What is there to really vibe & know about 7th grader Sydney Douglas the most amazing young person I have ever, ever crossed paths with?
To know Syd is beyond the term HER, or transcendent, to vibe potential as a human and basketball player. You have to spend quality time intensely as I luckily have for months and months.
I’ve experienced seeing the butterfly metamorphosis of the most supportive family I have ever gotten to know. And I’ve known 1,000s of families well as a writer at Rivals, SLAM Magazine, and Ball is Life.
I’ve mostly concentrated my career at Rivals.com as a writer using my eval skills. What helps me to see the future of a player’s potential is I’m also a grade school teacher these 24 years.
Let me put it in a little perspective. My friend Mirin Fader writer for SLAM and Bleacher Report wrote a best selling book on ultra athletic Giannis Antetokounmpo: Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA MVP.
Mirin does the best kind of writing you can imagine, captures females like no one every did and has a masterful grasp of how to define transcendent talent. I was humbled she asked me to help her find sources that were close to Gianna Bryant in this landmark Mirin Fader article:
(https://mirinfader.com/2020/03/09/the-legacy-of-mambacita/)
Sydney is as athletic as Gianna was at the same age, doing things the same because her family, trainers, coaches, are the secret to her rise. Their love and constant support combine with her own internal desire to get better each and every day. To get better daily is necessary and possible!
Love is Syd’s family; it becomes her. They all swim in the word but they grind to it in tune and vibrate to the beat of a different drummer!
I’m E-Woods, writer of 600 features, knowing 100,000 prospects since 2003. Yes, a mentor, talent evaluator, scout, ultimate insider from the junior high to the women’s WNBA.
I’ve known so many guys in the NBA, legends, all stars, coached them in junior high. I’ve also known girls/women like Team USA Rayah Marshall that have dunked 10 foot rims super hard as 6th graders with extreme prejudice.
But nobody comes anywhere near in the same universe as talented or as hard working in my scope of evaluating overall ability than Sydney Douglas. Her arc of potential is a breath away between my two favorites of all time: Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.
So me putting it out there might be hard for some others to vibe. It’s mind boggling. There’s one Kobe, there’s only 1 MJ. I know this, we all know this instinctively.
But you have to live for months and months with Sydney and her fam as I have. She has been going hard at this in a concentrated manner and systematic way 7 days a week with a pro ethic since 4th grade.
In the off season she likes to swim, get in that wet suit and go to the beach and just be a kid, hang with friends. She’ll see scary movies, make-you-jump-out-your-seat movies like Scream or Halloween with her big older cousin Ryanne.
She’ll dance doing tik tok videos with her killer dance moves. She can really dance, got all the moves and charisma to spare, that charming smile, make you laugh. She lives a balanced life indeed when it’s not in basketball season.
The kid is growing up normal, no burn out on the horizon, just an all around great student, big sister, daughter for the ages that anyone would be super proud of no doubt!
Get to know the Douglas family really, really well like I have and the truth will unfold itself as sure as the sun rises to you like it has to me.
Sydney got the most elite invite as a mere 7th grader, a 16u invite as she made the final cut and was publicly was a finalist. And now she’s back as an invitee for the 3 on 3 17u TEAM USA try-outs!
Plus she was hand picked to be on the first ever Jr NBA team coached by legendary Terri Bamford that has the world’s most talented top 20 players her age from around the globe participating. That’s really impressive stuff to be sure!
The Douglas family is the best kind of family I’ve ever met with the most huge heart for others to serve a mighty God. Dad Rome Douglas starred as a football player for the USC Trojan football team and his lovely wife Maylana attended UCLA and achieved being an All American for the women’s basketball team during her time there.
It’s my belief they will undoubtedly spark a generation to love basketball through their incredibly talented four kids on an unprecedented level like that of Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan did to pick up the ball and play hoop. Period!
Peep the vids & IG vids and see for yourself people!
https://instagram.com/sydney.bean13?igshid=MTI1ZDU5ODQ3Yw==
Just talk to Big Syd this super sweet, approachable, happy-go-lucky 7th grader that has committed herself to playing in prep alongside her longtime friend phenom Kaleena “Special Kayyy” Smith at Ontario Christian and you will soon fall in love with Syd’s charm and wit.
