City of Basketball Love

La Salle head coach John Giannini likes to say he doesn’t like to recruit specific point guards or shooting guards. The perfect Explorer guard can dribble, pass and shoot equally well.

In Bishop McNamara (Md.) senior Jamir Moultrie, Giannini seems to have gotten a guard who can do all three.

The 6-foot-tall, 170-pound lead guard became the second member of La Salle’s incoming 2017 recruiting class, joining Mater Dei (Cali.) big man Miles Brookins with a verbal commitment last week.

“He’s a true combo guard,” McNamara head coach Marty Keithline told CoBL. “Can play the point guard if you need him to, can be a scoring guard if you need him to. Tough kid, unbelievable work ethic.”

La Salle added a third member to its 2017 recruiting class on Monday night, with Combine Academy (N.C.) wing Dajour Joseph joining Moultrie and Brookins. Barring transfer, that’s the final available scholarship for the Explorers next fall.

A smooth, athletic guard, Moultrie can score efficiently from all three levels, with a nice pull-up jumper out to the 3-point arc, and the ability to finish through contact around the rim.

The La Salle staff offered Moultrie as a sophomore, and their recruiting him for nearly two years paid off in the end.

“I just wanted to go somewhere where it fit me, where I could play, have an opportunity to play as a freshman,” he said. “Location didn’t really matter to me, it was just the opportunity to have a chance to play.”

Moultrie said the Explorers coaches most frequently compared him to Tyreek Duren, the Philadelphia native and Neumann-Goretti product who averaged 13.1 ppg and 3.8 apg over a four-year career as a starter between 2010-14.

“They liked that we were both physical guards and we can score the basketball,” he said.

As a junior at Bishop McNamara, which plays in the legendary Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) against programs like DeMatha (Md.), Paul VI (Va.) and others, Moultrie put up 18.6 ppg as a junior, leading the Mustangs to a 17-13 overall record.

He feels that going up against future high-major players on a regular basis has prepared him well for the Atlantic 10 Conference.

“It’s definitely prepared me because there’s no days off,” he said. “You might play a good team one day of the week and then the next day you’ll play another good team, so you’ve got to be on your best.”

Moultrie’s recruitment was all over the map, from mid-major to high-major, and his final decision came down to La Salle, Monmouth, Georgia and Georgetown.

He picked a program that most recently made a Sweet 16 run in 2013, and though the team is coming off a 9-22 season, expectations are much higher for the Explorers this year thanks to the addition of several high-profile transfers.

“(The La Salle) coaches were recruiting him from the beginning,” Keithline said. “All the coaches made a concerted effort, he was very important to them, they did a great job of recruiting him, as well as everybody else, as well, every other coach has been great. Just thought that was the best fit for him, league-wise and school wise.”

Moultrie will join a crowded group when he first arrives campus, with three other guards who can all play point also slated to be on the roster. However, both Amar Stukes and Johnnie Shuler will be seniors, and Pookie Powell will be a junior, so Moultrie won’t have to wait too long for his turn to be a featured guard.

Though Moultrie knows he won’t see the starting lineup as a freshman barring a crazy run of injuries, there will be several minutes up for grabs after Jordan Price and Cleon Roberts graduate following this season.

“Definitely will take (playing behind them) as a learning experience, but also Coach G told me if I come in and do what I’m supposed to do, and I’m working hard, there’s going to be a chance for me to play coming off the bench,” he said. “I really appreciated that nothing was given to me easy.”