City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Ari Rosenfeld (@ARosenfeldDVHR)
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For the seven years, the Jr. All-City Classic has been our first look at the next crop of local high school basketball players, as the all-star event brings together several dozen rising freshman, most of whom will be playing for quite a few of the area’s top high school programs this fall.

The 2018 edition brought in several players who already had the high school ranks buzzing with their potential, and several others made positive first impressions at Imhotep Charter on Tuesday night.

Here are our picks for standouts:

Jameel Brown
Brown played in this event a year ago, then decided to repeat his 8th grade year at The Haverford School and move into the 2022 class. Since then, he’s grown several inches and developed from primarily a shooter into more of a ball-dominant guard with a strong 6-foot-2 frame. Brown is pretty advanced with the ball in his hands, and does a good job using his shifty handle to create space for his jumper. Though he still looks to score first, there’s potential for him to develop into more of a lead guard down the line.

Sam Brown
The first thing that stands out about Brown is his athleticism, which makes sense considering he’s already opted to attend La Salle College High School -- which has yet to hire a basketball coach -- based on the strong reputation of the Explorers’ football program. But Brown shows a knack for the basketball court as well, with a fair amount of skill packed into a thick 6-foot-1 frame. He was at his best getting downhill towards the rim, showing a good amount of wiggle off the bounce and the explosiveness to finish amongst the trees. Look for Brown and fellow two-sport standout Marvin Harrison Jr. -- a current freshman at La Salle -- to represent the future of the Explorers’ program on the court.

Khalif Crawley
Playing in the gym where he’ll also suit up for the Imhotep Panthers, Crawley did plenty to suggest that he’ll work his way into Andre Noble’s rotation at some point in the next couple seasons. A big-bodied 6-6 forward, Crawley has some slimming down to do as he gets to high school, but he uses his size to his advantage when he gets into the lane. He showed off the ability to put the ball on the floor and make some passes off the bounce, with something of a combo-forward’s skillset -- though we didn’t see a jumper -- in a bruising big man’s body. Good hands and good feet bode well for productivity, as long as his conditioning is on course.

Jalen Duren
If there’s one player to watch locally in this class, it’s Duren, who looks like he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with in the Catholic League when he puts on a Roman Catholic uniform this fall. A 6-9 forward with long arms, Duren is physically well ahead of most of his peers, both in terms of height and his overall mobility in the post, and even though he clearly wasn’t putting in maximum effort in this atmosphere, he was still by far the most dominant player on the floor. Dunking everything he could to the tune of 16 points, with quite a few rebounds and at least a handful of big-time blocks, there wasn’t much anybody could do with Duren around the rim. And though he didn’t quite go coast-to-coast, several attempts showed his handle is far from poor.

Khalil Farmer
Another player who played in this event last year before reclassifying to 2022, Farmer is still a bit rusty coming off a leg injury that has sidelined him for several months, but showed off an advanced offensive arsenal that has had him lauded as one of the top scorers in the class. Standing around 6-foot-2 and still not in peak shape coming off the injury, he scored from all three levels and displayed a fairly advanced feel for the game. Farmer will suit up for the Shipley School this coming year, and with the graduation of Binghamton-bound guard Sam Sessoms, look for him to take on a bulk of the offensive load from day one.

Dean Newsome
One of the breakout stars from the first game, which typically features more under-the-radar talent, was Newsome, who’s not even going to high school next year -- he’s reclassifying to 2023, and will attend Kings’ Christian (N.J.), so we fully expecting to see him in the 2019 edition of this. A 6-0 shooting guard, Newsome had one of the better-looking outside shots of the evening, making three 3-pointers en route to 15 points, and he had a tight handle that he used to get into the lane; also one of the stronger guards in the opening game, he’s ahead of the game physically in terms of adjusting at the next level.

Shawn Smith
One of the top talents in the opening game, Smith shined with his combination of a strong 6-foot-1 frame and a crafty handle that allowed him to seemingly live in the lane. While he struggled a bit with his consistency at the rim, he did show the ability to use both hands and displayed some craft finishing around bigger players. Smith looked comfortable from beyond the arc but will need to continue improving the consistency of his jumper, as his size and shiftiness should allow him to create separation fairly frequently.

Justice Williams
Roman Catholic isn’t getting just one ready-to-play freshman this fall -- Matt Griffin will have two. Williams plays up with Duren on Team Final’s 15U group along with several other rising sophomores, and the two of them are ready to compete with players even a year or two older than that. A 6-3 guard with long braided hair, Williams has an advanced floor game for a 14-year-old, with a smooth rise and release on a confident and capable jumper, plus the ability to get past his defender, get into the lane and make plays; he’s already plenty used to throwing up lobs for Duren to throw down, and nothing suggests that’ll stop.

Honorable Mention

Jacob Beccles, Jeremiah Bembry, Trent Middleton, Ronnie Raphael, Bobby Rosenberger, Naji Reid, Keon Sabb, Justin Smith, Enai White