Boston Best 40 Gets Overwhelming Response
NATICK, Mass. - When Andrew Mirken lined up all the kids to put teams together for the afternoon portion of the Boston Best 40 on Saturday, he suddenly realized something: he had a few more kids than he expected.
The count: 91 kids. It’s hard to believe that just a couple of short weeks earlier, the coach at the Rivers School, site of the event, was hoping to find more kids, as if even getting 40 was going to be tough. Ranging from late middle school to high school sophomores, the event brought in far more kids than expected.
The event started out with the young players getting an engaging talk from Bo Ruggiero, head coach at Cohasset High School and a member of the Massachusetts Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He went over a few simple fundamentals for the kids to take home with them about balance, passing and shooting. Once that was over, it was time for stations to close out the morning to further instruct the kids on various aspects of the game.
The afternoon session was game time, with each team playing one game apiece, then two all-star games. One was with the youngest players, all clearly at a different physical stage of development than the older players, hence the separate games. While it’s too early to assess the true potential of every player here, a few showed that they will be worth following over the next few years.
To read this story in its entirety (including write-ups on Rene Castro, Dimitri Floras, Ramone Gibbons, Carlin Haymon, Kaleb Joseph, John Powell, Jakeel Taylor, and Jared Terrell) please click here.
Dimitri Floras
Kaleb Joseph
John Powell
Carlin Haymon
Jared Terrell
Rene Castro