Congrats to Ron Artest who was the man last night for the Houston Rockets who crept out the 1st Round Playoffs. He graced our cover for issue #18 last fall ‘08.

Lance Stephenson appeared on our cover in ‘06 after he’d led Lincoln HS to a PSAL championship his freshman year. In the three years since, he’s led his squad to four city chips in all, something that had never been done before in our country’s oldest high school league.

Brandon Jennings made our cover in ‘06 as well after taking over (a’la his nickname “The Take Over” that EJ the Mayor gave him) the inaugural Elite 24 @ Rucker Park. In ‘08, he made history by being the first All-American HS player to skip college and go straight to play pro overseas.

Who will be on the next Bounce cover . . . who do you think deserves it that hasn’t been on before?

Brandon Jennings at the 2008 McDonald’s All-American Game. Photo: highschoolhoop.com If Lance Stephenson decides to forego college to play overseas for a year, it won’t be because of Brandon Jennings’s advice. According to a recent New York Times article, professional ball in Italy hasn’t lived up to the high expectations for the smooth 19-year-old.

“They treat me like I’m a little kid,” Jennings told the Times. “They don’t see me as a man. If you get on a good team, you might not play a lot. Some nights you’ll play a lot; some nights you won’t play at all. That’s just how it is.”

To read Ray Glier’s entire piece on the former Elite 24 MVP, click here.

Sherrod Wright – Pick 9 in Mock Playground Draft

While watching former St. Anthony’s standout Tyshawn Taylor, (first playground experience was with Dyckman/Jim Couch Foundation in the Holcombe Rucker Memorial League) start as a freshman at Kansas, I grouped him as a player who could excel as an All-Surface Performer. He possesses the killer speed and sudden stops to dead defender’s legs, the bungees to go over the 6′8″ or better big man, and the jumper to deal with the uneven elements that the outdoor game brings. Combine that with the killer disposition to recover from the back-and-forth, one-on-one challenge the playground presents, and you get a player who has the ability to excel on the All-Surface level (Grassroots/High School, College and Playground).

Playground ability is a gift that many players who are NBA pros don’t possess. The list down below presents 10 that are All-Surface types. They have the ability to play in the NBA and come through on the asphalt to produce the “spillout” that we all love to talk about. A few names are surprising. Read More »