City of Basketball Love

Team Final had sky-high expectations in 2016, and through seven games, Director Rob Brown and company have to be happy with their results. They hold impressive wins over PSA and Team Penny, with a loss to a tough Spiece squad being the only blemish on their resume. Lonnie Walker is a budding superstar, and he's surrounded by a ton of talent. At 6-1, head coach Aaron Burt and company have found their rhythm early, and have put themselves in tremendous position to contend for a divisional championship.

Walker (18.1 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 3.0 APG) is the undisputed go-to man for Final, and the EYBL veteran has been extremely impressive. Gifted with size and athleticism, Walker employs a relentless motor with an ever-improving skill set. If anything, he's not aggressive enough. Walker has the ability to completely take a game over, something that we haven't seen enough of thus far. He did it in the final minutes in the opener against the Arkansas Wings, a nail-biter that saw Walker eventually hit the game-winning bucket in transition. Expect the Reading (Pennsylvania) product to continue to light up the scoresheet in Hampton and Atlanta, and expect plenty of wins to come with it.

This is one of the most compete rotations in the country. Cameron Reddish, a 6-foot-8 sophomore who operates alongside Walker, is one of the top underclassmen in the nation. He recently picked up offers from Duke and Kentucky, which shouldn’t come as a surprise after after putting up averages of 15.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.4 steals in the first seven games. Daron Russell (14.1 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 3.4 RPG, 2.0) has proven to be one of the most underrated point guards on the circuit, and it’s clear that he’s just scratching the surface of his stock at the next level. Five other plays contribute in the rotation, highlighted by recent Villanova verbal pledge Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree. At 6-foot-9, Cosby-Roundtree (9.7 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 2.1 BPG) is Team Final’s defensive stopper, and he’s shown the ability to play well above his season averages.

A lighter schedule in Hampton should allow Team Final to clinch a berth at Peach Jam, but they won’t be satisfied with that outcome. Five out of their last nine opponents have an under .500 record, but they also face a few squads that have underperformed thus far. As evidenced by their gritty win over the PSA Cardinals, Team Final can beat anyone put in front of them. If 6-foot-9 sophomore behemoth Marcus Littles can step up his production in the frontcourt, that would shore up the most notable flaw in Final’s attack. They’ve looked terrific thus far, so expect Philadelphia’s EYB affiliate to find similar results in Hampton and Atlanta.