Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
This is the second year of the LeBron Academy and they were preceded by four position-specific camps headlining Steve Nash (point guards), Paul Pierce (shooting guards), Vince Carter (small forwards) and Amare Stoudemire (big men). What is unique this year is that a couple of the invites, namely Brooklyn Lincoln star Lance Stephensonand North Carolina commits David and Travis Wear, are also trying out for the FIBA Americas U18 Championship team that will go to Argentina July 14-18. If they make the team once the final cuts are announced Monday, they will be at Georgetown for training camp the rest of the week and thus would miss the LeBron Academy. The two guys already cut from the U18 team, Tennessee commit Kenny Hall and uncommitted Ari Stewart, are both at LeBron. John Wall, the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2009 according to Rivals and a recent foil to Stephenson at the Steve Nash Academy, will also be there. Read Kevin Armstrong’s great piece on Wall here.
Big Names on the Roster:DeMarcus Cousins, Nolan Dennis, Jordan Hamilton, Xavier Henry, John Wall
Local Flavor: Taran Buie (Bishop Maginn), Michael Gilchrist (St. Patrick), Durand Scott (Rice), Doron Lamb (Bishop Loughlin), Lamont Jones (Blair Christian).