect. Tree was able to create extra scoring opportunities regularly for herself and her teammates. She converted those second chance opportunities and most of the others she had in the paint where she finished with touch in a variety of ways. Jahlaya was a threat to score from outside of the paint also when she stepped out to the perimeter and knocked down shots from both outside and inside the three point line. Defensively, Wilson was very solid keeping her defensive assignments in check. Again, her excellent lateral movement allowed her to keep the ball in front of her when guarding the ball while also coming over from the help side to block shots.     Williams was another player right at 6' tall who used her size and skill to show the onlooking college coaches her versatility impacting the game in multiple ways. Williams did as good a job as any player in this group scoring the basketball both inside and out. She was very effective shooting the ball from the perimeter where Harmony showed excellent form and follow through. In the paint, Williams didn't waste a lot of time getting her shot off when she received the basketball. She used quick fakes (shot and head) to get the defender off balance and create space before finishing smoothly at the rim. She also showed good agility and the ability to elevate around the rim. Williams has several offers heading into her senior year, including Loyola-Maryland, Lafayette, William & Mary, ECU, and American. I would not be surprised to see that list grow over the next few days after her stellar play at Summer Slam.     Dinkins was hard to miss in the Final Four versus an outstanding Tennessee United team with both [player_tooltip player_id='1263834' first='Elle' last='Johnson'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1105842' first='Paisley' last='Collins']. Even though her team did not win the game, Dinkins had a very good performance on both ends of the floor for Tre Mann. In particular, Trinity was excellent pushing the ball in transition at her size in the game. In one sequence Dinkins deflected a pass before jumping up and grabbing the ball out of the air and then proceeded down the court where she made an excellent post entry pass to a teammate. That shot was altered or tipped by Johnson before United went on their own fast break. Dinkins stopped that with another steal and finish on the other end with her left hand off the glass. That was a small part of the game, but illustrated her impact. Dinkins rebounded the ball very well for her team in addition to playing very good defense. Of offense, Trinity was effective scoring the ball in the paint, but she also showed her ability to stretch the defense by knocking down shots from the perimeter. Overall, she had a very good performance against one of the best teams there. She recently announced on social media that she will be playing for Potters House next season for scholastic ball.

The rarest player in basketball is girls who can consistently produce in the paint not only scoring the basketball, but also impacting the game on the boards and defending in the post. Players with versatility and skills at, just under, or over six feet tall, that can move are the hardest to find and also the hardest to land for college coaches due to said rarity. These players fit that description perfectly and made statements with their play to close out the AAU season in Greensboro at Insider Exposure's Sumer Slam.