Syd and Kaleena are excited to play for their future prep Ontario Christian coach Matt Tumambing. He’s a great guy and I know he’s very happy to have them for what he’s already told me.
Kaleena’s dad Dre will be the assistant coach for the ages that will work hand in hand to strengthen the program in any way in which he is asked. Dre has an extremely strong beyond-belief methodology that gets results for his daughter and others.
What Syd does on her super cool tik tok videos are awesome and seem effortless. It’s so hard to see her as a 7th grader because her physical body is that of a well proportioned WNBA body.
Let Syd speak for herself, “What people might need to know about me is that I’m a fun jokester to be around. I like to play around with people and friends and keep it bubbly and fun off court.
“I keep a smile on my face off the court. I want to get you and everybody in good vibes. Like the time I put out fake poop on the family toilet for someone to discover, it’s gotcha time! So it’s all in good fun and with a good heart is my intention.
“Or like the time when my great friend Jordyn Palmer from Philadelphia on Team USA trials and I did a tik tik vid and rocked out to a dance routine. It’s all natural rhythm and flow like that in life with me. I go with cool vibes like that, let’s go have fun in a cool way, feel me?”
#amazing
In 2005 your humble writer was invited to go attend the ultra exclusive Michael Jordan Flight Camp put on by the great George Raveling, head of Nike grassroots AAU. I was there to see and interact with such stars as Duke’s JJ Redick, Wake Forrest’s Chris Paul, Arizona’s Hassan Adams, and so many others.
I remember the completely pro positive leadership that CP3 was giving even back then. I was telling Chris “Do you realize bro that you’re good enough that you’re going to be in NBA Hall of Fame off how you handle yourself man? I can see it in your eyes and manner of being bro sure as day!”
Chris just gave me a look like all the rest of the dozens of the NBA all stars I’ve really gotten to know and nodded quietly to himself. He doesn’t need to verbalize what is spoken in his heart since the day of his birth.
Watching Syd makes you feel like you’re hearing the song He Got Game by Public Enemy. Syd and CP3 are these lyrics, vibe these lyrics:
“What does it all mean all this ish I'm seein’?
Human beings screamin’ vocal javelins.”
That’s what Sydney Douglas will morph into as she gets into high school and college. Right now, she’s a 6-5 wing/guard WNBA-type player that could likely morph into being a 6-6 point guard with serious bunnies that might well do things in the realm of dunking.
Right now she is concentrating on being that super versatile player on court. Think as a comparison of what Kevin Durant does in game as a match up nightmare with players assigned to guard him.
You put a taller player on Syd to try to guard her in the post and she drifts outside where her game is so utterly advanced and she’ll score on them with her unbelievable smooth and consistent jump shot out to the NCAA college 3 point line.
You try to put a big guard on her or double team her on the perimeter which is so hard because she has so much height already at staggering 6 feet 5 inches in only 7th grade (think like a 7 footer in men’s height) and Sydney is already so adept with her fast and pinpoint footwork movement that she glides into the paint to find a way to the rim with her strong body.
She’s just amazing. She has a counter for everything, her IQ in 7th grade is off the charts like a pro already. The game is slowing down for her and that translates into “Sydney gets to her spots.”
Sydney says she wants to make a career out of basketball. She takes it seriously and wants to be even better than her parents. As I said her mother was a WNBA player that had massive success as a 3 time All American at UCLA and as a pro.
Her dad is a highly decorated college player that had success for 3 different NFL teams and won a World Bowl in Europe before an unfortunate injury cut his career short. Big Rome is so proud of his father James Douglas who played at Memphis in 1971. His pops went on to be in the ABA.
There’s pride of accomplishment to be sure in all that the Douglas family represents: grades, character, spirituality, so many measurables and levels that it’s mind boggling.
The best part I see about Sydney is her parents don’t even have to push her to want to play the game. Syd wants this thing for herself more than anybody I’ve ever been around in my 52 years on earth. And I’ve been around 100’s of pros, dozens of NBA and WNBA all stars.
She is a very self motivated person but in a healthy good way in that positive uplifting joyful manner of being upbeat. She trains like 7 days a week, putting in the hours it takes.
