Four NBA teams are still in the running for the 2019 title, but the rest of the league is thinking about 2020. And this week, they'll be taking a hard look at players who Culligan City of Palms Classic fans are already familiar with.
 
City of Palms alums make up one out of every five players taking part in the 2019 NBA Draft Combine, which is set for this Thursday and Friday in Chicago. The event includes scrimmages and drills as well as body measurements and meetings between teams and players. The most highly touted of the 66 players involved, like City of Palms alum R.J. Barrett, will likely skip the scrimmages and drills, and maybe even the measurements, but they'll nonetheless be interviewing with teams eager to find out what makes them tick.
Bronny James Makes NIKE EYBL DEBUT vs. OLDER PLAYERS with LeBron Watching!!
Bronny James Makes NIKE EYBL DEBUT vs. OLDER PLAYERS with LeBron Watching!!

Sharife Cooper EYBL LEADING SCORER! Highlights From Session 1 in ATL!
Sharife Cooper EYBL LEADING SCORER! Highlights From Session 1 in ATL!

Scottie Barnes & Isaiah Todd GO CRAZY In Front of Coach Calipari! Nightrydas Elite Drop 100 Points!
Scottie Barnes & Isaiah Todd GO CRAZY In Front of Coach Calipari! Nightrydas Elite Drop 100 Points!
5-Star 6'6 PG Cade Cunningham Highlights @ EYBL Atlanta!
5-Star 6'6 PG Cade Cunningham Highlights @ EYBL Atlanta!

There's no real offseason for the high school hoops elite.
 
Summer ball began in earnest over the past month with the first two sessions of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League. Stars from the most recent Culligan City of Palms Classic were well-represented, and none has shone more brilliantly than reigning City of Palms MVP Sharife Cooper, who's playing on the AOT Running Rebels with several of his teammates from City of Palms champ McEachern (Powder Springs, Georgia).
 
Cooper is the league's third-leading scorer, at 28.1 points per game, and he's second in assists per game with 8.2. Cameron Thomas, from City of Palms participant Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Virginia), is right behind Cooper in scoring, at 27.5 a game for the Boo Williams team. 

BRONNY JAMES VS EMONI BATES GETS LEBRON HYPE!! NEXT LEBRON VS NEXT KD?!
BRONNY JAMES VS EMONI BATES GETS LEBRON HYPE!! NEXT LEBRON VS NEXT KD?!

Cam Thomas Looked Like One of the Toughest Matchups in the Country in the Boo Williams W!
Cam Thomas Looked Like One of the Toughest Matchups in the Country in the Boo Williams W!

Top Ranked Sophomore Center Moussa Cisse Highlights From EYBL Indy!
Top Ranked Sophomore Center Moussa Cisse Highlights From EYBL Indy!

Josh Christopher vs. Zaire Wade! Vegas Elite vs. E1T1 in EYBL Indy!
Josh Christopher vs. Zaire Wade! Vegas Elite vs. E1T1 in EYBL Indy!
Just call him Mr. MVP.
 
Cole Anthony won co-MVP at the Jordan Brand Classic last month to go along with his MVP trophies from the McDonald's All American Game and the Nike Hoop Summit. The Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Virginia) point guard dazzled once again at the Jordan Brand Classic, scoring a game-high 25 points in 24 minutes and nearly leading his team to a 30-point comeback. He also contributed six rebounds, six assists and four steals.
 
Still, the buzz from that performance was short-lived. He managed to upstage himself three days later, when he ended the season-long mystery surrounding his recruitment and committed to North Carolina, picking the Tar Heels over finalists Oregon, Notre Dame and Georgetown.
Michael Jordan should have paid more attention to the Culligan City of Palms Classic.
 
If he had, he may have avoided the most ignominious mistake of his non-playing career.
 
For a brief time in 2000 and 2001, Jordan was president of basketball operations and general manager of the Washington Wizards, tasked with making player personnel decisions. He would leave that capacity in the fall of 2001 to make another comeback as a player, this time not in familiar Chicago Bulls red-and-black but in a Wizards uniform. In so doing, he consigned himself to play with a subpar cast of teammates he picked himself.

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