My guy coach Kevin Kiernan, head coach at vaunted Mater Dei girls basketball, told me one day that Sydney had what seemed in his humble estimation “the most potential of any prospect that he’s seen in a generation!” Kevin is the California all time CIF wins leader.
#a great compliment from a great guy
Let’s vibe some more Public Enemy lyrics. Every time I see Syd play, she inspires me more than anyone I’ve ever seen as a young basketball player.
“Where Christ is in all this crisis
Hatin' Satan never knew what nice is
Check the papers while I bet on Isis”
Sydney has trainers that she has worked with that have helped her to create real skill in her game, and they deserve credits. Nick Sanderson has been her shooting coach. Then there’s Coach BK from the Inland Empire who I happen to know personally and I think a lot of him from what he did with his longtime work with UCLA’s Londynn Jones development.
He’s the trainer that put the perimeter attacking and ball-handling skill set into Syd. Anthony Susnjara has been the post coach to get her to her spots and that footwork. Jordan Lawley has been the guy to put it all together in different ways for it all to make sense.
All are great at what they do. Syd wants to be the whole package!
In 2004 I had the honor of giving advice to my great friend Frank DeRozan, RIP DeMar DeRozan’s father. I loved Frank so much for his intelligence, ability to video choreograph, motivate his kids in just the right way and teach them to have a pure heart to the world.
DeMar as a prospect and athlete compared to Sydney? They both are great, great athletes and people. Singular players that are truly transcendent. 100.
Yes I was proud DeMar played for me a tiny bit on our SLAM team, but I was just as proud to teach in South Central LA next to Compton where DeMar grew up and where I ran a mentor program. I tried help youngsters such as USC bound Nick Young and Gabe Pruitt with SAT prep.
Why do I mention all these factors? I love young players that have great potential that are out to fulfill it in anyway that they can as students and athletes. It’s about attitude and human potential people.
Syd really wants to perfect her handle like my guy Brandon Jennings did back when. For those that don’t know who Brandon is, I want you to vibe a ball handler like Kyrie Irving, a dribble master with handles.
I did Brandon’s 1st story too at his same age of Syd in the 7th grade. I told my SLAM magazine contacts just how great DeMar, Brandon were going to be, to consider putting them in the Mag.
It’s like what I see in Syd, working hard like they did. She wants to be the whole package, dribble expert, great shooter, master mismatch at different positions. She’s spreading the floor for her team to help them all out.
Sydney is truly a student of the game, and it’s refreshing to see that she asks a lot of questions.
Just how great will Syd be? There is no cap for her, she plays like MJ did for the love of the game. She channels her old soul wisdom that inspires me and so many of her vast followers around the world already.
Peep Syd’s words about what she’s afraid of, “Look me in the eye, we’re scared for different reasons. I’m scared of what I won’t become, and you’re scared of what I could become.”
Whoa! That’s some some serious MJ vibing and confidence there. I love so much about Sydney. She is always completely humble to the process, sacrificing everything, hardly remembers a time she has time to see a movie with a friend.
She’s grindin’ in the lab to be the absolute best she can be. What are some big challenges she could take on? Has the reader ever heard of the world famous Drew League in Compton?
There’s a men’s and women’s side. I know plenty of players from both sides and I’m known as E-Woods and I have a lot of experience in bringing people together. 100.
I had a special young lady who was a top 20 junior at Windward High School at the time named Charisma Osborne who was very strong physically and wanted the challenge of being invited to a Drew League men’s practice as a player participant. Phone call made, deal done.
Syd also needs women’s Drew League comp to get better or men’s Drew League competition like I provided to C-Osborne and Mo Billings when she was at UCLA. I can get this going for Syd, I’m likely one of the only people around who could or would set this up for a junior high school 7th grade girl.
I repeat, a junior high school girl to be believed in? And she’s not alone, she has some incredibly talented friends like phenom 7th grader Tati Griffin who is the nicest and strongest 5-9 guard, a Larry Johnson UNLV clone.
Tati just received a scholarship offer from head coach Dawn Staley of University of South Carolina. Impressive, right? And Tati has grown-man strength.
Sydney is committed to play with her future high school prep commit Kaleena “Special Kayyy” Smith whose nickname speaks for itself and is a great kid herself. I’ve known her so well since she was in 6th grade. Kaleena has many great offers and I’ll be doing an updated story on her pretty soon.
Kaleena’s INCREDIBLE game will be in the great mold of a player like a Kyrie Irving because of her awesome mom Brandi and dad Dre are that visionary. Dre is a singular trainer that runs 7 Days Program.
The Douglas family’s other great friends include 7th grader Zaire “Cherri Baller” Hatter who has next up for a 7th grader. They all vibe game off the likes of Mathis Dritz, 6-2 freshman guard at Westlake high who will have elite offers by the time this story hits publication.
Mei-Ling Perry, is that that 5-10 super talented freshman guard for Cal Storm and Emilia Krstevski is an amazing young person and emerging talented freshman at Sierra Canyon.
Most of the players I just described are durable, big enough, and tough enough to go heads up vs. true pro players that are willing to give their time like my NBA guy JR Smith did, or Drew League men or women who are willing take the time to act like true mentors.
So how dope is that? That’s super dope!
Where did all this love for the game in Syd start? It started with her mom Maylana Douglas that beautiful 6 foot 3 soul of a person that takes care of her family. She’s a Pac-12 analyst by trade now so definitely knows all the angles, the ins and outs, pros and cons of many D1 programs.
Maylana says, “I started playing rec ball in 4th grade, found an instant love for the game and passion to put myself into it and improve myself in many ways through the game. When Syd started playing rec ball in 4th grade she took a pass and was tripled teamed two minutes into the game. Syd knew instinctively what to do and passed it out.
“We are always proud of her for the person that she is and will become. It’s more than basketball, Syd is a role model to others as a person in many things. She’s just a great person, all our kids are. We have lots of love in our tight knit family.”
#the ultimate loving family
Big Rome is Syd’s dad and about the most charismatic person I’ve ever met. His knowledge and approach to the game rivals that of my friend John Lucas II who was the assist coach of the Houston Rockets before recently moved to the front office.
Both have amazing swag, powers of keen insight, and interpersonal communication skills like few possess that serve them well. John II was the #1 overall pick in the 1976 NBA draft and one day introduced Kobe to Michael.
Me, I’m still figuring out if Sydney is going to project to be more Kobe or MJ as a player because those are my two favorite NBA players.
Only time will tell, but that’s the kind of MASSIVE potential that is held when one goes all in and has unlimited hunger to get better each day with beyond deep gifts. It’s beyond the scope of even my imagination, and my imagination is completely wild with abandon people!
I’m so honored to also know John Lucas III who was a long time NBA player, was an NBA coach for Minnesota and the Lakers and just got the assistant job at Phoenix. He may come in and do an eval for Sydney, he’s offered graciously. I was proud to write his story here:
(https://californiapreps.rivals.com/news/nba-s-john-lucas-iii-living-the-marathon-philosophy)
What I truly love about about Big Rome is he knows just what to do in every situation. He has this amazing moral construct because he lets God lead his heart. He is so spiritually informed and is a progressive soul and that builds consensus within his family group.
Big Rome is 6 foot 7. What I love about him, and I notice others do too, is that he is as strong and decisive of a leader as you will ever see on and off the court, truly as you will ever find.
He is constantly stacking his days like my guy Rico Hines of the famous Rico Hines runs because Rome knows it’s not always about immediate Ws & Ls, it’s the skill, it’s about relationships, it’s putting truly great people around his kids, people who are about it.
I’ll let Big Rome tell it, “I’m always trusting in God that He has a plan for us all, that we have to care for each other on this earth. Just be humble, just work really hard, be regimented.
“I love that Syd wants this for herself, no one has to push her. She dictates a torrid schedule of 7 days a week at times. Her days off are sometimes days off from skill work but are double work for pick up games of 21 or use your imagination.
“But she finds ways to have fun with the game. It’s important to always just keep the game light and fun, be cheery and to keep it fun to your heart. Syd and all our kids make us so proud.
“She has a 6 foot 8 wingspan, her team is really finding rhythm now and wanted to win it all in the Chicago EYBL AAU Chip. We’re so proud of her; she has high goals.
“I gave Syd the nickname “kidney bean” to encourage her to eat healthy and it stuck with her. She always does the right thing as a role model for her other two brothers and sister.”
Rome is very proud of his uncle Willie Billies, who played for the University of Tulsa in the 1972-75’ era and was a Hall of Fame inductee. This family is very proud of their accomplishments, their kinfolk, and that’s a blessing to all really!
Me, E-Woods, I get really proud of trying to see the future someone might achieve based on what they’ve done. I could see Sydney maybe receiving 100 D1 scholarship offers by the time this 7th grader has January the 31st come up fosho!
Sydney has an off button, but she takes the game super seriously. She’s a fun kid and is the perfect mix of joy, because she is doing what she wants to do, loving every minute of it and achieving things that others can only dream of at an age that redefines and rewrites all the rules of college recruitment history!
To give perspective, Sammie Wagner was an 8th grade player and was what college basketball called a “prospect” a few years ago when she committed to play for the high profile Baylor women’s basketball program.
That set a huge precedent that one so young would get an offer and accept it. The 6-1 skilled forward sure did. Just that one offer set a new precedent to push the envelope for others to offer younger players. Coaches were willing to take a chance. Wagner is now a redshirt freshman at the University of Oregon.
Sydney and her future teammate Kaleena Smith are sitting on a bunch of really great offers. Like 9 offers for Kaleena, some really big time offers in there. 10 offers for Syd, some really big-time offers for her as well.
They’re really supportive of each other, the two girls, their circle of friends, their AAU team, it’s a beautiful thing to see truly!
Rankings aren’t the gold standard as much as they used to be back in the day when us OG’s were growing up. They do factor in quite a bit but now it’s offers, which come from strong skill sets and performances that seem to be what the younger kids are all talking about most often.
Maybe it’s that search for the precious ring among junior high and prep kids now I notice! I just remember that Jordan and Kobe would go for the quest for how many rings they could fit on their fingers.
And I remember Bill Russell laughing playfully and in good nature that he had more than he could fit on 2 sets of hands.
But if we want to be honest with ourselves, I talk with kids a LOT, and they think lots about which and how many college program offers they get at an early age. It’s just a sign of respect from the game that is quantifiable.
Me, E-Woods, I’ve been in maybe 12,000 people’s recruitments, prep, college, varying levels and it’s intense because it’s their dreams. It’s what’s at stake in their lives and it’s extremely intense.
Sydney has the wisdom about the game of basketball that took me decades to attain, she’s a 7th grader. She’s smarter than me about the game, and so is Kaleena Smith by the way.
I’m not ashamed to admit it because like my guy Paul Pierce says the truth is the truth and it sets you free. Me a 52 year old man, all I know is what I don’t know. And what I do know is that Sydney Douglas is The Truth. 100.
Really people, she’s already passed up my wisdom, I have to ask her for advice. It’s kind of mind boggling! But oh so beautiful at the same time.
She’s the “chosen one” because her skill set is based not just off of her Victor Wembanyama 6-8 wing arm wing-span metrics, MJ oozing athleticism, her Kev Durant frame, LeBron strength of build, or her Diana Taurasi spunk.
Nah, nah money, it’s more than that. It’s her true future value to herself and the game that she gets better each and every day! The scary part is that she wants it that bad. You can see the love of learning in her gentle yet yearning eyes wistfully waiting to get there yesterday.
I’ve seen WNBA players lately that are terrified of the thought of having to play what she will become and this is coming from recent WNBA women that love her. I showed her video to other expert talent evaluators from other networks and they tell me Sydney Douglas isn’t supposed to exist as a player.
Somehow she breaks the laws of space, physics, and time. I just tell them that a lot of things don’t make sense to them. I tell them that’s Syd. She’s just a cool person to know, she’s not just this ball player, she’s this multi dimensional person with a great personality.
I ask WNBA coaches for their assessments but I can’t publish them of course because it would be a conflict of interest. But they do stare back at me and just shake their head and drop their jaw in amazement.
I can’t publish their words or identities because of Syd’s age. They feel she’s too young to really have her game broken down in a feature. But they know, I know. and the world will soon know.
Another great opportunity that excited Sydney and her family was to get with real ones of the mentor group Hometown Favorites. Pooh Jeter is LA raised and helped foster the talent of great NBA players such as James Harden, Russ Westbrook, DeMar DeRozan, Brandon Jennings and so many more.
100+ young men and women get 1st rate mentoring with an on and off the court experience that offers a tool box of mentalities. Pooh, Bobby “LB” Brown of the NBA fame along with Trevor Ariza, Dorell Wright among many other great LA great such as Paul Pierce and Baron Davis have been dropping knowledge on youngsters to help guide them to successful arcs at HT Favorites.
Olin Simplis of Wasserman training is a part of Syd’s training core. Olin is a tremendously respected voice in the WNBA, college, prep and NBA community scene. He’s well known for his tireless work in helping advance the careers and prospects of players he trains and mentors.
His evaluations of players are usually quite reserved but bear major weight because he’s that guy that can get 6th graders to be in NBA stables, and so many women to actualize their full human and hoop potential. He recently got some clients put on NBA 1st Team, All NBA.
Olin had these mic dropping things to say about Sydney Douglas, “Sydney has a chance to be really special, a generational type talent. If she keeps her head down, stays hungry and humble, keeps out the noise, it’s curtains!”
#OMG
Syd being there at Hometown Favorites with Olin Simplis, Brent Summers, and Marcus LoVett Sr. will make for an amazing time as I know personally that her dad & Pooh Jeter and Rome have discussed her development together.
#good stuff
I ask D1 high major women’s basketball coaches I happen to run into or be on the phone with the last few months if they have heard of Sydney Douglas. They often say yes, she is that magical unicorn, or we know of her. It’s always a positive reaction when I say her name in public.
Let me leave you the reader with this. If you had a chance to know about LeBron, Kobe as a 7th grader, or MJ, or even a Diana Taurasi as a very young player would you go out and watch them, support and follow them?
Me? I can’t speak for you the reader, but I’m all in for Sydney Douglas for all the right reasons I believe. Her family is as good and as pure to help others as I’ve ever seen in my 52 years on earth. They’re really, really good people!
I enjoy playing 1 on 1 vs. Zurich, their youngster who beats me from outside. He has a jumper that doesn’t quit and is a future dunker himself. London is this incredible emerging person and baller on her own path who I admire. Lil Rome that Bull dawg of a player and cool guy who just eats up life.
The whole family is love and is the epitome of success, interlocked together, forever rooting each other on and supporting each other, holding each other accountable, setting new goals, striving, reaching, never satisfied, yet proud all the while.
It’s like Big Rome loves to say, “God is HUGE.” If you go see Sydney play, she’ll stay HUGE in your heart forever, that’s what’s it become for me and everyone that has come into contact with the family because they are just that special.
https://instagram.com/biggrome78?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
I challenged Sydney to see if she was up to finding a truly elite handle for the ages!
The most elite handle that you can find online was taught by my guy Marcus LoVett. His son Marcus Jr. has about 9 million views on YouTube because the electricity emitted from his memorizing handle is just as good as that of Kyrie Irving, B-Jennings, Rafer Alston, all the greats.
See for yourself the mix tape. Kobe himself had to seek LoVett out and greet the youngster and pay homage to the young man. My point being? I asked Sydney
“Do you think you can expand your game to include this good a handle?”
She told me after seeing the video, watching it, then replaying it again a bit mesmerized, “E-Woods, my parents gave taught me I can do anything that I set my heart to do, and I definitely want to have these level handles. This would be fun to have, I’d appreciate the support, it sounds like fun!”
Peep the crazy talented Marcus LoVett Jr people, in all his 9 million view glory
I truly believe like Sydney believes, she can be the 1st female player to make an NBA roster. Not crazy am I, I’ve seen it all. I know in my 3rd eye (that NBA cats tell me I have) that impossible is nothing.
I believe as she gets so dominate, and as her legend grows beyond the realm of imagination, that a whole generation will be juiced up to be excited by her, and also of her circle of friends that have transcendent games.
Enough game that they could carry the torch for Kobe and get everyone excited about sitting courtside like Kobe “Bean“ Bryant RIP, we miss you Kob, you gave us motivation, and for a lucky few, we tried to give you some motivation back bro.
I truly believe Sydney is the future of women’s basketball, there’s no denying that in my mind, maybe in all of youth basketball coming up. As she grows, may we hope the sport will find joy like the supercharged joy when Kobe and MJ were the draw to bring people out to see something really special, and that’s enough for now.
What you have to love is Syd wants all the smoke. And what more can you respect than that people?
